festival

Report by David Jefferson. The International Animation Festival returned to Cardiff for the second time with St David’s Hall and the Chapter Arts centre as the main venues. It was the first event to be run by the new festival director Jayne Pilling, who made an excellent job of the programming. “The 1994 theme – … Read more

The Annecy Animation festival continues to grow. David Jefferson reports on some of the films shown and the developments in computer technology. The Annecy animation festival is regarded by many as one of the best in the world, certainly it must have the most picturesque setting of any film festival. Annecy is a lakeside holiday … Read more

“When Fern gully was complete we had used four tons of paint on 150,000 cels, which is a good vote for computerised ink an paint,” said Bill. Computer animation was used on flying sequences in Fern gully Detailed 3-D computer models were built for all the characters in the sequence. Software capable of edge detection … Read more

Rocking the Boat Cardiff is a major production centre for animation with many large and small studios producing TV series. These have grown with the help of the Welsh television channel SIC which was established in Cardiff in 1982. Rather like its London based counterpart Channel 4. SIC has been very keen to promote animation, … Read more

The Annecy Animation Festival is the most spectacular event on the European animation calendar. David Jefferson went along for Animator magazine. The biannual animation festival had outgrown its Bonlieu Centre location and in 1991 was split in two. The artistic side remained at the Bonlieu and the business side was a bus ride away at … Read more

Paul worked with Richard Purdom in London for eight years and learned a lot about animation by doing that specific kind of work. “I feel I have got to get into another area now, storytelling or movie-making,” said Paul. “Animation in advertising is not really movie-making, it concentrates on getting the message across.” Fortunately Richard … Read more

The films competing for the Golden Cartoon must have gained awards at one of eight European festivals. Report by David Jefferson. Films selected to compete for the Golden Cartoon must have won major awards at one or more of the eight most important European animation festivals: Annecy, Brussels, Cardiff, Espinho, Stuttgart, Treviso, Utrecht and Zagreb. … Read more

Nick finds it much harder to make a commercial than Creature Comforts because he is answerable to a client. “They always want more in thirty seconds than I believe will work,” remarked Nick. “If we let the client dictate too much then I know he will get a bad commercial.” However, Nick was fortunate to … Read more

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, welcomed Rolf Harris. The occasion was the 1990 British Animation Awards held in the Assembly Rooms, Cardiff on November 29th. For the next two hours, … Read more

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