I’m creating am eBook about Tony Pritchett. It will contain:
> A mix of animation, live-action, text, photographic and printed materials by Tony.
> A mix of animation, live-action, text, photographic and printed materials by myself.
> Internal and external links to further study.
> Huge thanks to The Computer Arts Society for hosting the documentary and archive content.
< HOW THE PROJECT BEGAN >
I met Tony Pritchett by chance at an animation screening.
An animator and filmmaker myself, I was keen to keep in touch and it wasn’t too long before I asked if he would mind me making a film about his work. He was a very modest man and especially enjoyed talking about others’ stuff so we decided to create a short that documented the beginnings of the British computer animation industry – from his perspective.
He gave me and my friends many a guided tour through the world of early CGI (ie. the amazing archive stored in his home).
It became apparent that a short film with a classical narrative was perhaps not the best way to go about things. the storytelling mechanics just weren’t working.
After a lot of tinkering, we solved our problem in an elegant and fun way.
We decided to create a mix of experimental film and animation, photographed materials, scanned documents, audio materials, prose, technical notes and links to further study.
Tony passed away in 2017.
I’m continuing to work on the project – which has evolved in order to acknowledge my friend’s absence. In fact – it seems to be turning into something which is very much about his absence.
But it wont be too sad. Tony was expecting it to be funny and strange – which is fine by me.
“I hope I haven’t given you mental indigestion” – Tony Pritchett.