Scene 3-J/K/L.
Original storyboard art by Carlos Aldana (aka Carl Aldana) for "Big Top Pee-wee" (Paramount Pictures 1988). Pencil, ink and watercolor on heavy paper/card stock, 8½x11 inches.
It's a double-whammy for SCVHistory. The title character is played by a local college graduate, and the film was shot at multiple Santa Clarita Valley locations.
"Big Top Pee-wee" is written and co-produced by its star, Paul Reubens (born Paul Rubenfeld, August 27, 1952), who attended
Calfornia Institute of the Arts in Valencia in the
early 1970s and came away with a bachelor of fine arts degree in theatre.
Released July 22, 1988, as a sequel to 1985's "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," "Big Top Pee-wee" was shot in part at Disney's Golden Oak Ranch in Placerita Canyon,
and also at the Hart High School auditorium. Tents for the picture were provided by DeWayne Bros. Circus.
Storyboard artist Carl Aldana is listed as a set designer on the film. Aldana was born in 1938 in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and emigrated with his
mother in 1944 to Vallejo, Calif., which he has described as "a small, blue collar town full of Navy war workers."
"We had just come from a brightly colored provincial civilization to an energetic up-to-the minute culture, engaged in a world-wide-war
and covered with soot from the effort," he writes. That clash of hues — the "Technicolored Central American country" of his birth,
versus the subdued tones of an adopted country emerging from war — "has been the basis for much of my work, either exaggerating the color or understating it."
It continues to influence the fine art he produces in the second decade of the 21st century.
Aldana's first film credit came in 1982 (as production illustrator); his last in 2001 (as storyboard artist). His screen credits include:
Art Department
2001 Joy Ride (storyboard artist)
2000 Vertical Limit (storyboard artist)
2000 The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (storyboard artist)
1998 Pleasantville (illustrator)
1995 The American President (production illustrator)
1995 Three Wishes (illustrator)
1995 Outbreak (production illustrator)
1994 Legends of the Fall (production illustrator)
1994 Miracle on 34th Street (production illustrator)
1994 Baby's Day Out (illustrator)
1993 In the Line of Fire (storyboard artist)
1993 Jack the Bear (sketch artist)
1992 Toys (illustrator)
1991 True Identity (production illustrator)
1991 The Five Heartbeats (storyboard artist)
1990 Joe Versus the Volcano (production illustrator)
1989 Enemies: A Love Story (storyboard artist: New York)
1989 She's Out of Control (illustrator)
1988 18 Again! (storyboard artist)
1987 Jaws: The Revenge (production illustrator)
1987 Dragnet (production illustrator)
1987 Some Kind of Wonderful (illustrator)
1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off (production illustrator)
1986 Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (illustrator)
1985 Head Office (storyboard artist)
1984 The Last Starfighter (illustrator)
1983 Valley Girl (assistant art director)
1982 Halloween III: Season of the Witch (illustrator)
1982 The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (production illustrator)
Special effects
1986 Solarbabies (special effects illustrator)
Art director
1997 Air Force One