I thought that this should be told to you. Recently, I got in contact with an archivist at the Svenska Filminstitutet (which funded the Beebylon project) who claims to have documents regarding the pilot. So, expect a big update soon.
The early version foodfight has been found all of the animation on leak these are just the only animated scenes in th early 2002 version İn fact:these animations came from the 2000-2002 sizzle reel and no the first trailer you der on RU-vid its not the 2002 trailer it is from 2011 yeah bruh
Your thumbnail is misleading, as The Works started production only 16 years before Toy Story was released.. and only 14 years before production began on the Pixar film. Not sure where "20 years" came from
Knowing some of the creators from academic background and conventions like SIGGRAPH (and witnessing the creation and demise of this project), it was one of the namesakes / influences when we formed our studio in the late 80s. "Das Werk" is the literal German translation of its name.
10:08 Hey, that's me! It was pretty cool being able to contribute such a huge find to the search. I didn't even think it was that big of a deal when I first reached out to Amber, Lance William's widow, about her husband's script, but little did I know it would only be the first milestone in a series of amazing finds regarding The Works. All I'll say is that there's a lot more about the film being uncovered as we speak...
0:06 To be a semantics nerd. Toy Story was the first fully computer animated feature film, released by a major studio. If you don’t phrase it like that, you’re opening yourself up to a lot of asterisks.
There's a Brazilian CG animated film from 1996 called Cassiopeia that can actually claim to be the first full length CG film made ENTIRELY in a computer, since Toy Story technically built physical models of the characters that were scanned into a computer, while Cassiopeia made all its characters inside the computer
@@Bolonis-boloniasca I know, but since its characters models had to be sculpted by hand before being scanned into the computer, it technically can't claim to be the first CG film made ENTIRELY in a computer, like Cassiopeia can
@@MaximizedAnimation BRAZIL MENTIONED! I'm so glad there are people who actually knows about Cassiopéia and give it some credit, I rarely see anyone talking about it. The first full length 3D film made entirely in a computer, that came from a developing country with no resources to actually make something like that (they had to buy all the equipment from USA), all of that in the 90's, it's truly a miracle that this film even exists! Afaik, the development of the film started BEFORE Toy Story and it was meant to be THE FIRST full length fully CGI film, but thanks to Disney's almost unlimited resources and money, they managed to finish Toy Story first, and Cassiopéia was forgotten, quite a sad story.
I remember that old "Early Facial Animation (1974)" being part of the scary RU-vid video compilation due to how terrifying it looked (and the grayscale does not help the scare factor), not realizing that said video is obviously a test animation that becomes part of the evolution of CGI. This recalls that early CGI animation is the textbook definition of "uncanny valley", but at the same time, it shows how technology has come along the way.
I love how experimental early CGI was, even into the early 90s. I was going to say people don't get weird enough with it anymore, and then i remembered Amazing Digital Circus lol
I agree, I wish there was more room for surrealism, or at least non-photorealism. Like, I've always loved the look of old cyberspace movies like Tron and Lawnmower Man specifically because they have such a distinct look. Not everything has to be perfectly representational.
Just a trailer! There is no workprint for The Works. You might be thinking of the reel from Strawberry Fields, but that isn't a workprint, just a bunch of finished scenes strung together.
I'm into a lot of tech stuff, so I was very suddenly reminded that's not necessarily your realm when the "I know some of those words" gag came up But man I just gotta say. The words you were saying? My mouth grew more agape with each one, like seriously important stuff! I can't believe I never heard of this institute, either! The world of early CG animation is super fascinating, and I can come away saying I learned something new. This video surprised me but what a great surprise
Same here! How the hell have I never heard about these guys? I guess because they never produced anything of note, and so don't get mentioned in articles or documentaries very often. It's easier to talk about groups like Triple-I and Abel & Associates who have a lot of visible work floating around.
They may not be theatrical releases, but ReBoot & The Mind's Eye never get enough credit for the CGI push. I remember even seeing a short documentary in the late 90s about the CGI from the Abe's Odyssey game.
There’s also Golgo 13 (1983) which was the first animated movie to incorporate CGI animation, although it’s only for the helicopter action sequences and the opening credits. There’s also the original VeggieTales direct-to-video series which its first home video tape was released in 1993.
Captain Power had a recurring full-CGI character in 1987, probably the first TV show to do so. Although it was never *that* popular (and kind of infamous) so it's hard to say whether it had any impact on public perception.
Aw man I love the way early cg looks and feels and I really like the character and set designs in this. It's a shame it got doomed and faded into obscurity but at least now it's coming to light.
I would love to see some computer animation studio pick this up and finish it. It sounds like an interesting story and it's sad it never got to be completed.
I saw this. Not the movie, but a VHS tape, it was in like an arthouse rental store in the 90s. The box billed it as the first feature length CG animated movie. It might not have been the completed movie but it was like an edit of it, the synopsis seems very familiar.
WAOW!! it's really cool to see a new video about The Works!! I think you referenced my neocities website too (specifically for the the script) ::- D I hope it's cool if i clear up a couple o things!! • When I first wrote my website I didn't have a lot of names for robots, at 10:45 "helper" is a nickname I gave for my file names and isn't official in any way. • also CGL was a great combination of both scientists and artists! it wasn't just "numbers guys, engineers, and programmers"; quite a lot of artists joined the group as well. rebecca allen is a big name seen in a lot of materials made there, she pioneered a lot of the human animation here, like the kraftwerk music video and the swimmer ::- ] ed emshwiller is also an artist by trade. (not sure if he worked on the works specifically but he did make sunstone!) thank you for this video, i love to see more people becoming interested in the works ^^__^^ !!!!!!
NYIT Old Westbury alumnus, here (class of '84). I wasn't involved with the cglab, but the security there was reported to be insane. Even Computer Science majors weren't allowed near the place! Fun Fact, one of the lab's credits was the opening sequence to the PBS series NOVA.
Quite indeed. In fact, the clip for Music Non Stop was already finished by 1984 and could've become the first ever 3D-generated videoclip aired on TV if it wasn't for Kraftwerk's decision of scrapping the whole album (Techno Pop) and start from scratch again, which led to a 2-year delay until they finally released "Electric Cafe" (1986) alongside the Music Non Stop videoclip. This is critical because this move made Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing" take the spotlight and become the first 3D videoclip to be aired.
@@MrChromed I think that music video was later aired in the 2000s with assets from it also being used for one of Kraftwork’s remastered albums in the late 2000s! :)
@@Techno-Universal The original music video was finally released in 1986 alongside the album, but it was "too late" to become the first 3D-generated music video to be aired because Money For Nothing took the spotlight. The video has received multiple tweaks and new visuals throughout the years, including the one currently played in latest concerts.
It's not lost media, but there is an MSX laserdisc game known as "Starfighters" released in the mid-80s that has almost 30 minutes of computer animated video, just 11 minutes and 19 seconds short of feature length.
I think the all the surviving people behind the project should be brought back together and have Pixar make a new version of the movie using the original Script.
Maybe also have them use slightly older technology to create it if possible as well (not necessarily from the same exact time of when the movie was supposed to release, but probably more from the late 80s or even into the 90s, a la Toy Story), just to give it more of a retro feel
Pixar technically made their own version of The Works already in the form of Wall-E, which has a lot of similarities and I'd like to argue is a spiritual successor to The Works.
This looks incredible for the time, better in a lot of shots than Reboot which was a decade later and there's even low-budget animation bein released today that is less aesthetically-pleasing.
There's a DVD set that was found called Made in Point Richmond, which was handed out to Pixar Employees, which has all Pixar shorts at the time, the original uncensored version of Knick Knacks, all Toy Story TV stops, I know this has nothing to do with this movie, but still an interesting fact to know.
I think NYIT should show the 20 minutes and 3DVX stuff. its history at this point and even if it just unfinished very janky it shows how animation softwares evolved.
NYIT does not have the footage, it was sold to a member of the lab when it shut down in 1992. The only thing NYIT has left of the lab is a handful of photos and the building it was once housed in.
Fun fact: The guys who made the Money for Nothing music video were the creators of Reboot, the first CGI animated series, just as two of the people who worked on The Works went on to be founding members of Pixar. Call it convergent evolution if you will.
There's a certain way things are shaded and lit in these older CGI animations that makes me wonder if the light/shadow math was significantly different then vs. what's used in renderers nowadays.
seeing the animation at 4:37 in an All Things Lost video is so weird. My boyfriend's dad helped Rebecca Allen with that video. He has tons of photos of Kraftwerk (a German electronic band) at N.Y.I.T with a "The Works" poster behind them. It was probably taken during their time in New York.
My friend is making a documentary about the lab, you might see his comments on some videos regarding the lab. But is there any chance you could make a scan of that photo?
I think one of the oddest parts of this story is that some of the completed segments where used in a work in progress reel for the unmade film "Strawberry Fields"
7:12 I kept rewatching this so much it is so impressive for 1985 seeing this woman interact with the robot and kiss it and she moves the reflection of her acts realistic as hell on the robot. I couldnt imagine seeing that back then.
Wow! It’s really cool that you linked my upload of The Works’ Ant in the description! I’m glad someone finally made a video about this, it’s a fascinating topic that’s really important to the history of CGI, despite how little coverage it gets
I wish there were more crazy rich people who just throw money into R&D for the sake of advance a medium and/or technology instead of just releasing slop quickly for the sake of making a quick buck.
I remember coming across a mention of The Works in a 1980's book about computers. I remember looking for info online several times, and never getting anywhere.
This Kraftwerk Music Video is also incredible, waaaay ahead of its time. Germany was once at the front of technology in Film, Music, Computer Science and Engineering in general now the Magic is sadly lost and Germany is facing a mayor Brain Drain.
So, anyway, there was a piece of Lost Media that was just found. Something called the Virtual Ed Sullivan Show where a CGI Mo-Cap version of Ed Sullivan hosted. The CGI in what exists of this movie looks far more advanced than that trainwreck.
Does anybody recall, or care about a short animated film that I saw in the early 80s on Showtime? No script, just an animated ballpoint doodling all over the screen to a soundtrack of bongos and conga drums. I’d love to find that.
After you mentioned NYIT I was hoping that the Music Non-Stop music video would be included. And I'm glad to see that it was (even if only as background footage)! PS The music video for Music Non-Stop is from 1986 not 1984
I'm big into film history, and this video makes me feel like a total amateur. Because I've never heard of this story before. Not in any of the film theory and history books I've read. Thank you for telling me this fascinating story. I've never seen your channel before, but you popped up in my recommended just now. With this documentary, you earned a very quick sub. Can't wait to dive into your other works this weekend. So, thanks.
I remember seeing a still from it in Foley and van Dam's computer graphics textbook back when I was first working in the field in the late 1980s. Pixar was already putting out shorts at the time, but Toy Story was some way off. I had no idea what the movie was actually about. It sounds like the plot has prefigurations of "Tron" and "Wall-E."
I remember “The Works” being shown at a SIGGraphACS meeting in Perth, Australia. There’s a possibility that the Special Interest Group - Graphics of The Australian Computer Society might still have a copy?
Now that the script has been leaked and technology has caught up to the vision, has there been any series effort or consideration to resurrect the project and reanimate it from scratch? The story sounds quite intriguing.
honestly i feel like one of the things that killed this movie is that the script was just way too ambitious. While I haven't read through the entire things, what I have seen mentions dinosaur combiners, a city being destroyed by asteroids, multiple humans, etc. And you're just not gonna do that in the late 70s and early 80s. The reason toy story was able to happen is not just cuz the technology had improved, but because they were clever with how they worked with limitations. CGI looked plasticy at the time, so the characters are toys made of plastic. Toys are also commonly used indoors, and small, enclosed rooms are easier to render. This kinda' consideration was seemingly missing from the works
I heard you say Pheonixville and my ears perked. Then you mentioned Bridge street and I did a double take. I lived in Pville for about 20 years. I ended up leaving because of the changes being done by board kinda running amok. Too many "for the benefit of all'" really only helping the few. You're right, small town government is usually the most likely to go off the rails. Less controls and more 'old boy' influence. Also, as most of the members are not lawyers, they usually have no idea of how laws, or jurisdictions work.
I think short films count as movies. Maybe not if it's an experimental clip lasting a few seconds to demonstrate the technology, but if it's a short film with a story.
No available media of The Works seems to have cinema aspect ratio neither the composition of the images hints at it. None of the footage available seems to be sourced from actual film stock, so these are not from workprints. A 1983 article tells they were intentionally aiming for video. Some of the footage have flat and ultra fluid motion of good old analog scanimation. This whole thing seems to be a hot mess and there is no 'lost movie' to be found.
11:27 They predicted the Dinobots! That's hilarious... But yeah, what really strikes me is how absurdly over-ambitious the script was. It seems like absolute insanity, trying to make such a complicated production as the *first* CGI film. If they'd written a script that was more stripped back and aware of tech limitations, maybe they could have pulled it off.
Somewhat, these Dinobots could combine, while the ones in Transformers couldn't (at least, not in the original cartoon, Volcanicus wasn't a thing until the 2010's). The Constructicons, on the other hand, COULD combine, so this movie technically predicted both the Dinobots, the Constructicons, and the overall concept of Combiners in Transformers.
I'm looking for an old animation that I saw when I was 5 years old. The animation style reminds me of something from Disney's Robots, the art from Satoshi Kon's unrealized Dream Machine project, and even a bit of Astro Boy's art. What I remember is a couple of robots that were supposed to be machines of destruction, but the team of scientists involved made them with the unique ability to love. They have metal legs that resemble bell-bottom pants, similar to Mega Man's legs. Can someone help? I imagine it's an animation from the 80s.
‼️Ah holy crap. Tubby Tuba is a deep deep memory hole for me. Wow. I probably would have never recalled anything about this unless it just happened to show up here.
@@Aspen-The-Folf fact-checking with Karl Bartos' book, and you are right. They have send during 1983-1984 their Mannequin heads to Rebecca Allen, who worked at the NYIT.
I remember seeing a few clips of the giant ant building the satellite in a messy workprint of a movie called "Strawberry Fields" which was a pseudo sequel to the Yellow Submarine movie
I'd like to think Wall-E is a sort of spiritual successor to this movie, especially since two of the people who worked on this movie went on to be among the founding members of Pixar. Though chances are it's coincidental because both of them had left the company years before Wall-E entered production.
I'd like to think this film either inspired or ultimately evolved into Wall-E, given how many similarities between the two there are and the fact that two of the people who worked on it went on to be founding members of Pixar. However, both those people left the company by the time Wall-E entered production, so chances are the similarities are purely coincidental.
Now that I think of it; There may have been so many advances in computer animation software and 3d animation doctrines, that it may actually be rather difficult to make something that perfectly captures the 'funk' and general authenticity of early 3d animation because it would actually be so -so- incredibly easy to make something that looks better and thus out of place with the surrounding footage. With the '80s tech, there were no 3d animation experts, if anything, they had 2d animation experts trying to find ways of translating their ideas and masteries onto a completely alien medium that was designed purely to work, with no considerations given to user accessibility or convenience. The rest would be highly talented software jockeys that may or may not have *any* animation knowledge whatsoever. 'A man whom makes power tools for a living, but can't make a house with them' type deal. Not to mention that many, many features you would learn in the first 5 minutes of a beginner level 3dsmax or blender tutorial, would have likely been cutting edge developments reserved only for the most elite and experimental of setups at best and outright impossible otherwise. I'm not saying it can't be done, but if you really wanted something that truly felt natural and unintrusive to the surrounding '80s animation, you'd likely need custom software that purposely limits the creator to similar constraints and possibly even hire people that specialize in traditional handdrawn animation, but not 3d animation. Or you'd have to just be extremely careful in how you animate your film.
@@wonkehcheetah1138 In my experience with Blender, I think it would be fairly easy to achieve a similar look with rendering in EEVEE at its most basic and non-time-consuming settings, plus playing around with a couple other nodes. I also feel like the movie doesn't need to mimic every single limitation of 80s CGI, since a lot of it from that era does look uncanny and very stiff now. In my mind, I always envisioned a completed Works film looking like a smaller scale production from the early to mid 90s, like Veggietales or Reboot. That way the animation could still function competently without being a constant distraction to the viewer, and the texture work could still have that early CGI gleam to appeal to nostalgic enthusiasts.
@@MaximizedAnimation I'm glad that blender, a completely free and open source software, proves it's wonderous versatility yet again lol. I may have been a bit extreme in my vision of custom built software after all. However, I personally find the stiffness and uncanniness to be part of the charm of early animation. Perhaps I'm just a bit of a purist, a conservator before an artist in these matters, but I would see a completed or finished version of the works as an attempt to fulfill the artists original intentions. Warts and all. A museum of intentions so to say. To me, It represented a time in which deeply passionate people were truly limited by their tools, in this case to the complete failure of their vision. I'd just like to see that original vision a chance that the ultimate limitations of that time wouldn't allow for.
There's another lost film that was supposed to be released in 1992, but it was a combination of cgi and 2d from what's available. The film was Strawberry fields, and it would've used music from the beatles or at least by people who made covers of beatles music. Despite being an animated film using beatles music, the beatles weren't going to appear themselves, as it would've been an original story about a detective named jude helping a thief named Mitchell getting a magical hammer that can destroy before the films antagonist, the walrus could. The Film was supposed to have used cg, but it was found difficult to animate humans at the time, so they switched to using traditional animation for the humans and other characters while the rest was completely cgi, though before cancelation, they wanted to use cg humans again. The film was intended to use songs from Sgt Peppers, the Magical Mystery Tour, Help!, and at least one song from Let It Be. However, at some point, production was halted, and the project was canceled due to the discovery that they weren't allowed to use any beatles music. Strangley, Covers are used in the wip reel from 1989. However, Today there is only so much known about it. Though last month or 2 months ago 30 minutes of Unseen Footage was posted on The Internet Archive that was a WIP reel of the film. Currently it is on youtube and the Archive.
Yeah, when I heard the plot, I thought the same thing, and the fact two of the people who worked on it went to be founding members of Pixar, but both had already left by the time Wall-E even entered production.
I would have loved to have seen this movie had it been finished, the plot really interests me, reminding me a lot of the stories of Issac Asimov and other sci-fi writers. Admittedly, one could say Pixar's Wall-E might be a spiritual successor to The Works, since there ARE a lot of similar elements between the two, like robots on a post-human Earth and encountering humans that went out into space, but the similarities mostly end there. It's uncertain if Wall-E was inspired by The Works, or if The Works ultimately evolved into Wall-E, given two of the people who worked on the film went to be among the founding members of Pixar, but both of them had left the company before Wall-E had entered pre-production, so chances are any similarities are coincidental.
Alvy Ray Smith left Pixar in 1991 after a heated argument with Steve Jobs. So it was during the pre-production of Toy Story. So he didn't involve with Wall-E, but Ed Catmull stayed at Pixar until July of 2019. So Ed did a little involvement with Wall-E as a member of Pixar Senior Staff, according to the credits. I think that Ed left NYIT for Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Group sometime in 1979. Maybe he did or didn't work on The Works before he left NYIT. I'll try to contact with him before he passed away.
I honestly didn't know CGI was a thing in the 70's, that probably explains how Showbiz Pizza Time did a bit of CGI on some occasions with the cyberstar videos in 1989-90.
I saw a reference to The Works in Scientific American Frontiers (I think, I am not sure) and never heard about it again. I was curious I just remembered that it was being done by an University and went to search for it and found in another video on RU-vid a few years ago.
