Premise: Film Screening | Ethel & Ernest [5]

Premise: Film Screening | 'Ethel & Ernest' [5]

Fig.1

Raymond Brigg's latest tale 'Ethel & Ernst" (full length feature released 2016), tells the story of his parents, and their day-to-day experiences across 6 decades of British history; covering the larger tales of world war 2, infertility, morbidity, the creation of the welfare state, the space age, and the technological advances of the 1960's, from a "the very down-to-earth perspective of Ethel...and her milkman husband Ernest" (Macnab, 2016).
The full length feature, has its roots from Brigg's graphic novel of the same name, released 20 years earlier in 1998, and was particularly personal to him as it entailed his own life growing up in Wimbledon Park, London and his memories of family.

There's a definite essence of nostalgia present throughout, with the 'chocolate box-like' visuals (drawn closely from Briggs original illustrations), and strong characters that's not hard to relate to ones own family. However, this animated film is far from sugar coated. With the ups and downs of life, and the dynamics between Ethel and Ernest when discussing external life (of the government, the war etc.). These moments are approached in humour and raw detail, that capture the "very British restraint"¹ often adopted when quietly acknowledging darker subject matters; i.e. mental health, the aftermath of world war 1. There's an almost self-acknowledging element to the ridiculousness of the "eccentricities of the British and their sometimes bizarre behaviour" (¹ Macnab, 2016). Additionally there's an understanding of the changing social ideals; none of which are there to necessary pick holes, or patronize- but rather paint the picture of London culture at this time.
The characters are shown unabashedly, and uncaring of audience judgement. Specifically because of their place in true life.
In this regard the film is a memorial to Brigg's parents that capture the bitter-sweet nature of family and the joy and struggles that come with it, during a time when social structures/expectations are still enforced. Through Brigg's eyes we watch "his parents as they succeed, or fail, in coming to terms with their rapidly shifting world", with both affection and sharp clarity.
The film captures the premise of isolated, 'unchanging' family life (the petnames: "boysy", "daft ha'porth", "duck", and Ethel and Ernest's political ramblings), in the midst of an ever-changing world, starting from Ethel and Ernest chance encounter in 1928, right up to their eventual deaths in the 1971.

Fig. 2

Raymond Briggs, has worked in collaboration with numerous animating companies to develop his  work from his own specialised field of illustration and writing (see Fig. 2), to a life on screen in animation (Ethel & Ernest saw him work with director Roger Mainwood and a team of animators whom could retain the story from it's original source).
He's a solid history in making graphic novels, and writing iconic works such as 'The Snowman' (film: 1982), 'When the Wind Blows' (book: 1982, and film: 1986), 'Father Christmas' (book: 1973, and film: 1991), 'The Bear' (book: 1994, and later film: 1998), 'Fungus the Bogeyman" (book: 1977, TV-series: 2004-) etc.

He's developed a life-long correlation in British historic animation, and thus his work is often associated heavily with the British national identity. His work has received critical acclaim and success amongst both adults and children.... "a hit for all ages" (Mottram 2017), that often draws from British environments and stories, with a satirical, yet affectionately understanding attitude. Nostalgia is often a key theme in his work, often helping to emotionally connect with readers with memories of childhood, and real-life political/historical events they themselves recognise within the British culture.
In fig. 3's image of Brigg's original graphic novel, 'Ethel & Ernst' (Briggs, 1998, p. 23), we can observe this warm, pastel and crayon-like style to his illustrations; lending a soft/homely feeling to his work. For purposes of efficiency, however, 'Ethel and Ernest' was translated from graphic novel to digital moving picture, using digital programs such as 'TVPaint'. It was a step away from his predessesing work of 'The Snowman'; traditionally drawn and "10 years and over 60,000 drawings in the making" (Gill, 2016). 

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

The team, however, does successfully retain this hand-drawn 'feeling' across to the work (note the visual similarities between Fig. 3 and Fig. 4), using backdrops and environments that "were still drawn with pencil, ink and paint before being scanned into the scene" ('Vintage Books', 2016), and a lot of textures that drawn from paintings on paper, that are then scanned and worked from, within the digital environment.

The transition of their lives made the work more labour intensive in terms of designing for the clothes (..."I thinking we ended up with something like 306 or 90 different model sheets for them" ²), and the changing house with the wallpaper and furniture changes, so that "although it's mostly set within one location there's an awful lot of challenges to get all those different looks to it" ². 

During the production stage, despite the different working locations (from Wales, to London across the various studios involved), Camilla Deakin- the producer- claimed that "it worked very seamlessly actually, and we [the team] had a lot of good communication" with "various software packages that we [the team] shared so we all used a package called TV paint for animating and colouring and another package called hop soft for sharing assets" ². 

Additionally she found it helped "having a very strong vision and then.... to communicate that early on" ². The "enormous amount of prep" ² work put in by Peter Daut (the animation director) and Robin Sure (the art director), helped also, so the Luxembourg crew and the Cardiff crew "knew exactly what we [the producer and director] were looking for" (² 'BFI', 2016)

Fig. 5

For Raymond Briggs himself, he claims to be very pleased with the results. He states that "[When] Any writer is approached by a film producer who wants to make a film of their work is the biggest compliment you can have" ³. There was a delicacy for the animating team, since it was a story based in truth (Fig. 6)... but for Briggs, they'd "done it so well, I [Briggs] was knocked out by it. I spent all the time watching this and blubbing away. I've a soaked handkerchief here" ³.

There's also a freedom in animation that isn't necessarily there in illustration; things like "all the moving of the characters in the story, when one comes into the room and that's going out... and there all talking, which is something you can't do in a book" ³ and really captured the aesthetic well. "...that was all brilliantly done I thought, and the timing of everything is absolutely fantastic. Very clever lot they are" (³ 'BFI', 2016)

Fig. 6

As for audiences, 'Ethel and Ernest' was for many, a poignant and well accomplished step in Brigg's work, with its richly developed characters and recognisable elements of time and place. Additionally it deals with themes relatable on a global scale (i.e. war, love and family), so it's not necessarily restricted to those who have existing knowledge of British life/culture.
It's won 3 awards (ANIMA - Córdoba International Animation Festival 2017, 'Anima Mundi Animation Festival 2017' and 'TheWIFTS Foundation International Visionary Awards 2017') and been nominated for 6 since it's release in 2016.

References
Illustrations
Fig. 1 'Ethel & Ernest DVD Cover', (2016), [Online Image]. Available at: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91Crz%2BP%2B6kL._SL1500_.jpg [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Fig. 2 'Raymond Brigg's Studio', (s.d.), [Online Image]. Available at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprodmigration%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fc3c223b2-0e7d-4548-ab8a-d9efd5a8fc2a.jpg?crop=1024%2C683%2C0%2C0&resize=685 [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Fig. 3 Briggs, Raymond (1998), 'Ethel & Ernest', Jonathan Cape: London.
Fig. 4 'Ethel & Ernest', (2016), [Online Image]. Available at: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_small/public/thumbnails/image/2016/10/26/12/ethel-and-ernest.jpg [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Fig. 5 'Behind the Scenes of Ethel & Ernest', (2016), [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-12-28/behind-the-scenes-of-ethel-ernest/ [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Fig. 6 'Ethel and Ernest', (s.d.), [Photograph]. Available at: https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9378794.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/PEOPLE-PROD-Ethel-and-Ernest.jpg [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Videos
'BFI', (2016), 'Raymond Briggs on the Ethel & Ernest movie: "I spent all the time watching it blubbing away", [Online Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLDCxqV5wg4 [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
'Vintage Books', (2016), 'Behind the scenes of Ethel and Ernest', [Online Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTcnESXoKn0 [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Websites
'BBC', (2016), 'Ethel & Ernest', [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0868yr9 [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Gill, James (2016), 'Behind the scenes of Ethel & Ernest', [Online]. Available at: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-12-28/behind-the-scenes-of-ethel-ernest/ [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
'IMDb' (2016), 'Ethel & Ernest', [Online]. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1725969/ [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Macnab, Geoffrey (2016), 'Ethel & Ernest review: Wonderfully evocative', [Online]. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/ethel-ernest-film-review-a7381006.html [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Mottram, James (2017), 'Animation based on Raymond Briggs' Ethel & Ernest remembers the author's parents through the war years', [Online]. Available at: http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/2068691/animation-based-raymond-briggs-ethel-ernest [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
O'Sullivan, Charlotte (2016), 'Ethel & Ernest, film review: The past is not a cosy place', [Online]. Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/film/ethel-ernest-film-review-the-past-is-not-a-cosy-place-a3381141.html [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
'Penguin UK', (s.d.), 'Ethel & Ernest', [Online]. Available at: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1032566/ethel-ernest/ [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018].
'RadioTimes', (2016), 'Is Ethel & Ernest based on a true story?', [Online]. Available at: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-12-28/is-ethel-ernest-based-on-a-true-story/ [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
Robey, Tim (2016), 'Ethel & Ernest review: Raymond Briggs honors his parents with slow-drip poignancy', [Online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/ethel--ernest-review-raymond-briggs-honors-his-parents-with-slow/ [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]
'The British Council', (s.d.), 'Raymond Briggs', [Online]. Available at: https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/raymond-briggs [Accessed Date: 15/02/2018]