Peter Chung

Peter Chung was born on April 19, 1961. Since his father was in the foreign service of the Republic of Korea, he has lived in Seoul, London, Nairobi, Washington, D.C., New York and Tunis. His parents then immigrated to the United States; he lived in McLean, Virginia. Chung studied animation at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) from 1979 to 1981, one year at the Character Animation program, and another year in the program in Experimental Animation.

Chung started his animation career at a small animation studio in Maryland at the age of 18, working for animator and illustrator, Salvador Bru. From there, at age 19, he was designing characters for Hanna-Barbera. About this time he also started working on the layout and animation on Ralph Bakshi's Fire and Ice before being hired by Disney for feature development.{{Cite web|url=http://mubi.com/films/the-chronicles-of-riddick-dark-fury#|title = The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury}}

In addition to Æon Flux (3 seasons: 1991, 1992, 1995), Chung's directing credits include the Matriculated segment from The Animatrix, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. Chung served as lead character designer for the animated series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), C.O.P.S. (1988) Phantom 2040 (1994–1996) and Reign: The Conqueror (1999). The designs feature lean, angular characters inspired by the art of Egon Schiele, a look which has become Chung's trademark character design. He also, along with Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo, co-designed the characters in the Nickelodeon series Rugrats, and co-directed its pilot, "Tommy Pickles and The Great White Thing" and the opening sequence. In addition, in 2007, he directed the opening three-part episode for GameTaps' Revisioned: Tomb Raider, entitled "Keys to the Kingdom".

He has also directed some television advertisements – available at Peter Chung at Acme Filmworks[http://www.acmefilmworks.com/director/0/3/chung.html Peter Chung at Acme Filmworks] – including a Diet Pepsi advertisement featuring Cindy Crawford and Malcolm McDowell.

{{As of|2009}}, among other unannounced projects, he was working on a full-length animated feature entitled Luvula. He is also director of the television adaption of Firebreather for Cartoon Network.{{cite web|url=http://www.mania.com/chung-to-direct-firebreather-movie_article_113978.html|title=Chung to direct Firebreather movie|author=Rob M. Worley|date=2009-03-25|access-date=2010-11-09|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328104533/http://www.mania.com/chung-to-direct-firebreather-movie_article_113978.html|archive-date=2009-03-28}} Chung has also expressed interest in creating a new direct-to-video animated feature of Æon Flux.{{cite web|title= Aeon Flux DVD release on Tuesday|last=Chung|first=Peter|url=http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=59&threadid=67|publisher=ilxor.com/ILX/|access-date=5 April 2013}}

Chung names Japanese animation, German expressionism and European comics as his influence, in particular, the illustrative quality of the art that depends on expressive drawings instead of many surface details. He names in his influences expressionist Egon Schiele and comic artist Moebius.{{citation|url=http://www.avclub.com/article/peter-chung-13808|title=Peter Chung interview|author=Tasha Robinson|work=AV Club|date=April 30, 2003|access-date=June 25, 2016}} As narrative influence he names Kazuo Umezu, Sanpei Shirato, Osamu Tezuka, Jack Kirby, Moebius, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Schuiten and Peeters, Silvio Cadelo, Tatsuya Egawa, Geof Darrow and Frank Miller.{{cite periodical |url=http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.4/3.4pages/3.4chung.html |title=The State of Visual Narrative In Film And Comics |author=Peter Chung |periodical=Animation World Magazine |issue=4 |date=July 1998 |volume=3 |access-date=June 25, 2016}} He also names as influences, in no special order: David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Alain Resnais, Jean Cocteau, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Seijun Suzuki, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Yoshinori Kanada, Horst Janssen, and Frank Lloyd Wright.{{citation|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/05/22/interviewing-the-animatrix-part-2|title=Interviewing the Animatrix, Part 2|date=May 22, 2003|work=IGN|access-date=June 25, 2016}}

Chung's animation, particularly Æon Flux and Matriculated, tends toward the artistically and thematically experimental.

In the animation field, he admires Yoshinori Kanada, Koji Morimoto, and Igor Kovalyov.

Ralph Bakshi, one of the first to hire Chung, has stated that one of Chung's favorite artists is Toulouse-Lautrec.{{cite web| url = http://www.ralphbakshi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1517 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222231925/http://www.ralphbakshi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1517 |archive-date=2007-12-22 |title=Ralph Bakshi :: View topic - Bakshi Board {{sic|nolink=y|reason=error in source|Exlusive}} Interview #8}}

Chung was one of the artists that worked on the Underground roleplaying game (1993) from Mayfair Games, and author Shannon Appelcline felt that Aeon Flux "was a clear influence" on the game.{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons|publisher=Mongoose Publishing|year=2011| isbn= 978-1-907702-58-7|pages=169}}

In an April 2019 interview with Diego Molano, creator of Victor & Valentino, he said that he was fascinated with Chung's Aeon Flux and how he uses movement to tell a story even without dialogue.{{cite interview |last=Molano |first=Diego |interviewer=Animation Magazine staff |title=Animated People: Diego Molano, Creator of Cartoon Network's 'Victor and Valentino' |url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/animated-people/animated-people-diego-molano-creator-of-cartoon-networks-victor-and-valentino/ |publisher=Animation Magazine |location=Calabasas, California |date=April 25, 2019 |work= |access-date=September 25, 2020 |archive-date=April 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426051956/https://www.animationmagazine.net/animated-people/animated-people-diego-molano-creator-of-cartoon-networks-victor-and-valentino/ }} He even paused the show and put tracing paper over Chung's drawings, and then sold them at school, showing how Chung's style influenced him. Later, Chung would become the animation director on Victor & Valentino, which Molano was "greatly thankful for."

Chung has also been a participant in online forums, where users have asked him about his work and creative process. Two of the more prominent forums are ILX and Monican Spies.[https://web.archive.org/web/20071218172342/http://community.livejournal.com/monican_spies/ Monican Spies]

Chung currently teaches a Master Class at the Division of Animation and Digital Arts at the USC School of Cinematic Arts since Spring 2013.

• Fire and Ice (1983) (film) - Animator, layout artist
• The Transformers (1984) (TV series) - Storyboard artist
• The Transformers: The Movie (1986) (film) - Storyboard artist
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) (TV series) - Art direction, opening title design
• C.O.P.S. (1988) (TV series) - Character design, opening title direction, overseas animation supervision
• Ring Raiders (1989) (TV series) - Character design
• Rugrats (1991) (TV series) - Animator: main title animation, pilot, character design
• Phantom 2040 (1994) (TV series) - Character design
• Æon Flux (1995) (TV series) - Creator, director, producer, scripts, character design
• The Rugrats Movie (1998) (film) - Storyboards
• Alexander Senki (1999) aka Alexander the Great (international) and Reign: The Conqueror (USA) (TV series) - Character design and original design
• Party 7 (2000) (film) - Animator: credit sequence
• The Animatrix (2003) (short) (Matriculated segment) - Director, script, design
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) (OVA) - Director, character designer
• Revisioned: Tomb Raider (2007) (web series) (first episode which is split into 3 parts) - Director, script, design
• Firebreather (2010) (film) - Director
• Diablo III: Wrath{{citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEAPxgMCEA8|title=Diablo III: Wrath|date=May 8, 2012|work=YouTube|access-date=September 16, 2021}} (2012) (film) - Director
• Victor & Valentino (2019) (TV series) - Main title

{{Reflist}}

{{Wikiquote|Peter Chung}}

• {{IMDB name|id=0161285}}
• [http://www.acmefilmworks.com/director/0/3/chung.html# Peter Chung at Acme Filmworks]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070608131850/http://showcase.awn.com/showgallery.php?cat=523 AWN gallery]
• [http://www.catsuka.com/focuson_anim.php?id=chung_peter CATSUKA-Peter Chung] Detailed work history, as well as illustrations and videos of Chung's work. {{in lang|fr}}
• [http://www.lacinemathequedetoulouse.com/colloque/hybridation/intervenants/peter_chung_cv.html La Cinémathèque de Toulouse - Colloque] {{in lang|fr}}

• [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9189402391778445898 University of Michigan presentation] October 5, 2006.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165823/http://wiretap.area.com/Gopher/Library/Media/Tv/chung.iv Interview with Peter Chung by Ed Stastny]
• [http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/%20Aeon%20Flux%20creator%20Peter%20Chung/ Suicide Girls interview]
• [http://www.animationarena.com/chronicles-of-riddick-dark-fury.html Animation Arena Interview]. Done between the release of The Animatrix and Dark Fury.
• [http://brightlightsfilm.com/51/chungiv.htm Bright Lights Film interview]
• [http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/interview.asp?z=y&CTR=1058738 Barnes & Noble interview]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101104015121/http://community.livejournal.com/monican_spies/44607.html LJ monican spies interview] January 4, 2006.
• [https://formerpeople.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/aesthetics-in-flux-a-conversation-with-peter-chung/ Aesthetics in Flux: A Conversation with Peter Chung - Former People] February 28, 2014
• [http://www.thecollectivepodcast.com/#/134-peter-chung/ The Collective Podcast, Episode 134 — Peter Chung] August 15, 2016 – 2 hours, 22 mins

{{MTV Animation}}

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Category:1961 births

Category:Living people

Category:American film directors of Korean descent

Category:American animated film directors

Category:American storyboard artists

Category:American advertising directors

Category:American art directors

Category:American television writers

Category:American male television writers

Category:American television show creators

Category:California Institute of the Arts alumni

Category:Film and television title designers

Category:Primetime Emmy Award winners