First off, the Addams Family started of as cartoon characters in the comic "The Addams Family" from 1938- 1988. They were created by Charles Addams. The Addams Family gained their fame in 1964 when their TV show was shown on ABC. TV was in color at that time, but The Addams Family was filmed in black in white to give it a scarier look. Despite the high ratings and merchandise sales, the network cancelled the show after just 2 seasons because they wanted to move toward a more serious format. 64 episodes were made. Over the coarse of the 70's the actors who played the famous characters had several reunion TV specials. In 1973 a animated TV series premiered. However, the animated show did not do nearly as well as the live-action TV show and only had 1 season. In 1991, a feature film was put into theaters and received mixed reviews. It stared Angelica Houston, Christopher Lloyd, Raul Julia, and Christina Ricci. However, the box office was the 7th largest in 1991. In my personal opinion is that the movies were not that great. In 1992, another animated series aired once again, it was not a major success. In 1993 a sequel to the movie was released to theaters. This one had most of the same cast with the addition of Joan Cusak. The sequel did better than the first, but once again, in my opinion, not a great movie. In 1998, another love-action show called "The New Addams Family" was aired in Canada. Also in 1998, a third movie was released direct-to-video with a new cast. Most recently, in 2010, the Addams Family Musical opened on Broadway in New York City. Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth portray Gomez and Moritica.
So back to my video. I have known who the Addams Family are since I was little because somehow we got the movies and I loved them! However, after watching the TV show and then watching the movies again, I liked the show much better. So I had to do lots of research to make this film happen. I printed off pictures of all characters. I tried to make a mix of Charles Addam's cartoons, The 60's TV show and the movies to make the characters.I also rented both seasons of the TV show and observed behaviors and other things they do.
The theme song itself is only 0:53 seconds, so obviously, that was too short to make a decent video out of. I am not going to spend hours on a character and make so many characters to be put on the screen for 5 seconds each! So I ended up adding lots of audio sounds of my own to make the video longer. I stared it off with a women's scream and them a clap of thunder which added about 10 seconds to the video making it 1:03. Then the theme song plays and I downloaded the instrumental version to put at the end. Then at the very end of the song and instrumental I added an evil laugh. All of this added up made the video a little over 2 minutes. Thats about where I wanted it. So, the audio was done! ( I did this in July)
There will be a total of 11 characters in my video.
Morticia Addams-
A slim woman with pale skin, long black hair and a Gothic appearance, clad in a skin-tight black hobble gown with octopus-like tendrils at the hem. She adored her husband, Gomez, as deeply as he did her. You can often see her snipping buds and flowers off roses and keeping the stem. She can light a candle with the touch of a finger and is often seen feeding her carnivorous plant Cleopatra.
Gomez Addams-
Husband of Morticia and father of Wednesday and Pugsley, he is a very wealthy man who wears a black pinstriped suit. Gomez was remarkably athletic, his cigar lights the instant he drew it out of his breast pocket and extinguished when replaced, and he could perform complicated calculations in his head (making a mechanical sound as he did so). He often told time by reading the time from his wristwatch (which ran slow), then his pocket watch (which ran fast) and then calculating the difference between the two.
Fester Addams-
[Fester was a bald, barrel-shaped man with dark, sunken eyes and a devilish grin. He seemed to carry an electrical charge, as he could illuminate a light bulb by sticking it in his mouth. In the original television series, Fester was Morticia's uncle.
Wednesday Addams-
Wednesday was said to have been named after the phrase, "Wednesday's child is full of woe." from the poem Monday's Child Her middle name, Friday, corresponds to the 1887 version of the poem. In the TV show she was a sweet-natured, innocent, happy child, although she barely ever smiled. She was largely concerned with her fearsome pet spider, A favorite toy was her Marie Antoinette doll, which Pugsley had guillotined.
Pugsley Addams-
Pugsley is the oldest child of Morticia and Gomez Addams. He is a pre-teen boy (stated to be eight years old in the pilot episode) who is almost always seen wearing a striped T-shirt and shorts. Originally unnamed (as were all of the family members), the character who was apparently the prototype for Pugsley first appeared in the Charles Addams cartoons in The New Yorker during the 1930s. In this first incarnation, he was portrayed as a deviant child with a vicious nature, shown committing deplorable acts with his sister. In all incarnations, he is overweight. In the television series, Pugsley usually eats over five pieces of cake at birthday parties.
Grandmama Addams-
Grandmama is the maid of the Addams household, and is also a witch who deals in potions, spells, hexes, and even fortune-telling. Her trademarks were her shawl and grey, frizzy hair.
Pubert Addams-
Pubert Addams was not originally in Charles Addams cartoons or the 60's TV show. He was introduced in the 2nd feature film sequel in 1993. From the minute he was born he was an Addams. He was born with black hair and a Gomez-looking mustache. Above his cradle, he has a mobile made from meat knifes. In the movie he became very ill and changed from an Addams to a regular child with curly blonde hair and he enjoyed childrens books and normal children activities. Of course the family is distraught, but in the end he gets better and goes back to his Addams self. Pubert is referred to in the unrelated 1998 straight-to-video film Addams Family Reunion and the short-lived follow-up series that aired on Fox Family Channel, in which Wednesday stated that there used to be a third sibling, but that they ate it.
Cousin Itt-
Cousin Itt is a short-statured and has long hair that covered his entire body from scalp to floor. Cousin Itt drove a 3-wheeled car: a Messerschmitt KR175. He often wears a bowler hat on top of his head In episode 34 of season 1 of the original television series, when Gomez asked Cousin Itt what is underneath all the hair, Cousin Itt replies, "Roots!" He was known to speak in a high-pitched nonsensical gibberish that only the family seemed to understand, although in the "My Fair Cousin Itt" episode of the sitcom Morticia and Gomez taught Cousin Itt to speak in an understandable voice.
Baby What-
In the second movie, Cousin Itt has a child with new character Margaret. They name him "What" because of the obstetrician's reaction. He resembles Cousin Itt because he also is made of entirely hair. Instead of a bowler hat, has a pink pacifier.
Lurch-
Lurch is a tall, shambling, lugubrious butler who somewhat resembles Frankenstein's monster. On the Addams Family television series, Lurch has a deep, resonant voice. Although fully capable of normal speech, Lurch often communicates via simple inarticulate moans, which, much like the dialogue of Cousin Itt, his employers have no trouble understanding. The Addamses often comment that Lurch is eloquent and vivacious.
Thing-
Thing is a disembodied hand that lives with the Addams Family. Thing customarily emerges from a series of boxes, one in each room in the Addams' mansion, and the mailbox outside. He could travel from box to box in a matter of seconds without coming out of the box. He occasionally emerged from behind a curtain, within a plant pot, or elsewhere. In the films, thanks to advances in special effects, Thing is able to emerge and run on his fingertips, much like a spider. In my video, he will be able to move out of the box.
So that is all of the characters! The video will also include 4 sets:
- The outside of the Addams Mansion
- The inside will be the same as Count Von Count's set in Sesame Street
- A grand staircase inside
- A graveyard
So we went shopping for the video last week and got lots of gray and black colors. The characters will be made in color, but the video will be filmed in black and white. I got lots of fabrics, Halloween items, paper and more. The cost was about $70 for this video. My next post will be pictures and information about the making of the video! Talk to you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment