Dan Richards - 'The Windmill Boy'
See
the enchanting stop-motion animation film The Windmill Boy and
hear Dan Richards, animator in residence at Canterbury University,
speak about his film and his plans for the future.
Dan
Richards: The Story so far………………….
Dan Richards is currently the first ever Animator In
Residence at Canterbury University. Dan has worked
at Aardman in Bristol, animating the funfair sequence at the
end of ‘Wallace And Gromit – Curse of The
were Rabbit’. Dan has also served an apprenticeship
with Steve Allen – model maker and puppet concept designer
- famous for his work on The Muppets, Fraggle Rock and Labyrinth.
The
filmic journey of Dan’s stop motion short – The
Windmill Boy - began back in the summer of 2003
with Dan sat on his bed drawing designs for a character called
The Windmill Boy. Dan says; ‘
I spent the summer thinking up ideas for a film with my mum,
discussing characters and concepts. That summer my mum died
of cancer very suddenly, which came as a real shock’.
The death of Dan’s mother made him more determined to
complete The Windmill Boy and dedicate
the film to her memory.
Film
festival success:
Winning a well deserved place at The London International
Animation Festival, film fans and animation lovers
have been enthralled by The Windmill Boy at The Curzon Soho
this Autumn
The
film first debuted in Kent with a special screening at The Powell
Theatre and at special Windmill Boy weekends at the famous Sarre
Mill. Dan says; ‘it’s been amazingly atmospheric
at the special weekend screenings at Sarre Mill
– the inspiration behind the Windmill in the film’.
The
Windmill Boy has been made into a pilot. Funding is now needed
to produce a 26 minute special for television.
Dan says; ‘ever since I first sat down on my bed and started
to draw my first designs for The Windmill Boy I have planned
for this short to promote the character and hopefully lead to
a tv special. I’d love to see Windmill Boy move around
in his mill, like ‘Doctor Who’
in his Tardis and travel to strange worlds
like in ‘Gulliver's Travels’.
Dan
is currently looking for funding for his dream project –
to produce his TV series and to bring animation back to Kent
– the home of Peter Filman and Oliver Postgate’s
Bagpuss, Nogging The Nog and
The Clangers.
See
the film & book a special talk by Dan Richards………..
Dan’s enthusiasm for his project is nothing short of infectious!
Book Dan for a unique show and tell on ‘The Windmill Boy’.
Dan is available to give after dinner talks as well as talks
at community groups, Schools, Student Unions and social groups.
The Windmill Boy……the story so far
The
Windmill Boy is a dark tale set in a strange world were a person’s
destiny can be changed in an instant by fate. The lonely Windmill
Boy is kept in his prison mill with no escape, and only has
his old piped organ to play. Each day he is forced to bake a
horrid bread mix full of wiggerlys and squirmys, for the evil
horde in the town below.
The
leader of the town is the tyrant Mayor who is the chief and
most ghastly of the horde. The hordes only pleasant member is
the pitiful Cotswold, who is an innocent slave like Windmill
Boy.
Each
day Windmill Boy lowers a sack of bread to the monsters, who
gobble down the loaves with a thick sludge called Goop.
One
day a horrific storm hits the mill. After nearly destroying
everything, the storm leaves, but not before giving the boy
the inspiration for escape. Because fate didn’t put that
boy in the mill to bake bread, no fate had other reasons…
Other Information, Photos and details can be found
on the film’s website www.windmillboy.co.uk
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