Resources
♦ Contents: ♦ Articles ♦ Videos ♦ Websites & Galleries ♦ Books ♦ Miscellaneous ♦
Articles
"The Works (film)" on Wikipedia.
A great starting place that covers all the basics. Also has partial credits for the film. (If you can read Italian, the Italian version is even longer.)
"Inside 'The Works'" by Suzan D. Prince, Computer Pictures magazine, March/April 1983 (archived 2017).
An article detailing the behind-the-scenes of making the film, from when it was still being produced.
"Out of This World" by Joseph C. Panettieri, NYIT Magazine, 2004 (archived 2004).
A retrospective article about life at NYIT's Computer Graphics Lab.
Some other articles include Galería 3D's Spanish article from June 2010, which does not include any sources. There's also Lost Media Archive's page on The Works. Both of these contain similar info to previous sources.
Videos
"The Works (NYIT, 1984)", 1:21, uploaded by galeria3D, 10 February 2009.
A scene depicting robots building a strange dish. This is the only seemingly finished scene that I know of, with its own soundtrack faintly heard. I call it the construction clip.
""The Works' Ant" (segment from unfinished proto-pixar film)" 1:25, uploaded by Red Rax - Max Meyer, 11 December 2022.
The same construction scene as above, but in higher quality. This clip itself is from "Computer Animation Classics" from 1997, which can be seen in full on Archive.org.
"The Works", 2:23, uploaded by Rich S, 16 October 2013
A trailer or demo reel compiling various animations, set to "Impact" by Patrick Moraz.
"N.Y Tech Computer Graphics lab demo reel 1982", 21:57, uploaded by mattrharris1, 22 June 2014.
A lengthy demo reel showcasing various graphics made by the Lab. At 16:50 is a clip of the ant extending its antennae.
Here is a clip of just the ant, isolated by Mod Wallet on YouTube, 29 August 2023.
"Interface (1985) - First human and CGI character interaction", 0:22, uploaded by Ultimate History of CGI, 19 February 2018
A short shown at the 1985 SIGGRAPH convention demonstrating the interaction of CGI characters and live-action environments. The model of Clyde/the Ant Jockey is used as their demonstration character.
Honourable mention: "Computer Graphics Lab CGL 3DV demo", 5:37, uploaded by mattrharris1, 7 July 2023. (*flashing warning.*)
"3DV" is another animation by the Lab, from 1984. It features a trailer for The Works (the same footage as the Rich S video above, but shortened) including a voice-over of the plot. Robot and ship models from The Works are used throughout the rest of the video.
Honourable mention: "Strawberry Fields Works in Progress Reel", 30:45, uploaded to the Internet Archive by ZiggyCashmere and contributed by an anonymous source, 11 March 2024.
"Strawberry Fields" is another cancelled film from the Lab, this reel from 1989 being shared online very recently. Intended to be fully CGI but winding up a hybrid of 2D and 3D animation, various models and footage from other Lab projects are used throughout it. I believe the scene at the very end of saucers chasing each other over a lake was intended for The Works.
NYIT CGL's 1986 demo reel (*flashing warning*) includes brief clips from The Works, but nothing new, just in slightly different quality.
The 1981 episode of BBC's "Horizon", titled "Painting by Numbers", shares information on the computer graphics scene of the day. The NYIT CGL has a spotlight, where some personnel are interviewed and there is brief talking of The Works.
The first 30 seconds of the music video for Slow Things Down by Craig Taubman includes an ad for an imaginary TV series featuring Dick Lundin's mechanical ant model, called Ant Patrol, but there's no connection otherwise. (Curiously, 3DV also has a trailer for a fake movie called Ant Patrol, using the same ant.) The rest of the music video is likely taken from the car chase scene of Strawberry Fields (mentioned above).
Sites & Galleries
Pictures from the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab, by Paul Heckbert, June 1998.
Great high-quality images from The Works and other projects made at NYIT CGL. Links to other info & sites as well.
New York Institute of Technology, by Wayne Carlson (archived 2001).
A list of staff from NYIT CGL and some interesting pictures (click the "image" icon to be redirected to the actual image).
The Works, by Rebecca Allen.
Artist Rebecca Allen's portfolio site featuring a slideshow of high-quality The Works-related images. More pictures from CGL projects are available there too.
Books
"Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation" by Tom Sito, published by MIT Press, 2013
Chapter 8 of this book, titled "To Dream the Impossible Dream: The New York Institute of Technology, 1974-1986" details the history of the NYIT CGL and their various projects, from Tubby the Tuba to The Works (including concept art!) to 3DV to Strawberry Fields.
This book is available on the Internet Archive here. The publisher's official page for the book is here.
"Creative Computer Graphics" by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, published by Cambridge University Press, 1984
NYIT CGL's projects are discussed in this book, which was written by the creators of the character Max Headroom. User Friendly from 3DV is featured on the cover/dust jacket.
As far as I know, this book isn't available in a digital format online.
Miscellaneous
Byte magazine "High Resolution Graphics", Volume 05 number 11, November 1980.
Ipso Facto & the ant are featured on this magazine cover. The Works is also mentioned on page 4.
The Works on the Lost Media Wiki.
A wiki page discussing the movie and its plot. Under "References" is linked the screenplay.
"The Works" script by Lance Williams, 1978.
A link to the screenplay on Google Drive. It's 83 pages long and 231MB large, in the form of scans of the physical pages. No preview is available so you have to download it to read it.