Biography for
JAKOB KOCH

Jakob Koch. Born January 17, 1945 in Frederiksberg. Son of civil engineer Niels Koch (1912-1960) and Maren Kirstine Koch (1912-1986), born Find, daughter of painter Ludvig Find.

As a boy, Jakob Koch drew a lot, and at school he was given "honorable mention" by his drawing teacher for his cartoons.

As a 13-year-old, Jakob Koch participated in a drawing competition for children, arranged by "Scaniadam automobiles". Contestants had to draw a Ford Anglia. With this drawing, Jakob Koch won a bicycle. - © 1958 Jakob Koch.

As a child, Jakob Koch was deeply fascinated by the cartoon medium, and this was primarily due to the fantastic fantasy world that opened up on the screen in the Copenhagen cinema Metropol, which showed cartoons by the American cartoon master Walt Disney. From the age of 12, Jakob made small cartoons with the family's 8 mm substandard film camera. It turned into 6-8 small films from 30 sec. to approx. 6 min. Initially, Jakob worked with so-called moving films, and the first film was about the history of flight. It turned into a small 5 min. film in black and white. It was too expensive with color film.

Excerpt from Jakob Koch's first cartoon from 1958 "Several Forms of Flying" in 5 minutes. The film was made as a moving film, but a couple of the scenes, among others. second this with the Eiffel Tower, was animated on paper, and then cut out, and laid loosely on the background during the shooting. The original film has been lost, but the drawings from this sequence have been preserved, and the animation could therefore be reconstructed.- © 1958 Jakob Koch.

Together with 2 classmates, who also had a great interest in cartoons, Jakob Koch contacted Nordisk Tegnefilm in 1959 with a view to a visit to the studio. The three 14-year-old boys got an agreement in place, and were kindly received and shown around the cartoon studio by Kirsten Steinaa, who together with her husband, Ib Steinaa, was the leader of Nordisk Tegnefilm.

Strongly inspired by the visit to Nordisk Tegnefilm, Jakob Koch went home and started a new film project. Now it was supposed to be a "real" cartoon, in full animation, and drawn up and colored on cello sound. It turned into a small 2 min. cartoon, "The Goat", and also this movie was made in black and white.

Here is a scene from the little 2 min. cartoon "The Goat" from 1960. The original film has been lost, but the drawings from this scene have been preserved, and the animation could therefore be reconstructed.- © 1960 Jakob Koch.

The biggest of Jakob Koch's amateur cartoon projects was a 6-minute cartoon film adaptation of the Roman legend of "Androcles and the Lion", which is about the slave Androcles, who escapes into the desert due to the hard slave life. Here he finds a lion wounded by a thorn in the paw. Androcles helps the lion, and removes the thorn from its paw. The two become good friends. However, Androcles is captured by soldiers, and is led back to his master. Androcles is sentenced as punishment to be cast before the lions, and when this happens, he meets his lion friend and they are reunited in joy. Androkles is pardoned because he "defeated" the lion.

The film was fully animated in a naive drawing style that was quick and non-committal to work with.

Scene shots from Jakob Koch's 6 min. cartoon version of "Androkles and the Lion" from 1961. The original film has unfortunately been lost,

After graduating from Frederiksberg Gymnasium, Jakob Koch studied carpentry with a view to an education as an architect, but there were two other things that interested him more. Cartoons and music, and cartooning was to become his livelihood, while music became a very essential hobby.

Due to the dream of a career with cartoons, Jakob Koch dropped out of his carpentry apprenticeship in 1962, after which he contacted Ib Steinaa at Nordisk Tegnefilm, hoping to be accepted as a student. A meeting was arranged, and with the help of the small 8 mm cartoons, he was given a student place, which he started on 1 Nov. 1962

1962-1964 Student at Nordisk Tegnefilm.

Nordisk Tegnefilm was a subdivision of Nordisk Film, and 16 people were employed. Ib Steinaa was artistic director and director, and his wife Kirsten Steinaa was finance and human resources manager. 3 animators were employed: Walther Lehmann, Flemming Jensen and Harry Rasmussen. A lyricist named Helge Christiansen. A designer, Ulla Grau. 3 animator students, Anton Fredsøe (later married to Ulla Grau) who was trained shortly after Jakob’s employment, Eric Møller and Jakob Koch. 4 girls took care of the cell. work: Annelise Andersen, Eva ?, Lisbeth Jensen and Anette Lorenzen. A trick photographer: Poul Dupont, and a photography assistant: Hasse Christensen.

Jakob Koch was set to do animation exercises, and occasionally he was also used in the production, either as an intermediary or colorist. And at the end of his apprenticeship, he was also given tasks of a more independent nature. The summer of 1963 was a busy period in Nordisk Tegnefilm, because here the short cartoon "He, She and the Money" had to be completed. The entire staff was put on overtime throughout the summer, and Jakob participated with various functions in the production. He was an in-betweening artist, colorist and also animator on a few scenes. Among other things, he animated some scenes with banknotes swirling through the air.

The technique behind the cartoon production was of great interest to Jakob Koch. In his spare time, he experimented with stereoscopic cartoons, among other things, and bought for the purpose an old 16 mm film projector, which had a shaft outlet that rotated once per. 2 slide show. He extended this shaft, and on it he mounted two "wings" of black cardboard with a distance corresponding to the distance of the eyes. The wings were mounted opposite each other, and when looking through the rotating wings, every other image was closed for alternating right and left eye (see illustration). Then Jakob Koch made a simple stereoscopic animation of a "meteor swarm" which comes hovering towards the viewer. The animation was photographed so that every other image on the film strip was to be seen by the left eye, and every other by the right eye. Jakob Koch photographed the animation, developed the film strip and ran it on the special projector. Great was the excitement when he saw the "meteorites" coming flying towards him. It worked, but it was only an experiment that had no practical significance whatsoever, as there was only one person at a time who could experience the stereoscopic effect.

Illustration of the principle behind the film projector that Jakob Koch rebuilt for his experiments with stereoscopic cartoons.

Reconstruction of the original animation from 1964. The stereoscopic effect can be experienced by looking "crosswise" so that the right eye looks at the left image,

and vice versa. (It can be helpful to hold a finger up between the computer screen and the nose. Look at the finger, all the while moving it back and forth

In the summer of 1964, Jakob Koch was called up as a soldier, and therefore had to stop at Nordisk Tegnefilm, and when he said goodbye to Ib Steinaa, he was declared apprenticed on the same occasion. 1964-1966. Soldier, college stay, travel abroad and various small jobs.

In 1966, Jakob Koch considered finding another profession, but the cartoon still drew him in, so he explored the possibilities in the industry. There were 3 film companies in Denmark that produced cartoons at the time: Nordisk Tegnefilm, where he was a student, Bent Barfod Film in Hellerup, and Hamberg & Beckendorff, who had just changed their name to Spectrum Film Studio. He had heard that Nordisk Tegnefilm was about to close, so he would not try. He never got to consider Bent Barfod, for he had heard that Spectrum Film lacked manpower, so there he would try his luck.

1966-1970 Spectrum Film Studio.

Unsolicited, Jakob applied for employment at Spectrum Film in Ryesgade in Østerbro. It turned out quite rightly that there was a need for one more man. Jakob came for a job interview with Børge Hamberg, who was head of the design studio. Jakob showed his drawings and line tests from the time at Nordisk Tegnefilm, and was hired in Oct. 1966, with a monthly salary of DKK 1,900.

Animation drawings from some of the exercises Jakob Koch performed during his student days at Nordisk Tegnefilm in 1963, and which together with a roll of approx. 60 meters of 16 mm sketch film (line test) helped him to join Spectrum Film in 1966. The drawing style on the above animation drawings is clearly influenced by Ib Steinaa and Nordisk Tegnefilm.

Spectrum Film produced short films and commercials both as cartoons and real films. The owners of the company were Børge Hamberg and Leif Beckendorff. As I said, Børge Hamberg was head of the cartoon department, and he was a pioneer in Danish cartoons, and was one of the leading forces in "Fyrtøjet", the first Danish feature film. Leif Beckendorff was a former photographer and sound engineer, and he was CFO of the company. Hamberg and Beckendorff knew each other from Bent Barfod Film, where they had both been employed.

In Spectrum Film, a girl, Lis, was also hired for a cell. work, and a number of changing office ladies. Jakob Koch was thrown into one task after another, and since the company was so small and had so few employees, he had to take on all the tasks of the production process, from customer contact, idea, storyboard, over animation to photography and editing. It was here in the company that he learned the cartoon craft to the core, and he considered Børge Hamberg to be an excellent and very pleasant manager of the drawing studio.

Half a season after Jacobs ’employment, Flemming Jensen was hired. He came from Ib Steinaa, who had started his own company after the closure of Nordisk Tegnefilm.

Lis was to marry, and in 1967 resigned. Birgit Bennedbæk, who had just completed a drawing course at the School of Arts and Crafts, was then employed as a draftsman with responsibility for the cells. work.

Leif Beckendorff and Børge Hamberg were very different in personality, and they often got into heated discussions about the company's operations. It ended with Beckendorff buying out Hamberg, and this enabled Børge Hamberg to buy a terraced house, and he was very happy with his new status as an employee in the company with a fixed salary (DKK 4,500 per month).

Jakob Koch had some good and educational years with many challenges in a comfortable working environment. In addition to cartoons, Spectrum Film also produced commercials, industrial films and short films, and many freelance filmmakers were at times affiliated with the company, and there was often a lot of activity in the small film company. Of the filmmakers who at times had their daily walk in Spectrum Film, were soundman and director Ole Askmann, director Hans Henrik Jørgensen, the film photographers Rolf Rønne, Michael Salomon and Peter Roos and many others. The painter and film director Helge Ernst made a short film, "Opbrud", with the graphic artist Palle Nielsen's art. It was an iconographic film, and Jakob Koch was a trick photographer on the film, and therefore had a close collaboration with Helge Ernst. Børge Hamberg and Birgit Bennedbæk made an animated short film with the painter and graphic artist Mogens Zieler's drawings: "Multityder".

During periods when there was not much activity in the cartoon production, Jakob went in as an assistant at the other film productions.

On March 8, 1968, Jakob Koch married Britta Hermit. They had been given a small apartment in Møllegade no. 24 in Nørrebro. On August 15, they had their first son, Rasmus.

During a period in 1969, it was difficult to get cartoon assignments for Spectrum Film, and Flemming Jensen was fired. He then started as an independent from his apartment in Livjægergade. Later he rented a shop in Ryesgade, and from here he started the company Tegnefilm I/S together with Harry Rasmussen. The company later changed its name to Anima Film. However, Jakob Koch continued as an employee of Spectrum Film, but had a dream of at some point also trying his hand as an independent cartoon producer.

The artist and graphic artist Ib Antoni, who, among others. a. was known for his Circus Benneweis posters, had his run in Spectrum Film during a period when Holland had introduced commercials on TV. Ib Antoni had made the idea and design for some small commercials, "Joris Driepinter", which encouraged children to drink 3 glasses of milk a day. Flemming Jensen made the first three films which were in black and white, and when Flemming stopped in the company, Jakob Koch made the next 2 films which were in color. The plan was to make a whole series of "Joris Driepinter" films, and Tegnefilm I/S also made a few pieces, but it came to an abrupt end when Ib Antoni tragically died in the fire at Hotel Hafnia in 1973.

In 1969, Birgit Bennedbæk applied away from Spectrum Film. She was replaced by a cartoonist named Winni, who was employed by the company for approx. 1 year, after which she then applied back to the company she came from. Børge Hamberg then contacted Birgit, to offer her re-employment in Spectrum Film, and to his great joy, she accepted the offer. Shortly before she had to start again, Børge Hamberg became ill. He felt bad, and went home from work. He was ill for a few days, and one spring morning in April, the staff of Spectrum Film received the shocking and sad news that Børge Hamberg had passed away. It got completely behind everyone in the company, for no one was aware that he had actually been very ill. Well enough, he had had a lot of sick leave the same spring, and had often gone home early from work due to stomach problems. But we had no idea that it was cancer. The direct cause of death was an adjacent blood clot.

Børge Hamberg died on April 27, 1970 at the age of 50.

It was a great loss for Spectrum Film, and a great loss for Jakob Koch and the other employees who had such close contact with Børge Hamberg. He was a nice person. He loved to tell, partly about his work with cartoon production, where not least the time with "Fyrtøjet" played a big role, and partly about his great passion: Martinus cosmology.

Spectrum Film never became as attractive as a workplace for Jakob Koch after Børge Hamberg's death, and in the late 1970s Jakob chose to become a freelancer. He ended his employment and said goodbye to a fixed monthly salary of DKK 2,200.

1970 Independent. JAKOB KOCH cartoon.

Jakob Koch started as a self-employed person on 1 October 1970 in a commercial apartment on Nørrebrogade 116.

Initially, he was a regular freelancer for Spectrum Film, and got most of the assignments from here. After a few years, Leif Beckendorff sold the company to the advertising agency ‘Laura’, and Jakob Koch was thus released from the agreement.

The work tasks in JAKOB KOCH cartoons were largely of the same nature as in Spectrum Film: commercials, industrial films, short films, sequences for short films, film texts, trick films and camera work. Jakob Koch was used to being solely responsible for the production, so it seemed very natural to him to be completely alone in his own one man company. The biggest problem was that he did not have a trick camera, so he initially had to rent in different places. However, he quickly acquired some useful camera equipment.

On June 13, 1971, Britta and Jakob Koch had their second son, Jeppe. The family felt a strong urge to move to the countryside, and in May 1972 they moved to a rented forest runner house in Vemmetofte between Karise and Fakse Ladeplads. However, they had not moved further away from Copenhagen than Jakob could drive there in less than an hour. It was truly a change to move from Nørrebro's Runddel to a forest in Vemmetofte. From here he ran his business for the next 5 years.

He resumed his collaboration with Helge Ernst on the production of 3 iconographic short films on art history.

In 1976, he made a film about regional planning in Storstrøms County, and it provided money for the payment to the family's own house. In April 1977, they moved to their newly purchased house on Østerskovvej 13, which is located between Karise and Dalby, and they have lived there ever since.

Through his good customer, Central film in Oslo, Jakob Koch got in touch with a Norwegian girl, Kine Aune, who had written the script for a short cartoon: "Kjennføtterleken", and when they managed to get production support, they started work in 1977. She had big ambitions, but the money was small. Jakob Koch put a lot of effort into keeping the project down at a level that suited the economy, and the ideas that flowed freely from Kine Aune were constantly being cut. The film was a long time in the making, and was not finished until 1981. Jakob Koch had to come to terms with a rather large deficit. It was Kine Aune's first work with cartoon production, but she has since manifested herself as a productive cartoon and film director in Norway.

In 1981, Jakob Koch made 6 TV-OBS spots for Minerva Film: "Save energy - listen to your energy star".

In 1982, Jakob Koch bought the same 35mm Crass camera that he had worked with in Spectrum Film. Camera quickly became his primary livelihood, for gradually he specialized more and more as a trick photographer, and it gave a lot of work.

Jannik Hastrup from Dansk Tegnefilm Kompagni hired Jakob Koch as a photographer on the feature film "Samson and Sally" from oct. 1982 to June 84. It was a film adaptation of Bent Haller's book: "The Whales' Song".

In March 83, Jakob Koch was hired by Jakob Stegelmann as a trick photographer on the feature film "Valhalla". It was a very ambitious project, and the production process was very turbulent. "Valhalla" was launched by Jakob Stegelmann, Jeff Varab and Jørgen Klubien, based on Peter Madsen's cartoon of the same name. Jeff and Jørgen had worked as animators in the Disney studios, and the ambition was to make a cartoon that could be compared to Disney movies. However, Jørgen Klubien jumped out before the film really came into production, and later both Jakob Stegelmann and Jeff Varab followed. The film was, after a lot of problems, produced finished, but Jakob Koch was only in the optimistic and expectant start phase, where the production company, which at the time was called "Asgård Film", was located in Nansensgade. When they bought their own trick camera and trick table, Jakob Koch’s role as a photographer was played out, as he did not want to be hired and drive to Copenhagen every day, thus failing his other customers. The collaboration with Asgård Film stopped in dec. 83. Jakob Koch has photographed some of the scenes at the beginning of the film, here among the long friezes that begin the film. It was drawn by Peter Madsen on a 5 meter long roll of paper, and it was photographed in single images. That was before the advent of the computer in cartoon production. Out of sheer oblivion on the part of Swan Film, Jakob Koch received no credit for the film's closing credits.

The "Valhalla" project attracted a lot of young people who wanted to make cartoons, and a cartoon school was established where a lot of animators and colorists were trained. Many of them continued in the industry after "Valhalla", and that meant increased competition for us who were active before Valhalla.

Jakob Koch continued the activities of his own company, and cared for his loyal customers to the best of his ability. Bl. second, Jakob Koch made, from April to June 84, a commercial cartoon "Yoggi" for Norway. The film received an award at a commercial film festival in New York, and it received a diploma at the cartoon festival in Annecy.

In October 1984, Jakob Koch was hired by Per Lygum as a trick photographer for the well-known "Tuborg Sneøl" commercial, which has run in cinemas and TV every year since. Per Lygum showed up at Jakob Koch's late in the afternoon the day before the deadline for handing in the working copy. He had brought all the necessary drawings and cells. to the commercial, but they were not finished-colored. He was assigned a workbench where he could do the final coloring work. Meanwhile, Jakob Koch started shooting, which was interrupted due to the waiting times while the colored cells. dried. The work was completed early the following morning.

From March 86 to October 87, Jakob Koch worked as a trick photographer and animator on Jannik Hastrup's second long cartoon: "Strit & Stumme". Georges Stoyanoff animated the character "Dumb" ( = “Stumme”), but during a period when Georges was prevented, he was replaced by Jakob Koch, who animated several scenes with "Dumb".

From May 89 to Sept. 90, Jakob worked as a trick photographer on Jannik Hastrup's third long cartoon: "The Bird War", and in addition he was on the same film an in-betweening artis for Harry Rasmussen, who animated the mouse Ingolf.

From May 89, Jakob worked for a season as an animator on the Swedish feature film "Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll - on dizzying adventures". Unfortunately, the work effort was not as effective as desired, due to the simultaneous work as a photographer on “The Bird War". For the same reason, Jakob Koch passed on the animation work for several of the scenes from "Kalle Stropp and Grodan Boll" to Harry Rasmussen.

In March 93, Britta and Jakob Koch's youngest son, Jeppe, was sadly killed in a car accident. He turned 21 years old. It came to mean that Jakob prioritized other things in life higher than making cartoons. There were other and more important things to spend time on, so he did not seek out work, and he began to say no to tasks that did not interest him. He spent a lot of time writing a screenplay about his son's life and death. The film, however, was never made, but it was a fine grief therapy.

From April 94 to Sept. 94, Jakob Koch worked as a trick photographer on Jannik Hastrup's fourth long cartoon: "The monkeys and the secret weapon".

Over the next 5-6 years, JAKOB quietly slipped into the background of the cartoon industry. Cartoon production on computer, and the new cartoon production companies that emerged in the wake of "Valhalla", especially A-Film, constituted a competition that he neither nor would keep up with. There was longer and longer between tasks. He spent less time on cartoons and more on music. Jakob Koch has played the violin since the age of 12, and has cultivated many music genres, primarily classical and jazz, but when he moved to the country in 1972, he became acquainted with Danish folklore - fiddler music - and has cultivated it ever since. Jakob Koch, together with his wife, Britta, who plays the accordion, is a fiddler in a folk dancer association in Næstved, and they participate in rallies and festivals around the country and abroad. In addition, Jakob Koch works as a fiddler instructor on various courses.

Jakob Koch continues to work with cartoons, but the work has changed character. The trick table and the Crass camera have retired and the computer has taken over. Jakob feels strongly inspired by the possibilities the computer offers, and this has resulted in some self-financed small productions.

Jakob Koch has also helped Harry Rasmussen complete a 6-minute cartoon about H.C. Andersen's adventure "It is perfectly true!", Which has been over 33 years along the way. The film was produced on computer, and was completed in the spring of 2006.

See photos and video clips and mention of "It is perfectly true!" here.

In addition, Jakob Koch is working on a couple of other self-financed film projects, among other things he has resumed the idea of a cartoon film adaptation of the ancient Roman legend "Androcles and the Lion", which he made as a 16-year-old in 1961. It may be Jakob Koch's last cartoon production, and the ring is hereby closed.

Working with the computer has inspired Jakob Koch so much that he has taken on the role of webmaster for Harry Rasmussen on his websites.

Jakob Koch has been in the cartoon industry for over 40 years, including 35 years as a freelancer. He has had approx. 850 assignments of various kinds, especially as a subcontractor of commercial cartoons, drawn sequences for short films and various trick photography assignments.

When Jakob Koch turned 60 in 2005, he closed his company JAKOB KOCH cartoons.

Filmography for Jakob Koch:

Cartoon sequences for short films (list incomplete):

Focus on health (1971) Disamatic (1972) Niro Atomizer (1973) ETA (1973) Public transport (1974) Braatens flight safety (1977) Department (1977) Regional planning in Storstrøms County (1977) Welcome (1978) Disamatic (1978) LO (1979 ) DFDS Jombo Coaster (1979) Chiropractic (1980) Concrete on the way 1980) Kreditforeningen (1980) First aid for cardiac arrest (1981) Traffic noise in the City of Copenhagen (1981) Safe on a motorcycle (1981) Touch yourself more (1982) The Danish cheeses (1983 ) Klim-Borden (1984) Metal (1984) Det moderne maleri (1986) Tidevand (1986) Atomic physics and reality (1986) Peter Faber (1988) Quantum physics' teachings (1989) The theory of everything (1997)

Iconographic short films:

Modern Painting Impressionism (1973) Modern Painting Expressionism (1973) Modern Painting Surrealism (1973) Chess (4 films. 1977)

Short cartoons:

Kjennføtterleken (1981. Anim. Photo. Production) A good day to bark (1998. Photo.) Tuesday morning (1998. Photo.) It is true! (2006. Computer. Sound. Production)

Feature cartoons:

Valhalla (1983. Photo.) Samson and Sally (1984. Photo.) Strit and Stumme (1987. Photo. Anim.) The Bird War (1990. Photo.) Kalle Stropp and Grodan Boll (1991. Anim.) The monkeys and the secret weapon (1994. Photo.)

Commercial Cartoons (list incomplete):

Peanut roll (1973) Soft & Dry (1973) Sparbanken (1973) Malkyl (1973) Bokklubben (1974) Kreditbanken (1978) Bokklubben (1978) Frisko (1979) Anthon Berg (1980) Krone coffee (1981) Norges Røde Kors (1982) ) Hellesen (1984) YOGGI (1984) DANO (3 pcs. 1985) Yogurt "snork" (1985) Yogurt "bell" (1985) 3x34 (1988) Sun cola (1988) Chrunch (1988) Danefrost (1989) Håndværksbageren (1989) ) Albani (1989) Håndværksbageren præmiebrød (1990) Kvickly Solstik (1992) Danefrost (1991) Totalkredit (1991) Dagli´ Brugsen (1991) Kvickly Solstik (1992) FUN (1993) Vandfaldet (1996)

TV spots (list incomplete):

Occupational Health Service (1979. Anim. Photo.) Dyrtidsfond (1980. Anim. Photo.) Balance Art (1980. Photo.) Energisten (6 pcs. 1981. Anim. Photo.) Mail rate (1982. Anim. Photo.) Keep the heart young ( 1984. Anim. Photo.)

Own production:

Androkles and the Lion (2016). IKAROS (2017). Kanon (2017). The Animated Waltz (2018). ZoomInn (2018). The Fine Madam Snow (2018). The waltz of death (2019), Luigi Tarisio and the violins (2020), The Car (2021)

Watch them on YouTube or at www.androkles.dk

Web master:

http://www.tegnefilmhistorie.dk

http://www.livetseventyr.dk

http://www.androkles.dk

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