David Mitton: Difference between revisions
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==Background== |
==Background== |
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David Mitton was born in [[Preston, Prestonpans, East Lothian|Preston]], [[East Lothian]] and educated at The [[Strathallan School]] in [[Perthshire]].<ref name="telegraph" /> On leaving school, he briefly attended art school before joining the [[Royal Navy]] [[air-sea rescue]] service and being assigned to [[Aden]], in what is now [[Yemen]] in the [[Middle East]].<ref name="independent">{{cite web |
David Mitton was born in [[Preston, Prestonpans, East Lothian|Preston]], [[East Lothian]] and educated at The [[Strathallan School]] in [[Perthshire]].<ref name="telegraph" /> On leaving school, he briefly attended art school before joining the [[Royal Navy]] [[air-sea rescue]] service and being assigned to [[Aden]], in what is now [[Yemen]] in the [[Middle East]].<ref name="independent">{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/thomas-the-tank-engine-director-david-mitton-856110.html |title='Thomas the Tank Engine' director: David Mitton |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=28 June 2008 |accessdate=27 December 2012 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725184620/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/thomas-the-tank-engine-director-david-mitton-856110.html |archivedate=25 July 2010 }}</ref><ref name="nytimes">{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/arts/television/12mitton.html?_r=2&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin&oref=slogin |title=David Mitton, a Creator of ‘Thomas’ for TV, Dies at 69 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=12 June 2008 |accessdate=27 December 2012}}</ref> |
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==Career== |
==Career== |
Revision as of 19:14, 28 March 2016
David Mitton | |
---|---|
Born | David Nelson Godfrey Mitton 13 July 1938 |
Died | 16 May 2008 | (aged 69)
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Television producer, director and special effects technician |
Years active | 1952–2008 |
Known for | Thomas & Friends, Tugs and Thunderbirds |
Notable work | Thomas & Friends (1984–2003) |
Spouse | Married twice[1] |
Children | 1 son[1] |
David Nelson Godfrey Mitton (13 July 1938 – 16 May 2008) was a British television producer and director, and an experienced model-maker and author, best known for producing and directing the children's TV programmes Thomas & Friends and Tugs.[2] During the 1960's, he worked with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson as a special effects technician on series such as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, The Secret Service and UFO.[3]
Background
David Mitton was born in Preston, East Lothian and educated at The Strathallan School in Perthshire.[3] On leaving school, he briefly attended art school before joining the Royal Navy air-sea rescue service and being assigned to Aden, in what is now Yemen in the Middle East.[1][4]
Career
On his return from the Middle East in the early sixties, Mitton embarked on a career in children's television.[4] He began working as a special effects technician on a series of programmes created by Gerry Anderson's AP Films that used a puppet technology called supermarionation.[4] Mitton was a member of the supervising visual effects director David Medding's team, displaying a special skill in setting up the electronics necessary to blow up buildings on cue in Thunderbirds (1965-1966), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967-1968), Joe 90 (1968), The Secret Service (1969) and UFO (1970-1971).[3]
As Gerry Anderson moved away from animation, Mitton became freelance.[3] He worked as assistant director to Ridley Scott on the famous Hovis commercials of the seventies in the United Kingdom and began directing animated television commercials himself.[3] In the mid-seventies, he established a company called Clearwater Films (later Clearwater Features), with former Thunderbirds director Ken Turner and American-born producer Robert D. Cardona.[4] The company soon gained a reputation for innovative stop-frame animated television commercials.[4] Clearwater produced two award-winning commercials, one for Hovis set in an orbiting space station and another for PG Tips tea bags.[3]
Another commercial for "Ski" yoghurt attracted the attention of television producer Britt Allcroft, who had acquired the television rights to a series of books known as The Railway Series from its author, the Reverend Wilbert Awdry.[4] Allcroft approached Mitton to develop a pilot for a television series, and in a joint partnership between her production company (known as The Britt Allcroft Company) and Clearwater Features, they made Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends between 1984 and 2003.[1][4] On 1 January 1991, Clearwater Features became part of The Britt Allcroft Company, and in 2002, HiT Entertainment bought out Allcroft and retitled the programme Thomas & Friends.[5]
Mitton directed 180 out of 182 episodes of the seven series made between 1984 and 2003, as well as writing the scripts once the original stories had been filmed.[1] Mitton was able to move each engine's eyes in real time – not stop-frame animation– by using a radio control linked to a motor mounted behind them, and there was a sculpted mask that could be changed to give different facial expressions.[1] The role of the narrator was played by Ringo Starr for the first two series in the United Kingdom and the first series in the United States.[1][4] Ringo Starr was replaced by Michael Angelis in the United Kingdom and George Carlin in the United States.[1][4]
The show became an instant success on British television, and in 1989, Allcroft helped created Shining Time Station (1989-1995) in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service. Because of the sequences that introduced the stories from Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends to the U.S. audiences, Shining Time Station became a successful television show.[4] Merchandise for Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends had been available before the television programme, including the 1979 and 1980 annuals (books that are published every year), but the programme created a new multi-million-pound industry and became an unstoppable phenomenon which could be seen in 145 countries worldwide.[1][4]
In 1989, inspired by the success of Thomas & Friends, Mitton and his new company, Clearwater Features, produced a new children's television series called Tugs, which lasted for thirteen episodes.[4] Thomas & Friends also inspired the 2000 feature film Thomas and the Magic Railroad, with Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor.[4] Mitton was a creative consultant for the models used in the film.[4]
Mitton left following the completion of the Series 7 of Thomas & Friends.[1] Following Mitton's departure, crew member Steve Asquith took his place as director from Series 8 to Series 12. In 2006, Mitton started another company, Pineapple Squared Entertainment, with director David Lane, whom Mitton had worked with on Thunderbirds earlier in his career.[1]
Mitton and Lane had been working on several projects prior to the former's death, including the production of the computer-animated 26-part TV series Adventures on Orsum Island.[1] Mitton died on 16 May 2008, having suffered a heart attack.[1][4]
Awards and Nominations
- 1985: Nominated for Best Animated Film for Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (shared with Britt Allcroft and Robert D. Cardona)
- 1987: Nominated for Best Animated Film for Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (shared with Robert D. Cardona)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "'Thomas the Tank Engine' director: David Mitton". The Independent. 28 June 2008. Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "David Mitton". IMDB. 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f "David Mitton". The Daily Telegraph. 7 June 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "David Mitton, a Creator of 'Thomas' for TV, Dies at 69". The New York Times. 12 June 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ^ "David Mitton". TV.com. 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
External links
- Obituary: The Daily Telegraph – includes photograph of Mitton with "Duck" and "Oliver" models
- Obituary: The Stage
- Use dmy dates from March 2011
- 1939 births
- 2008 deaths
- British company founders
- British television directors
- British television producers
- British television writers
- British writers
- Scottish company founders
- Scottish television writers
- Scottish television directors
- Scottish television producers
- Scottish writers
- Male television writers
- Miniature model-makers
- People educated at Strathallan School
- People from East Lothian
- Royal Navy personnel
- Special effects people
- Thomas & Friends
- Tugs (TV series)
- Thunderbirds (TV series)