Concept and creative process
'The New Statesman’ was a drama series starring Windsor Davies, in which he, as the custodian of an agricultural museum, one day received news that could change his and the British way of life forever. The artwork consisted of a combination of top-lit and back-lit elements. Initially the artwork was drawn up in black outline. This was then copied photographically to supply clear on black Kodaliths to be coloured by using cinemoids (coloured gels). The back-lit artwork was shot using the slit-scan technique (zooming with the aperture open) in order to create shafts and streaks of light. The top-lit artwork which used the initial black on white artwork was photographically made into black on clear kodaliths, which were then coloured by painting the back as in traditional animation. Transparent cel overlays were added with hand-drawn animation. The pieces of artwork were all pegged in register to each other, which allowed perfect registration for the cross-fades from back-lit to top-lit. All of the artwork was shot in-camera on a computer-controlled film rostrum camera.
Rostrum Camera – Colin Hancock.
Design and Creative Direction - Liz Friedman.