The Making Of Within The Shadow Of The The Tree: A Written Account By Carl B Harrison Of Why And How We Made It.

Making Within The Shadow Of The Tree

Part One: The Idea And Why Did I Decide To Make Part One Dark Dreams.

In the 90’s I had a dream, not a Martin Luther type of dream, a one where you go to bed and when you wake up it changes your life...

I was in the type of job that was ok but it did not stimulate or excite me. It was related to filming but I was just Making training films for a training company (very existing). My only solace was movies and I watch a lot of them, I have thousands and thousands in my collection, super 8, Beta Max., VHS & now DVDs but at the time that was not enough...
I was getting ready to make a film but I did not know what it was going to be as yet, Star Wars The Phantom Menace was a long way from coming out and the only Lord of the Rings film I had seen was the animated vision, I was inspired however by Jim Henson Films and the original Star Wars Series from the 70s, also I liked the original He Man animations, I like lots of characters that have special abilities interrelationship to their character and visual appearance.

So all the things that entertained me were buzzing around in my head and somehow my subconscious was putting them together ready for the best dream I’ve ever had...!

When I awoke I grabbed a pen and wrote and wrote. I started to draw storyboards not a few but thousands ... I couldn’t keep up with the images and the story of all these characters and their journey in this world in which they lived.

I realised after six months no one could make this film as it was to big. Digital technology was in it’s infancy and fantasy films were still done the Labyrinth Henson way, that's not to say I don’t like puppets, I love them and I knew some of my characters would be puppets and I would not try and hide the fact but relish in having the opportunity to operate them.

So , I looked at what was in front of me and said even a big film company would have difficulty making a quarter of this story, so I knew I didn’t have a hope of ever attempting it, or so I thought...

I resigned from were I was working and set out to be a freelance film maker, it was a big step but I soon got a varied and interesting selection of work everything from a film about Mc Donald’s Cheerleaders to a new interpretation of The Lambton Worm of which I directed.

It was shot on 16 mm and one of the location sets was huge a whole village full of children all in costume dancing along with a Minstrel whom wonders into the village and tells them the legend Of The Lambton Worm.

The set was similar to what some of the sets would be like in Within The Shadow Of The Tree and this inspired me to do a couple of shots from the film as a test.
The Lambton Worm film was shown all over the world in Japan, France and at lots of other festivals, it was even shown as part of the celebration of a 100 years of cinema, through it I gained a lot of new contacts and one of them was a world renowned animator called Sheila Graber.

Sheila Graber saw some of the test footage I had shot for Within The Shadow Of The Tree, only a couple of shots of which I was going to use to try and sell the idea as I knew, as I’ve already said I would never even have consider attempting to make it myself. Sheila loved what she saw and knowing that I had shot these shots with no budget, encouraged me by saying what could you do if you had a budget. That type of talk does play on your mind, what if, I looked again at the story and thought, what piece of this 8 hour story do I tell, how much should I attempt to make, or should I do it at all....

I made the decision that if I did do the project I would only do the first hour and I would still continue to do the filming work I was doing.
I had made a contact at a film company called Animha Productions and Dave Brunskill the head of Animha was giving me plenty of work to keep me ticking over, I knew it was not going to be easy but at least I had made the decision to do the easiest segment of the story and that meant finishing at a specific point in the story and not telling one second more than I should, as this would have been impossible as the scope of the film jumped enormously and became too big .
I must admit if I was starting the project now I don’t think it would be an issue, but as I’ve already said digital movie technology was only just making into cinemas. I was looking at what I could do with it, but to start with I was going to do it the old fashioned way , then hope technology would become cheap enough for the film to take advantage of it.

Sheila Graber worked with me to put together a proposal for Northern Arts a funding body that used to fund film production,(I say used to as it is now called Northern Film & Media), any hoo we worked on the proposal, it showed makeup tests of Pungin a few shots from the film and an animatic of a segment from the story boards, also the first part of the script that I intended to try and attempt to make.

Northern Arts went for the idea, I must admit other than being excited I was still very nervous because I knew I could not do it for what I had asked them for . I also knew that once I had key scenes done and gaps to fill they may not give me completion money... what I did not know was, even more completion money would not be enough as the project would be a gigantic financial struggle and I would still have to get more funding and invest a great deal of my own finances, but that’s another story for part two of how and why I made Within The Shadow Of the Tree.....

So the long hard journey had begun and in the mean time I had also started a classical animation course at Newcastle University. Stuart Selkirk an animator who had worked on “The Big Friendly Giant” was teaching it. It was a fabulous course and I soon made a lot of new friends and contacts, all which were recruited into the production of the movie. The university let me use some of their facilities, such as work shop rooms for makeup, it was a very productive time and the people I had met were very enthusiastic about the whole project. I don't think I would have ever completed it yet if it had not been for their help.

So now as well as making the movie, working freelance and doing the animation course it was decided that we as a group were going to make a christmas animated movie, a nightmare as it meant starting work at 6 am and finishing 11 pm, they were very long days and when the animation hit it's peak for “Peters Christmas Present”



all efforts went in, to complete it. I received 3 credits for the movie but did a lot more than I was credited for, as did a lot of people. It was a good feeling to get it finished and we received a Royal Television award for our efforts, but I now wanted to go full steam ahead on W.T.S.O.T.T.

The new year saw some good makeup designs and models were starting to be designed and built. Alister Bell's enthusiasm was incredible he's a good man to have with you on a shoot and he’s a genius when it comes to building models, so much so, he worked on two of the “Harry Potter” movies, the moving staircases are his handy work...!

So the main Tree City model was coming on amazingly at Alisters place, he was also keeping me updated with photographs that showed the main angles I would be shooting from and some others that gave excellent scale tests.



Another important feature of the model was it could be disassembled and re- built again somewhere else.

Steve Field, another model builder was making Pungin's and The Wise Ones houses, Pungin's house model would be used for the movie but The Wise One's house model could not be used due to the shooting requirements of what was needed for some of the shots, it was a fantastic design and it looked great, so all of the aspects I loved were applied to the CG version which enabled all the angles and tracking shots to be done with ease.

Pungin's house still needed a lot of work done to it, it was a beautiful little model but that was the problem, the surrounding area was very small,

I needed to enlarge the scope so I could do several different shots with it. Near the end of the movie there are a lot of looking down shots on the house, so the surrounding area around the house needed to be bigger.

This might seem trivial but when you plan to shoot a shot at a given time and something like this happens you just need to get stuck in and adapt it to what you need, the problem was solved quickly with plaster and plenty of model dressing, once lit and viewed from the correct angle the end result looked beautiful.

The construction of Pungin's house photographs, demonstrate something as little and unexpected can add days, if not weeks to a shooting schedule, Pungin's house alterations were trivial but added a week.

Some unexpected problems can add months to even a well planned production.

Nick Daniel, another good man to have on the team was making and designing the Animatronics innards for the Small One as a baby, he also designed and made all the control rods for the Corn Elf.

Animatronics innards for the Small One as a baby.

Control rods for the Corn Elf.

We were getting ready to start and shoot some of the big scenes but again production halted due to other work commitments. Nick and I had been commissioned to make a full size working model of a robot called “Mini Machine”,

the project was a lot of hard work and difficult. Mini was a type of cartoon character who rode around on only two wheels, (one of the many problems to solve).

As well as this, through my work with Animha Productions, a music video we had made called “Lets Rave” was chosen by Paul McCartney to be part of the celebrations for Buddy Holly, it was an amazing event and a day to remember but only the day before heading to London we had just finished Mini Machine.
After recuperating for a few days when I returned from London, we were ready to start and shoot some of the big scenes, but where were we going to shoot them, we had a full size bridge to build and it needed to have enough room to have a blue background and the city model needed to be constructed as well as a whole host of other props and sets.

Sheila Graber told me of a place at Tyne Dock, South Shields which was available, the only problem was, in payment for using it, I would have to also run it as a drop in facility for people wanting to learn animation. I excepted not realising that this would be a two year commitment and the start of many a problem.
The running of Roof Top Animation would help as well as hinder the production of the movie.

The name “Roof Top” animation was given to the facility because the original name it had, South Tyneside Video Project just does not role off the tongue, so the main reason for the name came about because of what were going to be doing there, this with the fact that the project had just moved from the ground floor to the roof top floor of the centre, the name sort of worked itself out.
Next we needed a logo, we had a competition and the speck was, “Below us is boring and up here at Roof Top it's all happening”, yes all happening but not to my film.



Now that the name and Logo were sorted I could run this quiet place and work on my movie ???. But.... it became popular, it became very successful, too successful, in fact that successful it was nearly impossible to get on with my film, over 200 people a week came through those bloody doors, some would just come to watch the tree model grow as it was being built, they would then want to start their own movies, which was good and I would encourage them, but not good because all this was eating into my time and funding. I wasn't being paid to run this place and the longer it took to complete I would be loosing out, remember in payment for the use of the place for filming I was to run this as a drop in, what I was trying to get done on my film was taking an eternity.

Appealing to the press and a shanghaied crew.

I decided to recruit and involve the people from RoofTop Animation in my quest to complete the movie. I suppose it’s like the scene from Bow Finger when he recruited the Mexicans as they ran over the border, it’s also very funny because by the end of the movie the Mexican Film crew are very eloquent in movie terminology and the film making process and that's what happened with the people from Roof Top they became reliable and eager participants in making the movie.

First my funds had nearly dried up and I needed some new interest in the project that would inspire the people around me and hopefully get some kind of sponsoring or support from whoever might be watching the news when my plea was broadcast to the nation to get some help to complete the movie.
Firstly before my plea went out I thought carefully about my strategy, I chose a very low amount of money to say that I needed to finish the movie as I didn’t want to jeopardise any help I might get by saying some figure that was probably true to the correct amount that I really did need, but I chose a very low amount that would help until I came up with something else but would not put people off, because making a movie is a bottomless pit, you can never have enough because your options and aims change.

There are negatives in showing your movie too early and the main negative about showing your work very early on in production is, it’s probably not going to be a shot you might use, or you might need to add a thousand and one elements before it’s finished or they might not show it in the right context to how you had described how you want it to be shown and I guess the three times Within The Shadow Of The Tree clips were shown, on “Inna City Art’, “BBC news” and “ITV independent news”, they all misinterpreted the order and the content of the shots, so that's something to take into consideration if you give your permission to show your unfinished movie.

I must admit later on in the production I was more adamant to change and improve the main shots that had been shown and if I did have to use them in the movie I made considerable changes to a point of the shot being virtually unrecognisable.


I said I was going to ask for a low amount that would allow me to finish the project but in reality I knew the amount I had stated and the time I had said were both very under estimated and the production really in my eyes had not really started.

So the newspapers and the TV came along to Rooftop to help me with my plea, everyone who had become involved in the project turned up to give their support.


We set up posed shooting scenarios because really when we did film no one was dressed up in their sunday best, we were all polished and gleaming for the telly people’s visit.

Dave Ross, Paul Marshal and Carl B Harrison posing for the TV cameras.

Paul Marshal and Dave Ross Posing for the cameras.

David did a very good interview of which in coming months I will post on the web page.



David being interviewed on ITV television.

My interview was ok, I told them the project would fold and not be finished and put on a sad face.



Carl being interviewed on ITV television.

It all went very well and to plan, only problem was we didn’t get any cash offered but instead several businesses including a movie equipment rental supplier offered us any equipment we might need, tracks and dollies if we needed them. I must admit except for the computer technology we would be getting into, I really had all the equipment I needed through Roof Top Animation but having access to the equipment could become useful and I was able to barter some of the help I had been offered to other little production companies. Smurfit Tubes supplied me with all the tubes I needed for the full size bridge and an engineer called Pete who had built a motion controlled camera mount, gave to us through Sheila Grabber, a permanent loan of the equipment and that included the compressor.

Carl demonstrates the motion control camera mount while looking into a monitor.

The point of view of The Tree City from the camera on the motion control camera mount.

David puts on the Pungin head piece for the TV cameras.

The positives were helping the movie but there were still negatives, the news footage had alerted the public to Roof Top Animation and interest grew and grew. I must admit though most of the volunteers did help and the project did manage to move on slowly.

Roof Top Animation and interest grew and grew.

Also at that time I was working for Animha Productions and we were working on many different projects, one of them was "Tales From The Pit" . The style of animation was in the Wallace And Grommit style, clay animation. A lot of model sets were to be in the mine so the lighting had to be a certain way, we needed some input so Aardman Animation, the company responsible for Wallace And Grommit invited us down to show us around and show us some lighting technique

Dave Brunskill, Nick Daniel and Carl B Harrison standing in front of a segment of model set from “Tails From The Pit”

Aardman Animation is an amazing place, the people are friendly and they will discuss any problems you may have. I had some up and coming model shots for my movie and their input was invaluable, one thing I will pass on and that is, if you have a light in a model shot, whether it be a street light or a flash light that a small character is holding, Aardman always use Mag lights, the reason for this is you can strip them down to the bare bones and they will still work and the light you get from them is a good quality light that can be gelled to whatever colour you want.
So with all my questions answered I came back from Bristol to continue with the movie.

Computer Animation begins, well sort of ?.

Dave Tucker early animation title tests using a AMIGA 500 with only one meg of ram.
A light moved across the title shimmering on the gold and at points a reflected star appeared
An amazing achievement at the time with only one meg of ram.

From virtually the beginning of the production it was agreed that John Morris would be doing the computer animation for the movie, I had seen what he was up to and it was very advanced compared to what most people were doing. Dave Tucker and I as I’ve already said looked into the possibilities of what was possible and what new equipment was coming out. Dave himself had been doing experiments with gen. locked over lay effects and with memory withstraints had done an amazing job of the titles that were used in the proposal to get funding in the beginning, but John had one of the best set up’s in the North East of England at that time. Compared with computers now it would be slow but at that time the two computers parneted together were a formidable set up, they had TV boards in and graphic cards and at that time they were very expensive, so I had put aside a some budget to do some of the more complex shots. I myself had just invested in a small AMIGA 1200 to do the less complicated effects, compared to Johns AMIGA 2000 & 4000 mine was little in comparison.

John Morris early Wood Scrote tests.

John started to do some amazing tests and moved into Roof Top with his equipment, unfortunately just as things were just getting started John got work in Italy and he had to leave the country on a long term contract.

John left the equipment behind and I took it upon myself to learn Light Wave and all the other things needed to continue with the movie, I must admit I had several people around me who were their to ask advice if I had problems and I could always pick their brains, Dave Tucker, Nigel Judson and Dave Ross all helped me along with the formidable process of learning to use the equipment and keeping it running.

I moved all the equipment to my work room at home and I made a big decision to leave Roof Top Animation and concentrate on the new task at hand, but that's another story.... to be continued.

Taking a step backwards somewhat, I asked Dave Tucker to take us through the steps he took to produce the titles and graphics needed for the first initial showreel for Northern Arts, this is what Dave had to say.

From what I remember,

First they were done in DPaint 3 and as Carl rightly says a 1meg Amiga 500 with a 880k floppy drive, so basicly it had to run and save within those limits, which actually was what most people had in those days.

First it was discussed which font and basic design Carl wanted for the titles of this showreel, the font was copied and reworked slightly so those letters would look nice in the low resolution used. I basically hand Anti Aliased the whole font as I was expecting to do end credits in the same font as well, now the basic font was ready I copied it and added shadows in a non genlock black.

Now at the time it was to be on a black background so we could use the genlock for any background added later. But looking at it it I realised it needed an extra punch, so looking at the many upcoming expensive CGI TV commercials at the time, I could see it was missing a moving highlight.

So how to do this, now then its hazy but what I think happened was noticing how the brush function worked in dpaint, I noticed when moving the brush over a picture certain colours would show through the picture, so I worked out if I made a gold highlight effect with several yellows in a similar fashion to what was commonly called copper scolling at the time. This was tilted then animated over so many frames and of course was only seen through certain parts of the font, the stars were seperate animations and added as an animbrush at the correct time.

The graduated background was added at a later date, as another variation to the one with a blank background.

I know this is basic stuff nowadays and could be done automaticly in seconds, but at the time it was very new to the home computer user and really did take many, many enjoyable sleepless nights over many weeks to perfect. Got to say I miss those days.


Dave

Thank's Dave...... Carl

Each individual title would zoom towards the screen and a beam of light would scan over each word as it got closer.. Within.....The.....Shadow.....Of.....The.....Tree...