Speccy Nation

Back in the 1980s I was an enthusiastic owner/programmer of the ZX Spectrum, my games "Bod and the Vampires" (jointly written with Richard Notman) and "King Penguin in London" were never published but there were many good games released from both big and small publishers.





Speccy Nation looks at the best of these such as Sabre Wulf, Skool Daze and my favourite the super fast Death Race 2000. It also looks at some of the less popular titles that had unique UI elements or otherwise pushed the boundaries of what computer games were at the time. It's a great book for reminissing or for study. Dan Whitehead's observations and comments reflect some of the humour of the time and it's clear that he's done a lot of research. The book finishes off with some links to popular emulator sites and archives. Definately worth getting hold of.

Where the wild things are

"Heads on and We Shoot: The Making of "Where the Wild Things are" will be released on 1 October 2009, but you can pre-order now.

How to Make Animated Films

A new animation book is due out later this month aiming to provide an apprenticeship in skills from the golden era of animation. How to Make Animated Films is a Complete Masterclass on the Traditional Principles of Animation and is written by teacher and animator Tony White.




Starting out with the basics of equipment and technical aspects like Dope Sheets, Light boxes and subtleties such as using top or bottom pegs. The books then discuses the timing aspects and movement arcs. Several chapters are dedicated to specific actions such as bouncing balls and walks and runs followed by more advanced techniques. The later chapters look at bringing this all together and it finishes with a look at the future of animation.

Book Chapters

Why this book?
First Principles
Inbetweening
Bouncing Ball
Generic Walk
Personality Walks
Runs
Quadrupeds
Weight
Anticipation
Dialogue
Putting it all together
The future of animation

The book includes hands-on Tutorials, demonstrations and final sample animations of 2D, 3D, Flash, Claymation, Cut-Out animation. It is also accompanied with a DVD demonstrating the principles and concepts from the book.

Tony White is well placed to write such a book. He started out studying with Ken Harris, Art Babbit and Richard Williams and went on work for Halas and Batchelor, Richard Williams Animation and Animus Productions. Over the years he has won various awards for films and commercials.

In 2005 he founded a non profit organisation The Animaticus Foundation is dedicated to the preserving, teaching and evolving the artform of 2D animation in a digital world.



Tony White's channel on Youtube

Tony White Biography

Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Focal Press (12 Jun 2009)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0240810333
ISBN-13: 978-0240810331

Stopmotion Book

There's a new book out by stop motion animation expert Barry Purves. Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance is a great book and if you want to know more about it then you will need to read next month's Imagine Magazine who will be hopefully including my review.

The Danish Underpant Thieves and the book that was so good I bought it twice.

On one of my work trips to Copenhagen my bag was stuck in the airport handling system and I arrived at the hotel with nothing. I duely payed for a new pair which cost a fortune from the hotel reception and some body spray from the local convenience store. So the next day I left my old pair of pants in the room and headed off to work in the new pair. When I arrived back to the hotel I found the room was open and my old pants were gone. Despite various protests I did not get any refunds and my pants never arrived. Things were made worse by the fact that my new pants accidentally ended up on the expenses bill to the client.

On a separate occasion I was reading "Digital Lighting and Rendering" a top book from Jeremy Birn which not surprisingly is about Digital Lighting, and Rendering. I left this in the hotel room as it's quite heavy and I already had a laptop to carry. When I returned that evening it was gone. The hotel made some enquiries but non of cleaning staff turned out to be part time computer animators. They promised to send me a new copy. On another visit a few weeks later, I quizzed about progress and they denied all knowledge. So I shelled out for a new copy and since then it's been know as the book that was so good I bought it twice.

Heath Robinson Contraptions

William Heath Robinson is famous for making over elaborate machines held together with string and made from old brooms and pieces of furniture. He illustrated the Professor Branestawm books by Norman Hunter and has been used in advertising things such as Guinness. One of the automatic analysis machines built for Bletchley Park during the Second World War to assist in the decryption of German message traffic was named "Heath Robinson" in his honour.

Geoffrey Beare has edited together a collection of the wackiest machines in this newly published Heath Robinson Contraptions book.

Mike Figgis book and lecture

Director Mike Figgis' book on Digital Film Making is soon to be launched and is available on Amazon for a bargain price of £3.99. Mike has been working with Digital equipment for some years now and was quoted back in 2005 as saying “The aim is to make film-making less of a technical process, not more.... Film-making is about storytelling and storytelling is about people and how we all interact.” Hopefully this will make for an interesting and informative book. Unfortunately with the predicted delivery of 4 to 6 weeks you are unlikely to get a copy for him to sign at his Master class at the BFI on Thursday. He will be explaining the possiblities of digital tools and providing inspiration to new film makers.

Book: Prepare to Board!

Amazon.co.uk are soon to release book for animation writers by Nancy Beiman. This book covers the first stages of a animated film from story and character development through storyboarding to pitching and animatics. The book has already received a 5 star average rating from US readers. Nancy has 20 years experience in the animation business having worked on everything from Beavis and Butthead to Disney's Hercules.

http://www.aceanim.com/Shop.php?ID=0240808207

Secrets of Oscar-winning Animation: Behind the Scenes of 13 Classic Short Animations

A new book shortly to be available via online bookstores looks at the techniques, storyboards and sketches of Oscar winning films from 1952 through to 2003. The book includes interviews, behind the scenes photos, stills and sketches from this diverse range of styles of animation.