Newsletter 3 Page 1
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G'DAY!
Are you enjoying the second series? I must admit I am
and it feels a bit like that old joke - "If you enjoy watching
the shows half as much as I enjoy making them, then
I’m enjoying them twice as much as you are!"
We’ve been going out and about on this series and I thought you
might like to have a sort of behind the scenes glimpse at what happens
when we do go on location.
We spent a whole day back in January at The Museum
of the Moving Image (MOMI) recording items with
animator-in-residence Shaun Blake, and with the
absolute master of stop-frame animation, Ray
Harryhausen. Ray’s exhibition with all his marvellous
models is at MOMI until the end of April. Try and get
there because it’s fantastic! All the great models he's
made are on show and there's a continuous screening
of all the best bits from his famous movies. He
brought two models, a dinosaur from The Valley of
Gwangi and one of the skeletons from the scary fight
sequence in Jason and the Argonauts. Now these
models are probably worth thousands of pounds and
I thought he’d turn up with an escort of security
guards! But no, he travelled on the Tube with the
models tucked in an old brown bag! You’ll find details
in this Newsletter of a competition where you can win
a signed copy of Ray‘s book about all his films.
We visited Aardman Animations which was just like
popping down the road because they’re based in
Bristol where we make the programmes. You’ve
probably seen some of their work without realising it
because they do a lot of commercials. For example,
they were halfway through a Lego advert when we
arrived and they’ve also made some of those "Does
you do or does you don’t" adverts for Access, the
great Hamlet cigar ad, with the man on the wedding
cake whose bride never arrives, and many others.
They're great model-makers, but what they wanted to
do with me and the workshoppers was some
"pixillation". You’Il remember they made a famous
pop video called Sledgehammer with Peter Gabriel
using this technique. What you saw on the show took
us all day to do, but apart from being exhausted
afterwards, we had a marvellous time doing it!
Mind you, we spent the best part of two days with
some more workshoppers at Cosgrove Hall in
Manchester, where they make Dangermouse and
Count Duckula. Those cartoons, like most of the
animations we screen on RoIf‘s Cartoon Club, are cel
animations. We wanted to show you how this sort of
animation is made, so we went to the best place in
Britain. The workshoppers worked really hard and,
thanks to all the great people at Cosgrove Hall, they
produced a fantastic six seconds! of animation. Now
six seconds may not seem much for two days' work,
but that was part of the reasoning behind the item. As
John Lasseter says elsewhere in this Newsletter, all
animation is time consuming. But, boy when you get
into it, it’s so fascinating, so absorbing, that it's
worth it. If I seem to be enjoying it too much,
you will forgive me won’t you?
See You
Rolf
Rolferoo
Writes...
Bugs Bunny remains at the top of your list
of favourites. I‘ve had well over 2,000 draw-
ings of him sent in, but please don't send me
any more carrots!!
I've had lots of entries for the competition
using either vegetables or fruit as a charac-
ter. The favourite name for a Carrot is Colin,
for an Apple it’s Adam and for a Potato, it’s
Peter. (Hector the Gooseberry is one of our
favourites!!)
I've found a member who‘s older than
Hilda Barham (34942). The honour now goes
to Nance Warren (52903) of Woking. She’s 81
and enjoys painting, drawing and watching
the show!
I think our most Northerly member is
Lesley Dickson (55460) who lives on the
Shetland Isles. Since I last wrote I‘ve also
had applications from Saudi Arabia, Portu-
gal and even Australia!!
On March 20, Bugs flew into London to be
greeted by Rolf at Warner‘s West End cinema
in Leicester Square. Bugs will be making
many personal appearances throughout the
year and at many of them he’II be helping to
raise money for Save The Children. Look out
for him in May at the Warner Cineplex in
Newcastle and at MOMI in London. On June
9 and 10 he’lI be at the American Adventure
Theme Park in Derbyshire (Junction 26 off
the M1). There’ll be a national competition to
find 250 children for Bug‘s official Birthday
Bash at Pinewood Studios on September 9.
The Bugs Bunny Roadshow will visit 70
cities in 7 weeks starting in September. We’ll
have more details of future events in the next
Newsletter. All the funds raised will go to
help Save The Children‘s health fund so that
fewer children need say "What‘s Up, Doc?" -
unless they’re talking about Bugs!
ROLF’S CARTOON CLUB is an HTV WEST production
for CHILDRENS ITV