Scuttlers -Street Gang Member - Animation

Images as drawn for the Scuttler animation sequence. Drawn in negative, then inverted in photoshop for a more 'ghostly' appearance when animated.

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Final Film

Photographs

Some of the hundreds of photographs taken for the film.

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Hell Is A City

I've mentioned 'Hell Is A City' before. Crime Noir shot in Manchester in 1960, starring Stanley Baker. I think the look of the film influenced some sections of my final film. The hard black and white. It's all tied in to the fictional/dream thing I've been concentrating on.

Starfish site - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Starfish sites, or bombing decoy sites, were deliberately created simulations of burning towns that were constructed in Britain during World War II. The name came from the code name for one of the sites, "Starfish", itself from the original code, SF, for Special Fire.

Starfish sites were used to decoy German night bombers away from bombing real towns. Towns thus successfully protected, according to some^[who?], include Bristol, Sheffield, and Derby. 'Starfish' decoy sites were part of Britain’s war of deception against German attacks, and were designed to protect various targets, including airfields, factories, and even cities. They were established in July 1940 by the National Decoy Authority, as part of a programme of civil defences known as the 'C-series' of civil decoys. They were operated by lighting a series of controlled fires or other pyrotechnics during an air raid, in order to simulate an urban area targeted by bombs. There were various types of smaller decoy sites, including the “QL” decoy sites, which used lights, and the “QF” sites, which were dummy fire sites. The 'QL' decoys used a grid of muted lights to resemble factories during a poorly observed blackout.^[1]

Contents  [hide]  1 Examples of Starfish sites 2 References 3 Further reading 4 External links

[edit] Examples of Starfish sites

World War II bunker on Black Down

During World War II, a bombing decoy town was constructed on Black Down on the Mendip Hills, which was intended to represent the blazing lights of Bristol. The decoy, known under the code-name "Starfish", derived from the original code, SF (Special Fire), used fires of creosote and water to simulate incendiary bombs exploding. In addition, glow boxes were used to simulate the streets and railways of Bristol; the light bulbs were powered by electrical generators turned by Coventry Climax petrol engines contained in two bunkers.^[2][3] The success of this endeavour is questionable, with no ground indications that the hills were used as targets.^[4]

A Starfish decoy site existed at Long Wood at grid reference NS 540 524 outside Eaglesham in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. Clusters of impressions where basket fires once stood, bounded by fire-break trenches, covered much of the area in World War II photographs, and a prominent structure near the site may have been the decoy control bunker. Anti-aircraft gun emplacements have been noted at the site.^[5] Carrington Moss, near Manchester, was another Starfish site.^[6]

A relatively intact Starfish control bunker can also be seen at Liddington Hill overlooking Swindon. The bunker is at the edge of the small copse on the eastern summit of the hill, which is a landmark easily visible from the M4 motorway.

File:Liddington Starfish.JPG

World War II control bunker on Liddington Hill

[edit] References

1. ^ Hunt, Bob (2004-09-23). "Surface Sites - 'Q' Decoy Site". Portsdown Tunnels. http://www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/surface_sites/qsite_p1.html. Retrieved 2009-05-14. 
2. ^ Davies, Les (March 2009). "Starfish and subterfuge". Mendip Times. http://www.mendiptimes.co.uk/. Retrieved 2009-02-24. 
3. ^ Brown, Donald (1999). Somerset V. Hitler: Secret Operations in the Mendips, 1939-45. Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-85306-590-3. 
4. ^ "Mendip Hills An Archaeological Survey of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Somerset County Council Archeological Projects. http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/HES_MendipAONB.pdf. Retrieved 16 January 2011. 
5. ^ "Long Wood, Starfish Decoy Site". RCAHMS. http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/229135/details/long+wood+starfish+decoy+site/. Retrieved 2009-11-16. 
6. ^ Smith, Peter J. C. Luftwaffe Over Manchester: The Blitz Years 1940-1944, p.14. Neil Richardson 2003. ISBN 1-85216-151-5

[edit] Further reading

• Fields of Deception - Britain's Bombing Decoys of World War II, Colin Dobson, Methuen Publishing, 2000, ISBN 978-0-413-74570-5.
• The Bombing of Rolls-Royce at Derby in Two World Wars, 2002, Kirk, Felix & Bartnik, RR Heritage Trust

[edit] External links

• Read about bombing decoys
• Decoy Sites – Wartime Deception in Norfolk and Suffolk by Huby Fairhead
• Night-Time Fire-Based Decoys by Fred Nash
• Read about the Bristol Civil Bombing Site C1H

[hide] v t e Allied military deception in World War II General Double agent Military deception Military camouflage Organizations London Controlling Section Twenty Committee Units 'A' Force 'R' Force Beach Jumpers 23rd Headquarters Special Troops Fictional formations First United States Army Group Fourth Army (United Kingdom) Fourteenth United States Army British deception formations in World War II 6th Airborne Division (United States) 39th Armored Division (United States) 55th Infantry Division (United States) 59th Infantry Division (United States) Operations Operation Accumulator Operation Barclay Operation Bertram Operation Boardman Operation Bodyguard Operation Cascade Operation Chettyford Operation Cockade Operation Copperhead Operation Ferdinand Operation Fortitude Operation Hardboiled Operation Ironside Operation Mincemeat Operation Quicksilver Operation Scherhorn Operation Skye Operation Span Operation Zeppelin Leadership Dudley Clarke Peter Fleming John Cecil Masterman David Strangeways Dennis Wheatley Ronald Wingate Other people Art Kane Bill Blass David Slepian Ellsworth Kelly Ernest Townsend Jasper Maskelyne Joan Pujol Garcia Louis Dalton Porter Victor Jones Other Starfish site

via en.wikipedia.org

A little information of the Starfish Sites which prompted my building of a cardboard cut-out Manchester.

Composite Skyline

One 

of the earlier experiments with photography to capture Manchester on a broader scale. Not used in the final film, but I still like the piece.

A.R.C. Soundtracks

via arcsoundtracks.blogspot.co.uk

Collaborative experimental music from A.R.C Soundtracks, a part of which was used as the basis for the soundtrack of the final piece. This was an improvisational experiment I was involved with and I which felt had the right dream-quality I was looking for.

'The Kingdom Of The Rough'

Re-creating the street gangs of the 1800's. The Bengal Tigers fought the Holland Street Gang, amoungst others, patrolling Oldham Street and Ancoats, 'The Kingdom Of The Rough'. Youth gang culture was a huge problem in Victorian Manchester. They carried knives, wore a fashionable uniform (including a proto-Burberry) and terrified everyone. Fighting in the streets and 'Monkey Parades'. 

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Sketchbook

Some sketchbook images and scribbles for the Unit X work. There are a couple of spider diagrams and the general working out of themes, characters and events. Not all of them tie into the animation itself, but they do show the gestation of the work. I was happy with the lion drawings, but sadly I couldn't make it work as an animation at the minute. I would have liked to have gotten Charlie Peace into the work as well, but I think thats an animation in itself. The Adam Dant and Ian Whadcock pages are included because I was trying to keep what they said during their lectures in mind whilst working on the animation. Apologies for the terrible handwriting.

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I Built Manchester In My Basement

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Well, I photocopied it. After reading about 'Starfish Sites'. During WWII, there were nine Starfish Sites around Manchester, on the moors. Built out of cheap materials and lit by a few bulbs, these 'Other Manchesters' were in place to protect the 'Real' Manchester from German bombing raids. They weren't a real success, but I really like the idea of other, less complete versions of the city, out on the moors, unpopulated and empty. The face in  amongst the buildings is Dr John Dee, alchemist, mathematician, scientist and magician. He was Warden of what is now the Cathedral at the turn of the 16th century. There was something about the misdirection and duplicity of the Starfish Sites, and the otherworldliness of them that made me include him. There will be more of Dee in my finished work.

NWFA

Finally gotten the archive film from the NWFA. It was strange to call and ask for permission to use the films from the copyright holders. They were very interested in what I might be doing with the films, and one woman became quite emotional about it. I promised to send her the finished film so she could see it. Working with archive footage isn't something I've done a lot of. The problem will be integrating the drawn animations and the collage films with the archive stuff. I'm hoping the fragmented nature of a film about dreams and histories will lend itself well to using various animation methods. Either that or it'll be very confusing. Or both.

Also, I think I've managed to combine live action with animation in a shot of Dr Dee in Manchester  Cathedral. Looks kinda spooky, anyhow.

Map Animation Test

Attempt at animating old maps of Manchester.

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Hulme & Moss Side - 1985 Short Film

<p>Manchester- the evils truth or myth? from Steve Mardy on Vimeo.</p>

 

In the Autumn and Winter of 1985/86, Counter Image Ltd ran a six week film & video training course primarily aimed at unemployed people - of which was one of them. The enclosed 11 minutes short film was one of four films made during that time. The title Manchester - the Evils truth or myth? tries to counter the demonisation of the M15 area and was an attempt to simply show the real experiences of people - post 1981 riots. The district was one of 27 major city centres across the UK that experienced social unrest during that year. The film merely wanted to offer the chance for residents to reflect upon their daily experiences living in the Hulme & Moss Side area of Manchester in 1985.

Jonathan Hodgson's - Forest Murmurs (2006)

Great example of an examination of a geographical area, in this case Epping Forest. Lovely mix of media- live action, animation, text based work. Really like the auto-biographical side also.

Our Manchester

via manchesterhistory.net

Great bunch of different sites about Manchester, including photographs and historical information on Belle Vue, Longsight and White City.

Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg

 

 

A beautiful, mixed media dissection of a city and a personal history. Maddin intertwines these two strands. This is the direction I'd like to take the interrogation of Manchester. Stories out of sequence, jumbled up with geographies. Old footage mixing with new. Back projections and animated sequences.

Adaptations - The Tell Tale Hearts

 1960 - Directed by Ernest Morris.

1953 - Directed by Ted Parmelee.

1941 - Directed by Jules Dassin.

1934 - Directed by Brian Desmond Hurst.

Multiple versions, interpretations or translations of one story.

Cartoons Kick Ass - The History Of Subversive Animation

Fantastic, little seen documentary on cartoons, censorship and the obscene. Really interesting footage of US WWII propaganda (and Japanese WWII propaganda), Jiri Trinka's work early and adult orientated animation. And were Tom and Jerry a hetrosexual or homosexual couple? Is Bugs Bunny a terrible racist?

glycon: The Highbury Working: A Beat Séance

jody_macgregor

September 6 2005, 12:04:18 UTC 6 years ago

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via glycon.livejournal.com

A transcription of Alan Moore's psychogeographical seance of the Highbury district, London, from 2000. Really evocative, reading of the history of the area.

'First you diagnose the area in question, read the street plan's accidental creases and decode the orbit-maps left there by coffee cups, then go to work.'

Photograph Animation Test

Another attempt at abstracting structures in Manchester .

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Old Photographs - Animation Test

A short test of overlaying old photographs to create abstracted images.

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Photographing Manchester & Photographs Of Manchester

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Old photographs from journals at MMU library. New photographs in and around Ancoats today. Whereas the city centre has changed a great deal, Ancoats seems to resist, the Mills - rough and semi-derelic t- beside the strange designs of the new luxury apartments.