Tahsin "Tash" Özgür

 A while back I did a 2 part interview with former Thief colleague Tahsin "Tash" Özgür.
Dying Messenger (part 1)
Dying Messenger (part 2)

On his own blog Tash has written a few more posts about his work on the Thief and included Vimeo clips with some of his pencil tests.

https://tahsinozgur.blogspot.com/2012/09/hrsz-ve-kundurac-thief-and-cobbler.html

https://tahsinozgur.blogspot.com/2012/12/surunen-haberci-crawling-messenger.html

https://tahsinozgur.blogspot.com/2019/09/richard-williams.html

another interview with him:
https://www.animdesk.com/tahsin-ozgur

 

 

 

All done and dusted.

It came and went, and I think must be considered a success.
We managed to pack out Blakes-bar at the Star and Garter, much to the delight of Kelvin, the landlord, who prides himself on the pubs animation history.
Simon Maddox sent me his photos and, as they are nicer than mine, they'll be the first to see publication.
I enjoyed it so much, I promise I won't wait another 20 years before we do it again...
Enjoy...

Sharon & Robert


Pete & Paul


Claire


Mark


Lance & Neil


Cy & Roy



Rob


Tanya


Alyson


Michael


Alyson


Gary


Mike


Ramon


Sue & Tanya


An & Iain


Robert


Dean & Atlanta


Roy


Roy & Ian


Paul


Dean

Roy's birthday

Roy Naisbitt is 80 years old today. Here is a drawing he gave me when he showed me his collection of drawings in his home. He has the original artwork for his opening pan of Christmas Carol for example and lots of other things that should be in a museum.The drawing size is 25x12".

Happy Birtday Roy! You are awesome.

Roy and Art photos

Hans Bacher has posted some photos of animation artists. Here is the link to his blog post: CREATIVE WORKSPACES 1
He said that there are more to come in the near future.
In 1981 he met Art Babbitt in the Hollywood QUARTETT film studio, where Art was animating on THE THIEF:


This one of Roy Naisbitt he took in the Soho Square studio in 1987:

On his blog there are also 2 photos of Dick W. that were taken during the production of Roger Rabbit.

1975 Crew picture update

I just want to point everybody again to Michael Sporn's post about the same crew picture I posted about last week. At his blog a lot of interesting comments keep on pouring in. Click LINK

1975 Crew picture

I love how people contact us via email lately with inspiring input. This makes blogging easy. Here is another one:
"Hello, I have a question that has been gnawing at me for years and I thought you might be able to help. Attached is a photo from the 1975 book "Creators of Life" by Donald Heraldson. It is the staff photo of Richard Williams studio. I can easily make out Richard W., along with Art Babbitt and Grim Natwick. But you will also notice a 10-year-old boy in the middle of the photo. The subtext says he is part of the staff. If that young man was 10 in 1975, that would make him about 43 or 44 today. Do you know who he is, and if he is still in the animation industry? Thank you,
- Tim Hodge"We don't know yet who the 10 year old boy is, but Carl Gover was kind enough to identify most of the other people. Here is what he wrote me today: "...an old photo to bring back lots of memories. Sadly, mine is not what it should be but I can recall some of those in the pic. However, the kid’s name escapes me although I do remember him as a prodigy at the time.

I believe I was abroad this day – or otherwise occupied.

Bottom row:
Richard Williams...Richard Burdett (animator)... Art Babbitt...(unknown).....Carol Stallings (Dick’s sec.)...Dick Purdum

Row above:
Chris Knott (SFX guy)...Bella Bremner (Dick’s Asst.)...Ken Harris...Grim Natwick...Roland B. Wilson (Designer/illust.)...Sergio Simonetti (animator)...Brian Lewis (Lawyer)... Tass Hesom (animator)...(unknown)...Leslie Silver (Prod. Asst.)..(unknown)...Howard Blake (Composer)

The people behind (left) are familiar but the only name I remember is Tony White (animator) between Bella and Ken. UPDATE: on the left with Glasses is Jeff Short, then between him and Tony: Greg Duffell

Those behind (right) are Roy Naisbitt...Russell Hall...Rod Howick (editor)

I will do my best to contact others who might help..."

Update:
Please check out Michael Sporn's blog who is posting about this picture, too. I'm updating Carl's list above to incorporate the names that came up in Michael's comment section.

On Michael's blog Tim Hodge says: I also sent the photo to William’s Master Class website. This is the response I got back yesterday from I. Sutton.: “He wasn’t an employee but a very bright boy who was invited to attend a Masterclass at the studio. It was a long time ago and I don’t have a
record of his name or whether he is still animating.”
So the book was off-base a little.

Update from Michael Sporn in the comment section:
Greg Duffell, on my blog, identifies almost everyone in the photo, including the boy:
Back row from left:

Inbetweener Geoff Adams, unknown (perhaps assistant editor), trainee inbetweener John McCartney, Assistant director, designer, layout artist and technical director Mr. Roy Naisbitt, animator Russell Hall, editor Roy Howick

Next row forward: Junior Animator Jeff Short, trainee inbetweener Greg Duffell, Animator Tony White, Animation legend Mr. Grim Natwick, Illustration legend Mr. Rowland B. Wilson, Senior animator Mr. Sergio Simonetti, Executive Producer Brian Lewis, Executive Secretary Lesley Silver, Lettering artist and animator Mr. Raymond Guillemet.

Next row forward: Effects animator Chris Knott, Assistant animator Bella Bremner, Animation legend Mr. Ken Harris, visiting student Jonathan Dean, trainee inbetweener Tass Hesom, animator Bill Rhodes, composer Howard Blake

Front row: Legendary animator Mr. Richard Williams, Top assistant animator and animator Richard Burdett, Legendary animator Mr. Arthur Babbitt, Executive secretary Carol Stallings and Dick’s right hand man and animator Mr. Richard Purdum.

Thanks Tim, Carl, Michael, Mark and Greg for the glimpse back in time .

Thief gets a new cloak out of the trash

Last weekend I received this email:

Hey guys,
I've been a dedicated follower of your blog since I first read about it on Michael Sporn's site and I was curious about who animated the scene where the Thief pulls a cloak out of the trash after he crash lands during the flying sequence. I thought maybe you'd get to this scene as you were going through the Thief on the mountain scenes but then you got off the scene breakdowns so I decided to bother you about it in an email. I think this may be my favorite piece of animation in the film because of it's reality. The Thief feels completely alive with all the beautiful weight shifts and the way he mulls through the trash, it's all so wonderfully observed. The part where he wiggles into his cloak reminds me a lot of Milt Kahl's animation of Sluefoot Sue putting on her dress in Pecos Bill. Any information you have would be appreciated.
Thanks for keeping up the blog!
-Aaron SorensonThanks for the question Aaron! I've always admired this scene. Neil Boyle animated it. The need for the scene came up when Dick finalized his intentions about the continuity of events and how to link from scenes where the Thief's cloak was torn to shreds and later scenes where his cloak was intact again. This was during the 1990-92 time and it's one of the scenes that were not based on previous Ken Harris animation.
As you can see the screengrab is kind of blurry. This scene was never part of any of the official releases. One of many reasons why we should hope for an official DVD that contains all these lost treasures. Remember to vote in the poll at the top right corner...

Babbitt and Harris

From Mark Mayerson's blog: (LINK for full post)
He writes: "Børge Ring sent me this anecdote about Art Babbitt being something of an animation snob.

First time Babbitt came to London Dick Williams picked him up at the airport. On the way to town Dick said joyfully proud: "We've got Ken Harris." Babbitt frowned. "But eh: Isn't that somebody from Warner Brothers and all that?"Dick laughed and said: "I'll show you tomorrow."Next morning he took Art to the movieola and ran a string of Ken's scenes of the Thief. Babbitt was baffled. "Well I'll be damned." He and Ken Harris became great friends at Dick's formidable small studio..."

Ken Harris and Wolf

Luke Menichelli just sent this photo from the International Film Guide.Interesting. I wonder who or what the wolf just swallowed.

Tony Palermo

If you have seen the Recobbled Cut and looked at the slow motion scene of the Dying Messenger on the horse you might have also seen this scene:Like Tash's slow motion scene this one is also part of King Nod's dream. If I remember it properly this was the first scene that Tony Palermo animated on the Thief. I think previously he assisted Brent Odell on scenes with technical effects, like the scene of the falling tower in the War Machine sequence where the camera rotates sideways.I was impressed by Tony's work here, the timing and spacing of the swords and the organic feel of the blood. It's quite different from what he had done previously and I was glad that Dick gave him a shot to animate his own scene.Here is a photo of Tony Palermo with his desk neighbour Emanuela Cozzi.I didn't remember what else Tony animated on the film, but I consulted with Dietmar who remembers these 2 scenes:

Roy Naisbit - part deux

"What did the frog say to the Warmachine?"
"Rivet, Rivet"

And that is what this giant monstrum of a siege machine boils down to. Rivets. Many rivets. Hundreds, thousands, maybe millions. Before I joined the team I didn't even know the word "rivet". Afterwards I wished I never had.

Not really, just joking :) But if you have taken a close look at Roy's designs, you see how much he and Dick loved rivets. They are everywhere. And without more funny or interesting stories to tell, let's have more eye-candy from the master himself.

First Pipe Sequence

updated
For my taste this is one of the highlights of the film. Here is another contribution by a trusted source, with a few edits by me:
On most productions the animation of pipes wobbling and clanking would probably have been assigned to the effects department, but for this sequence - where the Thief works his way up the inside of the palace drain system - Dick had Ken Harris work out the various vibrates, accents and stagger timings of the bending pipes, figuring that Ken would milk the situation for all its humor, and be able to inject some of the Thief's personality and timing into the movements of the pipes.

Errol le Cain painted the backgrounds for this sequence, following the layouts that Roy Naisbitt and Dick had designed. As well as painting the background sections of palace wall and the skyline beyond, Errol painted watercolors of each of the pipes setups, which were then scalpeled out and mounted on a cel overlay. This was done so that Errol could apply his distinctive color sense in designing bands of graduated greens and browns which ran along the length of the pipes and suggested, in a graphic way, their roundness. This cut and paste on the mock ups of the pipes almost certainly was done by Roy. (It always seemed to fall to Roy to cut, paste and invisibly join the background artwork!) Color Modelist Barbara McCormack then matched exactly each of these bands of color to equivalent shades of cel paint so that the same effect could be achieved on the final production cels. Inks had to be matched to the cel paints too so that each band of color would butt seamlessly to the next, rather than be separated by an ugly black trace line. I have no idea when Errol did the color setups for the pipes, but I think it was a long time prior to the shots going in to clean up and color. This was not unusual though -- I think that Dick would sometimes get a sequence worths of background paintings done by Errol after Ken had finished his roughs, even though he knew that the clean up and trace/paint on the characters may not be done for some years hence. I guess Dick figured that Errol was unique and he wanted to get him to do as much of the film as he could by producing the backgrounds as soon as they were ready to go. A lot of Ken's Thief rough scenes already had background paintings done for them by Errol. Roy used to fish them out of the archive at 138 so that matchlines could be checked as the scenes went through final animation. Ken did the original rough animation for the pipes sequence probably somewhere between the very late 60s and the mid 70s -- most of the X sheets seemed to fall somewhere between there...

Ken's original pipe animation was cleaned up and detailed by Raymond Guillaumet. Raymond was always cast by Dick on any job that needed extreme precision and technical drawing (Raymond had previously been a diagrammatic animator and a lettering artist, and had designed the fonts and lettered many title sequences for feature films including some of the early James Bond films and the famous 'zero gravity' floating titles to 'Barbarella')

The animation of distant birds in the sky, dust and debris falling from the pipes, and the flies following the Thief's progress up the pipes were animated variously by Dick, Neil, Holger and Dave Cockburn.

The shots of the Thief coming up through the palace toilet were animated by Neil from Ken's roughs. A late addition to these shots was made when Dick decided he wanted the jewelled toilet flusher to turn slightly in the breeze. Dick was always keen to have some sense of air moving through the palace and would often request that hair, veils and drapes sway slightly in the wind. The direct inspiration for this came from the Powell and Pressburger film 'Black Narcissus', where a Himalayan wind flows continuously through the nunnery in which the story takes place.

Left: Thief by Ken/Dick, water by Graham Bebbington
Middle: pipe by Ken/Raymond, Thief by Ken/Dick, water by Jane
Right: pipe by Ken/Raymond, Thief by Ken/Dick, water by Lynette Charters4/21/2008 update by Jane Wright:
"The first one where the Thief reaches a hand up to the pipe while still submerged was Graham's, the one where he struggles up the pipe I did, and the third one (if it's a separate scene) may be Lynette's as she did the other long shot from that sequence."

Left: Alex
Middle: done in LA (?), not under Dick's direction
Right: pipes by Ken/RaymondWhen Dick was forced to fill in the gaps of the movie with storyboards he added a lot of boards with Yumyum, Cobbler and Nanny into this sequence. As far as I can remember it, only the single close up of the Nanny saying "The nice young man is fixing your slippers, my dear" (left image) was completed during the original production, and Alex Williams did it. I don't know if this one shot was picked out as an attempt to nail down the Nanny's design in close up, or for promotional/trailer material, as I don't remember any of the surrounding shots ever going into production (?) The rest of this sequence seemed to remain forever in storyboard form in the original workreels... The other scene (middle image) was done after the shut down of the London production -- at least I don't remember seeing any line tests for it -- but I do remember very clearly that Dick had done very precise (color) storyboards for these scenes, with many of the poses already worked out. There's a slightly snappy timing to how the Nanny reaches that final lovely pose which suggests to me that it was done in LA - just a hunch - but the pose itself is definitely one of Dick's.


All: Ken/Raymond


Left: Ken/Raymond
Middle: Ken/Neil
Right: Dick


Left: Ken/Neil
Middle: Ken/Dick, water by Dave Cockburn
Right: Art/DickFrom what I heard Dick was a bit upset when some scenes were included in Roger Rabbit that were pretty similar to this (the Thief flushing himself down the Toilet) and he refused to be involved with these scenes.


Left: Roy/Raymond
Middle: Ken/ Raymond
Right: Ken/ RaymondFor the scene on the left Roy probably animated a rough miniature version which was then enlarged and the final drawings done by Raymond.
If you watched the new "Horton Hears a Who" movie, there are a few shots in there that look as if they were inspired by these last 7 scenes.


All: Ken/Raymond


Thief by Ken/Dick, pipes by Ken/Raymond, water by RaymondRaymond was a perfectionist and very self critical. I remember he was unhappy that Dick wanted him to animate the water for this scene. He felt his animation of the water was not irregular and random enough. Part of the reason for this was also that Dick was looking for a stylized approach versus a naturalistic one.