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Unit 12-Aardman Case Study: History

Aardman is a British animation studio based in Bristol. It is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques. It was founded in 1972 as a low-budget project by Peter Lord and David Sproxton.

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Unit 12-Aardman Case Study: History

Aardman is a British animation studio based in Bristol. It is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques. It was founded in 1972 as a low-budget project by Peter Lord and David Sproxton.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Unit 12-Aardman Case Study

In this assignment, I am going to include information on Aardman


animations. I will be telling you about the job types and job roles and
responsibilities in Aardman. I will also be doing a report on the history. I
will be including illustrations.
History
Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol. Aardman is known
for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly
those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit. Aardman was
founded in 1972 as a low-budget project by Peter Lord and David
Sproxton, who wanted to realise their dream of producing an animated
motion picture. The company name is taken from one of its early
characters, a superhero created for Vision On in 1972.
About the founders:
Peter Lord- (CBE) Born 4 November 1953 is a British animator, film
producer, director and co-founder of the Academy Award-winning
Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clayanimated films and shorts, particularly those featuring plasticine duo
Wallace & Gromit. He also directed The Pirates! In an Adventure with
Scientists! which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 85th
Academy Awards.

David Sproxton- (CBE) Born January 6, 1954 is one of the co-founders


(together with Peter Lord) of the Aardman Animations studio. David
graduated from Collingwood College, University of Durham before starting
as an animator, producing segments for the Vision On TV program,
Sproxton and Lord created the character of Morph for Take Hart. He is
credited as the cinematographer for the BAFTA Award Nominated War
Story, and the Oscar nominated Adam, as well as the Oscar-winning
Creature Comforts directed by Nick Park.

Other production credits include Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit: The
Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Arthur Christmas.

The Year by Year history:


1976- Aardman was founded in as a low-budget project by Peter Lord and
David Sproxton, as you well know from the paragraph above. who wanted
to realize their dream of producing an animated motion picture. Their first
big break was providing animated sequences for the children's art series,
Vision On, for which they created Morph, a simple clay character. Around
the same time Lord and Sproxton made their first foray into adult
animation with the shorts Down and Out and Confessions of a Foyer Girl,
entries in the BBC's Animated Conversations series using used real-life
conversations as soundtracks.
1982-Conversation Pieces commissioned by Channel Four Television
meant that the pair was able to develop its innovative technique of
animating puppet characters to real-life conversations.
1985-Peter and David met Nick Park at the National Film and Television
School when he was working on his student film A Grand Day Out. joining
Aardman on a full time basis.
1986- Peter Gabriel suggested that they collaborate with director Stephen
Johnson and the Brothers Quay to create a new rock video. Sledgehammer
went on to collect almost every award that year. That original combination
of rhythm, energy, style and visual flair was also harnessed to provide the
visual accompaniment to the late Nina Simone's My Baby Just Cares for
Me and Robert Parker's Barefooting'.
1989-The studio was again commissioned by Channel Four Television to
create a series of five 5-minute films, Lip Synch. This ground-breaking
series further explored the world of animation based on true characters
and real voices and included Peter Lord's War Story and Going Equipped,
Barry Purves Next, Richard Goleszowski's Ident and Nick Park's Creature
Comforts, which went on to win the 1990 Academy Award for Best
Animated Short Film.
1993- The Wrong Trousers was another success for Aardman animations,
acclaimed worldwide and winner of over thirty awards, The Wrong
Trousers has become one of the most successful animated films ever
made.

1995- Aardman produced Nick Park's third Oscar winning film A Close
Shave. An immediate success, it confirmed the studios reputation as well
as establishing Wallace and Gromit as household names.
1998- Aardman won a BAFTA for Stage Fright, an 11-minute short film
commissioned by Channel Four Television. Steve Box, Nick Park's key
animator on both The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, directed Stage
Fright. A very successful year all around.
2000- In 2000, the world famous Chicken Run was released earning
awards in USA and the UK. Aardmans Chicken Run generated 200 Million
at the worldwide box office.
2005- After a quiet 5 years, Aardman released Wallace and Gromit's first
feature film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was released by DreamWorks in
October 2005. The film topped the box office charts in both the US and UK
and garnered many prestigious international awards including the
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film and a BAFTA for Best
British Film.
2007- Flushed away was the next big hit. Being nominated for a BAFTA
award. The first sign of Shaun the Sheep was finally publish. It is currently
still on our British TVs today. 2010 also saw the launch of Shaun the
Sheep spin off game Home Sheep Home, which proved a huge success
and reached nearly 70 million plays within its first year and won numerous
industry awards.
2011- In 2001, two films were aired for the very first time, these being:
Arthur Christmas an action-adventure comedy set on Christmas Eve was
released in November 2011 and The Pirates! - In an Adventure with
Scientists.
2015- Shaun the Sheep in production, a half hour special Shaun the
Sheep: The Farmers Llamas being produced for Christmas 2015 and a
number of feature films projects in development.
Films:
1993
The Wrong Trousers
Directed by
Nick Park
Produced by
Peter Lord
David Sproxton
Written by

Nick Park
Bob Baker
Starring

Peter Sallis

2000
Chicken Run
Directors
Nick Park, Peter Lord
Producers
Nick Park, Peter Lord, David Sproxton
Production companies
Aardman Animations, DreamWorks

2007
Flushed Away
Directors
Sam Fell, David Bowers
Featured songs
Dancing with Myself, Mr. Lonely, more
Production companies
DreamWorks Animation, Aardman Animations, DreamWorks, Paramount
Pictures

2015
Shaun the Sheep: The Farmers Llamas
Director
Jay Grace
First episode date
November 13, 2015
Film series
Shaun the Sheep
Network
BBC One

Job Roles at Aardman:


There are loads of jobs at Aardman so I am only going to name a few,
these are Animators, film and video editor and graphic designer, all of
which are very important in the Aardman industry. A typical role that is
used by Aardman and used widely across the industry is the Account
Manager, and wider account management team, is the bridge between
the client and the agency. They are responsible for ensuring that the
agency is meeting the clients needs and working with all the key
functions that go into creating the agencys advertising output. They are
constantly solving problems, managing internal and external
communications, and driving projects to completion. Account Managers
can go on to become account directors, before progressing into agency
management roles. These promotions will come as a result of delivering
excellent work for the client, managing effective relationships both
externally and internally, finding new business, and demonstrating a
passion for the role. Having gained experience of the communications
process, some Account Managers decide to take a different career
direction and transition into other agency disciplines such as account
planning.
As you may well know, there are loads of jobs at Aardman. Here is a list of
some of them: `Editor, Graphic Designer, Media Researcher, Photographer
and Social Media Executive
Animator
About Animators:

An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames,


which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in
rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film,

television, and video games. Animation is closely related to filmmaking


and like filmmaking is extremely labour-intensive, which means that most
significant works require the collaboration of several animators. The
methods of creating the images or frames for an animation piece depends
on the animators' artistic styles and their field. Animators create
animation and visual effects for films, video games, television, mobile
devices, and other forms of media using illustrations and software
programs. Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Autodesk3ds Max, and
Autodesk Maya are just a few leading software programs for animators.
Animators also create graphics and develop storyboards, drawings and
illustrations. They create, plan, and script animated narrative sequences,
and assist with background design and production coordination.

Film and Video Editor

About Film and Video Editors

Film and video editors edit footage for television shows, films, and music
videos. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, use of digital filming
has changed the work of a large number of editors. Today, nearly all
editing work is done on a computer and editors often are trained in a
specific type of editing software. In addition to editing skills, todays film
and video editors have experience in sound effects, special effects, and
animation. The term video editing can refer to: The process of
manipulating video images. Once the province of expensive machines
called video editors, video editing software is now available for personal
computers and workstations. Video editing includes cutting segments, resequencing clips, and adding transitions and other Special Effects. The
film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining
them into sequences to create a finished motion picture. Film editing is
described as an art or skill, the only art that is unique to cinema,
separating filmmaking from other art forms that preceded it, although
there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms such as
poetry and novel writing. Film editing is often referred to as the "invisible
art"[1] because when it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so
engaged that he or she is not aware of the editor's work.

Graphic Designer

About Graphic Designers

Graphic designers use art and technology to create catchy graphics for
websites, logos, and illustrations in everything from advertising to
aerospace. Thanks to the wide variety of exciting industries graphic
designers serve, graphic design is number 18 on the list of Top 20 Best
Jobs for People Interested in Arts and Communications and number eight
on the list of Best Jobs for People with an Artistic Personality Type by
Publishing. Most graphic designers will agree that there is never a dull
moment in this dynamic career field. A graphic designer is a professional
within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles
together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of
design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published,
printed or electronic media, such as brochures and advertising. They are
also sometimes responsible for typesetting, illustration, user interfaces,
web design, or take a teaching position. A core responsibility of the
designer's job is to present information in a way that is both accessible
and memorable

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