Peter Tupy
Portrait of Peter by Gill Bradley
This site is dedicated to the utterly unique Peter Tupy.
Above: Peter as seen by John Challis
Above: still from an interview with Peter given by Ike Ong who also shot it .
Obituary
Peter Tupy
Cinematographer of anarchic creativity
written by John Challis Friday February 17, 2006 in The Guardian Newspaper
In 1985 the cinematographer Pete Tupy, who has died aged 59 of complications following heart surgery, won a best graphics Bafta for his work on Channel 4's TV series Max Headroom, and, in keeping with his anarchic spirit, painted the award pink and yellow. Pete, an institution within London's animation film scene for more than 35 years, was a champion of new talent, an iconic Soho personality - and used a camera as intuitively as some people use pencils.
During his career Pete worked on many Bafta-nominated shorts. These included Transit (1997), 1001 Nights (1998) and Stressed (1994). He shot pop promos for Eddie Grant, Enya, Elvis Costello, Kirsty McColl and The Art of Noise, among others, and worked on graphics for all the main TV networks. The Royal College of Art, Central St Martins School of Art and the National Film and Television School all called on his expertise for their MA students.Pete approached filmmaking in the spirit of the pioneers. He was like George Méliès and the Lumières, rolled into one big, rather untidy package. Things were improvised. Whatever needed to be done, Pete would find a way of doing it, sometimes rethinking the process from first principles. Once when the rostrum camera couldn't go up enough to get all the shot in, Pete cut a hole in the ceiling and put the camera on the next floor up. More recently he was just as inventive at solving problems using computers and developing new ways of creating and manipulating film and digital images.
Born in Prague, Pete was a Bohemian both by birth and inclination. His father, a communist aircraft engineer, escaped from a Gestapo prison during the Dresden bombing having pocketed his death warrant. After studying graphic design in Prague, Pete came to England in 1968 for a holiday, during which time the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia and he decided to stay here. He briefly studied art at Dartington College before returning to London and his first job in animation at the studio of Bob Godfrey.
In 1980 Pete took over a studio at 5 Wardour Mews and made it his own. The late 1970s to the mid-1990s was a time of tremendous creativity,and for designers and animators, there was the choice of playing safe - going to a big facility house, spending 20 grand a day and getting something technically perfect and bland - or talking to Pete.
Vital to the success of that group, he was in there with them, whether it was a big budget commercial or a student film, and he helped win countless awards for other people. Some of the most original filmmaking talent in London - and quite a few fruitcakes - passed through his studio. He worked hard but, most of the time, what he was really doing when he was at work was playing.
Pete was also a talented artist and photographer. Full of life, love, energy and enthusiasm, he had the generosity to share all these things with anybody who wanted them.
He is survived by his wife, Sylvie Venet-Tupy.
· Peter Tupy, cinematographer, born November 8 1946; died December 18 2005.
John Challis
Mike Smith
Above: drawing by Mike Smith
James Innes
Above: drawing by James Innes
A Few Words from Anne Jolliffe.....
I first met Peter at Bob Godfrey Films in the early '70s. He had been employed (if that's the word) by Bob Godfrey, to do odd jobs.
He did some inbetweening for me and I was impressed by his talent, if not his attitude.
He then informed me that animation was all "SHIT". I was, quite rightly, offended, and took him across the road (Wardour Street) to The Intrepid Fox to discuss the topic with Bill Sewell, who knew all about shit.
Before long, and after a pint or two, we had convinced Peter that far from being a waste of time, being an animator if not the best way to spend your life, it beat working for a living any day. We also convinced him to make his own films, and since 'working' for BG made it pretty sure you would be unemployable ever after, that was pretty good advice.
Peter gravitated to Bill's studio, Long Valley Films, where nobody did much work, but had a great and argumentative time. Peter sort of 'inherited' Long Valley after Bill died and continued the tradition. 2p Films became a haven for us all and we miss it - and him - sorely. Where can we go now to solve the problems of the world while waiting to have the first, of many, convivial if argumentative, PINTS?
Sydney, Australia May 2007
Anne Jolliffe
Below: photos by Anne
