blu rays dvd News | Ink & Pixel: The Secret of Nimh

Ink & Pixel is a source of pride and joy for me as a writer and as such, I’m always striving to take this column further for those who read and enjoy it. If you yourself, or anyone you know, helped to make any of the amazing feature animated films found within this column, I would love to talk to you to further my knowledge. Please contact me at steveseigh@joblo.com so we can discuss it further.

Back in the 1980’s, feature animation directors weren’t afraid of letting their love for the Horror genre shine. In a, now, overly cautious, media driven world, creators of animated film must be sure to meet every criteria set forth by the company presenting their film, or risk the loss of their vision altogether. But back in 1982, Don Bluth made his directorial debut with THE SECRET OF NIMH, a nightmarish film surrounded by themes of loss, mystical adventure, and the protection of one’s family in the most dire of circumstances.

Based on the 1971 children’s novel, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, THE SECRET OF NIMH is the story of a venturesome field mouse hoping to bring special medicines to her pneumonia-ridden child, Timothy, before the plows come and destroy her cinderblock home, buried within the ground of Fitzgibbons farm. Along the way, Mrs. Frisby (or Brisby, as the name of the character was later changed to avoid copyright infringement on the, then, popular children’s toy, The Frisbee) befriends a bumbling, good-hearted crow by the name of Jeremy (Dom DeLuis). The two unlikely companions set out to seek the wisdom of The Great Owl (John Carradine), who then instructs them to find Nicodemus (Derek Jacobi), the keeper of an amulet known as “The Stone”. The Stone is said to bestow magical capabilities when the wearer is at their most audacious. Though, in Mrs. Brisby’s way is a most sinister, and intellectually altered rat named Jenner (Paul Shenar), who has other plans for “The Stone” as well as the fate of Mrs. Brisby and her endangered family.

Produced by Aurora Pictures and distributed by United Artists, THE SECRET OF NIMH fell on many hard times during its production and was considered by many in the business to be the very definition of a film project born of true passion and sacrifice. With a budget of only 5.7 million dollars, the beginnings of the creative process behind THE SECRET OF NIMH first began inside of Don Bluth’s very own garage. Bluth, along with fellow animators Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy, and several others who had left the comforts of Disney Studios in hopes of creating a film that would return animation to it’s “golden age”, poured literally everything they had (including collectively mortgaging their own homes to cover the final costs of the film) into creating a memorable animated adventure.

Not content to employ some of the newer methods of feature animation, and wanting the film to have more of a traditional appeal, Bluth chose to build his film using the animation camera technique of rotoscoping. Rotoscoping is a filming method involving a multitude of passes on the camera to achieve transparent shadows. Light is then positioned behind the colored cells that are to be animated, giving them an iridescence or glow.

Picture, if you will, the sun roving across a series of stained glass windows, their transparent colored pieces illuminated, leaving you with a feeling of warmth and vivacity. A total of 46 lighting positions were rigged to match the 46 colors used to present the character of Mrs. Brisby during the making of the film. Many shots were anticipated as being so complex that the team had needed to construct two multiplane cameras to be sure that everything looked just right.

One of the most important steps when looking to create any feature film is the creation and organization of the film’s storyboard. The storyboard for an animated film can often be very rudimentary in its presentation, though, in most cases, especially in animation, a storyboard is the skeleton upon which the animators and artists must build from in order to have a completed body of work. In the case of THE SECRET OF NIMH, a total of 1.5 million hand drawn sketches were used in the composition of their completed storyboard for this film. I’ll say that again, so as to allow it to sink in … 1.5 million.

With more than 120 animators working diligently on THE SECRET OF NIMH, it was imperative that the team members be as true to their source material as possible. Many of the animators would go so far as to keep props on hand that were used by the characters within the film. By filming themselves and studying their own reflections inside of mirrors, the animators would study the movements necessary for the film. After being sure of the calculations behind each bone and muscle movement, the artists would then study the body language of the real life animals that coincided with the film’s characters. Applying the proper math to the limited movements of their tiny bodies lent to the film’s authenticity and true to life feel.

In order to bring an animated feature to life, the art of the film must first be drawn, but then transposed onto special sheets of clear plastic, called cels. After being electromagnetically photocopied by a special device, these sheets are then layered, one on top of the other, each one of them adding to the completion of the desired scene.

Often times in early animated features, one can tell exactly where the cels line up with one another, as the objects that are used within the scene often give off a slight glow that outlines the object to the naked eye. Animators do their best to reduce the obviousness of these tell-tale signs of movie magic, but a trained eye will still be able to spot them each and every time. For example, in the case of Mr Ages’ laboratory, a total of 96 objects, each containing their own individual cel, can be spotted inside of a single shot.

Of the 600 colors used in creating the film 500 of them were fabricated specifically for the film. THE SECRET OF NIMH boasts a total of nearly 1,000 true to life paintings. Each one of them had been hand drawn and painted from various locations found within mother nature.

With all of this amazing artistry and attention to detail floating around, it’s only a matter of time before we talk about the film’s score. Bluth, careful to be sure that the music of his film be just right, sought the talents of 70 musicians from London’s National Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as, 16 members of the Ambrosian Singers.

Accompanying these arrangements of sound were a number of nature recordings recorded by various members of the crew. Sometimes, the crew would arrange hiking trips that took them far up into the hills in search of the very animals they were tasked with animating. All manner of animal were recorded and then mixed down into the films soundtrack. Could you imagine laying awake all night, freezing your ass off inside your sleeping bag, in the hopes of getting a clean and usable recording of an owl’s chilling hoot? Dedication is paramount if you want your project to be as authentic as possible.

Despite only making $14,665,733 during its box-office run, THE SECRET OF NIMH is hailed as a visual masterpiece amongst critics and long time fans of animation. Garnering a tremendous 95% "certified fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has stood the test of time amongst its fans and is still cherished to this very day.

Source: The Digital Dorm