Home > # 4 Spring 1983

# 4 Spring 1983

Editor’s Comment

With this issue you will find a poster for the Animator’s Association (ANIMA). If you belong, to a cine club we would be grateful if you would take it along […]

Reader’s Letters

ANIMATING WITH VIDEO Dear David, I just thought I would write and ask if you read the letter in the December edition of Movie Maker magazine from the American gentleman […]

The ANIMA Report

THE ANIMATOR’S ASSOCIATION WAS LAUNCHED IN ISSUE NUMBER THREE OF ANIMATOR’S NEWSLETTER AND NOW TWELVE WEEKS LATER WE HEAR HOW IT IS GOING FROM MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY NEIL CARSTAIRS. So far […]

Film Workshop in Edinburgh 1983

Film Workshop in Edinburgh

JESSICA LANGFORD HAS ESTABLISHED AN ANIMATION FILM WORKSHOP AS PART OF THE FILM WORK SHOP TRUST IN EDINBURGH.

The Shadows Move – the British pioneers

The Shadows Move
Part One

KEN CLARK HAS SPENT MANY YEARS RESEARCHING THE HISTORY OF BRITISH ANIMATION. IN THIS ARTICLE HE LOOKS BACK TO THE BIRTH OF THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY.

Dr. Mark Roget’s paper ‘Explanation of an optical deception in the appearance of the spokes of a wheel seen through vertical apertures’ was presented to the Royal Society on 9th. December 1824. It dealt with a strange phenomenon: the persistence of vision, prompting the invention of a large number of rotating toys.

The Shadows Move – the British pioneers

In the peace that followed, Dyer, ‘Poy’, and J.A. Shepherd each made three films for a Cecil Hepworth series; Philip Philm Phables. Dyer stayed with Hepworth to make six Shakespearean Burlesques; while Buxton went his own way and introduced series of MIFFY cartoons and BUCKY’S BURLESQUES.

Drawing a Cartoon Face

Drawing Cartoons
Part One – By David Jefferson

CAN YOU DRAW CARTOONS? IF YOU ANSWER ‘NO’ OR ‘NOT VERY WELL’ THEN THIS ARTICLE IS FOR YOU. BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER GET YOURSELF A SHEET OP PAPER AND A PENCIL.

Cut-out Animation with UFOs

Cut-out Animation
By Fred Wells

If, like me, you believe that you can’t draw, but would love to do animation, don’t despair, the answer lies in using cut outs to form your characters.

Cut-out Animation with UFOs

During this first film I encountered quite a few problems which flooded to be overcome, and a lot of time was spent in experimenting. Initially this is to be expected, until experience is gained, but of course no expensive cels or animation aids are needed, only a few pieces of card. In fact these experiments are fun, and become at times hilarious, with results far removed from what you intended, although I would always advise making your experiments, if possible, separate to the actual film shooting, if only to avoid splices.

Beginners’ View of Animation

Beginners’ View of Animation

MORRIS LAKIN TELLS US ABOUT HIS FIRST ATTEMPTS AT CARTOON ANIMATION.

I began animating a short while ago. Short, that is, in terms of the amount of animation I have found time for. Straight away I came upon some of the problems of animation drawing.

Beginners’ View of Animation

I think when you are drawing and developing ideas and skills you need to develop a kind of feedback from your work to develop and improve it – to be able to ‘feel’ the quality and the nature of the media. To do this you have to get on and actually do it. I’m only a beginner so I don’t yet have any real feel for the media of animated films, but I know about what I call ‘feeling the media’ from other disciplines.

Open Letter to an Enthusiast

Open Letter to an Enthusiast

KEN CLARK WROTE THE FOLLOWING LETTER TO SOMEONE WANTING TO START ANIMATION.

Dear Pete,
It is always a great pleasure to meet fellow enthusiasts in the field of animation. Of course I will help you all I can. Your letter did not explain how advanced your knowledge of the subject has reached to date, and so I will assume you to be a raw beginner.

Open Letter to an Enthusiast

There are other ways of reducing the number of drawings you will need.

REPEAT CYCLE – is an action of cyclic movement that can he repeated over and over again. The walk cycle is the most common of these. Say, it takes six drawings to take a step with the left foot and six more for the right foot, if your character must go for a walk through the forest you simply repeat the ‘cycle’ of twelve drawings over and over, in fact, until you want to stop him or proceed to the next action. This form of ‘cheating’ however must never be overdone since it is boring on the eye when it involves your character – but perfectly acceptable with objects such as a windmill, or a record on a turntable, get the idea?

Open Letter to an Enthusiast

A cine camera capable of taking single frames is of course essential. This is mounted on a rostrum. Elaborate rostrums are available but when I was secretary of the Grasshopper Group and Bob Godfrey a mere member of it, I remember he used a small upturned table, a plank of wood was fixed firmly to the leg tops, four converted dried milk tins were pressed into service as reflectors for 4 x 100 watt household bulbs. A wooden block with a Whitworth bolt secured the camera in position pointing down at the underside of the table.