Peter Claridge worked with BBC for five years and started his own CAL Production in 1978, producing over 150 documentaries and shorts. In 1982 he formed CAL Videographics Ltd, one of the world leaders in computer animation. He has produced special effects sequences for films as "Superman III", "Emerald Forest", and "Electric Dreams". 1987 he received ITVA's "Best Director" Craft Award. In 1988 he produced "Always in Time" for Swatch, a 35 mm film using all the latest technologies of Motion Control, Paintbox, and Harry. 1990 he moved to Bavaria Videozentrum in Munich.

Bavaria VideoCenter asked me to produce a special demo-tape which would exploit the facilities of the VideoCenter to the fullest: 35 mm live action shoot, digital editing, 3D animations. I then wrote 'The Castle' as an example of what can be done and to show how producing on film and video can be blended together by using Harry.

'The Castle' has a great deal of layering which the viewer is not aware of. This is exactly why digital post production is so powerful. It allows the filmmaker to subtly add layer onto layer without any generation loss and therefore without the human eye noticing it.

Finally, I wanted to achieve a moody, eerie atmosphere of an old, haunted castle. Scanline's software enabled me to generate 3D animations which have this very 'drawn' Disney style, rather than the normal and often sterile computer graphic look.

Technical Background

HW: Silicon Graphics
SW: 3D Scanline