Jesse Owens on American Experience

I am hoping anyone reading this will watch American Experience on May 1st. yes it's a great documentary but my reasons are purely selfish I'm afraid to say. I did mega loads of work on this. Retouching and animating photos in 3D space, restoring and animating posters and magazine covers, recreating and restoring headlines... just tons of work. I haven't seen the final version yet so I don't know how much of my work is still in there but the shear volume says... it's a lot. If you look at the case and crew listing, I'm under "Graphics" with my partner on this project, Alton Christensen.

And please, feel free to tell me what you thought about it... good or bad.

Check your local PBS station for the time but it seems to be playing at 8 pm here and on the east coast.

Show description:
The most famous athlete of his time, his stunning triumph at the 1936 Olympic Games captivated the world even as it infuriated the Nazis. Despite the racial slurs he endured, Jesse Owens' grace and athleticism rallied crowds across the globe. But when the four-time Olympic gold medalist returned home, he could not even ride in the front of a bus. The story of the 22-year-old son of a sharecropper who triumphed over adversity to become a hero and world champion, Jesse Owens is also about the elusive, fleeting quality of fame and the way Americans idolize athletes when they suit our purpose, and forget them once they don't.

American Experience

I've had the privilege of working on the PBS show "American Experience" a couple of times restoring and preparing photos for video as well as some animations with photos. Last year I worked extensively on the episode "Triangle Fire" and somehow, forgot to mention it in my blog.

The doc was made for the 100th anniversary of the terrible fire that took the lives of many young female workers and forever changed safety regulations throughout the United States. It is also a very important reminder in this period of time of why unions are important for not just salary needs, but safety needs as well.

See it on the PBS website.