Published between 1982 and 1995
D. J.: On your show reel all the commercials have a different style. Which one is your particular style? T. W.: We don’t have a style. That is part of the Animus philosophy. Our style is the animation quality. People working here have a strong drawing ability. If you are capable of controlling the co-ordination … Read more
D. J.: It’s nice when you see the end result. T. W.: It is if you feel you are progressing. Running a studio is a heavy responsibility. I was much happier as an animator without the responsibility but as an animator working for somebody else there was no way I could do what I wanted … Read more
Ken Clark pieces together a portrait of George Pal – in his ealy days – as seen through the eyes of a number of star witnesses. The 1947/48 edition of the American Motion Picture Almanac says of George Pal… “he devised the production system for his Puppetoons in London.” Even Bruce Holman, in his excellent … Read more
Our biggest problem with puppet film making was the lighting. This required a great deal more attention than live action filming because the little wooden figures were round, with painted eyes (sometimes mere dots), mouths were probably no more than straight lines. These were the factors which conveyed character and personality. A villain might have … Read more
KC.: You were with J. Walter Thompson at that time, weren’t you? G.H.: That’s right. I never worked for George Pal. When we made the Horlicks films in Eindhoven I was a Walter Thompson employee and had set up a films division within the organisation, a film-making and distributing division. The distribution half of it … Read more
The Adventures of Andre and WaIIy B. recieved a Special Award from the 1985 Canadian International Animation Festival in Toronto. The whole film was generated by computer. David Jefferson reports on a talk given by two of the film’s makers at the Annecy Festival. Picture, if you can, a wide angle shot of a wooded … Read more
Using this method the computer only animates the background. All the characters are done by conventional animation. There for there is no time saving involved. The chances of wanting to do a whole story film by this method seem remote but it could be used for selected scenes in the same way that the multiplane … Read more
Flicks Films Ltd and 101 Productions Ltd are London based animation companies that are owned and run under the same umbrella. Flicks Films produce commercials and 101 Productions make TV series. David Jefferson went along to meet the man behind them, Terry Ward. The headquarters of Flicks Films Ltd is a first floor office in … Read more
Pre-production planning is considered very important. When a rough script has been prepared Bernie Kay and Terry Ward do a rough storyboard together. Changes are sometimes made to the script because a joke that is told in words may go over better in visuals only. Kay goes off with the rough storyboard and types up … Read more
This was not always the case as Ward recalls when they were working on the Mr Men series ten years ago, “We financed the Mr Men ourselves, we went to the bank and borrowed the money. It took off and we have sold it around the world. In those days “The Wombles” was about the … Read more