<because
the film was being made on a tight budget the film stock used was East German,
which didn't have the same stability and sensitivity as its Western equivalent.
Certain colours were not recommended for the artwork because they would shift
so badly in the developing process. Over the years the paint department had
built up much expertise in predicting the safe colour ranges. I seem to recall
some debate about the wisdom of using subtle shades of lavender in my backgrounds,
but in the end we got away with it.../>
<I
had to leave Prague before the film was fully completed and almost all
of the artwork remained behind. Several years later the 'drawn film' division
moved out of its huts into new building at Barrandov and I suspect the
artwork for Ondra probably fell victim to a rationalisation of
the archive materials. In any case some of the original cels may well
have been recycled, which sometimes happened when there were material
shortages and the animation tracing was small enough to be removed without
damaging the surface.../>
<my
greatest regret is that I didn't manage to retrieve the panning artwork for
the flight sequence, which was one of the very few traditionally painted backgrounds
I made for the film. I thought this scene looked very Czech, which apparently
surpised some people at the studios who thought the whole film had a decidedly
foreign feel.../>
