Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. (founded as
Videocraft International, Ltd.) was an American
production company, known for its
seasonal television specials, particularly its work in
stop motion animation. The pre-1974 library is owned by
DreamWorks Classics, while the post-1973 library is owned by
Warner Bros.. Rankin/Bass stop-motion features are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts, and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called "Animagic". Often, traditional
cel animation scenes of falling snow would be projected over the action to create the effect of a snowfall.