Merry Christmas from Escape Studios

"God Bless Us Every One"

A Very Merry Christmas from all of us at Escape Studios - and God Bless Us Every One.  

Many years ago, aged three or four,  I was the voice of Tiny Tim in my father's 1971 animated version of A Christmas Carol, a TV Special produced by animation legend Chuck Jones, of Bugs Bunny and Road Runner fame.  

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is just twenty minutes long - you can watch it in HD below. 

1971 Christmas Carol

The film was completed at Richard Williams Animation at 13 Soho Square.  The Grade II* listed building still stands today; it's even painted the same dark green colour, and looks just the same as it always did - minus the letters "Richard Williams Animation" above the door.

Richard Williams Animation c1983

The twenty-two minute TV special was produced by Chuck Jones and many scenes were animated by Ken Harris, one of Chuck's star animators from Road Runner days. Other legendary animators from the first Golden Age of Animation included Grim Natwick and Emery Hawkins.

Animation Masters
These animation masters passed on their knowledge of animation to the animators at the studio in London, at a time when the craft of animation was almost dying out. I still have copies of their lecture notes - which you can find in the Animation Library at Escape Studios. 

Roy Naisbitt

Art Director Roy Naisbitt designed complex background layouts, creating a sense of the grime, squalor and claustrophobia of 19th century London.

Roy Naisbitt later went on to do the remarkable two and a half dimensional background layouts for The Thief and The Cobbler, and he also did the layout work for the two-minute short cartoon that opens the 1988 hit "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".  It is Roy's work that gives the film's opening its unique character.

Punch Cartoons
The style of Christmas Carol was based on the illustrated Punch cartoons of the 19th century, similar to the animated interludes in The Charge of the Light Brigade which the studio had completed a few years earlier. The idea was to make the film feel like a moving illustration - a tough drawing challenge for the animators.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for one of our courses, follow this link.