A He-Man leads the U.S.A. $yndication War$ – Page 3

Filling a vacuum with a brand new concept, two studios have produced new syndicated programming for Sunday morning this past fall. The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, distributed by Worldvision, contains three separate series, a group of tiny bears called The Paw Paws, Galtar and the Golden Lance and Yogi’s Treasure Hunt. Super Sunday, or Super … Read more

Newfeld seek new toys

David Jefferson visits a toy manufacturer who is looking for an idea for an animated film they can back. A clever concept could make a fortune in royalties. The headquarters of Newfeld Ltd. is near the reservoirs on the outskirts of London’s Heathrow Airport. The building houses offices, a design studio, packing plant and a … Read more

Disneyland – the greatest walk-thru cartoon ever drawn

Brian Sibley visited Disneyland in 1985, during its thirtieth year celebrations and discovered that the Magic Kingdom was created along the lines of a living animated film… PRE-TITLE SEQUENCE: The air is filled with a confusion of sounds. The clickerty-clack of turnstiles, the excited chatter of children (ranging from perambulated tots to very senior citizens), … Read more

Disneyland – the greatest walk-thru cartoon ever drawn – Page 2

Disneyland is like that too. Glancing at the upper storey windows on Main Street, I find them decorated with advertisements which incorporate the names of Disney artists and animators: ‘KEN ANDERSON Bait Co.’, ‘SHIPS MODELS – Bushman & DaGradi Mfrs.’ and in memory of his father, ‘ELIAS DISNEY Contractor Est. 1895’. Pure indulgence you might … Read more

Disneyland – the greatest walk-thru cartoon ever drawn – Page 3

On the rides in Fantasyland you can clearly see how the Disney ‘Imagineers’ (as Walt called them) have utilized the lessons they learned in animating film. Take, for example, ‘Peter Pan’s Flight’: boarding a model pirate-ship, I fly through the Darling children’s nursery, out of the window and into the night; dipping suddenly I find … Read more

Cambridge Animation Festival 1985

Report by Neil Carstairs The main theme? Publicity for this year’s Festival stated that a theme running through many programmes would be ‘the rather neglected question of narrative and story telling in animation.’ Having seen over 100 films in five days of screenings the only conclusion I can come to is that neglected was the … Read more

Cambridge Animation Festival 1985 – Page 2

Report from David Jefferson The Cambridge Animation Festival ran from the Tuesday evening to the Sunday evening. I went along for the weekend shows. The 1985 festival has been billed as the ‘new look’. Festival Director Irene Kotlarz said: “The aim of this new regime has been to make this year’s Festival entertaining and thought-provoking. … Read more

D.I.Y. Rostrum Part Two

The Filmcraft 80 Rostrum is suitable for 8mm cameras and light 16mm cameras. In issue 14 we described how to build the main framework. David Jefferson continues with the base. As mentioned in part one of this article, the methods given are the ones I used. They are only intended as a guide and you … Read more

Beowulf in Plasticine – cameras might fly – Page 2

The next step in camera movement after this is to liberate the camera from its earthly existence altogether, and give it wings. This is achieved mind-bogglingly-well in the many adverts and title-sequences on television which now use sophisticated 3D computer animation: the Indesit advert, and the absolutely outstanding new title-sequence for Weekend World are the … Read more

George Pal Puppetoons – the early years

Ken Clark pieces together a portrait of George Pal – in his ealy days – as seen through the eyes of a number of star witnesses. The 1947/48 edition of the American Motion Picture Almanac says of George Pal… “he devised the production system for his Puppetoons in London.” Even Bruce Holman, in his excellent … Read more

George Pal Puppetoons – the early years – Page 2

Our biggest problem with puppet film making was the lighting. This required a great deal more attention than live action filming because the little wooden figures were round, with painted eyes (sometimes mere dots), mouths were probably no more than straight lines. These were the factors which conveyed character and personality. A villain might have … Read more

Wolfgang Reitherman remembered

Brian Sibly recalls the veteran Disney animator, Wolfgang Reitherman, who died earlier this year (1985). It is a great many years ago now that I played truant from school and sneaked into my local cinema to see Walt Disney’s Fantasia for the first time, yet I recall the occasion as if it were yesterday. Since, … Read more

Wolfgang Reitherman remembered – Page 2

Two years later saw the emergence of a very different style of animation in 101 Dalmations, co-directed by Reitherman with Hamilton Luske and Clyde Geronimi. Many of the elaborate techniques and artistic embellishments, which had been a feature of every animated film since Snow White, were now abandoned; but the revolutionary Xerox system of transferring … Read more

Annecy Animation Festival 1985

Now in its 25th year and with the prestige of being the birthplace of ASIFA which is also 25 years old, the Annecy Animation Festival had something to celebrate, writes David Jefferson. Last June’s festival was the biggest yet, and they had clearly put a great deal of work into staging it, but people were … Read more

Annecy Animation Festival 1985 – Page 2

The major Festival prizes were allocated by the international jury of six. The audience were also given a chance to vote for their favourite film. In the case of the film Een Griekse Tragedie both the public and the jury were in agreement. It won the Grand Prix and the Prix du Public. Een Griekse … Read more

Annecy Animation Festival 1985 – Page 3

Top left: Dalias Iook I Heroic Times. Jozsel Gdmes, Hongrie Middle left: The International Jury. Left to right: Stanislas Sokolov (USSR), Jan Svankmajer (Czech), Louise Beaudet (Canada), Michel Ciment (France), Benny Carter (USA), Michel Ocelot (France). Photo Banc-Tjtre. Bottom left: Gwen (Le Livre de Sable). Jean Francoise Laquione. France. Top right: Festival logo. Upper middle … Read more

Annecy Animation Festival 1985 – Page 4

Top left: Marie-Noëlle Provent, President of the International Animated Film Centre. Middle left: Phil Austin and Derek Hayes, Britain. Bottom left: An Annecy street scene. Top right: A Greek Tragedy by Nicole Van Goethem. Grand Prix winner at Annecy 1985. Middle right: The Festival hall. Bottom right: Carnival, Susan Young, Britain. page 1 | page … Read more

Annecy Animation Festival 1985 – Page 5

The Special Jury Prize was shared by two seasoned filmmakers, Ishu Patel of Canada and Rein Raamat of the USSR. Patel’s film Paradise is the tale of a rather ordinary looking blackbird who longs to be like the birds of paradise that live in a glittering palace. He dresses up to look like the birds … Read more

Early Animated Adverts programme at the NFT

There was an air of incompleteness when the lights came up at the conclusion of the National Film Theatre’s programme of Animated Adverts on 8th July 1985 write Jane Henry and Charles Garvie. Although the event admitted to being only early animated commercials we were still left feeling cheated, as if we had only been … Read more

Computer animation at Lucasfilm

The Adventures of Andre and WaIIy B. recieved a Special Award from the 1985 Canadian International Animation Festival in Toronto. The whole film was generated by computer. David Jefferson reports on a talk given by two of the film’s makers at the Annecy Festival. Picture, if you can, a wide angle shot of a wooded … Read more

Inbetweening by home computer

The general principles of inbetweening are given in a programme that can be adapted for most home micro computers. David Jefferson explains how it works. This programme will make inbetween drawings for two given drawings. It will do as many inbetween steps as you ask it. The way it works is to look at both … Read more

Arthur Humberstone senior animator

After 40 years in the animation business Arthur Humberstone is still going strong. He was involved with the feature films Animal Farm, The Yellow Submarine, Watership Down and The Plague Dogs. David Jefferson went along to Arthur’s home studio to find out more about his approach to animation. I first met Arthur Humberstone in 1977 … Read more

D.I.Y Rostrum

The Filmcraft 80 Rostrum is suitable for 8mm cameras and light 16mm cameras. David Jefferson tells you how you can build your own version of it. When I designed the Filmcraft 80 Rostrum in 1979 I had three basic criteria apart from the obvious one of it doing the job well. 1: It had to … Read more

D.I.Y Rostrum – Page 2

The feet are attached in the same way. These are pre-drilled to take bolts but as I was standardizing on quarter inch whitworth bolts I found I had to drill these again to enlarge them. The uprights were also drilled a few inches from the top to take the bolts for the lighting bar. The … Read more

The housing that Jerry built

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