Animation Nation Part 2

EP 2: SOMETHING TO SAY
Monday 7 November 9pm-10pm; 1am-2am; Monday 21 November 2.25am-3.25am (Sun night)
The irreverent side of animation came through in the trippy delights of Yellow Submarine, counter-culture classics like Monty Python's Flying Circus and dark modern visions such as Monkey Dust.













July 1968, yellow submarine was released, an animated feature, it was psychedelic and exciting, for adults and depicted drugs and hallucinations. After this other animators realised the extent animation could go to. It took 200 animators in Soho working almost constantly. George Dunning animated this film purposely for adults. Heinz Adleman, a graphic designer, set the aethetic of the film. Lucy in the sky with Diamonds was one of the first rotoscoped piece deigned by Bill Sewell.

"I just wanna make people laugh; not by being silly but being truthful" Candi Guard

"Whatever we were doing was trying to shock people into waking up its subversive its trying to change peoples view of what the world is" Terry Gilliam

Following this an animator, Richard Williams, and a film director, Tony Richardson collaborated in Charge of the Light Brigade. It Picked up the sense of unease at the time and depicted the protests on the streets about the Vietnam war.

Bob Godfreys company was most favoured to work with at this time as it had a steady and constant flow of work and many of the animators from the Yellow Submarine had been layed off. Terry Gilliam tried to get a job and failed after he claimed to love Bob Godfrey "Being crude and stylish sometimes".

Godfrey made Karma Sutra Rides Again, an animation about sex. He claimed to be "satirising the permissive society" and seeing what he could get away with through the form of animation, although it did have limited distribution.

Early n the 70's Terry Gilliam got his big break with Monty Pythons Flying Circus. He used paper cut outs and demonstrated how he did this on Bob Godfrey TV. He was thought to be surrealist.

Gerald Scarfe took a political look at hos trip to America through animaton, depictingthe power and culture and shockingly animated Mickey Mouse on drugs. Seeing this Pink Floydd asked him to make a video for Education. It was hugely successful but still at this point funding for animation was limited.

In comes Channel four with a capacity to commission animation and asked the team behid Yellow Submarine to adapt the controversial book by cartoonist Raymond Briggs about nuclear war, Where the Wind Blows. Jimmy Mirakami, the director saw this as a personal prject aftert he horrors of Hiroshima. It depicted an obedient couples following a panphlet about how to prepare for the war. It cast the voices of real people and was very English in its treatment.

Channel four encouraged new voices "Channel Fours remit was to look for the margins" (Paul Wells). Candi Guard made funny observations of a female reacting to her social surroundings and culture. Dolly Pond was the star of Pondlife commissioned by Clare Kit at Ch4 because of its "funny scenes that are shocking because they're so real." They also asked for pieces from art students, Johnathan Hodgeson wanted to film things within the environment. One film was about people and their dogs but the one really close to his heart was about the Liverpool nightclub scene.

"I learnt that animation was more or less an extension of drawing, painting, sculpture extended into time into space with sound with narrative with possibly political content well its almost the ultimate artform." Susan Young

Susuan Young made a film about Notting Hill festival. She believed the medium brings to life emotion and narrative by using an observational documentary style.

"There were a new generation of animators working in an observational style, trying to draw from real life experience, deal with the social issues and concern of the period. What they're bringing to that party though is the language of animation itself they're able to make these observational documentaries distinctive by virtue of the use of that language bu as it were being able to depict interior states by being able to show emotional ideas." Paul Wells.

Johnathan Hodgeson depicts his mothers schizophrenia in Camoflage and followed the trend in using the interviews of real people. Channel four also commissioned David Andersons, Deadsi which really was dark aesthetically also. Again the theme of nuclear threat was here with the idea that things weren't really as they seemed. Sexuality, war, gender and language were all explored from different perspectives. It was apocalyptic and abstract so it may not have appealed to the wider audience.

Phil Malloy's Cowboys went back to basics. High noon was his inspiration, it used satire and male sexuality. It was only found though in the margins of the schedule in the same way that animation shorts are now. The real longevity for animation proved to be in series, with the Simpsons proving how this could be done. In 2001 ITV comisioned 2D:TV, Giles Pilbrow the director made it accessible to the wider audience with using the aspect of celebrity. BBC Three was launched and threw in their efforts with Monkey Dust and I am not an animal in 2002, Harry Thompson produced them similarly alluding to the culture.