Cinema Canada (Aug 1976)

In the traditional view, Canadian animation is centered in Montreal and begins and ends with the National Film Board. This assumption ignores the fact that much of the animation originating in Canada has been produced in commercial ventures, outside the confines of the NFB. Even independent filmmakers and small companies are gearing their production primarily towards the commercial and popular entertainment fields, though perhaps employing less traditional commercial styles to accomplish these aims. A growing number of animators are also working independently in individual styles on personal films as well as commercial projects, breaking the previously sharply defined boundaries between the amateur and the professional, and between the commercial and the avant-garde. Vancouver supports a small but active group of animators. Perhaps not more than 12 individuals could be classified as full-time professional animators. Even among this group, several people occasionally take on odd jobs to supplement their incomes. Due in part to the small size of the professional community, animators in Vancouver seem to have formed a rather tightly integrated group. As Don Worobey, head of the NFB’s Vancouver animation studio, states, ““The majority of animators here, especially those between the ages of 25 and 35, studied at the Vancouver School of Art, and share a similar training in the visual arts and graphic design. We also tend to maintain contact with each other and with film students currently enrolled at VSA.”’ As such, most animators are familiar with each other’s films and often do subcontract work on each other’s projects, as well as freelancing for the NFB or larger animation firms. Canawest Film Productions, the largest commercial animation studio in Vancouver, is a division of KVOSTV, the CBS network station from Bellingham, Washington. Although only three people, Cathy Madsen, Liz Edgar, and Barrie Helmer, are employed on a permanent basis, Canawest also hires a large number of Vancouver animators for freelance work. According to Cathy Madsen, “Our connections in the American Northwest, as well as in Western Canada, enable us to obtain many contracts from both areas. Along with animated commercials for Hollywood Pacific and the National Bank of Seattle, we have produced TV serials for Hanna-Barbera, such as Abbott and Costello, The Beatles, and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. These serials follow the traditional animation style esta EVERYTHING ELSE [ WH Te] MOUTH ELesH + WHITE M DOLE BLUE +WHITE WHEN OPEN The Rocking Horse made by Hoskin and Morris for Sesame Street complete with instructions blished by the Hanna-Barbera studios.” In Canada, Canawest has produced films for the governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta. One of these commercials, a 30-second spot, entitled Aware, made for the Saskatchewan alcohol control program, won an award at the US TV Commercial Festival. The animation division of Canawest also produces titles and inserts for films made in their live-action studio. Although the majority of animated films produced in Vancouver have been made for commercial or informational purposes, the NFB continues to provide an alternative as a non-commercial forum. The NFB’s contribution to animation is a substantial one. With the introduction of a regionalization policy, a few years ago, both a regional approach to animation and the personal styles of west coast animators have emerged at the NFB. The animation section of the NFB’s Vancouver division was _ established four years ago. In 1974, the group moved to its present location on Vancouver’s Granville St. Don Worobey recently became head of the animation division, taking over from John Taylor, another Vancouver animator. After graduating from the Vancouver School of Art in 1970, Worobey did a postgraduate year with animator Ryan Larkin. He then worked for the NFB in their Inuit animation workshop at Cape Dorset: “I started working with animation because though I had been trained as a painter, I wanted my work to move; to be dynamic. Eventually, I decided to become completely involved with film. “IT think my orientation towards animation is different from many of the other animators in Vancouver. The majority of them are basically character animators; interested in August 1976/35