London-based Spider Eye has started production on a new 2D animated TV short based on Geoffrey Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES entitled THE SQUIRE'S TALE. The project is part of S4C and BBC's continuing animated series depicting the individual tales. THE SQUIRE'S TALE is a tale of the King of Sarai and the special gifts he and his family receive from the King of Arabia and India. Animation, rendering and backgrounds for the film were produced at Jumping Jack Productions Ltd. for transfer to Spider Eye, which provided direction, ink and paint and compositing. Animators used Animo to produce multiple mattes made from both textures and watercolor artwork that was scanned in, creating the effect of watercolor washes on textured paper. "Working digitally afforded us a great degree of flexibility with the ability to edit and adjust effects to produce the required look," said John Brooks, producer at Spider Eye. "Animo's Layer Palettes feature was invaluable for creating the necessary black matte runs to achieve a multi-layered effect."