Sherbet finish Granada series 'Girls in Love'

Sherbet Producer Director team Jonathan Bairstow and Sandra Ensby have been BAFTA nominated for their animated short ‘Wedding Espresso’, written by novelist Leslie Glaister.
The nomination coincides with their completion of the animation for Granada Kids’ new 13-part TV series for teenagers ‘Girls in Love’.
Based on the best selling book by Jaqueline Wilson, the series is a ground breaking combination of live action and animation. Sherbet’s reputation for original design and animation of high quality saw Bairstow and Ensby involved three years ago at the very early stages of development as
Granada researched the most effective way of achieving the desired mood and character for the series. Ensby became the visual ‘voice’ of main character Elli who keeps a hand drawn and ‘very private’ diary in her bedroom. Drawings spring to life on the pages and sometimes leap out of the diary to create the cartoon characters and other quirky hand animated elements that make up ‘Elli’s world’.
Ensby worked with a team of animators, special effects artists and editors in house at Sherbet to design and create the animation and combine it with finished live action footage. Around thirty minutes of animation and postproduction took four months to complete.
The series is due to air nationwide in the UK as from April 2003.
(GB)