Topology

A maths lesson is an excuse for an animator’s tour de force

Whilst parts of this film might feel like maths homework, it is quickly apparent that the subject is just a playground for an animator at the top of his game. Produced at the mid-point of Harold Whitaker’s four decades in British animation, his vivid, snappy line is evident throughout, but particularly in the section where a torus shape is inverted repeatedly. A comic character is even thrown in just to have an excuse to repeat this tricky technical drawing task.

Harold Whitaker began his animation career at the studio of Anson Dyer in 1940, picking it up again in 1946 after service in WWII. He joined the Halas & Batchelor studio in 1952 in the build up to Animal Farm, and he was one of five key animators on the film. He was the principal animator at the studio into the 1980s, working on everything from commercials to the sci-fi anthology feature Heavy Metal (1981).