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Home , Raymond Briggs, The Snowman

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Joanna Harrison pictured at the Phoenix Picture House, , with a cel from her animation and the Snowdog, due to be screened again on this Christmas

Photographs: Mark Hemsworth

8 Oxfordshire Limited Edition December 2013 oxfordtimes.co.uk Castaway ewind 12 months to Christmas 2012 when 11 million viewers sat down to enjoy The Snowman and The Snowdog, the highlight Rof Christmas Eve televison. Oxford-based animator, storyboard artist and An original author Joanna Harrison was art director for the animation cel film — and also worked on the original from The 26-minute ground-breaking animation based Snowman — on the much-loved book by , representing which was made for the fledgling Channel 4 one 12th of a 30 years previously. second from the When The Snowman was first broadcast on finished film Boxing Day, 1982, it immediately charmed audiences with its beautiful music and heartfelt storyline. It was named as one of the100 Greatest British Television Programmes, a list drawn up to mark the Millennium by the British Film Institute. Joanna was born in Oxford in 1955, and grew up near Abingdon. She always had a love of art, so it is probably no surprise that she ended up following an artistic career. But where did her journey start? Joanna attended the Manor School in Abingdon and, after a stint at a boarding school in Sussex, returned to Oxford to study for her A-Levels at Beechlawn College, Banbury Road. She said: “I could not decide whether to study art or science. My father and his father were both eminent natural scientists and I was fascinated by botany. “My grandfather was an etymologist. When he was 21 he was working on his own for a year on the coral atoll of Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, researching the native flora Living with and fauna. “The atoll (world’s second largest) is also famous for its giant turtles. While he was there he collected unknown plant species, some of which are now in the Pitt Rivers and are named after him,” Joanna added. “My father John Fryer was director of the Weed Research Organisation at Begbrooke by The Snowman Yarnton, until it was disbanded by the Thatcher government in 1986.” “During the war in Vietnam he was sent to study the effects of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange on the mangrove swamps. My Sylvia Vetta meets Joanna Harrison, the animator who father is also a passionate gardener and I share brought Raymond Briggs’ much-loved character to life my love of plants with him. “On the other hand, on my mother’s side on our television screens there were some wonderful artists who worked in Cornwall and France, including Walter Chetwood-Aiken. I have been drawing since I Best Ten Amateur Films of 1978.” being asked to clear out the cellar which was was young and I suppose I had always been “One of my claims to fame was an incident stacked with boxes of animation artwork considered ‘good at art’. I also loved the at the award ceremony at the British Film including The Flying Man. I kept as much as I anarchy of art rather than the discipline of Institute. could, but sadly no longer have them. science. So it really was not such a hard “As the other ten winners were men, I “Sadly, George died soon after I started work choice.” suppose I stood out in a red flying suit and at TVC. At the time he was working on the After her A-Levels, Joanna went on to wedge heels. Michael Winner, who was early stages of a animated feature film based St Martins School of Art, followed by handing out the awards, looked at me and said on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which sadly Goldsmiths in 1974. ‘Will you marry me?’ remains unfinished. George remains a huge “I was planning to be an illustrator. But I “What an offer! Suffice to say I turned him inspiration to me,” Joanna said. walked into a classroom where they just down,” Joanna laughed. “At TVC, I worked on children’s series and happened to be showing a three-minute “My film was shown on television and at the commercials until, in about 1980, Channel 4 animation by Canadian animator George Annecy International Animated Film Festival. started up a few doors down from us in Dunning (who went on to direct ’ On the back of its success, I approached a Charlotte Street. Yellow Submarine) called The Flying Man. It was company called Television Cartoons (TVC) and “The animator Jim Duffy (who went on to a pivotal moment for me,” Joanna revealed. they offered me a job as assistant animator. make Rugrats) came into the studio with a “It inspired me to make a short animated “Imagine by delight and surprise when I book, which he had been enjoying with his film of my own called Make Up. The short went found I was to be working with George on to win a prize in Movie Maker magazine’s Dunning! Ironically one of my first jobs was Continued on page 11

December 2013 Oxfordshire Limited Edition 9 oxfordtimes.co.uk Castaway

animated the bedroom sequence as well as song went on to become a massive hit. doing many of the backgrounds. For ages the The Snowman was nominated for an Oscar boy had no name. I had just started going out and went on to win a BAFTA for Best with James and I decided to name the boy after Children’s Programme. my new boyfriend, especially as they both Despite this success, Joanna says she was came from Sussex!” overtaken by the desire to do something John Coates had approached the composer adventurous. Ron Goodwin to create the soundtrack for The “Animation involves sitting over a light box Snowman, but felt that the sample piece he had day-after-day doing numerous drawings. So I produced did not have the “right feel”. planned the big adventure, which was going A chance meeting brought John and round the world by train, bus and boat. My composer together — and he boyfriend James came with me,” Joanna said. asked Blake if he would like to have a go at In the days of the Cold War, travel on the creating the soundtrack. other side of the Iron Curtain was no easy Joanna said: “When I first heard Walking in option. the Air I thought it was complete magic. We “We went through Checkpoint Charlie in knew it was perfect. ” Berlin and on into Poland, from Gdsansk to Blake also wrote the lyrics for the song — and Helsinki by ship and on to Leningrad. The city in the film it was performed by a St Paul's was unbelievably beautiful, completely Cathedral choirboy called . unspoiled but it was almost impossible to find “It took us 11 months to make The Snowman anything to eat. In Moscow we caught a train and it went out on Channel 4 on Christmas on the Trans–Siberian Railway and went to Eve, 1982. It had good reviews — but it really China via Mongolia.” took off the following year when a toy company The problem of finding food was to get even asked if they could use for a harder once they reached China. Nobody commercial.” spoke English, there were hardly any shops and was chosen to sing a new version for the advert as Auty’s voice had broken. The Continued on page 13

From page 9 children. It was Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. “The producer, John Coates, gave me and another animator, Hilary Audis, the task of turning it into a ten-minute animatic — this is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence with rough dialogue and a rough sound track. “We took the book and cut it up to make a storyboard. We then extended the middle sequence. “In the book, the snowman and boy only fly as far as Brighton, and we felt there really had to be a bit more than that. So we came up with the flying sequence where the snowman and the boy fly to a snowman party given by Father Christmas. “The idea was for the story to be told without words, just through pictures, action and music. John took the project to Channel 4 who loved it and allocated most of their children’s programming budget for that year to make The Snowman film,” Joanna said. “Channel 4 had launched with some controversial programmes and Jeremy Isaacs (the founding chief executive of Channel 4) felt they needed something gentler to balance it. “Having got the go ahead the challenge was how to recreate the feel of Raymond Briggs’ book on film.” The film was produced using traditional animation techniques, consisting of pastels, crayons and other colouring tools drawn on pieces of celluloid, which were traced over hand-drawn frames. For continuity purposes, the background artwork was painted using the same tools. Joanna showed me an original animation cel from The Snowman. She said: “This represents one 12th of a second from the film!” Joanna continued: “I storyboarded and

December 2013 Oxfordshire Limited Edition 11 oxfordtimes.co.uk Castaway From page 11 certainly no restaurants, as we know them. Joanna said: “There was no point of reference for a westerner, and most Chinese had never seen a European person, especially a blonde, and we were generally followed by large crowds of curious onlookers wherever we went. “At Peking station we ended up sharing one room with three other couples, one of whom was on honeymoon. We had an amazing time, going up the Yangtze via the Three Gorges, to Xian. We saw the Terracotta Army being excavated, as well as climbing one of the most sacred mountains in China. “From Hong Kong we headed for Australia via Thailand, Indonesia and Bali. Having arrived in Sydney we worked at whatever we could to get some money— from selling ice cream on the beaches to film animation,” Joanna recalled. She was not the only member of her family to be travelling the globe at this time. Her brother Tim was part of a team following in the footsteps of the explorer Robert Falcon Scott on a vessel called The Southern Quest to Antarctica. “It was on this boat that James proposed to me when we met up with my brother in Dunedin, New Zealand, on our travels.” James and Joanna continued on across the Pacific Ocean, travelling up the West Coast of the USA to Canada and then across the Rockies by train before eventually flying home to England. Joanna said: “Back in England, I was soon working on the animation of another book by Raymond Briggs — When the Wind Blows. James and I were married in 1985 at Tubney Church and our daughter Katie was born in 1986, son Hugo in 1988 and Lulu in 1993.” With motherhood, Joanna’s talent found another creative outlet. “I used to read picture books to the children, and started to think well, this is the sort of thing I could do. So I approached Harper Joanna. photographed in 1977, working on an Collins with a couple of ideas that they liked. animation at a rostrum camera Inset, Joanna wants “My first book was Timothy’s Teddy and then to write a sequel to her ‘Monster’ book Dear Bear, which was published in 1994. “Having once lost my temper with the children I came up with the idea for my next own a documentary film unit and she music for Steve Coogan’s recently released book When Mum Turned into a Monster (1996). suggested starting an animation course. feature film Alpha Papa. It went to 13 editions and got great reviews. It The school took her up on her offer and the “I know everyone loves Walking in the Air’, deals with a mum who is not quite coping with unit has been going from strength-to-strength, but I adore Andy’s music, I think it is really the stresses and strains of bringing up her winning several awards. uplifting and beautiful,” Joanna said. children and literally turns into a monster Then came the opportunity to revisit The As well as writing and animating, Joanna has during the course of a day. It must have echoed Snowman. The idea of a sequel had been inherited her father’s passion for plants and with parents of young children everywhere!” resisted by Raymond Briggs for three decades has branched out into garden design. Joanna said. but he eventually gave his permission for one “I have been working for Lucy Properties in It seemed only logical to follow When Mum to be made to mark the 30th anniversary Jericho, as well as the well-known Oxford Turned into a Monster with a book about a of the film. interior designer Annie Sloan, which has been grumpy dad. “When I was offered the job of art directing really exciting,” she said. Grizzly Dad was published by Oxford a sequel to The Snowman it was inconceivable But more writing beckons. publisher David Fickling. Joanna’s original to me to do it any other way than hand-drawn,” “I would really like to do is to write a love of Grizzly Dad racing off with his Joanna said. story about Mum Monster and Grizzly Bear,” son in his car hangs in her kitchen in her home “A mad idea, perhaps, when traditional Joanna said. in Walton Manor, alongside an original cel animation studios were closing down and light We had reached the point where Joanna had from The Snowman, as well as a watercolour by boxes, pencil and paper had been replaced by to make her final desert island choice. her good friend Michael Gabriel, artist in computer software. And yet I felt that we had “I would take a painting my daughter Katie residence at The Oxford Playhouse. to remain faithful to what has become one of did when she was a teenager that hangs above Joanna said: “As well as being a portrait the most loved animated films of all times.” my desk, a dress Lulu made out of maps and a painter, Michael worked as senior background “As for the music, it was recorded in Abbey piece of music composed by my son Hugo.” artist on many animated films including The Road. How lucky we were to go there and see That seemed to me to be more than one Snowman, The Snowman and The Snowdog and and hear it being recorded.” thing — but the approach of festive season Alan Parker’s The Wall. Both are possibilities The film’s big song Light The Night was made me feel generous. for our desert island. written by , ex-drummer with Maybe that flying snowman could When Joanna’s son Hugo went to Abingdon the rock band Razorlight. The score was drop Joanna’s choices off when he visits L School, Joanna discovered the school had its written by Ilan Eskeri, who also wrote the Oxtopia? E December 2013 Oxfordshire Limited Edition 13