Published between 1982 and 1995
The Dangermouse series was a good training ground for new animators. At first you were placed with an animator, cleaning up their drawings, then you progressed to in-betweening, then you got scenes of your own to do, and usually within three months you were expected to start on production, working with the animator and on … Read more
Lorraine Thomas, Supervisor of Paint and Trace talks with Ken Clark. KC: How many people work in this department? LT: We have eight cel painters and are about to employ three more, in another room we have two artists who do the airbrushing, and two who choose the colours and do the colour mixing. I’ve … Read more
Rostrum camera There are four rostrum cameras in use at Cosgrove Hall Productions and each one is housed in a separate room, writes David Jefferson. The cameras can shoot 16 mm and 35 mm depending on the requirements of the production. Most of the television series work such as Dangermouse and Alias the Jester is … Read more
Mark Hall is a co-founder of Cosgrove Hall Productions. He has been particularly associated with the puppet animation side of the studio as originator, animator, producer and director. Interview by Ken Clark. On the wall of Mark Hall’s office hang a number of British Academy Awards: Pied Piper, best childrens’ programme 1981. Prix Juenesse 1982. … Read more
The puppet workshop can produce anything from a miniature suit of armour to a two foot high model giant, writes David Jefferson. All around the puppet workshop evidence of fine craftsmanship can be seen. On the workbenches are plaster moulds and rubber animals in various stages of construction. A miniature suit of armour caught my … Read more
Bridgit Smith Mould maker Interview by Ken Clark. KC: How do you make a mould? BS: I have to be very careful when I receive the plasticine models because the surfaces damage very easily. If the character is to be clothed it doesn’t matter so much where the mould lines should fall but I take … Read more
Interview by Ken Clark in the puppet workshop. KC: There is obviously a specialised technique in making these miniature costumes. Which materials do you prefer? NC: I try to use a lot of plain cotton and dye and print it ourselves so that we can keep it all to scale. It is very difficult to … Read more
Interview by Ken Clark. KC: How do you cope with the problem of dust? CW: You see that big machine over there – that’s our brand new dust extractor. We put it over the work we are doing. Our tools, the grinders, sanders and saws etc. are fitted with dust extractors because dust makes breathing … Read more
Jackie Cockle, Director of Wind in the Willows chats with Ken Clark. KC: The Toad Hall set is large, detailed and quite magnificent. I presume you decided on this scale to enable the cameraman and animators to work within it? JC: Yes, it also scales with the puppets which are approximately nine to ten inches … Read more
Francis Vose is a puppet animation director. David Jefferson spoke to him on the set of Creepy Crawlies. Creepy Crawlies is a new series about seven insects that live at the bottom of the garden. They find things we would regard as rubbish, but they see it differently. For example in one episode a conker … Read more
When a puppet starts wearing out the animators tell the workshop who make anther one. They can take off the snail’s shell and put it on a new body. A lot of thought is given to the way the puppets move. The shape of the snail dictates the way it moves whereas the others are … Read more
John Hambley is Chief Executive at Cosgrove Hall and a senior member of Thames Television’s programme management. As former Controller of Children’s Programmes he was responsible for creating and producing a wide range of children’s programmes for ITV. He co-founded Cosgrove Hall Productions as a subsidiary of Thames Television. He is interviewed by Ken Clark. … Read more
Great Mouse – Great Movie Brian Sibley reviews the Disney Company’s latest animated feature, Basil – The Great Mouse Detective. The mice are back in Disneyland and everything’s bibbidi-bobbidi-boo! With the release of Basil – The Great Mouse Detective, the Disney company has rediscovered those skills that once made them pre-eminent among animation studios, but … Read more
Just as Sherlock Holmes had Dr Watson, so Basil has Dr Dawson, a portly, moustachioed mouse – modelled, it is said, on veteran Disney animator, Eric Larson, who acted as animation consultant on the film. Dawson, who has lust returned from serving as a surgeon with Her Majesty’s troops in Afghanistan, is soon caught up … Read more
Among the sequences which impress is the first appearance of Ratigan when – with some dapper foot-work and much swirling of his opera-cloak – he sings the praises of his blackguardly reputation as ‘The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind’, in an incongruous mock-Hollywood set flowing with pink champagne; and the scene in which Basil and Dawson … Read more
Animator. Summer 1986. Issue number 16. Front cover illustrations: Paintings from Channel Four Summer 86 titles animated by Animus Productions. Tony White, director of Animus Productions, working on Channel Four Summer 86 titles.
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
Brian Sibley has been reading the two recently published biographies of Walt Disney. Two biographies of Walt Disney? Published in the same week? What can be so fascinating about the man? Well, to begin with, he is the greatest dream-merchant of this, or any, age: the creator of a pantheon of cartoon gods and goddesses … Read more
Trifling errors all, if they weren’t so numerous and if they didn’t cast serious doubt on the thoroughness of Mosley’s research. Since they are (Disney archivist David R. Smith has listed over 100 of them) and since they do, one is left wondering how accurate are the central claims of his book – such as … Read more
Brian Sibley gives a retrospective view of Pinocchio as the film goes on release once more. In writing of Pinocchio, you are limited only by your own power of expressing enthusiasm. To put it in the simplest possible terms, this film is fantastically delightful, absolutely perfect, and a work of pure, unadulterated genius… Not my … Read more
The characters, like those in Snow White, are sharply delineated: a cast of players, humorous and dramatic, who compensate for the somewhat insipid personality of Pinocchio himself. First and foremost there is Jimmy Cricket – voiced by veteran Hollywood entertainer, Cliff Edwards, and visualized by the young Disney animator, Ward Kimball (who was on the … 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
D. J.: It’s nice when you see the end result. T. W.: It is if you feel you are progressing. Running a studio is a heavy responsibility. I was much happier as an animator without the responsibility but as an animator working for somebody else there was no way I could do what I wanted … Read more
Thoughts on micro-computer rostrum control and still being able to afford to eat. Introduced by Mike Joyce. To some people, making animation films is about rough scribbles turning into polished drawings full of movement and life. But to me this is only part of the fun. I am lust as excited by the whole process … Read more
There are a number of features of computer control which are extremely beneficial for the rostrum cameraman. Firstly the enormous amount of time saved by getting the computer to do the number crunching. This is what computers do best. The speed of calculation is quite dazzling. Take a typical diagonal pan and zoom shot of … Read more
The Filmcraft 80 Rostrum is suitable for 8mm cameras and light 16mm cameras. In the final part David Jefferson describes the construction of a glass platen. The platen glass holds the artwork and cels flat for filming. If it is to accommodate various thicknesses of artwork, a simple hinge system would not work because thick … Read more
A personal view of collecting original animation artwork from Stewart Selkirk. Collecting things, from cigarette cards to fine art paintings, can be both a strange and enjoyable business. Strange when one sees the inflated amounts that can be paid by some individuals at auction for a penny black or a signed Picasso sketch. Enjoyable when … Read more
If you have an idea for a film but never have the time to make it, Neil Carstairs can recommend a two year posting to a remote part of Scotland to get you started. I finished all the drawings for my previous film The Circle and the Square in the first three months of a … Read more
After each painting operation the cels had to be laid out to dry. It was just as well that I was back home from the far north by this time, since, although my landlady up there was kind enough to let me use the dining room table for drawing, I could not have spread out … Read more
Animator. Spring 1986. Issue number 15. Front cover illustrations: Instant Sex produced by Bob Godfrey.
Bob Godfrey asserted his independence when he left the comparatively safe haven of W.H. Larkins and became self-employed in company with Keith Learner. Although we did not know it then, they were soon to be joined by Vera Linnecar and Nancy Hanna, to become the four corner posts of Biographic Cartoon Films Ltd. Bob won … Read more
A number of films which might have been made by Disney or Fleischer in the early days are now being made by people like Stephen Spielberg. Live-action films dominated by special effects are edging further and further into areas once the sole preserve of the animation studios. On the other hand, subjects that should be … Read more
K.C.: You mean… the narration suffers in translation? B.G.: Yes! Especially puns and ‘English’ jokes. And even the English voices have proved to be a drawback. Richard Briers has a very English voice for the Roobarb series, and then there is my own voice for Hemy’s Cat… K.C.: I think the timing ofa gag suffers … Read more
Syndication is the red hot TV cartoon trend of the 1980s says George W. Woolery. He tells us how big dollars are being made by the right packages. Brandishing his sword and uttering the incantation “By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!” He-Man does! Capturing the attention of more little boys via syndication … Read more
Although the policy guidelines were rescinded recently, the FCC insisting it was no longer necessary to force stations to provide children’s programming due to the proliferation of local and cable-TV stations and the lucrative advertising market, it began an escalating demand for cartoon shows. The animated film series were less expensive over a year s … Read more