By C_Andrew_Nelson
Aaarrr! Thar be pirates ahead!
C. Andrew Nelson has teamed up with his good friend Jerry Cornell’s company, Theme Parkology, to create the definitive documentary on the classic Disney theme park attraction Pirates of the Caribbean. Andrew is serving as editor and animator for the project.
“How could I possibly pass up this opportunity,” states Andrew regarding the upcoming DVD release. “I would not have the career that I’ve had in the entertainment industry if it weren’t for Disneyland.” Andrew says that at the tender young age of six he visited Walt Disney’s original theme park in Anaheim, CA for the very first time. It was a life-changing event.
“In a situation like that I think “most six-year-olds would be buying into the magic of it all and gushing over getting to meet Mickey Mouse in person, but not me,” explains Andrew. “Even at that young age I understood that it was purely show, yet what a tremendous show! I was instantly enthralled, and I wanted to know how they did it. Pirates of the Caribbean in particular impressed me. I needed to know how they created all those effects. It was my artistic awakening which lead to me becoming a performer, animator, and VFX artist.”
When Andrew’s good friend Jerry Cornell, who produces documentaries about theme park attractions through his company Theme Parkology, told him about his plans to profile the Pirates ride in an upcoming release and wondered if he would be interested in working on it, Andrew jumped at the chance. “Some projects you just have an instant affinity for and connection with,” Andrew relates, “This was one of those projects. I love what Jerry does with Theme Parkology and having the chance to help him document the E ticket of all E tickets was too good to pass up.”
C. Andrew Nelson and Jerry Cornell hope to premiere portions of Theme Parkology’s Pirates of the Caribbean documentary at this years annual Mouse-Con convention in South San Francisco, CA on November 5th, 2017.
Theme Parkology:
https://www.themeparkology.com/
Mouse-Con:
http://mouse-con.com/
By C_Andrew_Nelson
C. Andrew Nelson has been tapped as a visual effects adviser for the film CRASH – The Life & Times of Ray “Crash” Corrigan. The feature, which is currently in development by indie mogul Craig Scott Lamb, tells the amazing and almost unbelievable true-life story of actor Ray “Crash” Corrigan. Corrigan was the star of numerous movie serials, westerns, and feature films all throughout the heyday of classic Hollywood. A larger than life character, Corrigan was friends with the likes of Clark Gable and was a much sought after stuntman and expert ape suit performer as well.
“The incredible challenge for a film like this,” says Nelson, “is that so much of the story takes place in and around Hollywood of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. Sadly, very little of that Hollywood still exists or if it does it doesn’t look quite the same. My job is to figure out how through today’s VFX technology we can recreate that Hollywood of yesteryear without it being obvious.”
Nelson says a project like this takes careful planning and lots of creativity. “Unlike a Transformers or Avengers movie where a good chunk of the box office draw is to see the effects, on a film like Crash we need to be very clever and very subtle. The effects are there only to support the story, not to be the star of it. All we want to do is recreate the time period in a totally believable way so that viewers immediately accept that they have been transported back to old Hollywood. The moment an audience is aware of the effects we’ve lost that audience. Our goal is to make it look like all we did was go on location and set up some cameras to shoot. If people leave the theater saying to themselves, ‘Hmm…I didn’t know that place was still around,’ then we’ve done our job right.”
Also on board for the project are Oscar winning make-up maestro Chris Walas and legendary ape suit expert Bob Burns. “It’s an honor to be working in such esteemed company as these guys and everyone involved in this film. We each watched a lot of Corrigan’s films growing up. Ray’s life story has never been told on film and it’s a story that needs to be told. We’re all very jazzed to be working on it.”
Check back here soon for more info on this terrific project.