The Last Time

I had known Vinny since the summer of 1974 when I was hired full-time at Perpetual Motion Pictures and was working on my first assignment, a sales film for Cortauld’s Rayon. I had already been working at Perpetual as an intern and had done some small animated bits for them as well as a student film at RISD. But this was a 3-minute professional film that I was responsible for. 

Vinny had worked with both Hal Silvermintz and Buzz Potamkin when they all worked at Stars and Stripes Forever Productions (before Hal and Buzz left to form Perpetual) and was now free-lancing at Perpetual since Stars and Stripes closed.

Because I had learned my type of animation on my own, Vinny helped me with the basics of animation that I had never knew– how to flip on bottom pegs, read a timing chart, inbetweening.

We grew to be close friends and eventually creative partners and owners of Buzzco Associates.

His death was a massive loss and unexpected. 

And I could only do what I’ve always done– make a movie about it.

I began with the lyrics… then Lanny wrote the beautiful song… and then I did the storyboard and layouts– all done within the first weeks after Vinny’s death and this mourning period would turn out to be the only way I could capture the emotion in real time and help me cope.

I also had amazing help from surprising sources. Rick Broas, who had worked with Vinny and me since 1999, was much more plugged into the evolving technology. He suggested we work directly on the computer with Toonboom so we wouldn’t have to rely on scanning paper or work in the then very buggy Flash. And to work on Wacom’s new tablet, Cintiq, which would allow us to work directly on the screen. Toonboom gave me a free limited license and Curious Pictures lent us two Cintiqs they weren’t using at the time. So it also gave us the means to make the film and work after.

There was a lot of sadness in making the film, but satisfaction in doing it and I felt Vinny’s presence throughout. It premiered at Tribeca when members of Vinny’s family could attend, and was shown at the Annecy International Animation Festival the following summer during the presentation of “Le Grand Sommeil”-- their tribute to animators who have passed.