Published between 1982 and 1995
Cohn Pain tells how the film Animation My Way encouraged him to try his hand at cartoon animation. This led to his recent production about sub-standard housing. I bought my first cine camera when my first son was born 27 years ago. It was not until I joined the Whitehall Cine Society that I really … Read more
The story of a mortal’s dream struggle with the gods was Paul Hanson’s choice for his first amateur animated film. Three years, 1800 cels and 50 background paintings later he had a 14 minute film with lip sync and a multitude of special effects. Paul tells us how he did it. The majority of amateur … Read more
Following this encouraging news I set about designing the title sequence, it was to last the length of the first part of the lyrics in the song. I wanted to attract the attention of the audience even before the first image hit the screen, I decided to begin the film with the phrase “Prepare to … Read more
The making of Dreamscape did not go without its disasters. 25 feet of film (and countless hours) were wasted when I left the camera’s built-in daylight filter in place. Another 50 feet were wasted when the camera jammed and another 25 feet when the peg bar was showing at the top of the frame due … Read more
A cel with 10,000 separately coloured segments in an area 9 ins by 7 ins, is just one of many in Red and Blue and Green. George Collin tells us about his special approach to animation. It all began in 1976 when I was given some super 8 equipment for my 21st birthday. For some … Read more
By 1981 I had made another 5 animated films as well as contributing to club films and in my spare time I managed to get my degree, pass the professional exams, serve my Articles of Clerkship and qualify as a Solicitor. Then I changed jobs and moved down from Merseyside to Luton. This may have … Read more
One sequence involves a green holly leaf spinning against a blue sky with red berries in view. As the leaf spins each of these elements changes colour: blue leaf, red sky, green berries etc. The idea is to show that colour convention is arbitrary. The sequence ends with each element the “right colour”, but the … Read more
LEW COOPER LOOKS AT THE ANIMATED FILMS. I have recently returned from the mind-blowing Brussels Super 8 Film Festival. When I started making my little animated movies a few years ago, I never dreamed it would lead to events like this. Sheila Hill, who is a leading light in the International Film Federation of Super … Read more
I hope I have a fairly open mind about experimental work, I like to see people trying something new, but I have to say that I found 90% of the experimental films to be a complete waste of film-stock. Obviously there were good examples, I thought one of the very best films in the competition was an experimental film.
Along with all the routine pixillation, I had the pleasure of seeing the best example I’ve seen anywhere. It was called BONNE SOIREE. This Canadian film showed a man sitting down in front of his television. The camera was kept in one position. We saw the back of the man in his armchair and across the room in front of him was his television. A series of bizarre and very funny pixillated events then took place between the man and the television set – none of which he appears to notice. It used the technique to good effect, and was just the right length – stopping while we were still enjoying the film.