Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid of the Rick Carter Collection
2289
2289
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Rick Carter Collection
Collection number: 2289
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
300.0 Linear feet
261 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1976-2005
Abstract: Collection contains the papers of production designer Rick Carter (b. 1952), who frequently works with directors Robert Zemeckis
and Steven Spielberg. Movies represented in this collection include
Jurassic Park and
Forrest Gump.
creator:
Bell, John, 1951-
creator:
Carter, Rick, 1950-
creator:
Fangorn
creator:
Hargreaves, Sean
creator:
Lowery, David, 1959-
creator:
Manser, Warren, (Warren Christopher)
creator:
Teegarden, Jim
creator:
Verreaux, Edward
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
Rick Carter was born in California on March 24, 1950. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1974
with a degree in sociology and art. His career started in mid-1970s, when he worked as an art director or illustrator on various
feature films and TV mini-series, including
Bound For Glory,
The Postman Always Rings Twice and
The Winds of War. In 1982, he was the Production Designer for Disney's 3D film Magic Journeys, which played at Walt Disney World in Florida
until 1993 and at Disneyland until 1986. Carter first worked with Steven Spielberg when he served as the Art Director for
the movie
The Goonies, which was written by Spielberg, in 1984. The next year, Spielberg hired Carter to be the Production Designer for his TV
series
Amazing Stories, which is the only TV series Carter has ever worked on.
While working on
Amazing Stories, Carter worked for the first time with Robert Zemeckis, who directed two of the series' episodes. For the next twenty-five
years, Carter worked almost exclusively on movies being directed by either Spielberg or Zemeckis. These movies included
Back to the Future II and
III,
Jurassic Park,
The Lost World,
War of the Worlds,
Munich and
Forrest Gump. Carter was nominated for the Best Art Direction-Set Direction Academy Award in 1995 for his work on
Forrest Gump. In 2010, Carter won the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction for his work for James Cameron on
Avatar.
This collection contains the papers created and maintained by Rick Carter while working as a production designer on a variety
of films and one television show, including
Back to the Future II and
III,
Jurassic Park,
The Lost World,
War of the Worlds,
Munich,
Polar Express, and
Forrest Gump. These papers include storyboards, photographs, negatives, set designs and plans, production notes and memoranda, scripts,
film treatments, artwork and concept art. Also included in this collection are records that document that early production
stages of works that were never actually produced, including
Bad Trout,
Interface
Helen of Troy: EXO, and
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz. Also included in this collection are DVDs, VHS and laserdisc recordings of completed film.
Please see the scope and content notes for individual series for more information.
The Rick Carter Collection is organized into 26 series, most of which have been further organized into subseries. Each series
that consists solely of papers from an individual movie (Series 1-26) has been organized into the following subseries (depending
on what papers are present in the series): Production Files, Scripts, Research Files, Location Files, Set & Prop Design, Character
(or Creature) Design, Storyboards, Press & Publicity, Merchandise & Memorabilia, Negatives, Photographs, Digital Media, Analog
Media, Oversized Art. The series Miscellaneous Projects and Unproduced Projects are organized into subseries based on movie
or project. Oversized materials are organized in boxes by size; it is assumed that a researcher will be able to tell the difference
between the various films within a box. However, to avoid confusion, artwork and plans from
Jurassic Park and
The Lost World are not found in the same box without identification. Photographs and the negatives from which they were produced have been
assigned reel numbers in the absence of other identifying information (indicated by square brackets).
The arrangement scheme for the collection refined the original order of the collection (which was based loosely on movie).
1.
Magic Journeys
2.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the Eighth Dimension
3.
Goonies
4.
Amazing Stories
5.
Talking Walls
6.
Empire of the Sun
7.
Rain Man
8.
Three Fugitives
9.
Back to the Future II
10.
Back to the Future III
11.
Death Becomes Her
12.
What Lies Beneath
13.
Jurassic Park
14.
Forrest Gump
15.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
16.
Contact
17.
Amistad
18.
Cast Away
19.
Artificial Intelligence: A.I.
20.
Polar Express
21.
War of the Worlds
22.
Munich
23. Miscellaneous Projects
24. Unproduced Projects
25. Personal Papers
26. Dreamworks SKG
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Cinematic Arts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Cinematic Arts Library as the owner of the physical items and is not
intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Baker, Chris, 1960- -- Archives
Bell, John, 1951- -- Archives
Carter, Rick, 1950- -- Archives
Dreamworks Pictures. -- Archives
Fangorn -- Archives
Hargreaves, Sean -- Archives
Industrial Light and Magic. (Studio) -- Archives
Lowery, David, 1959- -- Archives
Manser, Warren, (Warren Christopher) -- Archives
Spielberg, Steven, 1946- -- Archives
Teegarden, Jim -- Archives
Verreaux, Edward -- Archives
Zemeckis, Robert, 1952- -- Archives
A. I. artificial intelligence (Motion picture)
Action and adventure films--Archival resources
Amistad (Motion picture)
Back to the future part II (Motion picture)
Back to the future part III (Motion picture)
Books
Cast away (Motion picture)
CD-ROMs
Cinematography--Special effects--Archival resources
Clothing
Computer animation--Archival resources
Computer drawing--Special effects--Archival resources
Costume design--Archival resources
Dinosaurs in motion pictures--Archival resources
Drawings
DVDs
Feature films--Archival resources
Film adaptations--United States--Archival resources
Forrest Gump (Motion picture)
Future in motion pictures--Archival resources
Goonies
Hard drives
Historical films--Archival resources
Jurassic Park (Motion picture)
Lost world, Jurassic Park (Motion picture)
Motion picture art directors--Archival resources
Motion picture locations--Archival resources
Motion picture set designers--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources
Motion picture studios--Archival resources
Motion pictures (visual works)
Motion pictures and architecture--Archival resources
Motion pictures--Setting and scenery--Archival resources
Munich (Motion picture)
Negatives (photographic)
Paintings
Photographs
Polar Express (Motion picture)
Rain man (Motion picture)
Robots in motion pictures--Archival resources
Science fiction films--United States--Archival resources
Science fiction television programs--United States--Archival resources
Science fiction--Film adaptations--Archival resources
Scripts
Slides (photographs)
Storyboards
Unbuilt architectural projects--Archival resources
Videotapes