Ian Emes

Ian Ronald Emes (born 17 August 1949; is a British animator and film director, from Handsworth, Birmingham, England, known for his work with Pink Floyd, who have used his animated films as back-projections in concert and released them as extras on their DVDs. He now lives in London, is married and a father.

Emes' father was Ronald Emes, a Birmingham policeman who trained the British canoe team for four Olympic Games. Emes was educated at Marsh Hill Boys Technical School in Birmingham's Erdington district and then studied at Bristol.

Emes' first major work, 'French Windows', was started while he was subsequently a student at Birmingham College of Art and finished while he was unemployed. It was set to the Pink Floyd recording "One of These Days". After it was shown at Birmingham's Ikon Gallery, it was screened on the television programme The Old Grey Whistle Test, and thereby came to the attention of Pink Floyd. The band invited Emes to give them a private screening, and afterwards to make films to be projected during performances of The Dark Side of the Moon. His animation for their song "Time" is on Pink Floyd's Pulse DVD. He subsequently worked with Roger Waters, making live action film for his performance of The Wall – Live in Berlin.

As a result of his work for Pink Floyd, Linda McCartney asked Emes to animate Wings' "Oriental Nightfish". He has also made animations for concerts by Mike Oldfield, and directed The Chauffeur for Duran Duran.

In 1983, Emes received the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for his short live action film, Goodie Two Shoes, which was then nominated for an Oscar; he later received another BAFTA for co-directing the children’s TV series, Bookaboo. Five years later, he directed an episode of The Comic Strip Presents..., The Yob with writer Keith Allen also in the title role and featuring a brief appearance by Allen's daughter Lily, then a toddler. In July–September 2010, 'French Windows' was again exhibited at Birmingham's Ikon gallery, together with original cels.