I've never seen Oriental Nightfish - thanks for the link. What incredible animation and it says copyright 1977 which is even more incredible. Lots of the geometric passages look like they are CGI but clearly done by hand. Thanks for sharing and super interesting to read Ravi's insights on the production.
What I'd like to know is were you also creeped out by the animated corporate logo for McCartney's company "MPL Communications" that now precedes all his film / video work ?
I discovered recently that some people were mildly traumatised by it as children, and the discordant music track that accompanies it, composed by PM himself.
I animated the juggler featured in the short sequence at Len Lewis' studio Shootsey - my first real assignment at the studio after graduation and also oversaw the hand-rendering that I simply couldn't allow to be seen by the demanding client unless it was absolutely flawless, and it got me into hot water as a result since the rendering was divided up between several artists whose styles were all very slightly different.
I then spent many days and nights bringing it all together, much to Len's and McCartney's agents' annoyance since McCartney had to have a finished piece for the release of "Broad St" and time was running out - we spent a year making it in between other jobs and as the WIP went back and forth between the studio and the client.
*Len & Dunbar were old animation colleagues from the early days of their careers and Dunbar graciously directed McCartney to Len for the sequence when Len set up his own company.
Hi Ravi – thank you for reading, and especially for your reminiscences: they're fascinating! I don't know whether the logo creeped me out as such, but it definitely made an impression on me. The (as you say) discordant music, the enigmatic figure… It's pretty unusual as a logo, and a lovely piece of work. Do you know whether the animated clip is still used?
Thank you ! - I believe it was still in use as recently as an animated video for Christmas that McCartney released with a new track, perhaps in around 2019/20.
As a point of interest, to achieve the 180 degree crane shot you see in the logo Len used 3D CGI provided by a London co’ that helped choreograph the motion of the planets, since without a background / ground plane as a reference point it was difficult to animate by hand.
The 3D was exported as wireframes Xeroxed on to registered cels that I then used to match the juggler’s action.
With a logo you’re trying to find a balance between freeform hand drawn animation and maintaining the integrity of the logo design so it was an interesting brief from that standpoint since the logo is very spare and graphic and there’s nowhere to hide, in a sense.
I've never seen Oriental Nightfish - thanks for the link. What incredible animation and it says copyright 1977 which is even more incredible. Lots of the geometric passages look like they are CGI but clearly done by hand. Thanks for sharing and super interesting to read Ravi's insights on the production.
What I'd like to know is were you also creeped out by the animated corporate logo for McCartney's company "MPL Communications" that now precedes all his film / video work ?
I discovered recently that some people were mildly traumatised by it as children, and the discordant music track that accompanies it, composed by PM himself.
I animated the juggler featured in the short sequence at Len Lewis' studio Shootsey - my first real assignment at the studio after graduation and also oversaw the hand-rendering that I simply couldn't allow to be seen by the demanding client unless it was absolutely flawless, and it got me into hot water as a result since the rendering was divided up between several artists whose styles were all very slightly different.
I then spent many days and nights bringing it all together, much to Len's and McCartney's agents' annoyance since McCartney had to have a finished piece for the release of "Broad St" and time was running out - we spent a year making it in between other jobs and as the WIP went back and forth between the studio and the client.
*Len & Dunbar were old animation colleagues from the early days of their careers and Dunbar graciously directed McCartney to Len for the sequence when Len set up his own company.
R
Hi Ravi – thank you for reading, and especially for your reminiscences: they're fascinating! I don't know whether the logo creeped me out as such, but it definitely made an impression on me. The (as you say) discordant music, the enigmatic figure… It's pretty unusual as a logo, and a lovely piece of work. Do you know whether the animated clip is still used?
Hi Alex,
Thank you ! - I believe it was still in use as recently as an animated video for Christmas that McCartney released with a new track, perhaps in around 2019/20.
As a point of interest, to achieve the 180 degree crane shot you see in the logo Len used 3D CGI provided by a London co’ that helped choreograph the motion of the planets, since without a background / ground plane as a reference point it was difficult to animate by hand.
The 3D was exported as wireframes Xeroxed on to registered cels that I then used to match the juggler’s action.
With a logo you’re trying to find a balance between freeform hand drawn animation and maintaining the integrity of the logo design so it was an interesting brief from that standpoint since the logo is very spare and graphic and there’s nowhere to hide, in a sense.