Max Winston seems to be a lover of the natural world – of all things serene and beautiful and heavenly – but he’s also unafraid to destroy that beauty and reveal the bloody carnage and weird behavior that lies within. Spectacular.
As we can see in this animation test for a Nickelodeon pilot, “The Woods”, Max is a gifted artist in many arenas – direction, design, animation, comedy, dramatic pauses – but unfortunately, for some odd reason, you won’t see this on air. And while I cut off my access to cable TV, I would definitely revive it long enough to catch episodes of Max’s show (sidled with a revived Mr. Meaty) if available.
“The Woods” obviously isn’t student work, but some of the storyline was pulled from his exceptional CalArts grad short, “I Live in the Woods!”, which was never posted here – until now. After an extremely long and successful run on the festival circuit, this masterpiece finally made it online last year for all to see. Let’s revisit it:
(Warning: Gore and gratuitous violence in all its splendid glory.)
Also see:
• A process video + trailer for “I Live in the Woods!”
• Max’s personal notes on “I Live in the Woods” + development art for “The Woods” at the Magical Mountain of Mush!
• An interview with Winston at Short of the Week.