Published between 1982 and 1995
Camera Effects Limited has been going for 21 years. it is an optical house dealing in special effects. David Jefferson went along to their Soho, London studio and met Director Gary Pearlman. Camera Effects create all sorts of optical illusions and camera tricks. Many animation techniques are used in the process, although it is not … Read more
A lot of preparation has to be done before they start to shoot animation over live-action. First of all the live action company shoot the background. This is then edited and Camera Effects are supplied with the negative. From that negative, an interpositive colour fine grain is made with negative perforations, so there are no … Read more
Each frame costs a minimum of £25 to produce the artwork, mainly because of the time involved and the artist’s experience. Even so, it would be much more expensive to re-shoot the live action when you consider the cost of the actor and crew. This is something they could not do on video with Paint … Read more
George Dunning was a charismatic figure and his strong personality, humour and gentle manner were contributory factors in making him a figurehead. George Dunning was TVC! Then, quite suddenly, he was no longer there. In death he left a void and the inevitable question: Is this the end of TVC? Fortunately, John Coates had grown … Read more
K.C.: Do you have a favourite Dunning film? J.C.: Oh, yes! Damon the Mower – a most amazing film. We have copies of all his films here on U-matic. When George died we gave a memorial screening, because he wasn’t a religious person and a normal service seemed inappropriate. We booked the BAFTA screening theatre … Read more
On my desk I had a copy of the book The Snowman – I have it still -and I thought it would make a really marvellous little film. We phoned the publishers and bought a one-year option. Then we purchased more copies of the book, cut out Raymond Briggs pictures and made an 8-minute Animatic, … Read more
David Jefferson went along to the Animus animation studio in London to meet Tony White, author of a new book on animation techniques called The Animator’s Workbook. David Jefferson: What prompted you to write The Animator’s Workbook? Tony White: When we were making Cathedral, a year-and-a-half ago, we had a full time staff of forty … Read more
D. J.: How long have you been operating as Animus? T.W.: About eight years. It has gone through various forms. It has always been my company but I started off in association with a live action company, and then we went our separate ways. In 1982 I joined forces with Carl Gover (the ex-Richard Williams … Read more
At the same time, I had made two short films at Halas & Batchelor, one called Quartet which won first place in the Chicago Film Festival. The other one was called A Short Tall Story which, I was subsequently told by John Halas, was adopted by the United Nations, it had a peace theme to … Read more
D. J.: On your show reel all the commercials have a different style. Which one is your particular style? T. W.: We don’t have a style. That is part of the Animus philosophy. Our style is the animation quality. People working here have a strong drawing ability. If you are capable of controlling the co-ordination … Read more