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Geoff Dunbar

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Geoff Dunbar is an English animator and director known for his animated music video Rupert Bear and the Frog Song for Sir Paul McCartney and The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends from the stories by Beatrix Potter. He championed a hand-sketch style of animation.[1][2][3]

Career

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He left school at 15 and joined Larkins Studio when he was 18/19. where he learnt animation. He later joined Halas and Batchelor's animation company where he started directing. In 1973 he joined Dragon Productions with Oscar Grillo, who with the Arts Council of Great Britain co-financed Lautrec. He later formed his own company, Grand Slamm Animation, where he produced Ubu. Lautrec won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975 and Ubu won the Golden Bear award for Best Short Film at the 1979 Berlin International Film Festival.[4]

Works

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He went on to produce three animations with the soundtrack by Sir Paul McCartney. He produced three episodes for the BBC of The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends.

Using his 'sketched' style of animation he produced Daumier's Law based on the work of the 19th century French artist Honoré Daumier. It won a BAFTA in 1993 for best short animation.

In collaboration with Sir Paul McCartney he adapted the Caldecott Prize-winning children's novel Tuesday by David Wiesner using computer animation.[5] The film received a BAFTA nomination in 2000.

His current company is High Eagle Productions.

Geoff Dunbar's first stop frame camera (1962)

In 2019 the Barbican Music Library held an exhibition of his work: Geoff Dunbar: Art into Animation.[6]

Filmography

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Title Year Note
This Love Thing 1970
The Condition of Man 1971
Lautrec 1974 Short. Music by Laurie Scott Baker
Ubu[7] 1978 Short. Music by Laurie Scott Baker[8]
Rupert and the Frog Song 1984 Short. Music by Paul McCartney
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends BBC TV
-The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny 1992
-The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher 1994
-The Tale of Mr. Tod 1998
Daumier's Law 1992 Short. Music by Paul McCartney
Tropic Island Hum 1997 Short, Music by Paul McCartney
Tuesday 2001 Short. Music by Paul McCartney
The Cunning Little Vixen[9] 2003[10] TV movie

References

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  1. ^ Brown, Geoff. "BFI Screenonline: Dunbar, Geoff, Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  2. ^ "WORLD ANIMATION CLASSICS: Geoff Dunbar". Etiuda&Anima. 26 November 2019.
  3. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television's Award-winning and Legendary Animators. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 74.
  4. ^ "Ubu". Learning on Screen. British Universities Film & Video Council.
  5. ^ Brown, Geoff (14 October 2004). "Worth getting animated over". Times (London). p. 18[S]. Retrieved 20 November 2019 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  6. ^ "Geoff Dunbar: Art into Animation". Barbican.
  7. ^ Oddball Films: Cinema Soiree: Long Lost Treasures of the Tournee of Animation - Thur. Feb. 18th - 8PM
  8. ^ Geoff Dunbar on UBU posted by OttawaAnimationFest on YouTube
  9. ^ Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen - Opus Arte: OA0878D - DVD Video|Presto Classical
  10. ^ Two DVD Reviews of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen: Film Music on the Web CD Reviews May 2003
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