2. A Brief History
Aardman was founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton. Their early films
were mainly “made-for-television” animated shorts. Their first hits came in the
form of trademark characters Wallace and Gromit when they hired animator Nick
Park who worked on the Wallace and Gromit animated shorts A Grand Day Out
(1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995) of which the latter
two won Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film. Due to the success of
their shorts and trademark claymation animation, they have gone on to make some
of the most successful animated feature films, including Chicken Run (2000), Wallace
and Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit (2005) and Flushed Away (2006), the
latter of which was the first Aardman film to be entirely computer generated as
opposed to claymation. Aardman continued using entirely computer animation on
their films with Arthur Christmas (2011) before returning to stop-motion
claymation with The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists (2012)
3. Wallace and Gromit
Director and Creator: Nick Park
Films: A Grand Day Out (1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993), A Close
Shave (1995), The Curse of the Were Rabbit (2005), A Matter of Loaf
and Death.
Wallace and Gromit are a claymation on-screen duo consisting of
Wallace, the absent minded inventor and his canine companion Gromit,
who doesnt speak but uses his facial expressions to tell the story.
Wallace is voiced by Peter Sallis.
The duo have appeared in four extremely popular short films, one
feature length film and their own tv series. Each film has a different
theme and will traditionally have Wallace and Gromit in a different
occupation, such as window-cleaners in A Close Shave and pest control
men in The Curse of the Were Rabbit.
The animation style of these films is the famed claymation that Aardman
is most known for, which was animated mainly by director Nick Park
and the animation department of Aardman. Wallace and Gromit holds
high significance for the development of Aardman and British television
as Aardman’s first foray into narrative pieces and british cultural icons
4. Chicken Run
Director - Nick Park, Peter Lord
Release Date - 30th June 2000
Brief Synopsis - Chicken Run is a Great Escape-esque animation about
a group of chickens (voiced by Julia Sawalha, Imelda Staunton) that try to escape their farm to
evade being turned into chicken pies with the help of an American rooster named Rocky
(voiced by Mel Gibson).
Like Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run makes full use of Aardman’s trademark claymation and
has high significance in the development of Aardman as their first full length feature film.
5. Flushed Away
Director - David Bowers, Sam Fell
Release Date - 3 November, 2006
Synopsis - Flushed Away concerns a pet rat from Kensington that gets flushed down the toilet
drain by accident and into London’s sewer system where he trusts a sewer rat to get him home.
Flushed Away was made completely using CGI (computer generated imagery) as opposed to the
usual stop motion claymation that Aardman is known for. It holds high significance for Aardman
as their second critically acclaimed feature film and their first film made in the format of CGI.
Flushed Away stars an ensemble of famous british actors and actresses including Hugh Jackman,
Kate Winslet and Sir Ian McKellen.
