Producers Notes

From an underground comic book classic of the late 1960's, to an international best selling comic book series and finally to the big screen as a feature length stop-motion model animation film. That is the story so far of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Fat Freddy's Cat as they prepare to go into production in an adaption of one of their best loved comic book adventures GRASS ROOTS.

Created by Gilbert Shelton in Austin, Texas in 1968 they are now undergoing the transformation into the third dimension under his watchful eye in an animation studio in Bristol, England where award winning animation director Dave Borthwick (The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb and The Magic Roundabout) is at the helm leading a crew of the finest animation professionals in the industry.

Written by Paul B. Davies and Gilbert Shelton, the adapted screenplay has a taste of today whilst remaining true to the original .

Animation is a lengthy and expensive exercise but the Producers are confident that their efforts to bring the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers to the wide screen will be a success. They are much encouraged by the fact that two out of the three Oscar nominated animation feature films this year are stop-motion model animation and four out of the five best picture Oscar nominations have been independently financed.

Directors Notes

In bringing the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers to the screen, our intention is not simply to create a moving version of the comic books. In " Grass Roots - The Movie" we join our hirsute heroes as they venture on a trip into the third dimension where we experience their world in all its mind -bending, rib-tickling glory.

Stylistically, the Freak Brothers world is an anarchic mix of gritty urban realism and wanton fantasy, created by some of the best sculptors, modelmakers and set builders that the animation industry has to offer. The characters are expertly crafted as latex models and brought to life by the finest animation skills to create an action packed adventure that will absorb and delight fans old and new.

Choosing to work within the 'stop frame' technique gives us the distinctive look and feel of 3D model animation as well as the creative benefits of working 'hands on' with the models and sets. This allows us to more readily take advantage of the spontaneous invention that is an inherent part of the traditional animation process.

C.G.I. techniques will also be used to create the more expansive backgrounds and features that would   otherwise be too costly to physically construct. Our expertise in producing a seamless blend of these two disciplines is already well proven. Further streamlining of the production is made possible by use of the current and developing digital stills-capture technology, allowing for much more lightweight and versatile camera operation.

In order to give our creative teams the opportunity to benefit from the continuing play of ideas that occur during the whole process, our production 'machine' needs also to be flexible and versatile. We will achieve this by using smaller, more   multi-skilled crews thus avoiding specialist skills becoming too isolated within the kind of over-departmentalised production (model) that often results from the misconception that more hands always make faster work- sometimes smaller IS more efficient and economic.

This approach offers two distinct advantages. The first being, the chance to offer our crews the kind of continuously creative environment and practice that drew them to animation in the first place. An inspired team is a productive team and we believe should be encouraged to use the innovative and often unorthodox methods that make animation such a uniquely creative process.

This in turn means that we are less dependant on a prohibitive budget and yet still able to produce a film of originality and high production values, created in the true spirit of a genre that is steadily becoming one of the most popular forms of cinema entertainment.