Stop-motion animation

Stop-motion animation is a process of making a physical object appear to move on it's own by using a range of different techniques. It creates an illusion of movement. My chosen stop-motion animation is the famous series of films 'Wallace and Gromit' by Aardman Animations and Dreamwork Animations. The creator of Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park, thought of the idea whilst still a student at the National Film and Television School in the 1980s. For this stop-motion animation, the characters in this series of films are clay models that are 'brought to life'. However, this process of stop-motion animation can take a lot of time to produce, this is because this clay technique of stop-motion animation is so time consuming, typically producing two seconds of film per day's work. Because making these films took a a lot of time, Nick Park created only a few films for Wallace and Gromit, including 30 minute films for television purposes like 'The Wrong Trousers' and 'A Close Shave' which both won Oscars. Nick Park also produced a box office film in 2005 'The Curse of the Were Rabbit' which took 5 years to make. The budget for this film was estimated around $30,000,000 but actually made around $192,610,372 worldwide! Hard work definitely pays off.

It is clear to recognise that there are many advantages and disadvantages of using this 'clay technique' that Aardman Animations have chosen to use for their films. An advantage could be that, by using this type of stop-motion animation, the film most certainly shows that a lot of hard work and time has gone into it. To be able to have the patience and time to make films like this is pretty impressive and it is clear how it achieved an Oscar. However, a clear disadvantage is that it does take a lot of time to produce, meaning that making new films like this could be seen as difficult.

References:

• The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) - IMDb. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312004/. [Accessed 29 January 2015].
• BBC Learning English. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/britain/animation.shtml. [Accessed 29 January 2015].
• DreamWorks Animation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/. [Accessed 29 January 2015].
• Aardman. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.aardman.com/. [Accessed 29 January 2015].