Tested: Adam Savage visits Aardman Animations' workshop to get up close with some of the beautiful stop-motion animation puppets used in the studio's upcoming film Early Man. Aardman senior model maker Jimmy Young walks us through some of the modelmaking processes that go into these puppets' sculpts, clothes, and armatures!
5 comments:
This is really interesting! One part I found particularly interesting was when the artist was speaking about how everyone gained new skills over the course of the design and build phases of the production. Kevin once told us during Basic PTM that working in a scene shop is really cool because every project brings a new challenge where you have to learn how to do something. It sounds very similar to what this guy is talking about. I also find the mechanical structure, or armature, of each puppet to be very fascinating! They look like little steam punk widgets! They were talking about how each joint had to be carefully engineered to bear loads under varying scenarios, which is something I never considered before. When building a platform for the stage, you can pretty much assume that the pressure is coming from above and thus plan accordingly. It is way easier to do that than engineer for each individual joint in an entire body! Wow!
I love the work that this animation workshop does. Wallace and Gromit was one of the shows and movies I watched the most. As a kid I imagined that all the characters were actually clay and the whole movie was just fancy claymation. The artistry of the texture on the silicon and plasticine truly makes it seem hand molded. I agree with Al, the inner working of these puppets are very steampunk. I am amazed by the details of the tiny hand mechanisms and the the mouth pieces. When the video started, I was annoyed by the seams around the mouths of the puppets, and I wondered what it was. I did not realize that each puppet has multiple mouths for animation purposes. I also think it is pretty amazing the level of detail and care put into every puppet, even the ones that are on screen for seconds, like the musk ox. I think it was an article and video about Chicago Scenic Studios that discussed how the shop has the shop hands rotate around different jobs and departments within the studio in order to give people the most experience possible and I think it is really cool that Aardman's puppet workshop does the same thing. Especially with fiddly and delicate puppets, it is important to know how the puppet works as a whole in order to get it working properly for an animator.
I really like the work that these people have done. There movies have been a part of my childhood, and I am excited to see their work progressing into today. I love stop motion, and I think it is great that they are dedicated to preserving such an old fashioned as stop motion. Their puppets are absolutely delightful too. I think the armature is really impressive and the extreme lifelikeness that they are able to achieve is really impressive. I also appreciate their module for working too: having everybody work in every department, not just specializing. I think this is a smart way to do it, bringing in many different voices so to speak on every level of the projects most definitely could improve the overall product. I think it is a really smart company that they have going here. Also, glad to see Adam Savage on screen again. I <3 him.
I always like to tune in to these Adam savage clips, whether he's looking at props from blade runner, or in this case, the puppets used by Aardman in Wallace and Gromit among other wonderful stop motion films and TV series. I found this clip to be of particular significance, as I was always enamored by Wallace and Gromit, as well as other stop motion Aardman films such as Chicken Run. Seeing these wonderful pieces with my current perspective as a theater student, and looking at them behind the scenes really makes me feel a tangible connection between the films and series I loved as a child and my work now, and where it might take me in the future. I would love to experiment with puppet making, and having seen this video only reinforces that desire. Maybe I'll try to use some of that drive at a future playground festival sometime soon!
I'm COMPLETELY obsessed with animation and especially with companies who make it like Aardman and Laika. The films are so incredibly intricate, but at the same time often look very simple, especially those that Aardman makes - Wallace and Grommit, Chicken Run, and their new movie coming out. I've actually considered using my costume skill to go into the field of costuming the stop-motion puppets, because not only would it be a chance to create fantastical costumes, but also be an engineering challenge. I actually watched the behind the scenes footage on Laika's "Kubo and the Two Strings" and was awestruck by the amount of detail that sent into the figures they used. And now that I'm in class learning about technology that can be used to make these films, they're all the more amazing because I know the principles of engineering that go into the animation of the films. Hopefully one day I could work for a company like this on their puppets!
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