Odyssey Productions (formerly Odyssey Visual Design) is the former name of a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

-based photography and 3-D computer animation company founded in 1983 by Steven Churchill. It was the first

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

company to produce 3D computer animation and its clients have included

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General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

Union Oil Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

, Southwestern Cable, Metrocast,

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, and a number of TV stations across the country.Steven Churchill's Homepage
/ref> While Odyssey focused primarily on 35mm back-lit motion graphics and special effects for the first 3 years of its existence, its production of the world's first computer animation film festival in 1986 brought about a shift in focus to 3D computer animation. That exhibition was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, California, followed by a second CGI film festival at the same venue in 1987. In 1988 nation-wide distribution was arranged with Landmark Theatres, showcasing the best of those films. The purpose was to raise public awareness of computer animation as an art form. In 1988 Steven Churchill produced the award-winning release of the world's first home entertainment video of computer animation, ''State Of the Art Of Computer Animation.'' The video won the "Best Video Art" award from the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

at their American Video Conference Awards Show that year. The accolades and sales successes achieved by ''State Of the Art Of Computer Animation'' prompted the 1990 release of ''The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey'', a title that would become the first member of the successful '' The Mind's Eye'' series. The next decade (1990–2000) would be taken up almost entirely with the production of 19 feature-length 3D computer-animated package films for home release. The company's name became Odyssey Productions in 1995 and the last 12 computer animation films were released under this name. In 2003 the company again changed its name to AnimationTrip and broadened its focus to encompass photography to a greater extent. Under this new corporate name, the company added a business enterprise in 2004 focused primarily on photographic art and has launched a series of international art exhibitions in San Diego, California called the ''Art of Photography Show'' and the ''Art of Digital Show''. Since 2006, exhibiting photographic art and promoting photo artists has been the full focus of the business. In 2010 the company was named PhotoCulture, Inc.

''The Mind's Eye'' series

The ''Mind's Eye'' series consists of several package

art film An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...

s rendered using

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...

of varying levels of sophistication. The main series consists of 4 titles that were released between 1990 and 1996. The series was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

(by

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations Music publishing companies * Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 ** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that was pur ...

) and

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

(by

Image Entertainment RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 34 ...

''Business Wire''
"Image Entertainment Signs Exclusive Agreement With Odyssey Productions for DVD and VHS Release of State-of-the-Art Computer Animation Programs"
Aug 18, 1999.) and later re-released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

(by

Simitar Entertainment Simitar Entertainment, Inc. was an American media company that sold music, videos, DVDs, and computer software. The company specialized in compilation albums, special interest video, and urban media. Simitar also distributed its own label. Hist ...

). A number of Odyssey's videos additionally contain oblique references to the ''Mind's Eye'' series in their titles. These references are found in the tagline portions of the title and take the form of either "From the Makers of the Mind's Eye" or "The Mind's Eye Presents." The main series consists of: *''The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey'' (1990) *''Beyond the Mind's Eye'' (1992) *''The Gate to the Mind's Eye'' (1994) *''Odyssey Into The Mind's Eye'' (1996)

The ''Computer Animation'' series

Like the ''Mind's Eye'' series, the ''Computer Animation'' series consists of a main series of 3 computer-generated package films. The main ''Computer Animation'' series was released between 1993 and 1996 and was distributed by Sony Music Video.Olson, Catherine Applefeld. ''Reviews & Previews: Home Video''.

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

. Pg. 87. 27 July 1996. The 1997 release of ''Computer Animation Classics'' - consisting of 27 shorts from early experimental years of

CGI animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern c ...

- was regarded by reviewers as a collector's item of historical significance.Olson, Catherine Applefeld. ''Reviews & Previews: Home Video''.

. Pg. 67. 12 April 1997. As before, a number of Odyssey's videos contain oblique references to the ''Computer Animation'' series in their titles. If these titles are considered a part of the series, this puts the total number of ''Computer Animation'' series titles at 11. This includes both ''State Of the Art Of Computer Animation'' (1988) and ''The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey'' (1990) which were produced prior to ''Computer Animation Festival Volume 1.0'', the first member of the ''Computer Animation'' main series. The main series consists of: *''Computer Animation Festival Volume 1.0'' (1993) *''Computer Animation Festival Volume 2.0'' (1994) *''Computer Animation Festival'' (1996)

Released Films

Odyssey has produced the following 28 titles since its founding in 1983.

Odyssey Visual Design

*1988 - ''State Of the Art Of Computer Animation Volume 1'' *1990 - '' The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey'' *1991 - ''State Of the Art Of Computer Animation Volume 2'' *1991 - '' The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey'' (

Radio Shack RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer that was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, which shifted its focus from ma ...

version) *1992 - ''

Beyond the Mind's Eye The ''Mind's Eye'' series consists of several art films rendered using computer-generated imagery of varying levels of sophistication, with original music scored note-to-frame. The series was conceived by Steven Churchill of Odyssey Productions ...

'' *1993 - ''Virtual Nature: A Computer Generated Visual Odyssey'' *1993 - ''

'' (

version) *1993 - ''Computer Animation Festival Volume 1.0'' *1993 - ''Computer Animation Collection'' *1994 - '' The Gate to the Mind's Eye'' *1994 - ''Imaginaria'' (co-produced with BMG Video) *1994 - ''Computer Animation Festival Volume 2.0'' *1994 - ''Cybervisions'' *1994 - ''Future Visions''

Odyssey Productions

*1996 - ''

Odyssey Into The Mind's Eye The ''Mind's Eye'' series consists of several art films rendered using computer-generated imagery of varying levels of sophistication, with original music scored note-to-frame. The series was conceived by Steven Churchill of Odyssey Productions ...

'' (distributed by Sony Music Video) - A series of CGI shorts exploring themes of space and alien life. The collection features a score composed by

Kerry Livgren Kerry Allen Livgren (born September 18, 1949) is an American musician, best known as one of the founding members and primary songwriters for the American rock band Kansas. Livgren, raised in Topeka, Kansas, developed an early interest in musi ...

*1996 - ''Computer Animation Festival'' *1997 - ''

Turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...

'' (distributed by SMV) - A series of CGI shorts designed to explore the concepts of

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

and

hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the compelling sense of reality. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming ( REM sleep), which does not involve wakefulness; pse ...

. *1997 - ''Cyberscape: A Computer Animation Vision'' 45 minutes entirely created and co-produced by award-winning computer animator

Beny Tchaicovsky Beny Tchaicovsky (1954–2009) was a painter, musician and a multimedia computer artist. Tchaicovsky's paintings have been exhibited internationally in museums such as the Luxembourg Museum in Paris with the 1989 show "Les Trois Amériques à Par ...

, a surrealistic, fantastical "recreation" of the milestones of human history, spanning from primordial proto-humans to the idiosyncrasies of modern living. Music score by Peter Bernstein. *1997 - ''Computer Animation Classics'' (distributed by SMV) - A collection of 27 shorts from the early experimental days of CGI. *1997 - ''Computer Animation Showcase'' (distributed by SMV) *1998 - '' Luminous Visions'' *1999 - ''Computer Animation Celebration'' (distributed by SMV) *1999 - ''Ancient Alien'' (distributed by SMV)Olson, Catherine Applefeld. ''Reviews & Previews: Home Video''.

. Pg. 26. 23 May 1998. - A series of CGI shorts dealing with the concept of the timeless nature of myth. The soundtrack is scored by indie label

Waveform Records Waveform Records is an American record label founded in 1994 in Sedona, Arizona with subsequent relocations in the San Francisco Bay Area in Mill Valley, Austin, San Diego and is currently now based in Maui. Waveform specializes in a "sensual and s ...

. *1999 - ''Computer Animation Marvels'' *2000 - ''Little Bytes'' *2000 - ''Computer Animation Extravaganza'' *2004 - ''Computer Animation Journeys'' *2005 - ''Computer Animation Fantasies''

References

{{Authority control Computer-animated films Computer animation