Animator. Autumn 1991. Issue number 28. Front cover illustration: Peter Lord in the Aardman Animations’ studio working on a chocolate egg commercial.
#28 Autumn 1991
British animation’s big night out
Report by Graham Ralph. The lurid pink jacket climbed the short flight of steps and turned to confront the three hundred guests. Compare for the evening; writer comedian Tony Slattery, […]
Whatever happened to Sunflower?
It was the intention of the 50th Anniversary re-release of Fantasia to restore the film to its full original form. However, a subtle form of censorship has been used to […]
The Worldview of Youri Norstein
From a small flat in Moscow. By Karen Rosenberg. January 1988. A modern complex of high-rise apartments in outer Moscow. A small flat has been partitioned to create more living […]
The Worldview of Youri Norstein – Page 2
It is obvious from the way Norstein speaks these words that they are not empty platitudes for him. The power of his films may well come from the intensity of […]
The Worldview of Youri Norstein – Page 3
For Norstein, the denigration of human beings is not a historical problem. “In ‘The Overcoat’, Gogol chose the most painful situation in the modern world,” reads the published scenario for […]
Psychology for the animator – Mind over pencil
Animation, like any art form, is a medium for presenting ideas. A lot of psychology is concerned with the study of communication, the way we perceive the world around us, […]
Howard Beckerman New York animator interview
Howard Beckerman is a New York animator who worked at Terrytoons and the now legendary Famous Studios. Graham Webb met him at an animation festival and has documented some of […]
Howard Beckerman New York animator interview – Page 2
Inspired by the goings-on at Terrytoons, young Beckerman took an evening class in animation at a local New York college, much to the Terry artists’ bemusement who couldn’t figure out […]
Goblin – a bedroom studio winner
Tony James was one of the finalists in the BBC television Showreel 88 competition with Goblin. He explains the background to the film. As a pre-TV child I grew up […]
Goblin – a bedroom studio winner – Page 2
I constructed a rostrum from chip-board and wood scraps, which did not look too bad once it had a coat of matt-black emulsion. It had four planes, each with wooden […]
Bridging the great divide
Computerised video graphics have strongly challenged practitioners of diagrammatic film animation. They have also been used by Disney and Hanna-Barbera to create animation for segments of cartoon feature films. Ken […]
Bridging the great divide – Page 2
At the Odeon, Marble Arch that same evening I watched a succession of short sequences which they called idents and stings, all demonstrating the current state of the art and […]
Bridging the great divide – Page 3
John Halas combined computer animated effects with cartoon animation in Autobahn (1979), a little classic of its kind. A fantasy, featuring a green space boy wearing dark goggles, with the […]
I’m just mad about Saffron
Paul Thomas is probably the most independent of London’s independent animators. He has turned his back on commercial work to follow his own dreams. He talks to David Jefferson about […]
I’m just mad about Saffron – Page 2
The production team was culled from various phases of Paul’s career. Co-animator/scriptwriter, David Skinner was an old school chum. He previously worked with Paul on RAM, a film for Channel […]
I’m just mad about Saffron – Page 3
Paul has been determined to get a break with his own studio and it has taken many years to get this far. When he first entered the profession he worked […]
Peter Lord interviewed at Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations the plasticine puppeteers. Plasticine animators Peter Lord and David Sproxton gained their early experience animating Morph for a children’s television show. Nowadays their studio is in great demand […]
Peter Lord interviewed at Aardman Animations – Page 2
The brief called for something of a pliable nature with the ability to change shape, to metamorphosis, something the producer was very keen about, so Morph was born. “I’ve never […]
Peter Lord interviewed at Aardman Animations – Page 3
I ask Peter how talented young people can train to become model animators. “Well, we do have students here but I couldn’t claim to be doing much training. It is […]
Peter Lord interviewed at Aardman Animations – Page 4
There is a deal of preparation before the animation can start. “On this particular job the model makers upstairs are contributing a great deal by making special inbetweens. The chaps […]
Peter Lord interviewed at Aardman Animations – Page 5
“I set it in a maze to make it claustrophobic. He eventually gets out of the maze through a window. I worked with two professional comics on the soundtrack. The […]