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There has been attempts to "remake", "re-imagine" or maybe just film an "homage" to many films. Some have been moderate successful, most have failed miserably.
Not that long ago I came across a project that may be the truest form of homage I've ever seen. It doesn't remake or re-imagine, but rather re-animates!
Night of the Living Dead:Reanimated (NOTLD:R) is a giant collaboration of artist from around the globe with the goal to "reanimate" the classic George Romero horror film.
Mike Schneider, of Pennsylvania (USA) took on the role of "curator" of this massive project. He sent out messages across the globe seeking artist to recreate scenes, not the whole movie, but just a scene or two of the film in their personal style. The only constraints, the art had to be in black and white and it had to fit the audio of the original film.
His calls were answered by hundreds of artists from all sorts of backgrounds. Each bringing his or her own unique talent.
I had an opportunity to ask these artists en mass a few questions about their backgrounds, their art, and their involvement in the project.
One of the interesting things I learned from the dozens of responses was the varied backgrounds that brought the artist to their choice in vocations. Everything from an early attempt to heal, like Manuela Bachler of Austria, "..After the divorce of my parents I started to draw. It was something like a valve to forget all my worries...Now it feels like meditation." or typical childhood behavior from Geff Bartrand of Tampa, Florida. "I was 4 years old and I drew a big scene of my family as stick figures and stick pets with trees and other scenery on my moms white living room wall. ...She yelled at me and the next day gave me a drawing pad."
One of my favorites is from Tricia Martin of Norfolk,Virginia who wrote that she "...started drawing as soon as I was old enough to draw on the sidewalk with rocks. Then I graduated to the walls of our house with crayons, lipstick, whatever! (to the dismay of my parents)".
Their current projects are just as varied as their artistic beginnings.
 Scott Michael Kessman of New York is currently working on his second fantasy novel, a follow up to "The Tales of Tanglewood:The Lon Dubh Whistle". He is looking forward to focusing on creating more original art for the novel to match it's descriptive writing.
From Athens, Greece, Con Chisoulis has published a comic book "Tales of Unsurpassed Vanity" and has a super-hero parody comic, "Giant-Size Fascists" that was voted Best Greek Comic book of 2008 at the 2008 Comicdom Awards! Look for a sequel due out in April of 2009 from Jemma Press!
The St. Louis Ballet has had the artistic talents of Kathleen Iwasyszyn in their set designs and she has an award nominated promotional spot for a Missouri television station to her credit.
NOTLD:R is a fantastic way for all these artist to be a part of something so much bigger than themselves but still maintain their individual art styles.
 Carla Rodrigues of Portugal finds the project "...really great! To see such wonderful artwork, and to witness the dedication and drive that everyone has, it's inspiring!" Brad Uyeda, Jr. in San Jose, California agrees and "..Loves the artistic freedom that we are given. Being allowed to create without much limitation is powerful."
Contributing artist and curator Mike Schneider compares the artist to "Elements. Alone we can only seek stability before our inevitable decay, but together we form compounds and through our interactions can build anything."
Something I was curious about was what sort of reaction they hoped their work would invoke in the viewer. Again the responses wildly varied. While some were focused such as Atlanta, Georgia's Devin Houston, who rendered the scene of young Karen Cooper devouring her father's corpse, wanted "to focus on the strength of zombies to complete the unexpected." and for the viewer "to feel the human compassion towards darling Karen as she eats to sustain her un-dead presence." and 'S.C.' of Florida wants the audience to "feel not only the horror, but confusion and absence from reality felt in the lead female protagonist during the scene."
Some were much simpler. Larry Adlon would be "...perfectly happy with just a sincere 'Hey, that was neat!'" as is Voodoo Velvet who would only be disappointed if "...the viewer walks away feeling nothing."
 
I have been following this project for some time now and after heating from the artists involved I am even more excited to see the finished product!
I want to thank all the artists who responded. Some of whom I could not squeeze into this article but had some fantastic answers none the less.
Special thanks to Mike Schneider who facilitated this great opportunity.
For more information about this project you can read our interview with Mike Schneider in our forums by clicking here and of course you can check out the NOTLD:R website for more artwork and a preview of the project.
Please stop into the forums to leave a comment on the project or this article.
Several of the artist involved have there own websites and I encourage you to check them out as well.
Thanks to everyone. If I left anyone out of the following credits I beg your forgiveness!
Mike Schneider
Website: http://www.neoflux-animator.com
Kathleen Iwasyszyn
Website: http://www.thepoisonedapple.net
Tricia Martin
Website: http://triciakitty.deviantart.com
Andrea Cavaletto
Website: http://www.andreacavaletto.com
Carla Rodrigues
Website: http://cool-slayer.deviantart.com
Brad Uyeda, Jr..
Website: myspace.com/kestreluyed
Voodoo Velvet
Website: http://www.voodoovelvet.com
Scott Michael Kessman
Website: http://www.artrocities.com & http://www.talesoftanglewood.com
Name: Larry Adlon
Website: http://www.laerworks.com
Con Chisoulis
Website: mataiodoxia.deviantart.com and http://www.autodivine.com
S.C.
Website: http://www.shadesofcerulean.com
Participating in the interview, but not quoted (but deserving of credit)
Kurtis Miller, Brooklyn New York
Eric Schock, Tuscon, Arizona www.freewebs.com/evilroboproductions/
Matthieu Lefebvre, France www.dogmazic.net/matmix
Gregory Rodriquez, Ontario, California www.myspace.com/gregory_p
David Goodman, Smyrna, Tennessee www.davidthegood.com
Salim, Indonesia rabbid-fang.deviantart.com
Jorell Rivera, New York, New York jorellrivera.blogspot.com
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