Movie Maker is a two ROM graphics utility package for the Model B and B+ microcomputers. The two ROMs provide an interactive graphics editor for a large Mode 7 screen area. The screen acts as a window onto the Movie Maker "world", a 65,535 by 65,535 pixel map.

The package is completed by an attractively presented manual (with index and room for notes), an introductory tape and a scenery planning map. Instructions are included for swapping the example programs and the run-time module "show" to disc. "Show" is used to run code generated by Movie Maker in machines without the ROMs installed.

The two ROM package can be a problem for those without ROM boards as Pagemaker recently proved. Unfortunately the code doesn't run correctly in sideways RAM.

The example movies give a marvellous view of what can be done with Movie Maker. There can be no pretence of realism with Mode 7 graphics but they do have a charm of their own. Many educational programs have been forced to use this cheap memory mode and the graphics have found wide acceptability through such software and through the omnipresent screens from Prestel and Viewdata systems. It is also possible to propel the character set pretty fast around the screen in machine code.

Movie Maker displays fast scrolling up and down and a form of panning where the background is moved relative to the characters but there is no zooming for close ups and, more regrettable, no sound effects. The full register of Teletext effects can be put to creative use through the editor. The flashing backgrounds, hidden graphics and double height text are all there but so is much, much more.

You can draw freehand on the "screen pad" to create static objects with which you decorate the film set and to draw the characters you wish to animate in the movie. The similarity between Movie Maker and cartoon animation becomes quickly apparent.

The example movie is a full 20 minutes long (all in memory) and features the captivating Bird - a bit like Rod Hull's Emu in mannerism - a hungry crab like creature and a depressed wheelbarrow careering around the trees in the forest. As in a cartoon, you can suspend reality and have a talking shed (small word bubbles can be scrolled for each character) and the sun coming up in a couple of seconds flat.

The Movie Maker main menu does all the loading and saving of movies and shape definitions and from here you move into the program listing or into the screen pad.

Defining a shape is a simple matter of using the pen (various size options) on the screen pad. Your creation is then scanned and placed into a shape definition. This can then be retrieved and edited. The shape is then available for duplication, a memory efficient way of reproducing standard designs by assigning them to the original. There are also shape management commands such as *FIND which find any instance of a designed shape on the screen map. This find operation can get a bit slow when operating with more than about 5000 frames and so a 'remember' command is available. It's a bit like 'tagging' a frame in Prestel for quick retrieval.

Shapes are placed into the Movie Maker "program" and, if animated, their movements, commands, text strings and edit cycles defined with them. You can have up to 200 shapes, 19 of them can be programmed and 6 of these can appear on screen at any one time.

Moving shapes around the screen is achieved in conjunction with the "frame clock" which tells you just where you are in the movie. You can move characters around the screen at will and their positions are recorded frame by frame. You can do dummy runs (rehearsals) and review the film from the top or from any chosen frame.

All movements are carried out in these frame steps, as though there's a metronome marking time in the background. The clock (which can be displayed during runs as well as in screen pad mode) registers the appropriate number of frames for every action performed. The screen can be panned in the same frame steps.

Character animation, as opposed to movement around the scene, is achieved through "edit cycles". Each cycle consists of a series of frame steps in each of which the character is subtly redrawn. When running through the frames at high speed, animation results. A feature lacking at this stage is "in-betweening". This facility allows the animator to draw the start and end positions and then let the computer fill in the gaps. It would have been an appropriate feature for the edit cycle. Instead you have to draw each frame. In practice, the changes between frames are usually only a few pixels at a time.

You can flick through the cycles and edit the different stages at will. Once defined, the cycles can be run 'straight' or in special modes, such as rotate, in which the cycle runs in the forward and then reverse direction. You can 'hold' the cycle, restart it, finish it or drop out of it at any frame. The edit cycle definitions can be listed and scrolled through, edited or deleted. An information frame can be brought up at any time to remind you of the mode you are employing.

The text handling of the program is comprehensive. A separate editor is used to type in the subtitles to appear beneath the movie screen. There can be up to five lines of normal height or two by double height text. On input there is auto-formatting and on output auto calculation of time delay on screen, according to the number of words in the subtitle.

Word bubbles can be typed into the editor and are also given a reference number for recall. Only one bubble is allowed on screen at any one time and the text scrolls from right to left in an eleven by one character window. You can choose the text colour, the position of the bubble and the scroll speed. The message definitions can be listed, browsed and amended.

Interaction with the movie at run time can be programmed to a limited extent. A pause can be invoked and an 'any key to continue' message displayed. Text can also be typed directly onto the screen pad and all the normal rules about teletext control codes then apply.

Sets of programming instructions applying to character shapes can be defined as segments. Each segment has a start and end frame (within the 0 to 65535 frame limit). Segments can be moved, reset, joined up and cleared, and an information panel can be brought up to keep you informed about the current segment. These more manageable chunks of program instruction are self contained and remain unaffected by any editing which goes on in other segments. Thus a violent change early in the instructions for a character need not put the complete program out of synch.

The screen pad responds to teletext control codes and for those not familiar with how these work, the manual assumes no previous knowledge and gives a good description of how to use them. Each code effects everything, text and graphics, that follows it on its line. This can lead to complications when characters are moving around and scenery changing and 'forewarned is forearmed' when it comes to designing characters and edit cycles. Movie Maker does a lot of the work automatically, more than any other teletext screen designer on the market so you are soon left to use the teletext effects creatively.

Although teletext graphics are not universally liked, they have both practical advantages and creative possibilities. These have been put to good use in many programs already but Movie Maker goes beyond anything so far. At 29.90 it is competitive as a teletext development tool let alone the complete animation kit you receive. Teletext screens are the basis of many an information system, local and national, so the chance to run animated information screens is very exciting.

As well as providing a utility for the creation of teletext scenes Movie Maker could be an educational device in itself. The fairly involved process of creating a movie will test the skills of students. Functions which could be assigned around a group project for instance are casting, producing, editing, filming and directing as well as writing the script and designing the set and costumes. You could even have someone logging the individual "takes" and ensuring continuity. And there's a call for cartoonists too for animating character shapes. The resulting movie could be the results of much peripheral work. Movie Maker opens up some exciting prospects.

Movie Maker costs 29.90 fully inclusive, mail order from the address below. An introductory cassette and brochure can be purchased for 1.95 and is refundable against the cost of the main Movie Maker package. Details about Movie Maker from Slippery Slug, PO Box 83, Bath BA1 1ZA. Tel: 0225 69236.