Present Animators

Aardman Animations

Aardman is a British animation company that is known for many of the major stop motion animation films. They are particularly famous for Wallace and Gromit and also Chicken Run. Chicken Run took 3 years alone to animate alongside another year of preparation; it is the largest animated film probably in the world. Each second of film contains 24 frames and only 1 minute of film is created each week. It is a hard process that must be completed with precision; if something goes wrong with the lighting then there is the possibility the whole scene would have to be shot again. In the film Chicken Run 900kg of plasticine, 4000L of paint, 1000 eyes and 3000 feathers were used in the animation process of the film.

The founders of Aardman are Peter Lord and David Sproxton who are two of the main producers for the company. Their films are created to entertain their target audience, for example Chicken Run is aimed at children. The animation technique used to create chicken run is claymation, each character is created using an armature as the base and clay surrounding it. An armature is a metal figure that is easy to move about when shooting. The image at the top is an example of an armature used for chicken run to help stimulate the movements of each character. This is a good technique to use because you can easily move the characters around in smooth motions. Stop motion animations is a unique way to make a film however there are some limitations, it takes a very long time and you don’t get much work done, the lighting has to constantly be controlled, frame rates need to be controlled also.

Here is a clip showing us around Aardman animation studio and all the different people and departments that are inside:

Nick Park

A key animator in the film Chicken Run was Nick Park who contributes largely to the work of Aardman Animations. Other work that Nick Park has produced is, Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention and Creature Comforts alongside many more that he has wrote, directed and animated. He creates a lot of animation suitable for all ages however he has been a strong animator for popular children’s TV programmes. Timmy Time is one of the more recent children’s shows Nick has produced currently being broadcasted on the Cbeebies channel. Likewise to most of his work the technique used in this show is claymation. This particular programme is aimed at very young children of around six years and younger. This shows how Nick Park is open to a number of different age ranges.

Another film Nick Park has produced is Stage Fright, a stop motion short that is aimed more at younger adults. This is because it would be harder for a child to understand the concept of the film and it has a more serious genre than some of his other work. I think Nick Park's main objective in film making is to create a large impact on the audience; this is because so much detail is put into each second of every film. There is so much to think about such as the storyline, characters, names, scripting, voice over’s, sound effects and so much more. I think the audience learns to appreciate the amount of effort put into Nick Park's films. Nick Park was very interested in Beano and comics and at one point even wanted to draw for Beano. This could have influenced him to create the films that he did and influenced him to become an animator. The characters and storylines of Beano are light hearted which is similar to most of Nick Park’s work; this is a clear representation of his inspiration and style. I believe Nick Park has developed his work because he has turned Wallace and Gromit from being characters in a film to being presenters in Wallace and Gromit’s world of invention. This shows how his stop motion animation has taken a different form and has been developed. Wallace and Gromit have become somewhat iconic in Britain and they are highly well known because they are very popular characters. Also it shows how stop motion animimation has taken on many forms such as films, TV and adverts (Sean The Sheep advert), these are all created using stop motion animation. 

Tim Burton

Tim Burton is an extremely famous producer, director and writer; he has created the most extraordinary animations using stop motion animation. He is mostly famous for The Nightmare before Christmas and A Corpse Bride. The estimated budget for The Nightmare Before Christmas was $18,000,000 and its total box office takings were $74.7 million. He has made an astounding amount of money from all the films he has created and is now earning $53 million annually.  He has a very different style compared to Nick Park because he uses a darker and more surreal theme throughout his films. I think he aims to entertain a number of different audiences and he has explored a variety of target audiences. His stop motion films contain the theme of death although they are aimed at children; he cleverly moulds them to suit his target audience and makes an unpleasant thing into something quite fun and entertaining. The genre of his work is quite dark however has hints of humour.

 Frankenweenie originally created in 1984 was said to be too scary for young audiences and therefore Tim Burton was fired by Disney due to wasting company resources. A new version of the film has now been created however this time using stop motion animation, this was acceptable for young audiences because the animation made it look more cartoonish and more toned down. Although both films have the same storyline the new version was suitable possibly due to the use of stop motion used, this indicates that stop motion animation can make something look more childish.

This short clip explains what Frankenweenie is about and also how Tim Burton wanted to work with a new medium for the film by using stop motion animation, 3D and black and white to create something fresh and new.

 I think Tim Burton’s stop motion animation films can have a huge impact on the audience because his ideas are so imaginative and he makes you feel emotions for the character he creates even if they are clay figures.  Tim Burtons work was heavily inspired by Dr. Seuss and Roahl Dahl; also by the films he watched when he was younger such as Godzilla and films created by Hammer Film Productions. This could have influenced his later work and started his quirky and dark imagination. Here is a quote from Tim Burton explaining what type of things he watched when he was younger to inspire him to write such crazy stories:

“I grew up watching things like The Brain that Wouldn’t Die on Saturday afternoon television. There’s a guy with his arm ripped off and blood smeared all over the wall…I never saw it as negative. I find that stuff, when it’s not rooted in reality, to be cathartic.”

Tim Burton has developed his work by combining stop motion animation with film in James and the Giant Peach. This may have some disadvantages because it may take time and a lot of effort to get both the stop motion and film in the correct place at the same time. It may be much easier to spot the less smooth motion of the animation when it is compared to the nice smooth motion of the film. He has also created his stop motion animation films using 3D and 4D.

I think that most of Tim Burton's work is aimed at children because he has created some very upbeat and animated characters by using clay. His new film Frankenweenie is aimed primarily at children because of the way in which it has been animated, this is similar to some of his other work such as The Nightmare Before Christmas which has a pre-teen target audience.
Frankenweenie Exibition


In order to find out more about the stop motion animation world I went to an exibition at the BFI which showed some of Tim Burtons work on the film Frankenweenie. It was very interesting to be up close to some of the actual scenes from the film and some of Tim Burtons original sketches. Each scene and character that I saw was extremely detailed, everything was thought about for example the grades on the childrens test papers were marked and the hair was athentic. There were many pictures that showed Tim Burton working on the films and the amount of story boarding that had to be done before actually animating. It was great to see how the whole thing was put together. Also there was a cimena that showed a small behind the scenes clip umong a few trailers. It showed me how Tim Burton wanted to create something new and wanted to develop the world of stop motion aniamtion even more. The original sketches were intersting to see because you could see how they had changed into the clay designs. Also the armatures that were used in the film were at the exibition and it was interesting to see how they had sculpted around it to make the characters move easier. This is the armature used to create the character of Sparky, it creates the whole outline for the body.

The Brothers Quay

The Brothers Quay are identical twins who have been creating unique animation films since the 1970's. Their work has been extremely influential to others who work in the film industry because of their unusual but creative work. One of their main influences was Jan Svankmajor and they actually created a film about him called The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajor. This highlights how earlier work has influened more modern work. They use an extremely unique way of making their films by using completly original storylines and ways of creating characters. Most of their animation features dolls and other materials to create the dark mood that they aim to achieve. Most of their films contain no spoken diologue at all however they rely hugely on sound effects and music. On the short clip is a section of The Brothers Quay most famous work Street of Crocidiles, originally a novel. The Brothers Quay have also created music videos by using their unique way of stop motion animation. They made music videos for a group called His Name Is Alive, creating two effective stop motion animations. This represents how stop motion animation is being used for different things other than film. Before becoming animators the brothers took an interest to illustration and worked as proffesionals in this area. Some of The Brothers Quay work is now on an international tour which shows that many people have been inspired by their work and the overall popularity of stop motion animation. They have also created TV idents for MTV and BBC however BBC never broadcast The Brothers Quay work. The short clip above is the actual ident they created for MTV to show the whole theme of the channel which is music. This shows how stop motion animation is being used in many different formats. I think the genre of The Brothers Quay work is quite dark experimental film because it aims to be very mysterious and sometimes creepy.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Quay 

 

How has stop motion animation changed in the last 20 years?

I think stop motion animation is constantly being developed because each animator is trying to think of different ways to improve stop motion animation. Each animator has there own individul style that has evidently changed throughout their years due to certain developments. For example The Brothers Quay may not have developed some of their work if it wasn't for Jan Svankmajor creating his unique films. Also Aardman Animation have visits from Ray Harryhausen which shows how his work has inspired a more modern take to stop motion aniamtion. The quality of stop motion animation has also improved, everything is a lot smoother and the picture qulity is clearer. The ideas have also developed into much more imaginative and complex ideas. Also stop motion aniamtion is much easier to create, for example for a TV advert a phone was used to create an actual stop motion animation film. This clip is the advert advertiseing the phone-

The pioneers, developers and present stop motion animators are all connected because they are all using a series of images to project a film. Although some of the early developments are much shorter than the more modern ones, stop motion animation wouldn't be were it is now if it wasn't for the pioneers inventing the initial animation devices.