ALISSA SALEM
Special to The Leader
The week of Thursday, Nov. 5 a very special visiting artist was in store for Fredonia students. Young filmmaker Kevin Schreck presented his award-winning documentary titled “The Persistence of Vision.”
“The Persistence of Vision” is an incredibly well-crafted documentary focusing on legendary animator Richard Williams and his ultimately failed project, “The Thief and the Cobbler.” The documentary was two years in the making, and it is a theatrical masterpiece that brings the tragedy of a dream that never truly came to light and the hope that remains at the end of that long road.
“I think I always had an interest in storytelling, and have always been a visual person,” said Schreck of why he became a filmmaker. “Therefore, it made sense to gravitate toward a visual storytelling art form like filmmaking.”
He continued, “this isn’t something I realized until years later in hindsight, but even my drawings that I made when I was younger had a narrative arc to them and a sense of world-building.”
This narrative sensibility and skillful visual storytelling was present from start to finish. As freshman animation and illustration major Daniel Salazar put it, “Of the film itself … all you can say is that it’s wonderfully done, and it presents everything in the best way it could’ve been achieved.”
The dedication and enthusiasm that Schreck has for this topic is evident in the thorough storytelling. Schreck interviewed a large number of people who had worked at Williams’ studio in the past. He gathered lots of archival footage as well, and, despite being politely denied interviews with Williams himself, wove the material he was allowed into an hour and 25 minutes that more than does the tale justice.
The tale in question was that of Williams’ three-decade-long pursuit to create what he envisioned as a “masterpiece” of an animated film. Williams’ idea was based initially on the tales of the philosopher Nasrudin. Williams’ believed that there was an ability to have total flexibility with the medium of animation. With this philosophy in mind, Williams, and the various artists under his studio, created elaborate and breathtaking sequences over the years.
Williams was practically possessed by the pursuit of this project. Williams believed that the more pain and energy spent, and the harder the task, the more benefits one would gain. This sometimes made it difficult for the animators to finish scenes and sequences, as he often had a very definite idea of the scene in his mind and had them redone if they did not match up to his.
In the documentary, Williams notes that the project hindered his personal relationships — with his wife and children — and at times pushed his studio almost to the point of bankruptcy. For much of the time this project was developed, it was self-funded. This, too, proved a problem. Williams’ ideal was to make commercial work to fund his personal project. The intricacies of the film proved it difficult to complete on a self-made budget, and it was often pushed back to a side project because of commercial work.
After Williams gained critical success with his animation direction of the 1988 live action animation “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” “The Thief and the Cobbler” finally gained another financial backer in Warner Bros., giving it full production. There were many obstacles, however — the animation was highly involved in every visual sense. Many scenes made involved techniques and visuals that had never been attempted in animation before.
Many of the artists who worked at the Richard Williams studio mentioned that it could be a difficult and, more than often, stressful and pressuring environment. Despite this, several of those artists also learned very much. In their perspective, the experience made them strive to be better and made them all professionals at their craft.
However, the demanding atmosphere coupled with the length of the film made it difficult for the studio to complete the project by Warner Bros.’ deadline.
In the end, the film was not completed. Rather, it was taken to be completed by Warner Bros. It ended up as a radically different film, with characters and intentions changed. The main characters who were mute in the previous version now had dialogue, and there were musical-type songs incorporated to create a more mainstream animated feature. In spite of these changes, this version of the movie did not do well in theaters or to critical reception.
In a lecture hall of visual arts majors and many animation and illustration majors, the sadness the audience felt at that moment was tangible. When asked what he has learned about the animation industry from making this documentary, Schreck replied, “in some ways, it’s a different world from when Richard Williams was working in the latter half of the 20th century and how that industry functions today.”
He continued, “But one thing is certainly still true, that Williams eventually understood and described: ‘The golden rule is, whoever has the gold makes the rules.’ That’s why it’s an industry, for better and for worse.”
However, Williams continued to create meaningful things. Williams wrote a how-to book on animation which is still an essential book for anyone in the medium. This book includes the history of animation as well as advice and information applicable to multiple fields of animation.
Williams educates and inspires artists even today. Despite the end results of Williams’ dream, it still presents facets of hope. Salazar is not discouraged after hearing this lecture:
“The tragedy aside, this is easily one of the best things to come out of animation. Rather than taking it as a message of dread, it’s one of hope — a goal for animators everywhere. Not to make something as good, but one of to create something that you’re truly proud of while not forgetting yourself as an artist.”
This presents an important lesson for young artists. Schreck’s film, the story of a dream three decades in the making, is both tragic and hopeful. Each artist can achieve their personal goals. In spite of challenges artists of any age may face, they can continue building their craft and use their own style.
As Williams said, “you can do anything.”