Mind's Eye (film series)

The Mind's Eye series consists of several art films rendered using computer-generated imagery of varying levels of sophistication, with original music scored note-to-frame. The series was conceived by Steven Churchill in 1990. It was produced, directed, conceptualized and edited by Jan Nickman of Miramar Productions and produced by Steven Churchill of Odyssey Productions. The first three products in the series were released on VHS (by BMG) and LaserDisc (by Image Entertainment[1]) and also released on DVD (by Simitar Entertainment). The fourth program in the series was released and distributed by Sony Music on DVD.

LaserDisc

Overview

The typical entry in the Mind's Eye series is a short package film, usually 50 to 60 minutes long, with an electronic music soundtrack over a series of music video-like sequences. The original film, titled The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey by director and co-producer Jan Nickman and co-producer Steven Churchill, consisted of a non-rigid structure of many semi-related sequences. The general style which characterizes the series is light and cartoony due to the difficulty of rendering more complicated images using the computers of the day.

The computer animation sequences that appeared in the films were generally not produced specifically for the Mind's Eye series but rather were work originally created for other purposes, including demo reels, commercials, music videos, and feature films. Director and co-producer Jan Nickman then assembled these sequences into a narrative through creative editing, which resulted in a double platinum selling film considered to be a milestone in the field of computer animation. As a result, "The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey" reached #12 on Billboard's video hits chart. This approach gave Churchill access to the best-quality computer graphics of the time without having to bear their substantial production costs.

The soundtracks for the films were composed by James Reynolds, Thomas Dolby, Jan Hammer and Kerry Livgren (founder and guitarist for Kansas).[2]

Films

The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey (Miramar Images, Inc.) was the first effort by director and co-producer Jan Nickman which served as a demonstration of computer animation when the art-form was still in its relative infancy. It is composed of a sequence of segments ambitiously chronicling the formation of Earth ("Creation"), the rise of human civilizations ("Civilization Rising"), and the technological advances of humanity from the advent of agriculture to the future exploration of the cosmos. The video speculatively concludes with a segment of what might be the next sentient species to arise on Earth, as well as the CGI short Stanley and Stella in: Breaking the Ice. The soundtrack was composed by James Reynolds. The sales of this video were RIAA certified as "Multi-Platinum" and reached as high as #12 on Billboard's video sales chart. Release Date: September 25, 1990

Beyond the Mind's Eye (Miramar Images, Inc.) featured the efforts of Jan Hammer and included the first vocal tracks in such segments as Too Far and Seeds of Life, a sequence themed around planet-colonizing seeds featuring the noted Panspermia by computer graphics artist Karl Sims. The DVD version included both the vocal version of Seeds of Life (sung by Chris Thompson) that blended the animation segment and footage of Hammer and his "band" performing (composed of four Jan Hammers), with an instrumental version of the same track. Some scenes of Beyond the Mind's Eye were originally created for the arcade lasergame Cube Quest produced by Simutrek in 1983. Beyond the Mind's Eye also features some CGI sequences from The Lawnmower Man. The DVD contains 11 segments. The sales of this video were RIAA certified as "Multi-Platinum" and reached as high as #8 on Billboard's video sales chart. Release Date: December 23, 1992

The Gate to the Mind's Eye (Miramar Images, Inc.) continued the trend of vocal tracks, along with music by Thomas Dolby. Five of its nine segments include vocal tracks: Armageddon, a sequence depicting massive devastation; Neo, an astronomy-themed song; Valley of the Mind's Eye, a song about the progress of human technology; Nuvogue, the first jazz track in the series; Quantum Mechanic starring guest vocalist Dr. Fiorella Terenzi. The Gate to the Mind's Eye also featured the animations Delirium Tremendus, God and the Quantum and Synchronicity produced and conceptualized by visionary artist Beny Tchaicovsky. Release Date: June 30, 1994

Odyssey Into The Mind's Eye (Odyssey Productions) features a soundtrack by Kerry Livgren and two more vocal tracks, One Dark World (sung by Darren Rogers) and Aspen Moon (sung by Livgren's nephew Jacob).[3] Odyssey Into The Mind's Eye features versions of CGI sequences from Johnny Mnemonic, Ecco: The Tides of Time and also features CGI sequences from '"Cyberscape" a 45 minutes computer animation vision produced and copyrighted by visionary artist Beny Tchaicovsky, released on VHS and DVD by Sony Music in 1997. Release Date: July 12, 1996

Spin-off titles and others

Concurrently with the release of the Mind's Eye series, Churchill also released a series of titles such as Virtual Nature: A Computer Generated Visual Odyssey From the Makers of the Mind's Eye (Odyssey Visual Design, 1993) that obliquely referenced the series. This sister-series of videos continued after the release of Odyssey Into The Mind's Eye with the final three titles: The Mind's Eye Presents Luminous Visions (Odyssey Productions, April 24, 1998) and The Mind's Eye Presents Ancient Alien (Odyssey Productions, July 10, 1998), and The Mind's Eye Presents Little Bytes (Odyssey Productions, July 25, 2000).

Other Anthology films released by Churchill such as Imaginaria (Odyssey Visual Design, December 21, 1993), and Turbulence (Odyssey Productions, March 16, 1996) did not include the term "The Mind's Eye" as part of their titles and are thus not considered to be a part of the series. Churchill's most recent releases have been members of the 8-member Computer Animation series which ran from 1996 to 2000 with Computer Animation Festival Volume 1.0 (Odyssey Visual Design, November 5, 1993), Computer Animation Festival Volume 2.0 (Odyssey Visual Design, September 2, 1994), and Computer Animation Festival Volume 3.0 (Odyssey Productions, July 12, 1996) forming the main series. The subsequent three Computer Animation titles again included oblique references to Mind's Eye and are entitled The Mind's Eye Presents Computer Animation Classics (Odyssey Productions, May 6, 1997), The Mind's Eye Presents Computer Animation Showcase (Odyssey Productions, August 29, 1997), and The Mind's Eye Presents Computer Animation Celebration (Odyssey Productions, May 1, 1998). The last two members in the series are Computer Animation Marvels (Odyssey Productions, July 23, 1999) and Computer Animation Extravaganza (Odyssey Productions, August 18, 2000).[4]

A second sister-series obliquely referencing Computer Animation is formed by the original Mind's Eye video and Cyberscape: A Computer Animation Vision (August 28, 1997, co-produced by Zoe Productions and Odyssey Productions), a surreal animation on the history of the evolution of human life and thought by award-winning visionary artist Beny Tchaicovsky.[5]

Reception and adaptations

Beyond the Mind's Eye was a bestseller in the US when it was originally released on VHS and LaserDisc. Roger Ebert selected it as his "Video Pick of the Week" on the week of December 23, 1992 on Siskel & Ebert.

Several excerpts from The Mind's Eye were seen in the 1992 Sci-fi Horror film The Lawnmower Man, which itself was featured in Beyond the Mind's Eye. The Mind's Eye and Beyond the Mind's Eye were both integral components in YTV's Short Circutz segments that aired between programs in the 1990s. Canadian independent television station NTV airs excerpts from the first three of The Mind's Eye videos among their "Computer Animated Art Festivals" that run overnight on Fridays.

Pantera covered the song "Planet Caravan", originally by Black Sabbath, on their 1994 album Far Beyond Driven. The music video for this song features scenes from "Beyond the Mind's Eye".

References
  1. Business Wire. "Image Entertainment Signs Exclusive Agreement With Odyssey Productions for DVD and VHS Release of State-of-the-Art Computer Animation Programs". Aug 18, 1999.
  2. Fitzpatrick, Eileen. Computer Animation Reaches a Growing Niche. Billboard. Pg. 70. 18 October 1997.
  3. Pell City, AL Library entry
  4. Chen, Chun-Wei. Parsons Animation and Digital Video Festival. "Comic Studio: Research Paper" - References Archived 2012-06-30 at Archive.today. Dec 9, 2002.
  5. SIGGRAPH '97 Newsletter
The Mind's Eye
The Mind's Eye at IMDb
The Mind's Eye at AllMovie
The Mind's Eye is available for free download at the Internet Archive
Beyond the Mind's Eye
Beyond the Mind's Eye at IMDb
Beyond the Mind's Eye at AllMovie
Beyond the Mind's Eye is available for free download at the Internet Archive
The Gate to the Mind's Eye
The Gate to the Mind's Eye at IMDb
The Gate to the Mind's Eye at AllMovie
The Gate to the Mind's Eye is available for free download at the Internet Archive
Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye
Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye at IMDb
Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye at AllMovie
Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye is available for free download at the Internet Archive
Luminous Visions
Luminous Visions at IMDb
Luminous Visions at AllMovie
Ancient Alien
Ancient Alien at IMDb
Ancient Alien at AllMovie
Virtual Nature
Virtual Nature is available for free download at the Internet Archive
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