Aardman Animations
Beyond Stop-Motion
Published on 29. July 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-350-19494-6 (ISBN)
Description
The Bristol-based animation company Aardman is best known for its most famous creations Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. But despite the quintessentially British aesthetic and tone of its movies, this very British studio continues to enjoy international box office success with movies such as Shaun the Sheep Movie, Flushed Away and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Aardman has always been closely linked with one of its key animators, Nick Park, and its stop motion, Plasticine-modelled family films, but it has more recently begun to experiment with modern digital filmmaking effects that either emulate 'Claymation' methods or form a hybrid animation style.
This unique volume brings together leading film and animation scholars with children's media/animation professionals to explore the production practices behind Aardman's creativity, its history from its early shorts to contemporary hits, how its films fit within traditions of British animation, social realism and fantasy cinema, the key personalities who have formed its ethos, its representations of 'British-ness' on screen and the implications of traditional animation methods in a digital era.
This unique volume brings together leading film and animation scholars with children's media/animation professionals to explore the production practices behind Aardman's creativity, its history from its early shorts to contemporary hits, how its films fit within traditions of British animation, social realism and fantasy cinema, the key personalities who have formed its ethos, its representations of 'British-ness' on screen and the implications of traditional animation methods in a digital era.
Reviews / Votes
In this book, the authors engage with all things Aardman through scholarly, diverse, accessible and ultimately intriguing approaches. It is essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners of stop motion animation and beyond. -- Dan Torre, Senior Lecturer, RMIT University, AustraliaMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
30 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 214 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-19494-6 (9781350194946)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2020
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€36.49
Available for download
E-Book
02/2020
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€36.49
Available for download
Person
Annabelle Honess Roe is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Surrey, UK. She is the author of Animated Documentary (2013) which won the 2015 Society for Animation Studies McLaren-Lambart Award for Best Book. She is co-editor of Vocal Projections: Voices in Documentary (Bloomsbury, 2018) and The Animation Studies Reader (Bloomsbury, 2018).
Content
Introduction: Understanding Aardman
Annabelle Honess Roe
Identity and Brand
1. 'All you do is call me, I'll be anything you need' Aardman Animations, Music Videos and Commercials
Malcolm Cook
2. Music, Sound and Northernness in the Wallace and Gromit Films
Joseph Darlington
3. Lord and Master: Eccentricity, Nostalgia and Authority in the Work of Peter Lord
Paul Wells
4. From Europe to Hollywood and Back Again: Aardman and its Studio Partners
Christopher Meir
Cultural Contexts
5. Aardman's Early Shorts and the British Social Realist Tradition
Fatemeh Hosseini-Shakib
6. A Darker Heartland: Otherness, Dysfunction and the Uncanny in Aardman's Short films
Jane Batkin
7. Washed Up: Animating Literary Corpses in The Pearce Sisters
Nicholas Andrew Miller
8. Wallace and Gromit and the British Fantasy Tradition
Alexander Sergeant
Process and Production
9. Animation Storyboarding as Part of the Pre-Production Process: An Aardman Case Study
Paul Ward
10. Life's a Treat: Shaun, Timmy, Aardman and Children's Television
Linda Simensky
11. Shaun the Sheep - Buster Keaton Reborn?
Richard Haynes
Surface and Performance
12. Aardman's Neo-Baroque: The Dual Nature of Special Effects in Aardman's Feature Film Production
Thomas Walsh
13. Performing Authenticity through Clay in the Wallace and Gromit Films
Laura Ivins
14. Between Plasticine and Pixel: Aardman's Digital Handprint
Christopher Holliday
15. Aardman! In an Entanglement with CGI!
Aylish Wood
Annabelle Honess Roe
Identity and Brand
1. 'All you do is call me, I'll be anything you need' Aardman Animations, Music Videos and Commercials
Malcolm Cook
2. Music, Sound and Northernness in the Wallace and Gromit Films
Joseph Darlington
3. Lord and Master: Eccentricity, Nostalgia and Authority in the Work of Peter Lord
Paul Wells
4. From Europe to Hollywood and Back Again: Aardman and its Studio Partners
Christopher Meir
Cultural Contexts
5. Aardman's Early Shorts and the British Social Realist Tradition
Fatemeh Hosseini-Shakib
6. A Darker Heartland: Otherness, Dysfunction and the Uncanny in Aardman's Short films
Jane Batkin
7. Washed Up: Animating Literary Corpses in The Pearce Sisters
Nicholas Andrew Miller
8. Wallace and Gromit and the British Fantasy Tradition
Alexander Sergeant
Process and Production
9. Animation Storyboarding as Part of the Pre-Production Process: An Aardman Case Study
Paul Ward
10. Life's a Treat: Shaun, Timmy, Aardman and Children's Television
Linda Simensky
11. Shaun the Sheep - Buster Keaton Reborn?
Richard Haynes
Surface and Performance
12. Aardman's Neo-Baroque: The Dual Nature of Special Effects in Aardman's Feature Film Production
Thomas Walsh
13. Performing Authenticity through Clay in the Wallace and Gromit Films
Laura Ivins
14. Between Plasticine and Pixel: Aardman's Digital Handprint
Christopher Holliday
15. Aardman! In an Entanglement with CGI!
Aylish Wood