BSA 106

Animation 1980 - 1985.

Canada
—Gerald Potterton
—Created Heavy Metal (1981) an adaption of cult adult comic book of the same name.
—Film is composed of many psychedelic, sci-fi fantasy stories about sex, violence and rock n roll.
—Animation was divided between many different studios and directors.
A lot of rotoscoping human characters was used.
—Nelvana Studio
—Created Rock & Rule (1983)
—Similar style to Heavy Metal (1981)
—Featured a post apocalyptic world where mutant animals have taken over.
France
—Paul Grimault
—Formed a small animation company with Andre Sarrut and created many short animations.
—Started making a film in 1948 with the title The Shepherdess and the Chimneysweep.
—Sarrut screened an unfinished version of the film in 1952 and Grimault fell out with Sarrut and production was halted.
—Grimault won the rights to the film in 1967 and the film was finished in 1980 (32 years after production first started) and renamed the film The King and the Mocking Bird.
UK
—Dianne Jackson
—Created The Snowman (1982)
—Nominated for 1983 Academy Award for best animated short film.
—One of the most successful British family orientated animations, later to be superseded by Aardman Animations.
—Cosgrove Hall Productions
—The Wind in the Willows (1983)
—Worldwide success of the stop-motion film led to a 52 episode TV series and a second film A Tale of Two Toads (1989).
UK / USA
—John Halas
—Created the short Dilemma (1981)
—Following the limitations of his previous experiment with CG used in Autoban (1979), Dilemma claims to be the first fully digitized CG film.
—Autoban (1979) and Tron (1982) also made this claim though it is unclear how much is actually cel animation made to look like CG.
Canada / Germany
—Frederic Back
—German by birth, his films are an examination of Canadian culture.
—Created Crac! (1981) A story of the life of a rocking chair.
—Early example of of the pastel shaded look that become popular in the 80’s.
Czech Republic
—Jan Svankmajer
—Created Dimensions of Dialogue (1982)
—A film about the how humans communicate and how this can go wrong.
—Also created Alice (1988)
—Mixture of live action and stop-motion.
Canada
—Richard Condie
—Created The Big Snit (1985)
—Simple drawings, wobbly lines, and a refusal to take anything seriously.
UK
—Gerald Scarfe
—Created 15 minutes of animation for Pink Floyds film The Wall (1982)
—Film is about a mental breakdown of a rock star called Pink (based on former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett who suffered a drug fuelled breakdown)
—Film explores the feelings of isolation and alienation.
—Animated sequences were inspired by Gerald’s childhood memories of the Germans bombing England during World War II
UK / Canada
Steve Baron directed Money for Nothing (1985) by Dire Straits (one of the first computer animated videos and a landmark in CGI) Animation was done by Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair
—Steve Baron also directed A-ha’s Take On Me (1985)
—Video was animated by Michael Patterson, who makes the singer of the band come alive from a comic book using rotoscoping technique.