Will Vinton
1947 - 2018Will Vinton was born on November 17, 1947 in McMinnville, Oregon, USA as William Gale Vinton. He was a producer and director, known for Claymation Easter (1992), Martin the Cobbler (1977) and Moonwalker (1988). He was married to Gillian Allred and Susan Shadburne. He was a Claymation artist who coined the term. His studio created numerous Claymation characters for ads, most notably the California Raisins, which gained fame in an ad set to the Motown hit "I Heard It Through the Grapevine".
He died on October 4, 2018 in Portland, Oregon.
Meet the Raisins!
Will Vinton
Tim Conner, David Downing
Meet the Raisins! spoofs musical documentaries with its use of anthropomorphic food characters. Through its historical perspective, the special also provided an opportunity to elaborate on the personalities and introduce names of the simple yet popular characters. It follows the California Raisins' humble beginnings, rise to musical success, fall from stardom, and eventual comeback. This includes "home movie" clips, scenes of the group's early days as the Vine-Yls, concert footage, and interviews with the people behind the success of the California Raisins including manager Rudy Begaman. The group is also shown performing various hit songs
Meet the Raisins!
Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration
Will Vinton
Tim Conner, Johnny Counterfit
Herb and Rex, the Jurassic odd couple, guide you along a Christmas choral celebration in this Emmy Award-winning special, guest-starring the California Raisins! Segments feature the Three Wise Men, singing camels, ice-skating penguins, and the hilarious Paris Bellharmonic Orchestra.
Claymation Christmas Celebration
Martin the Cobbler
Will Vinton
Alexandra Tolstoy, Todd Oleson
A poor cobbler has a dream in which he hears the Lord promise to visit him. Instead poor people in need of food, clothing, warmth, and understanding come to him. In the end he understands that this is how the Lord visits men today.
Martin the Cobbler
Raisins Sold Out: The California Raisins II
Will Vinton
Brian Cummings, Jim Cummings
This special has the band hiring a slick-talking new manager in an attempt to make a comeback. Under his guidance, the Raisins try their hand at various new musical genres, including Disco Polka, Country Rap, and Demolition Rock, to humorous effect. The group's troubles begin to manifest, however, upon the replacement of singer A.C. with their manager's young protégé
Raisins Sold Out: The California Raisins II
Dinosaurs: A Fun Filled Trip Back in Time
Ray Cioni, Kelli Bixler
Fred Savage, Michele Mariana
Everyone in Philip's science class has a great idea for a report--everyone that is, except Philip. That evening, he listens to a son playing on his boom box, and it provides him with inspiration: DINOSAURS! The next day at the museum, Phillip discovers that the search for the truth about these magnificent animals and their astonishing 160-million-year success on the earth is the most fascinating mystery tale he's ever heard. What follows is an exciting collection of established theories and fascinating speculation.
Dinosaurs: A Fun Filled Trip Back in Time
Claydream
Marq Evans
Will Vinton, Bill Plympton
A modern day Walt Disney, Will Vinton picked up a ball of clay and saw a world of potential. Known as the “Father of Claymation,” Vinton revolutionized the animation business during the 80s and 90s. But after 30 years of being the unheralded king of clay, Will Vinton’s carefully sculpted American dream came crumbling down. Structured around interviews with this charismatic pioneer and his close collaborators, the film charts the rise and fall of the Academy Award and Emmy winning Will Vinton Studios.
Claydream
Animation Outlaws
Kat Alioshin
Seth Green, Andrew Stanton
Walt Disney said “We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.” Outside of Walt himself there are few people who have brought together and united more animators in the history of the genre than Craig "Spike" Decker and Mike Gribble, known to all as Spike & Mike. They created an animation festival that helped launch the careers of John Lasseter, Peter Lord, Will Vinton, Bill Plympton and Mike Judge to name just a few. Their Spike & Mike festival had an enormous impact on animation that was felt the world over. The festival was known as much for the breakthrough animation it presented as the outrageous antics of the founders.
Animation Outlaws
The Adventures of Mark Twain
Will Vinton
James Whitmore, Michele Mariana
Based on elements from the stories of Mark Twain, this feature-length Claymation fantasy follows the adventures of Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher and Huck Finn as they stowaway aboard the interplanetary balloon of Mark Twain. Twain, disgusted with the human race, is intent upon finding Halley's Comet and crashing into it, achieving his "destiny." It's up to Tom, Becky, and Huck to convince him that his judgment is wrong and that he still has much to offer humanity that might make a difference. Their efforts aren't just charitable; if they fail, they will share Twain's fate. Along the way, they use a magical time portal to get a detailed overview of the Twain philosophy, observing the "historical" events that inspired his works.
The Adventures of Mark Twain
A Christmas Gift
Will Vinton
On Christmas Eve, a lonely young boy, shut out from the shiny world of presents and holiday parties, peers into a candlelit window, where a gray-haired lady sits sadly at a bare table. Taking the last bit of bread and cheese from his pocket and adding wine, they share this meager Christmas dinner together.
A Christmas Gift
Claymation Easter
Mark Gustafson, Will Vinton
Jim Cummings, Tim Conner
Claymation Easter marks the return of Wilshire Pig, with an absurd plan to kidnap the Easter Bunny just days before the holiday and launch himself as the first ever Easter Pig. As one would expect, things go terribly wrong for Wilshire in a serious of disastrous and hilarious misadventures. As with all of Will Vinton's creations, totally off-the-wall comedy is matched with eye-popping animation.
Will Vinton's Claymation Easter
Rip Van Winkle
Will Vinton
Will Geer, Tim Conner
Rip Van Winkle, a lazy American man, wanders off one day with his dog Wolf into the Kaatskill mountains where he runs into an odd group of men drinking and playing bowls. He drinks some of their mysterious brew and passes out. When he wakes up under a tree he is astonished to find that 20 years have passed and things are a lot different.
Rip Van Winkle
