Folks ask about how the effects were done in the original Bill and Ted's Adventure;
We Animators ( mostly Myself and Mauro Maressa) drew the electrical effects on paper with a Tombo Brush pen.
The "roto girl" made tracings of the live action on paper.. and we registered our animation to roto's of the tracings of form.
The black ink art electricity effects were photographed onto film and then composited on an OPTICAL PRINTER.
Some of the scenes did have some innovative (at the time) digital effects. Richard Malzahn https://www.pmpfx.com/projects-pmp did the digital 3d tunnel . I am not sure what program he used.
The studio also had a CLOUD TANK.. which was super cool, and used for the cloud scenes,when looming clouds come over the Circle K ( this https://youtu.be/1DsFMJQHbMs )
After 25 years of working in visual effects Richard has moved on to a peaceful life in the Pacific Northwest https://www.pmpfx.com/about
I did not meet Keanu on that production. BUT
I did have an opportunity to see him up close and personal while browsing in a bookstore here in LA. He was in the store with Ellen DeGeneres, just browsing like ordinary folks .. browsing in a used bookstore.
I tried to be very non-chalant.. after all,,,here in Hollywood, one day you might see Steve Tyler from Aerosmith in the local CVS and the next day sit down next to George Takei in a deli .. or run into Jodi Foster hiking on your favorite local hiking trail in the Santa Monica Mountains ...( All those things have happened to me) so it's part of the " culture" to see celebrities out and about. But seeing Keanu up close,,, gave me a special kind of fan moment.
Sadly, Dutton's Bookstore has closed.. But it was a good bookstore for browsing . I am sure I was in the Animation and Entertainment Arts section. here is a little article about Duttons Bookstore.. and its' proprietor Dave Dutton ( https://www.lamag.com/longform/remembering-dave-dutton-and-duttons-books/
