It's amazing the 'path' we can take to places ; places we never knew were there.
From a chance pickup of the Journal and reading of Old Parrock to the finding of these incredibly well done Filmettes showcasing the undoubtable love of Storytelling. I congratulate you both as well as my sympathies for the passing of your true friend and irrefutable partner in crime.
Quite honestly Im not sure how Juniper Junction ,especially, has never won an award ( has it ? ) for Short Film . The subtleties and nuances are impecably timed and woven into the fabric of this tale. The humour, wonderfully riding through the visuals as an undrpinning foundation. The viewer is immediately transported back to another time where life seemed 'simpler'.
Sir(s) your craftmanship and skill in this medium are first rate.
Might I say a very fitting legacy for all the time you both spent weaving your magic. I hope it was as much fun for you to make as it was for me to watch.
Cheers
Richard
(Melb, Aus )
Richard, thank you so much for that very kind posting which I really appreciate. Despite its commercial failure we were very proud of Juniper Junction. At the risk of going off (Old Parrock) theme, here's a little of the story behind it:
We did everything - wrote the story, made all the sets, set up all the lighting and did all the animation and filming. Peter made the figures. A good friend, John Richards, edited the film, but also taught me how to do it properly so that I have been able to edit all our films since then.
Juniper Junction was made entirely in a brick garden shed 12ft x 8ft. Everything was stop-motion animated including the trains who were moved one or two millimetres at a time according to their speed. To make trains stop smoothly, we filmed them backwards and reversed the sequence. The only CGI was the figures blinking, which was effected frame by frame.
Obviously, some of the trains were longer than the shed with eight or nine coaches, so coaches were added onto the back as the train passed through the scene and removed again once out of shot. In one or two of the train sequences, coaches appear twice in the same train - it's great fun planning this kind of trickery.
It took four years to make, working three days a week.
The 'Cyril and Daisy' films came after, and were a joy to make with just a Sony Mini-Cam. We filmed one each year, spending happy days in Peter's garden playing with his gorgeous Gauge 1 Bassett-Lowke and Bing tinplate trains, most of which pre-date WW1. We made recordings of trains on the Bluebell Railway for the sound and developed a way of editing stories where the characters are immobile - it needs a lot of thought. Cyril and Daisy stand on my dresser now, a reminder of happy days!
Previously in the 1990s, while I was still beavering away working in primary schools, Peter had made a couple of films with another friend. These were called Duck End. There are a few of these around on VHS but unfortunately they have pretty much disappeared now.
Making films with Peter was enormous fun. I've also enjoyed making the little films about Old Parrock, but nothing can match the hilarity of working on the Cyril and Daisy films - wonderful memories!
