# animate! › Films › Animal Tragic by Tim Macmillan › all › synopses › direction & collaboration › full production credits › film stills › tools & processes › format & distribution › background material Canonical: https://animate.org.uk/films/animaltragic/all Discovery terms: 2000s animation, time-slice photography, digital compositing, human-animal relationships, urban life, violence, experimental short film, filmmaker, artist The following is the archived page text; discovery terms above are separately sourced metadata. Archive status: restored in 2026; historical calls, deadlines and services are closed. --- **Animal Tragic** a film by Tim Macmillan 2003, 6 min 28 sec ![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic09.jpg) ### animate! synopsis An unsettling take on the ‘natural history’ of our contemporary urban environment, recreating three reported incidents where humans and ‘friendly’ animals interact badly – a postman kills a dog, a dog attacks a child, a horse kills a cyclist. ### key credits **director** Tim Macmillan ### Tim Macmillan #### biography Tim lives near Bath. He made [Ferment](https://animate.org.uk/films/ferment/) for animate! in 1999, using the [time-slice](http://www.timeslicefilms.com/cameras.shtml) image ‘freezing’ technique he developed at the Slade in the 1980’s (and which was subsequently adopted in **The Matrix**). His gallery work [Dead Horse](http://www.timeslicefilms.com/projects/dead_horse.shtml) won, very unusually for moving image work, a [Citibank Photography Prize](http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2000/02/10/26551.html) nomination. It also attracted the wrath of animal rights fanatics who sent his family hypodermic needles in the post. **Animal Tragic** is a wry response. Whilst making this film Tim was also busy inventing and developing [Flybot](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3122530.stm) , an aerial robot to explore rainforest tree canopy which launched at the [Eden Project](http://www.edenproject.com/flybot) , Cornwall, in September 2003. December 2003 ### animate! films by this artist [Animal Tragic](https://animate.org.uk/films/animaltragic/) [Ferment](https://animate.org.uk/films/ferment/) #### artist’s website [Time-Slice Films](http://www.timeslicefilms.com/) Tim’s production company ### a film by Tim Macmillan ### direction **director** Tim Macmillan ### support **primary funding** An animate! production through Finetake for Arts Council England and Channel 4 © Tim Macmillan 2003 [![Animal Tragic, still: *Animal Tragic* title card](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic01.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic01.jpg) **Animal Tragic** title card - *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic02.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic02.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic03.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic03.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic04.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic04.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic05.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic05.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic06.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic06.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic07.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic07.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic08.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic08.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic09.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic09.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic10.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic10.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic11.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic11.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic12.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic12.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic13.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic13.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic14.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic14.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic15.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic15.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic16.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic16.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic17.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic17.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic18.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic18.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic19.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic19.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic20.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic20.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic21.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic21.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic22.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic22.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic23.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic23.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic24.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic24.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic25.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic25.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic26.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic26.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic27.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic27.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic28.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic28.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic29.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic29.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic30.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic30.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic31.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic31.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic32.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic32.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic33.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic33.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic34.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic34.jpg) *click on image for full size still* [![Animal Tragic, still](https://animate.org.uk/stillslarge/animaltragic35.jpg)](https://animate.org.uk/stillsfull/animaltragic35.jpg) *click on image for full size still* ### technical #### process summary The film incorporates a major digital development of Tim’s own analogue time-slice technique. Simultaneous 35mm film and stills of a momentary event are transformed by experimental FloMo software into a spatial vector map, from which a virtual camera can float freely in space around the ‘suspended’ scene. ### master copy format **colour or black & white** colour ### video distribution format **video format** DigiBeta **screen aspect ratio** 16:9 **video standard** PAL **sound type** stereo ### distributor LUX [info@lux.org.uk](mailto:info@lux.org.uk) +44 (0)20 7503 3980 [www.lux.org.uk](http://www.lux.org.uk/) **Animal Tragic** film, stills and other materials © Tim Macmillan 2003