2014 British film
Filmed in Supermarionation
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/80/Filmed_in_Supermarionation.jpg/220px-Filmed_in_Supermarionation.jpg) Filmed in Supermarionation poster
|
Directed by
| Stephen La Riviere
|
---|
Written by
| Andrew T. Smith
Stephen La Riviere
|
---|
Produced by
| Stephen La Riviere
Andrew T. Smith
Tim Beddows
|
---|
Starring
| Gerry Anderson
Sylvia Anderson
|
---|
Music by
| Barry Gray
|
---|
Distributed by
| Network Distributing
|
---|
Release dates
|
- 30 September 2014
(
2014-09-30
)
(
BFI
)
- 11 October 2014
(
2014-10-11
)
|
---|
Running time
| 114 minutes
|
---|
Country
| United Kingdom
|
---|
Language
| English
|
---|
Filmed in Supermarionation
is a 2014
documentary film
about
Gerry Anderson
,
Sylvia Anderson
and the struggling group of filmmakers who found success producing space-age puppet television series such as
Supercar
,
Joe 90
,
Fireball XL5
,
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
and
Thunderbirds
. Directed by
Stephen La Riviere
, and based on his book of the same name, the film was favorably received by critics. It was released theatrically in the
UK
on 11 October 2014, having been premiered at the
British Film Institute
on 30 September 2014. It was subsequently released on DVD and Blu-ray.
[1]
Synopsis
[
edit
]
Filmed in Supermarionation
tells the story of the development of
Supermarionation
, a term coined to describe the unique form of puppetry employed by the teams at
AP Films
and
Century 21
studios under the watchful eyes of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. The documentary is hosted by
Lady Penelope
and Parker, the puppet stars of
Thunderbirds
, who seek to uncover the story behind their creation.
[2]
Production
[
edit
]
Filmed in Supermarionation
is notable for the filmmakers' efforts to create new puppet and special effects sequences that match the look and feel of the programmes produced by AP films during the 1960s. Dialogue was recorded with members of the original
Thunderbirds
voice cast and puppets and sets were recreated to as close to the specification of the original
Supermarionation
series as possible. In addition to attempting to recreate 1960s film-making techniques, 21st century methods were also employed in the interest of matching the original productions. Although special effects sequences were shot on 35mm film stock, puppet sequences were captured digitally. This allowed for the image to be manipulated in post production to better match the unique qualities of 1960s film photography. The digital workflow also allowed for wire removal and digital set extensions to be utilised.
[3]
Apparently, Century 21 stills photographer Doug Luke was interviewed for the documentary, but is neither on it nor the deleted scenes.
[4]
Reception
[
edit
]
Upon release,
Filmed in Supermarionation
was generally well received by critics writing across a wide range of publications.
[5]
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian
gave the film four stars, writing that, "There is something very romantic about this success story of British entrepreneurial creativity."
[6]
Rich Trenholm of CNET was similarly positive in stating, "the documentary's vibrant storytelling captures the vitality, innocence and sense of joy of the series themselves".
[7]
Martin Townsend, in his New Year's editorial for
The Sunday Express
, enthused, "The likes of Apple and Microsoft may be very impressive companies, but if I wanted to inspire children to be creative entrepreneurs I'd show them the Supermarionation film."
[8]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Television series
| |
---|
Episodes co‑written
| |
---|
Television pilots
| |
---|
Feature films
| |
---|
Other projects
| |
---|
Family
| |
---|
Related media
| |
---|
‡ Credited as a
director
only.
(Credited as a
creator
or
producer
, sometimes in addition to other roles, on all later TV series.)
|
|