Issue number 17 – Autumn 1986. Brian Cosgrove co-founder of Cosgrove Hall In ten years Cosgrove Hall Productions grew from a small studio to a major animation centre, writes David Jefferson. The design team at Cosgrove Hall The Design Team prepare layouts and experiment with light, shade and colour. Ken Clark investigates. Chris Randall Chris… Read More »
Animator. Autumn 1986. Issue number 17. Front cover illustrations: Left: Wind in the willows, Cosgrove Hall Productions. Right: Dangermouse, Cosgrove Hall Productions.
The Studio In ten years Cosgrove Hall Productions has grown from a small studio to a major animation centre whose films are enjoyed by audiences around the World. The Cosgrove Hall animation studio is in a suburb of Manchester called Chorlton-cum-Hardy, writes David Jefferson. It is a smart looking building of red brick and brown… Read More »
The Design Team prepare layouts and experiment with light, shade and colour. Ken Clark investigates. Layouts show the field of view and the movement of camera and characters, while exercising a strong measure of control, unifying the separate pieces of the picture and guiding the team towards a common goal. It could be said that… Read More »
Andy Roper Andy Roper, Chief Storyboard artist/Layout artist talks with Ken Clark. KC: How long have you been working on The BFG? AR: We started pre-production work in 1984. There were four of us and our director, Brian Cosgrove, working in a Portakabin standing on a plot of land which is now the studio car… Read More »
Maggie Riley, background colour designer Maggie Riley is a background colour designer who has been working at Cosgrove Hall Productions for three years. She designed and painted backgrounds for Alias the Jester and is now on Count Duckula. Interview by Ken Clark. KC: What does colour design entail? MR: While Paul Salmon is responsible for… Read More »
Chris Randall, Senior Producer/Director on future drawn production series chats with Ken Clark. Roald Dahl’s books have tremendous appeal for children. They are different – very different indeed. Most good stories written for children are well-written, but sanitized. Not so the Dahl yarns and poems. He has a perceptive approach, freely explained in a recent… Read More »
Dan Whitworth is currently working on development for the Count Duckula series at Cosgrove Hall. He talks with Ken Clark. KC: I understand you have changed Duckula’s personality from the one he had in his two Dangermouse films. DW: He was mad about show business but we are playing that down, he is more of… Read More »
The Dangermouse series was a good training ground for new animators. At first you were placed with an animator, cleaning up their drawings, then you progressed to in-betweening, then you got scenes of your own to do, and usually within three months you were expected to start on production, working with the animator and on… Read More »
Lorraine Thomas, Supervisor of Paint and Trace talks with Ken Clark. KC: How many people work in this department? LT: We have eight cel painters and are about to employ three more, in another room we have two artists who do the airbrushing, and two who choose the colours and do the colour mixing. I’ve… Read More »