Dick Purdum was one of Richard Williams’s students and proteges at Richard Williams Animation. He was at RWA during the time that Williams brought in Art Babbitt, Grim Natwick, and Ken Harris to provide animation training and to work on The Thief and the Cobbler. As with many of the …
In the making of animated films, both shorts and feature length, story(board) drawings are made to develop gags, establish the story, identify camera moves, and guide the animation. ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit was one of the earlier animated feature films to utilize a ‘script’ prepared by designated scriptwriters. Nevertheless, storyboard …
The Richard Williams Animation crew moved to The Forum in Camden Town in early March 1987 and the Disney animators followed in early April. The Forum had been converted from a warehouse to an animation studio – with animation desks designed and built by Sam Sewell. At the start, Disney …
I must start by saying that researching this post was a distinct pleasure. London was the centre of commercial animation for Europe in the 1980s. Much of that was due to the high regard for the quality of the British animation and, in particular, the reputation of Richard Williams …
There were occasional celebrity sightings at The Forum. Bob Hoskins was a favourite visitor of the animators. They were also excited whenever Steven Spielberg and Bob Zemeckis dropped by – but they were there… working… so I don’t know whether that counts as a celebrity sighting. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank …
St. Martin’s Gardens is located kitty corner across the intersection of Camden and Pratt streets from The Forum. It was the site of the former Camden Town cemetery. The land was acquired in 1802 for an additional burial ground for St. Martin-in-the-Fields. It was closed for burials in 1856. Many …
In the Pig Head sequence, Eddie Valiant was kidnapped by the Weasels and taken to Toontown, where he was ‘toonarooed’ – painted with a Pig Head. He is tossed out of the Toontown tunnel entrance and runs back to his apartment to shower off the Pig Head with turpentine. Although …
See the previous post about ‘Chef-in-a-Box’ meals. Chef-in-a-Box meals at The Forum As animation production at The Forum wore on into late 1987 and early 1988, the sense of urgency about finishing on time for the planned release date increased exponentially and almost anything was done to keep people …
see previous post: https://pullingarabbitoutofahat.com/animation-the-forum/the-forum-camden-town-london/ Entry to the building was off Camden St. A commissionaire sat at a small desk as security. The production initially had two floors of the building, but expanded quickly to occupy the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors. As people were hired, they sat whether there …
Animated films are developed through an iterative process of screenwriting and storyboarding. Scenes may be storyboarded – and may even go as far as pencil tests of the animation -and later deleted as the story evolves. ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ is famous for its deleted scenes. Ward Kimball …
