Top Image Courtesy of the Telegraph<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n As any filmmaker will tell you, we all have a list of our favorite directors.<\/strong> They are the very people who inspired us to take up the craft. I have a fairly small number of filmmakers that reside on my inspirational list. And right there next to Kubrick and Spielberg sits\u00a0Terry Gilliam<\/a>. If you are unfamiliar with Terry Gilliam, here’s a bit of history.<\/p>\n Gilliam was born in Minnesota and moved to California with his family in 1952. After high school and college, he became a cartoonist with\u00a0Help!<\/a>\u00a0magazine. When the magazine folded, Gilliam moved to England and worked on the children’s series called Do Not Adjust Your Set<\/a><\/em>. This is where he met\u00a0Terry Jones<\/a>,\u00a0Eric Idle<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Palin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jones, Idle, Palin, and Gilliam joined forces with\u00a0John Cleese<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Graham Chapman<\/a>\u00a0to form\u00a0Monty Python’s Flying Circus<\/a><\/em>, which was optioned by legendary English broadcaster\u00a0David Attenborough<\/a>\u00a0for the BBC. In the early going, Gilliam’s role was to animate short cartoons<\/strong> to link the comedy sketches together. He would soon\u00a0join in as a full-time cast member.<\/p>\n Without a doubt, Gilliam’s largest contribution to Monty Python were the animations he produced. These animations have become iconic in the art world and have inspired a long list of cut-out animators<\/strong> such as\u00a0South Park<\/a><\/em>\u00a0creators\u00a0Trey Parker<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Matt Stone<\/a>, who idolized Gilliam’s work and Monty Python.<\/p>\n Gilliam’s\u00a0cut-out animation<\/strong> was\u00a0unique and creative. He showed his animation process in this video taken from 1970s British television. This comes to us courtesy of the\u00a0The Monty Python Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\nAnd Now for Something Completely Different<\/h3>\n