History of Clay Animation: Part 2

July 13 -- When experimental filmmaking “busted out” in the 1960s and early ’70s, clay animation was not immune to the change. But with the changes came questions about just what constitutes “clay” animation.

In 1971, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences widened its “Best Short Subject” category from “Cartoon” to “Animated Film,” and that cleared the big clay road.

Three years later, filmmaker Will Vinton, influenced by the flowing clay forms of the Spanish architect Gaudi, won that Oscar, in collaboration with his friend Bob Gardiner, for Closed Mondays.

Not Just for Kids

And the plot was certainly not the usual kiddie fare. “It was the story of a wino wandering into an art museum,” says Vinton.

A lot of other animators were taking their cue from cel animation, which used the film frame like a theatrical stage. But filmmaking was evolving, and Vinton decided to take advantage of those changes in Closed Mondays. “Cuts, extreme close-ups, dramatic camera angles hadn’t been made use of in animation.” He figured it was time.

Vinton soon completed the world’s first feature-length clay animation, The Adventures of Mark Twain. He calls the 72-minute film “the zenith of pure clay animation: 100 percent clay. We were purists in those days.”

But while clay had begun to distinguish itself as more than an expensive cousin of cel animation, Vinton recalls that Mark Twain “never found its audience.”

So Much Larger Than Life

While Vinton remains proud of such high-brow fare, his production company is best known for the California Raisins commercial, which featured dried fruit grooving to the beat of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.”

“I knew it would be a great ad campaign, a fun idea, but I had no idea it’d be a phenomena,” says Vinton. “I still get introduced as the Raisin King.”