Search - Proteus on DVD

All creatures great & small

Peter A. Savigny | White Plains, NY | 09/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As an avid fan of sequenced graphics used to animate a story-line, this 20 year labor of love tells the tale of the radiolarian discovered(?) and lavishly illustrated (4000 drawings) by Ernst Haeckel. As fantastic as the story is in describing the effect that this single-celled organism had on the world of its time, it is the behind the scenes making-of by the director that reveals a dedicated researcher and phenomenally patient compositor. I started my career in animation & then computer graphics some 20 years ago, and know full well the tedium that single frame animation places on the animator prior to computer aided pieces. Add to that a fabulous and captivating story, plus brilliant displays of this unique and unequaled protozoan, and the viewer will be transported to a time where discoveries opened the minds and hearts of a curious population. A must see.

Please buy this and do not try to download it for free anywhere. The effort that went in to producing this by the solo editor, writer, animator should be aptly rewarded with as much capital as possible."

Cabinet of Curiosities

Gerard D. Launay | Berkeley, California | 05/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This movie could only be made because two individuals made it their mission to do the impossible. First, we have Ernst Haeckel, the zoologist, who became fascinated by the symmetrical structure of single celled organisms and discovered thousands of new species. Then he undertook the Herculean task of drawing all these different types that he viewed under his microscope. Then we have the filmmaker who decided to painstakingly photograph a thousand of these wonderful drawings of nature, turn them into animation cells, and produce a kaleidoscopic visual feast of their nearly infinite variety.

The first task was completed in about a decade...the second task two decades. So the final product is simply astonishing. Along with the
visuals of these extraordinary protozoan structures is a biography of Ernst Haeckel himself and the relationship of his scientific journey to the metaphysical journey of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his poem of the "Ancient Mariner."

Consider this a unique DVD - nothing like it has ever been made and will be made."