Martin Cheek stop-frame puppet animation

No strings attached! Martin Cheek Puppet Animation has specialised in stop-frame puppet animation films since 1982. Martin Cheek is a puppet maker and animator who works on commercials while developing children’s programmes for television from his own and other ideas through a new company called “Cheeky Films”, reports David Jefferson. Martin Cheek has a studio … Read more

Martin Cheek stop-frame puppet animation – Page 5

Martin has a large box of oddments used in past productions. He picks out a model of the kind of iris found in a camera lens to demonstrate how replacement animation works. There are a number of models, each with the iris progressively more open. “Replacements are a brilliant method of working, it is very … Read more

Desk Top Animation

Animation is being used in a number of ways for diverse reasons: as a therapy, a teaching medium, a hobby, for entertainment, at seminars, in workshops, and in advertising studios. Then there are the Amiga computer owners who are being told by Commodore that such things are available to them. The influence of animation is … Read more

The Rolf Harris Cartoon Club

Every week our children are encouraged by Rolf Harris to “join today”, and to date over 90,000 have enthusiastically accepted the invitation, reports Ken Clark. The membership of Roll’s Cartoon Club is growing rapidly and much of its popularity is due to the efforts of the talented and open-minded team responsible for its format and … Read more

The Rolf Harris Cartoon Club – Page 3

“As a further encouragement in this series and to involve our audience at home we have organised an Original Character Design Competition. In the last programme the workshoppers animations were edited into one short film by Wendy Keay Bright.” “The cartoons we show are primarily for children,” added Martin Lamb, “therefore it is only fair … Read more

The Rolf Harris Cartoon Club – Page 4

We are seeing films from Russia, Czechoslovakia and animation from countries where it is encouraged and subsidized by the State for the entertainment of adults. In this country we tend to think of animation as being something for the kids, perhaps looked at surreptitiously by adults who feel they should not be looking. But in … Read more

The Rolf Harris Cartoon Club – Page 5

I was standing awkwardly in my little cockpit leaning across because I could not get any closer, drawing off the surface of the screen. I suffered febricities in my left shoulder you wouldn’t believe. Our producer Doug Wilcox stayed behind too, and painted the backs of all the cels so that the detail reflected in … Read more

The BFG

Roald Dahl’s best-selling children’s novel, The BFG has been made into a 90-minute animated film to be transmitted on the ITV Network this Christmas. Cosgrove Hall Productions – the Manchester- based subsidiary of Thames Television, have produced the film, which cost three million pounds. David Jason features as the voice of The BEG (the Big … Read more

Animation Festival Bristol ‘89

By David Jefferson The biennial International Animation Festival Bristol took place in November 1989. It is the second time the Festival has been held in Bristol and this year’s event was the best yet in terms of attendance and interesting events. The theme of the festival was ‘Tricks of the Trade’. This central theme was … Read more

Animation Festival Bristol ‘89 – Page 2

A stand representing ASIFA and also John Halas’s video collection of ‘Animation Classics’ was manned by Pat Webb. Pat managed to see a few films in between her stint on the stand and spoke enthusiastically about a programme entitled ‘The UK Corral’: “An excellent batch of new British films in contrasting styles: Richard Ollive’s lyrical … Read more

Channel 4: commissioning and purchasing animation

Since Channel 4 started seven years ago it has funded many outstanding animated films from the popular Snowman to the work of independents such as The Quays and Leeds Animation Workshop. The Bristol Animation Festival held a seminar to look at some of the problems associated with programming short animation films within schedules geared to … Read more

Oliver & Company: hand drawn in the Disney tradition

Set against the skylines, streets and subways of modern day New York City, Walt Disney Pictures 27th full-length animated feature, Oliver & Company is a contemporary re-telling of Dickens’ classic story. Oliver follows the misadventures of an orphaned kitten (Oliver) who is taken in by a pack of pickpocket dogs, headed by Dodger, the coolest … Read more

Bernie Kay: Scriptwriting for Animation

He reveals his methods Interview by David Jefferson Bernie Kay has written scripts for a number of children’s animated TV series, including Bananaman, Telebugs, and The Pondles. He came over from America quite a few years ago and got a lob in an advertising agency. That is where he got his training as a writer, … Read more

John Halas Profile

A man with wisdom and experience to guide him By Ken Clark Abroad he is wined, dined and feted. Japan is one of his greatest admirers, with Albania and Bulgaria close followers. In America he excites great respect and where in recent times they have acted as host to his exhibition ‘Art & Animation’. A … Read more

John Halas Profile – Page 2

He no longer runs a large studio, although his present offices are quite spacious by any standard. He is now the complete designer, steering projects dear to his heart through the various stages, to the point where he can call on other experts to produce the surplus artwork and attend to the mechanical functions. He … Read more

John Halas Profile – Page 3

Films made during the war years helped sharpen the intellect. In order to explain, to educate or to inform it was necessary to acquire in the short term a degree of knowledgeable expertise concerning the subject on the drawing board. From naval manoeuvres, fighting fires, growing your own vegetables, war on waste, post-war explanations re. … Read more

John Halas Profile – Page 4

This project is the commencement of a life-long ambition for John Halas, and he is to be congratulated on the successful integration of conventional animation, diagrammatic stylisation, and computer generated visuals. My only criticism is of the scriptwriters. Faced with the monumental task of presenting a large part of the Bible in just half-an-hour while … Read more

The Sullivan Bluth Studios in Ireland – Page 2

The editorial department itself is equipped with multiple viewing and editorial facilities, including a two-channel Steinbeck, two preview (large screen) Moviolas and standard Moviola equipment. Additional services provided by the editorial department include ‘Close-up reading’ of narration for animation purposes, sound effects and music editing. The studio projection facilities consist of two air conditioned projection … Read more