Old Hill
Animated tone poem of a child growing up in the Black Country during the sixties.
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David EnglandDirector
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Project Type:Animation, Short
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Runtime:21 minutes 20 seconds
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Completion Date:January 21, 2022
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Born in the West Midlands, uk, 1954.
No formal training in anything, but a painter from an early age.
From 1995 concentrated on stone carving.
“As a child I never went to the cinema, apart from the odd treat when our family was on holiday. The first movie I went to on my own was in my mid-teens – the re-release of ‘Fantasia’ and it blew me away. I realised that film was this multi-disciplined medium that was a true ART form.
During the seventies I was a film junkie and around 1978, in Liverpool, I decided I would try for a grant to make a movie about my great grandmother. I made a demo reel and they gave me some money to make the film, in 16mm.
Footage was shot to rotoscope and animate.
I moved away from Liverpool. The film was started but I ran out of money because film stock and camera hire was so expensive in those days.
‘Old Hill’ is my third animated film.
In 2020 I made two shorts:
‘174RKdeValse’ and ‘Small Empires’
‘Old Hill’ is a bunch of memories translated into a fantasy film about growing up.
There are lots of cultural references that were the centre of my universe at the time. The toys – the TV programmes and the music.
The streets were scenery backdrops where you played your games – projected your dreams and ‘flew’.