Production Bible –

Research.
Concept:
Person/animal: A Mouse.
Conceit/trait: WW2 Poster UK/ Courageous and Heroic.
World/time: 1930/40s London.
Filmic scene: The Big Disaster.
Animation action: Getting Ready To…
Mood Board: Mouse.
Mood Board: WW2 Posters.
Mood Board: 1930/40s.
 Research into 1930/40s London. Condensed Timeline (uk key events)
1939
- Historical Context. • Hitler invades Poland on 1 September.
Depression in the 1930s Britain and France declare war on
Wall Street Crash Germany two days later.
• In 1929, the Wall Street Crash plunged the USA into economic depression. The 1940
Americans…called in their loans to other countries…put customs barriers up to stop • Rationing starts in the UK.
imports of foreign goods. This created a depression across the rest of the world. • Churchill becomes Prime Minister of
Unemployment Britain.
• Unemployment in Britain rose to 2.5 million (25 per cent of the workforce) in 1933. • British Expeditionary Force evacuated
from Dunkirk.
Worst hit were the areas of heavy industry (eg coal, iron, steel, shipbuilding) in
• British victory in Battle of Britain forces
Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the north of England. These industries were
Hitler to postpone invasion plans.
already struggling because they had not modernised after the [1st] war and had been
1941
badly affected by competition from other countries. The Depression meant that now • The Blitz continues against Britain's major
these industries crumbled. cities.
New industry 1942
• In the south-east of England where new light industries such as chemicals, electrical • Mass murder of Jewish people at
goods and automobiles had been developed, families were affluent. In fact, people Auschwitz begins.
with jobs benefited from the Depression because prices fell…could buy more. 1943
BBC (n.d.) The Depression of the 1930s. At: • British and Indian forces fight Japanese in
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z34mwxs/revision/1(Accessed: 28/10/2020) Burma.
How did the government react? These four actions made things worse: 1944
• Raising income tax. • D Day: The Allied invasion of France. Paris
• Cutting unemployment pay by 10 per cent. is liberated in August.
• Introducing the means test. (financial assistance) 1945
• Adding import duties to goods from abroad. • Auschwitz liberated by Soviet troops.
Four actions helped to end the Depression: • Truman becomes President of the US on
• Came off the gold standard - allowed govt to increase… money in circulation. Roosevelt's death, and Attlee replaces
• Reduced interest rates – reduced…debt payments … made more money available to Churchill.
spend,…encouraged them to take out loans to spend more. Robinson, B. (2011) World War Two:
• The Special Areas Act (1934) - tried to attract light industries to the 'distressed' areas. Summary Outline of Key Events. At:
• Local councils built 500,000 council houses, which pumped money into the economy. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/ww
two/ww2_summary_01.shtml
BBC (n.d.) The Depression of the 1930s. At:
(Accessed: 28/10/2020) ) In-text citation:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z34mwxs/revision/3 (Accessed: 28/10/2020)
(Robinson, 2011).
 Life in the Blitz #1:
• The Blitz, (September 7, 1940–May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken
by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. For eight months
the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain. The attacks
were authorized by Germany’s chancellor, Adolf Hitler, after the British carried out a
nighttime air raid on Berlin. The offensive came to be called the Blitz after the German
word blitzkrieg (“lightning war”).
• The Blitz began at about 4:00 in the afternoon on September 7, 1940, when German planes
appeared over London. For two hours, 348 German bombers and 617 fighters targeted the
city, dropping high-explosive bombs as well as incendiary devices. Later, guided by the raging
fires caused by the first attack, a second group of planes began another assault that lasted
until 4:30 the following morning. In just these few hours, 430 people were killed and 1,600
were badly injured. The first day of the Blitz is remembered as Black Saturday.
• Beginning on Black Saturday, London was attacked on 57 straight nights. Between Black
Saturday and December 2, there was no 24-hour period without at least one “alert”—as the
alarms came to be called—and generally far more.
• The Germans expanded the Blitz to other cities in November 1940. The most heavily
bombed cities outside London were Liverpool and Birmingham. Other targets included
Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton. The attack on Coventry was particularly
destructive.
• In early 1941 the Germans launched another wave of attacks, this time focusing on ports.
Raids between February and May pounded Plymouth, Portsmouth, Bristol, Newcastle upon
Tyne, and Hull in England; Swansea in Wales; Belfast in Northern Ireland; and Clydeside in
Scotland.
• uneasy peace until May 10–11, the night of a full moon, when the Luftwaffe launched the
most intense raid of the Blitz. London seemed ablaze from the docks to Westminster, much
damage was done, and casualties were high……. Although there were some comparatively
slight raids later in 1941, the most notable one on July 27, the May 10–11 attack marked the
conclusion of the Blitz.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ray, M. (2020) The Blitz. World War II. At:
https://www.britannica.com/event/the-Blitz (Accessed: 28/10/2020) In-text citation: (Ray,
2020).
 Life in the Blitz #2: Barrage Balloons
• When the Blitz began, the government enforced a blackout in an attempt to make
targeting more difficult for German night bombers. Streetlights, car headlights, and
illuminated signs were kept off. People hung black curtains in their windows so that no
lights showed outside their houses. When a bombing raid was imminent, air-raid sirens
were set off to sound a warning. At the beginning of the Blitz, British “ack ack” gunners
struggled to inflict meaningful damage on German bombers, but later developments in
radar guidance greatly improved the effectiveness of both antiaircraft artillery and
searchlights.
• Another defensive measure employed by the British was barrage balloons—large oval-
shaped unmanned balloons with stabilizing tail fins—installed in and around major target
areas. ….. were essentially an airspace denial tool. They prevented low-flying aircraft from
approaching their targets at optimal altitudes and angles of attack. The higher the German
planes had to fly to avoid the balloons, the less accurate they were when dropping their
bombs.
• public shelters ….Anderson shelters,…. many others began to take refuge in the city’s
underground railway, or Tube, stations. This option had been forbidden by city officials,
who feared that once people began sleeping in Underground stations, they would be
reluctant to return to the surface and resume daily life. As more and more people began
sleeping on the platforms, however, the government relented and provided bunk beds and
bathrooms for the underground communities. The use of the Tube system as a shelter
saved thousands of lives, and images of Londoners huddled in Underground stations would
become an indelible image of British life during World War II.
• Nevertheless, for all the hardship it caused, the campaign proved to be a strategic mistake
by the Germans. Hitler’s intention had been to break the morale of the British people so
they would pressure their government to surrender. Morale did suffer amid the death and
devastation, but there were few calls for surrender. The phrase “Business as usual,” written
in chalk on boarded-up shop windows, exemplified the British determination to “keep calm
and carry on” as best they could.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ray, M. (2020) The Blitz. World War II. At:
https://www.britannica.com/event/the-Blitz (Accessed: 28/10/2020) In-text citation:
(Ray, 2020).
 Research into WW2 Posters.
Purpose of WW2 Propaganda Posters:
• When Britain and France went to war with Germany in 1939, Americans were
divided over whether to join the war effort. It wouldn't be until the surprise
attacks on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 that the United States would be
thrust into World War II. Once U.S. troops were sent to the front lines,
hundreds of artists were put to work to create posters that would rally support
on the home front.
• As men were sent to battlefields, women were asked to branch out and take
on jobs as riveters, welders and electricians.
• preserve resources for the war effort, posters championed carpooling to save
on gas, warned against wasting food and urged people to collect scrap metal
to recycle into military materials.
• many posters touted positive patriotic messages, some tapped fear to rally
support for the Allied side and caution against leaking information to spies.
"Loose lips sink ships" became a famous saying.
• Today, the posters a offer a glimpse into the nation's climate during World War
II and how propaganda was used to link the home front to the front lines.
Horne, M. (2018/2019). These World War II Propaganda Posters Rallied the Home
Front. At:https
://www.history.com/news/world-war-ii-propaganda-posters-photos-united-states-
home-front
(Accessed: 28/10/2020) In-text citation: (Horne, 2020).
https://www.iwm.org.uk/learning/resources/second-world-war-p
osters
> Good site for poster examples and explanations to why the
posters came about.
 Art Movements At The Time #1.
Art Deco
Key Dates: 1920-1930
• An art movement involving a mix of modern decorative art styles, largely
of the 1920s and 1930s, whose main characteristics were derived from
various avant-garde painting styles of the early twentieth century. Art
deco works exhibit aspects of Cubism, Russian Constructivism and Italian
Futurism- with abstraction, distortion, and simplification, particularly
geometric shapes and highly intense colors- celebrating the rise of
commerce, technology, and speed.
• The growing impact of the machine can be seen in repeating and
overlapping images from 1925; and in the 1930s, in streamlined forms
derived from the principles of aerodynamics.
• The name came from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts
Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, held in Paris, which celebrated living
in the modern world.
• It was popularly considered to be an elegant style of cool sophistication
in architecture and applied arts which range from luxurious objects made
from exotic material to mass produced, streamlined items available to a
growing middle class.

Art Movements (n.d.) Art Deco. At:

https://www.artmovements.co.uk/artdeco.htm (Accessed: 28/10/2020)
SOCIAL REALISM
• Refers to any realist painting that also carries a clearly discernible social
or political comment.

The Tate (n.d.) Social Realism. At:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/social-realism (Accessed:
 Art Movements At The Time #2.
Summary of Social Realism
• The Social Realist political movement and artistic explorations flourished primarily
during the 1920s and 1930s, a time of global economic depression, heightened racial
conflict, the rise of fascist regimes internationally, and great optimism after both the
Mexican and Russian revolutions. Social Realists created figurative and realistic images
of the "masses," a term that encompassed the lower and working classes, labor
unionists, and the politically disenfranchised. American artists became dissatisfied with
the French avant-garde and their own isolation … led them to search for a new
vocabulary and a new social importance; … found their purpose in the belief that art
was a weapon that could fight the capitalist exploitation of workers and stem the
advance of international fascism.
Key Ideas & Accomplishments
• Social Realists envisioned themselves to be workers and laborers, similar to those who toiled in the fields and factories. … clad in
overalls to symbolize unity with the working classes,…artists believed they were critical members of the whole of society, rather than
elites living on the margins and working for the upper crust.
• …there was a variety of styles and subjects within Social Realism, the artists were united in their attack on the status quo and social
power structure. Despite their stylistic variance, the artists were realists who focused on the human figure and human
condition….politically charged and radical social critiques.
• Modernism…considered in terms of stylistic innovation, Social Realists believed…political content of their work made it modern.
The Art Story (2015) "Social Realism Movement Overview and Analysis". At: https://www.theartstory.org/movement/social-realism/
(Accessed: 28/10/2020)
Post–World War II Art Movement
• Abstract Expressionism is a term applied to a movement in American painting that
flourished in New York City after World War II, sometimes referred to as the New York
School or, more narrowly, as action painting. The varied work produced by the Abstract
Expressionists resists definition as a cohesive style; instead, these artists shared an
interest in using abstraction to convey strong emotional or expressive content.
MoMA Learning (n.d.) Abstract Expressionism. At:
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/abstract-expressionism/#:~:text=Abs
tract%20Expressionism%20is%20a%20term%20applied%20to%20a,varied%20work%20prod
uced%20by%20the%20Abstract%20Expressionists%20resists
(Accessed: 28/10/2020)
I then looked at different way a mouse could be animated/ designed to look so I can then apply this to my own drawings.
 Scenario.
Looking at the research I have gathered I decided to base my mouse character in the 1940s era, where the
2nd World War had just kicked off. With this I decided to focus my idea around a heroic mouse of the Blitz,
where he does his bit in helping with the war effort. Within this concept I wanted to incorporate real life
events into the story/idea, to do this I was thinking of incorporating the art deco movement into the home of
the mouse and the social realism by implementing the idea of the working class into the concept.

The idea:
• A working class mouse living in London in the 1940’s during the blitz.
• Mouse lives among human life, so is accustomed to how human society works/operates.
• One night during the blitz, the alerts go off informing that another air raid is coming. Mouse makes it out
just in time before the flat is blown up just seconds after escaping.
• During the fall impact, mouse sees a propaganda poster prompting people to do their bit for the war
effort.
• This then spurs the mouse to want to do something since his home was just destroyed.
• Mouse makes his way to the underground bunker for shelter for the rest of the night to take refuge from
the air strike.
• Another bomb is dropped and causes the lights to flicker an couple of times before lights are eventually
cut.
• Mouse soon sees that wardens can’t access the power generator room as the explosion has caused
infrastructure beams to fall, making it unsafe to move and get into the room.
• So mouse having being small enough and having the knowledge of how to possibly fix the problem
braves a head to the generator room to fix the problem. Thus doing his bit for the war and comfort of
those in the tunnel.
• He fixes the generator and some light is brought back to the tunnel.
• People gasp in amazement and believe it to be a miracle all thanks to a little brave mouse.
 Mouse Character Profile.
Job:
• Doesn’t have just one job but many – Jack of all trades.
• Likes to learn new trades to expand his knowledge – main interest is in arty/skilled jobs.
• These being: Switchboard Operator, clock winder, signal man, quarry man, film boxer and
haberdasher. (explained on next slide).

Home:
• Live in a wall of a flat in South London close to Balham and Clapham underground stations
(see last slide).
• Main home (human home) has traces of the art deco period, but are of the working class, so
art deco features are very minimal.
• Mouse often brings home ‘souvenirs’ from his day of learning – usually a bit of film clippings,
watch hands, scrape wire, empty cotton reel/sewing needles etc. As well as taking
miscellaneous objects from the main home.

Characteristics/ Personality:
• Courageous and Heroic.
• Curious and inquisitive.
• Thoughtful of others/caring.
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/
g4530/odd-obsolete-jobs/

• I then started to look at the types of

jobs that were about at the time of the
Blitz (1940s) and found an array of
jobs that the mouse could do and
came to the conclusion that the
mouse wouldn't have a job of sorts
but more of a an idea that he would
be a ‘jack of all trades’. Meaning he
would leave his home and go to ‘learn’
a job from watching what the people
do.
• I also had to consider where I wanted
to mouse to live, with this cam
research to places most/worst
bombed in London at the time. And
found that south London, Balham
would be a good place as one of its
underground bunkers was actually
destroyed (see next slide for report)
 • In one of the bombing attacks, Felicity Edwards, who was 17 when the war
broke out, was sitting with her mother in the kitchen of their home in
Balham, south London, in October 1940 when a bomb fell in the High Road
and through the roof of the Underground station on to the Northern Line.
• More than 60 people were trampled and killed as they tried to escape.
• The next day, Felicity saw a double-decker bus stuck in a crater on the High
Road. The driver is believed to have driven into it in the dark.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20637222#:~:text=In%20one%20of%20the
%20bombing%20attacks%2C%20Felicity%20Edwards%2C,the%20Underground%20station%2
0on%20to%20the%20Northern%20Line
A double decker bus drove into a bomb .
crater in Balham, south London

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-blitz-around-britain
THE BLITZ AROUND BRITAIN
• The 'Blitz' – from the German term Blitzkrieg ('lightning war') –
was the sustained campaign of aerial bombing attacks on
British towns and cities carried out by the Luftwaffe (German
Air Force) from September 1940 until May 1941.
• The Blitz began on 7 September, 'Black Saturday', when German
bombers attacked London, leaving 430 dead and 1,600 injured.
London was then bombed for 57 consecutive nights, and often
during daytime too. London experienced regular attacks and on
10-11 May 1941 was hit by its biggest raid. German bombers
dropped 711 tons of high explosive and 2,393 incendiaries. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/15-powerful-photos-of-the-blitz
1,436 civilians were killed. However, this proved to be the last
major raid until January 1943.
• While London was bombed more heavily and more often than anywhere else in Britain, the Blitz was an attack on the whole
country. Very few areas were left untouched by air raids. In relatively small compact cities, the impact of a severe air raid could be
devastating.
• From mid-November 1940, major provincial cities and industrial centres were targeted. In early 1941 another wave of attacks
began, primarily against ports. Respite finally came from June when much of the Luftwaffe was directed against Russia and targets
in the Mediterranean.
• In these nine months, over 43,500 civilians were killed. This is how the Blitz affected towns and cities across the United Kingdom.