Animacion

The film “Endangered Species” was created especially so this book could be written. It
may seem a quite extraordinary statement for an author to make—that they created
an entire film simply to write a book—yet this is basically what I have done. Without
the film, this book could never have been written. But then again, without an amazing,
magical, diversely enchanting world of animation whichhas existed for almost 100
years now, the film could never have been made in the first place!
Throughout my own 30-plus years within that magnificent century of animation, I have
always dreamt of finding one, single, authoritative book that would deal with every
conceivable aspect of animated film creation. Not just the pure principles of movement,
as some very good books already do, butEVERYTHING that an animator could
possibly ever need to know to practice animated filmmaking comprehensively, from
the principles of production to development and distribution, from screen ratios and
other technicalities to animation’s illustrious history. In short, I wanted a “one-stopshop”
book that has everything that any animator could ever want to know about life,
the universe and of courseanimation too. Since, I could never seem to find one, I decided
to sit right down and write it myself!
Ultimately, all animation teaching is about learning “tricks.” Over the years I have
learned a few more tricks than the raw beginner is likely to know, hence my presenting
them here. It must never be forgotten that animation is all about illusion too; it is not
real filmmaking, about realcharacters, but the audience has to believe it is so. Consequently,
the more tricks you know to create this illusion, the easier it will be for you to
do so. This book attempts to lay out all my tricks to help you in this process.
I recently reviewed the body of all my life’s work as a director/animator and calculated
that if everything were edited together and shown as one complete non-stoppresentation,
it would actually amount to the equivalent of two or three full-length animated
movies! This was a terrifying thought, and an especially frustrating one for an animator/
director who still dreams of crediting just one full-length movie to his name before
he goes on to that “great lightbox in the sky.”
My work has always been consistently mercurial and aesthetic in its nature. Ihave
tended to shun the more predictable cartoon route of animation for the simple reason
that, for me, this is ground well-trodden and I prefer to travel along new paths of discovery.
The first significant award I ever won was a British Academy Award for the first
personal, short film I made, “HOKUSAI—An Animated Sketchbook.” Upon reflection, I
set up shop from the very beginning, in pursuitof the more innovative, aesthetic and
original (albeit less lucrative) work that I have subsequently preferred to do.
Along my career path, I have studied with some of the greatest names in animation:
the late Ken Harris (master “Bugs Bunny” and “Roadrunner” animator from the Warner
Brothers studio) and Art Babbitt (animator on films such as “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia”
during the golden age ofDisney). I served (and survived) as Richard Williams’ (three-
Introduction
time Academy Award winner and author of the exceptional “Animator’s Survival Kit”)
own personal assistant for two years. This wonderful exposure to the very best talents
the industry can offer enabled me to absorb the finer secrets of all the great traditions
at a very early age.
Bringing this great circle to a close,my latest work, “Endangered Species,” pays homage
to some of the fine and classic moments of animation’s defining moments, moments
that have brought the industry to the point where it stands today. In essence,
the making of this film has been a bridging of both of my worlds: the irreplaceable past
and the unendingly exciting present. Although relatively short in length, “Endangered...