Clokey made "Gumbasia" while he was studying at the University of Southern California and being taught by Slavko Vorkapich. It was Clokey's first clay animation movie and it was only 3 minutes and 45 seconds long. The movie showed moving lumps of clay set to music in a copy of Walt Disney's "Fantasia". Gumbasia was made in a style Vorkapich taught called Kinesthetic Film Principles. This style, which uses camera movements and stop-motion editing, is used in later Gumby movies. After watching "Gumbasia", movie producer Sam Engel decided to give Clokey money to make a 15 minute movie that became the first Gumby movie -- "Gumby Goes to the Moon".