Published between 1982 and 1995
There is now a huge variety of paintbox systems on the market, varying from low-cost PC systems for business graphics and slides, up to expensive high- resolution systems for full-colour print publishing. Most have little real animation potential other than frame-by-frame use, except that some of them (like Quantel or Bosch) can be combined with … Read more
They work by first creating a 3-D model of an object inside the machine. Various ways of doing this include building it up mathematically from geometric shapes like spheres, cubes and cones, or flat shapes like triangles or polygons, or drawing it as a set of matching plan and elevations, or by tracing with a … Read more
Animator. Spring 1988. Issue number 22. Front cover illustration: Character drawn by Oscar Grillo. Printed in Animator Issue 22 (Spring 1988)
The person speaking on the public address system took great delight in announcing the performance of ‘Wayward Girls and Wicked Women’. This aptly titled programme paid tribute to the few female stars of the Hollywood cartoon, as well as showcasing new work by women filmmakers. Betty Boop, Olive Oyl and ‘Red’ from Tex Avery’s Red … Read more
A debate about merchandising based on children’s animated television programmes took place at the Bristol Animation Festival. Report from David Jefferson. We have seen more print spilled about children’s animated television programmes over the past twelve months than there has been for a long time. It is difficult to measure what is serious concern in … Read more
Sue Crockford drew a parallel between animation and drama which is also very difficult to fund. “Channel 4 has been working with six European countries to set up co-productions, specifically in the area of drama but also talking about animation. Those involved are the Scandinavians, West Germans, Swiss, Italians, Spanish, Austrians and ourselves. Over the … Read more
Father Robert Murphy tells of his interest in collecting animation art. Like so many Americans of my generation (I was born in 1948), my introduction to animation came from television. As a child, I would rush home to watch The Mickey Mouse Club on television after school. This programme featured the low vaudeville of the … Read more
As the interest in animation art grew, many small dealers sprang up across the country to compete with the pricey auctions and the “official” Disney-licensed art galleries. For a while in the late 1970s, one could pick up one of the dwarfs from Snow White from a small dealer for about the same price you … Read more
Very little animation has been produced in Germany in the past. Now that is changing with the production of a feature length cartoon. Harald Kraut, one of the animators, gives his view of the production. There was not much happening in animation in Germany until recently, and no studio has produced animation of an international … Read more
But special effects alone do not make a good film, therefore we have fine animators as well. First and foremost we are glad to have the support of Harold Whitaker, who is one of the most experienced British animators. Also, a young talent, Uli (Ulrich) Meyer was working on the film; at only 24 years … Read more
1. Clouds by Juan Japl. 2 – 6. Scenes from the film. 7. Background by Juan Japl. 8. First stages of Ark construction. Model built by Harald Kraut for live-action shoot – to be used via matte work – with live-action water, which was electronically coloured. 9. Left to right: Producer Dr. Michael Schoemann, producer … Read more
The Best of British Animation programme was part of the London Film Festival held at the National Film Theatre during November 1987. David Jefferson reports. The LFF is a non-competitive event but there is a tradition of holding other award ceremonies during the course of the festival. Prior to the Best of British Animation, the … Read more
The studio name Klactoveesedstene (Animations Ltd) was taken from the label of a Charlie Parker record. Why? You may ask. Well, why not! If you forget the name in full, Klacto has a memorable ring, as have the films they produce at this clean, efficient, thoroughly workmanlike studio. Ken Clark chats with Oscar Grillo and … Read more
It is probable that at the time of its introduction, the first Bugs Bunny cartoon could have been regarded as something quite revolutionary. Perhaps the phenomenon could only be fully appreciated in America with its strong tradition of comic strips, although everyone can identify with the dynamic characterisation of that particular rabbit which so ably … Read more
“To live,” he said, “is one of the greatest arts one can practice because it is not easy. As human beings we continually inter-relate and in many cases the relationships can be painful.” It is very important to understand these aspects of Oscar Grillo’s personality because his philosophical approach to life has a strong influence … Read more
An element of nostalgia creeps into the conversation at this point as he recalls the commercials he made in South America in which he animated children, not because he is especially observant but in a latent desire to animate a completely believable boy. In one storyline a young lad’s parents could not afford to buy … Read more
“When I draw, I have to set standards for the narration of the image I am attempting to convey because narrative restricts visuals, which means that the drawing is always inferior to something capriciously conceived. On the other hand if you make a film in which the action is portrayed in sequences and you work … Read more
In the summer of the year Ted left college, David Hargreaves (producer of DIYAS) took charge of the BBC Illiteracy project. The BBC produced several pilot programmes all using animated inserts to varying degrees. Ted’s work on the pilots proved successful and he was asked to do the animation for the whole ‘On The Move’ … Read more
Paul Couvella entered two films in the recent ANIMA Festival, one was voted ‘best film’ by the audience and the other chosen by the guest speaker as ‘showing the most promise’. Paul outlines the background to their production. Towards the end of 1986 I was turned down in my application to West Surrey College of … Read more
You really have to love your job to take all this punishment, writes Tahsin Ozaur from Istanbul. “Daha bitmedi mi?” (“Isn’t it finished yet?”) The gentleman wearing a suit, necktie, and a smug, condescending grin, peering irritatingly over my shoulder, is one of my bosses. Being employed by an advertising agency means my bosses are … Read more
In drawn animation one of the most difficult things to create is a sense of depth, with characters which are not flat shapes on a flat background but have the appearance of being solid in a three dimensional world. That means drawing and animating in perspective, writes George Collin. There are many books available on … Read more
There are at least two ways to tackle drawing in perspective; the “architects approach” and the “artists approach”. The architect takes his floor plan and elevations of a building, makes a series of projection drawings and produces an impression of a structure which may not even exist yet. The artist sketches the scene before him … Read more
You may have seen the computer generated workings of Big Ben in Disney’s Basil, the Great Mouse Detective. It was very impressive, but I would challenge the makers on the angle of view. As we flew around between the gears I got the distinct impression that the angle was far greater than 90 degrees. Perhaps … Read more
Pat Raine Webb takes a humorous look at an exhibition from the exhibitor’s angle. I recently had the dubious honour of representing ASIFA at a Video/Animation Show in London. I came to the conclusion that the most boring thing in the universe, with the possible exception of tomato soup and Jeffrey Archer, is manning (or … Read more
Animator. Winter 1987. Issue number 21. Front cover illustration: A scene from the “Star Trekkin” pop video made by The Film Garage for the chart topping hit record by The Firm. (see Studio Report) Printed in Animator Issue 21 (Winter 1987)
Animation Stroud closes The Acre, Stroud, Gloucestershire, a studio once owned by Halas and Batchelor has been sold – thus ending a tradition, started by Anson Dyer at the commencement of the Second World War, of basing an animation studio in Stroud. Harold Whitaker started with Anson Dyer in 1940 and has been head of Animation … Read more
Brian Clark of Film Sales Ltd directs our attention to a basic material many of us take for granted. Animators are only too familiar with cel even if, in common with learned reference books, some know it as cell. It is an interesting reflection on this raw material that whilst the animation industry has grown, … Read more
In part two David Jefferson reports on more of the film-makers who attended the biannual International Animated Film Festival held in Annecy, France. This year, two Selection Committees screened 695 films coming from 39 countries. Kathleen Houston, Istvan Antal, and Thierry Steff selected short films. Robert Balser, Joachim Kreck and Francis Nielsen selected video shorts … Read more
Q: What do you think of the human characters in the present day Disney films? MD: Quite frankly, I haven’t seen that much of them. The last animation I did was Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians. After that I began working for Disneyland, designing the three-dimensional animated things, I did the Pirate Ride, I … Read more
Girls Night Out won three awards at Annecy ‘87. Joanna Quinn tells the story behind the film. Girls Night Out took approximately three years to make and was started when I was still a student at Middlesex Polytechnic. When I left the college the film existed as a simple line test with a rough soundtrack. … Read more
When I started to animate I made a conscious decision to keep the animation as loose and as simple as I could, to avoid too much laborious painting and colouring. The subject matter was lively and fluid so I wanted to keep the animation that way too. To give the film a ‘drawn’ quality, I … Read more
After work on this film is finished I will be concentrating on a sequel to Girls Night Out. The film is at the storyboard and scripting stage at the moment. I have chosen to stick with the same characters, Beryl, Sonia, Beverley and Tracy because I feel I can develop their characters to make them … Read more
Brian Sibley reviews Channel 4’s documentary about veteran Disney animator, Art Babbitt. For years his name languished in obscurity: official Disney historians ignored his existence, while those who wrote about Disney in critical, iconoclastic terms only ever referred to him darkly as the animator who led the Disney studio strike of 1941. Having reached the … Read more
Fifty years ago, this year, the cinema shifted course, slightly perhaps, but nevertheless shifted, because the first American animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was produced in Hollywood, writes Robin Allan. Not only was Snow White a product of the studio system itself but it would in turn influence that system and … Read more
Allied to the narrative economy is the strength of characterisation, in particular the dwarfs and the QueenlWitch, to a lesser extent Snow White. It is this ability to create convincing characters, through graphic means, that makes the film so interesting for those of us who practise or enjoy animation today. The investment of credibility in … Read more
I am also indebted to Brian Sibley who points out the similarity of the witch to Lionel Barrymore’s villain who disguises himself as an old woman pedlar, cloak and basket to boot, in Tod Browning’s Devil Doll (1936). The melodramatic gesture and stylised movement of the silent film also have their influence on Snow White. … Read more
Albert Hurter, a German artist in the tradition of European illustration, was the graphic genius behind much of the film’s detailing. Given a free hand by Disney to produce a series of inspirational sketches, the modelling of the dwarfs’ cottage (Grumpy’s organ, the stairs, beds and woodcarving) owes much to his talent. Gustav Tenggren, a … Read more
Adriana Caselotti, the voice of Snow White, talks to Brian Sibley. Once upon a time, long ago, a great and powerful Wizard of Hollywoodland decided to create something magical called The-Worlds-First-Feature-Length-Sound-and-Colour-Animated-Cartoon-Film. But, so the legend runs, before he could do this he had first to search for and find a fairy-tale princess… There is a … Read more
Despite being the voice of the film’s central character, Adriana had no idea Snow White was going to be such an important film. She saw no rushes from the picture and never even heard a playback of her recordings. “They forgot to tell me that it was going to be a feature-length film,” she laughs, … Read more
Jeremy Clark has been to see An American Tail. He examines the plot structure and finds resonances from Shakespeare and Hitchcock to King Kong and Disney. When Don Bluth left the Disney organization, to produce his own feature films, his intention was to undertake work worthy of the standards set by Disney in the heyday … Read more