Remembering The SUPERMAN 75th Anniversary Animated Short With Director Jay Oliva

Remembering The SUPERMAN 75th Anniversary Animated Short With Director Jay Oliva

When Superman turned 75 , Warner Bros. wanted to commemorate the occasion with something special: a spectacular animated short that covered seven and a half decades of the Man of Steel in just two minutes.

By EdGross - Mar 03, 2021 06:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Superman

Initially developed by animation maestro Bruce Timm, it was frequent animated film director Jay Oliva who came in to serve as director, storyboard artist and producer of the Superman short.

Over at Toonado, he begins a series of discussions in which he takes a detailed look at the making of it, which beautifully captures a variety of styles as things unfold first to the iconic theme created by John Williams for Superman: The Movie, and then by Han Zimmer’s theme from Man of Steel.

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“By the time I got involved, there had already been the initial pitch where all the landmarks they wanted to hit had been decided on,” says Oliva. “So I got all of this information, sat down in font of my computer and thought to myself, ‘How do I track all of this together?’ I realized early on it had to be the John Williams theme almost all the way through. They looked into it with legal and said, ‘Yeah, we can use the theme and it’s actually not very expensive for us to use it.’

So that was cool. As soon as I knew we got that in, I said we’re going to stick to the John Williams theme, because I told them I would be story boarding to the music. What this meant was that all of the transitions and all of the switches from one decade to another would be based on the music. That’s why I wanted to start with Action Comics No. 1 and then, as soon as the music hit, you would go with the animation.”

To watch the 75th anniversary short, and MUCH more, click HERE!

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GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 3/3/2021, 7:04 AM
Someone might as well post this. De rien.

Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 3/3/2021, 7:07 AM
I loved this short, was hoping we would get something similar for his 80th birthday as well.

Damn, if i play my cards right, i'd be able to witness his 100th anniversary, same for Batman and as a big Supes/Bat fan that's...awesome! :D

Like, so many fans never got to read the #1000 issue of Action Comics/Detective Comics.
It's such a silly thing but my nerd ass mind goes there sometimes. :P
RolandD
RolandD - 3/3/2021, 8:31 AM
I didn't see this short until now. Well done. I only wish that they had included the theme from Adventures of Superman somehow, especially since there was a transition to the theme from MoS. I didn't realize how iconic that theme had become for me until it started playing, but you gotta love John Williams Superman theme, though.
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 3/3/2021, 9:57 AM
That short was truly magical and to this day, features the most faithful adaption of The Death of Superman. In just 5 seconds it showed more potential than DC animation's entire 2-part film.



^^^THIS is what The Death of Superman should have looked like. Not that New 52 shit.
Super12
Super12 - 3/3/2021, 11:26 AM
This is actually quite a masterpiece. So much comic book history packed into each frame. I wish they'd have done one for Batman and Wonder Woman too, but if anyone deserves it its Supes.
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