100 Greatest Animated Shorts / The Snowman / Diane Jackson
UK / 1982
In the 1980’s the UK’s newly-launched television network Channel 4 became one of the world leaders in funding new animation. Although it seems now firmly in the mainstream, The Snowman was one of the early landmarks of this cutting edge regime, in line with the forward thinking policies of the Channel’s animation commissioner Clare Kitson and the government remit to the Channel to unearth new talent. This 27 minute TV special went on to become one of the most successful British children’s films of all time, a European animated classic and one of the last great wholly hand-drawn films from the pre digital era, spurring on much further investment in animation by the Channel over the next decade.
‘Yellow Submarine’ creators TV Cartoons (TVC) were commissioned to produce this adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ children’s graphic novel. Directed by Dianne Jackson, this sweet children’s classic has become an annual Christmas TV tradition around the world, and began a fruitful relationship between the writer /illustrator and the production company. TVC went on to adpt animated versions of Brigg’s ‘When the Wind Blows’ (1986), ‘Father Christmas’ (1991), ‘The Bear’ (1998) and ‘Ivor the Invisible’ (2001).
The film tells the story of a snowman who comes to life and takes the boy who made him on night time adventures, including a trip to meet Father Christmas. In the morning the snowman has melted and the only proof that it was not all a dream is the scarf that Father Christmas gave the boy.
The most magical parts of the films are when the boy is carried through the sky by the flying Snowman, taking off from a cottage that bears a strong resemblance to Briggs’ own house in the Sussex countryside, flying over nearby Brighton pier and out to sea.
Silent but for the famous score by Howard Blake, the film was totally hand rendered in pastel colours giving it a soft, organic and crafted feel. Despite the potentially cheesy nature of the story and the soaring orchestral score, the skill of the film making is such that the film never descends into over sentimentality and is genuinely appealing and moving for children and adults alike.
Like The Beatles filmed introduction for TVC’s previous feature Yellow Submarine, an introduction was recorded by Raymond Briggs for the first screenings of The Snowman, explaining his inspiration for the story, the only spoken words in the production. In later years of what became The Snowman’s traditional Christmas broadcasts, this was replaced, somewhat bizarrely, by introductions by rock star David Bowie (recorded around the time of Bowie’s involvement with TVC’s next Briggs project ‘When the Wind Blows’) and then later by comedian Mel Smith ( Smith voicing the animated Raymond Briggs version of Father Christmas from another of his books ).
Although Channel 4’s world renowned pioneering policies towards animation and experimentation have been eroded by wall to wall reality shows about people’s sheds and dinners, The Snowman’s legacy to UK animation is still alive.
TVC is no more and its visionary producer John Coates passed away in 2012, but the spirit of the company lives on at London production company Lupus Films. Run by Ruth Fielding and Camilla Deakin, who were Clare Kitson’s successors as Channel 4’s animation commissioners, Lupus Films has produced a lovely sequel called ‘The Snowman and the Snowdog’ (2012) and is now in production with a feature film adaptation of ‘Ethel and Ernest’, Raymond Briggs’ moving account of his parents relationship, set in the London house where he grew up, which will be the first traditionally animated feature made in London since ‘A Christmas Carol’ in 2001.
An instant classic and nominated for an Oscar a few months after its release, The Snowman has become a permanent iconic part of the Christmas cultural landscape and was the most successful example of British family-oriented animation to date, a record only later challenged by the prolific output of Aardman Animation.