Cheese-loving British inventor Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit were stars from the start.
In the 35 years since Nick Park introduced the world to his stop-motion creations and their strange, proudly British presence, they’ve won Oscars and appeared in commercials, video games, animated series and even the occasional (unofficial) protest art. . However, there were very few feature films. One of the reasons is because of the difficulty. Even a 30-minute short can take two years or more to produce. Besides, why mess with the formula that only produces classics?
The couple’s first full-length
Gnomes have always been a part of Wallace and Gromit’s world. After ‘The Curse of the Rabbit’, Park started working on the idea of a smart gnome created to help Gromit in the garden.
Mr. Park said, “There was something a little disappointing.” “We continued to think about the story for several years, but it felt like it lacked the sinister elements that are often present in ‘Wallace.’ & Gromit.’ Why do they go wrong? Who was the motivated villain?”
Five years ago, a solution came to them. Feathers McGraw, a devious penguin with a penchant for theft and simple disguises, throws their lives into chaos in “The Wrong Trousers.”
“He was the answer to everything,” Park said. “The story has become bigger and more interesting. “Suddenly it became a feature film.”
Over the years, Park and his co-director Merlin Crossingham have often heard requests from fans to bring Feathers back.
“We were very pessimistic about this because we haven’t had characters come back in the past,” Crossingham said. “But when we released the little teaser trailer we were completely amazed by the response. At that point, we were still making movies and that energized us and convinced us that it was the right thing to do.”
Like a true diva, Feathers McGraw was the most difficult puppet to animate, direct, and light, so they were needed too. This was in a movie that included chase sequences, special effects, and an army of evil gnomes. The simplicity of his design and the fact that he did not speak gave them no room to hide. In fact, Park said, only five of Aardman’s group of world-class animators volunteered to work on Feathers.
“All of the filmmaking techniques had to come together very well to ensure that Feathers had the screen presence we needed from him,” Crossingham said.
One of Wallace’s charms & Gromit’s movies have such an unabashed Britishness that filmmakers have had to fight (respectfully) to preserve them as audiences become increasingly global. Netflix was largely supportive, but there was some controversy over the phrase “Flippin’ Nora!” (They eventually kept it.)
“A lot of things in the movie are inspired by things we grew up with, the designs of objects and small products,” Park said.
He is particularly pleased to combine idiosyncratic British references with big Hollywood movie tropes, including a “high-speed” barge chase on a canal and a joke about the police on the Yorkshire border.
“I think this whole thing is a kind of loving homage to Britishness, not in a patriotic way, not in a way that makes fun of ourselves culturally,” Crossingham said.
The starting point for every scene has always been traditional. It was a stop-motion animation that had been used on camera since 1989. Crossingham said seeing the character’s fingerprints and identifying them was fundamentally important to the film. Homemade again.
There have always been limitations and the option to use more digital support, but in recent years computer graphics have caught up enough to come into the mix. Effects such as fog or steam are possible in stop motion, but they explained: They never look right.
“The most important thing we needed was to use digital technology to force it to look like it fits our film, rather than just feeling like an accessory that is fixed and an unwelcome guest.” Crossingham said. “Aardman’s visual effects department worked very hard to achieve a style that made the sets and props feel right to the ‘Wallace and Gromit’ characters themselves.”
The tension between embracing technological innovations like artificial intelligence and preserving traditional methods that still work wasn’t just something they thought about off-camera. It’s also the heart of the film, as Wallace’s well-intentioned invention turns against him (and wreaks havoc on the town).
“This is a little meta,” Crossingham said. “I think there is something about stop motion that can be said to be handmade and human touch that resonates with the audience.”
Park said he used to worry about the future of stop motion and wonder how much time it had left. But recently he showed signs of resurgence.
“As long as we’re telling good stories, interesting and compelling stories with compelling characters, we’ll keep going,” he said.
5: “Vengeance Most Fowl” took years to make.
10: Nobot doll (includes 20 interchangeable heads)
11: Feather McGraw Doll
20: Years since the last “Wallace” & ‘Gromit’ feature film
22.5: Hours of Wallace conversation recorded by Ben Whitehead (taking over from Peter Sallis after his death in 2017)
32: Animator
127: Number of seconds of animation produced each week
200+: Crew
600: Eyes made for every character in the movie
750: Norbot hands spawn (without spoiling too much… they happen a lot…)
