Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park has hailed stop-motion for bringing “the humour and the charm” to Aardman Animations projects, adding: “There’s something about the clay.”
The 67-year-old joined the award-winning studio in the 1980s, where he has created many beloved stop-motion animations including Chicken Run, Shaun The Sheep and Creature Comforts.
Reflections on the art form
Park reflected on the importance of the art form while speaking to the Press Association at a preview of Aardman’s new immersive exhibition at Lightroom in London.
“We’re filmmakers, and animation happens to be our technique – but I think there’s something about the clay,” he said.
“There’s something intrinsic about it which also brings the humour and the charm along with it.
“It’s hard to pinpoint what it is, but that’s certainly an example.”
Origins of Gromit
The Oscar-winning filmmaker joined Aardman Animations as a student while working on his graduation film A Grand Day Out, which introduced the famous claymation duo Wallace and Gromit in 1989.
Explaining how working with clay helped him form his characters, Park told PA: “Gromit was going to be a more like a dog to start with.
“But he was born out of clay. I don’t know if he’d have happened if it was another technique.
“It’s about the animator having contact every frame. There’s 25 frames per second, and every frame the animator is in contact with the clay, teasing out the character.
“There’s a simplicity in it sometimes, a naivety that really adds to the humour as well.”
Upcoming anniversary premiere
Park continued: “(Gromit) was going to be muttering dog-like language, but human language, but I couldn’t reach his mouth and couldn’t manipulate it.
“So I just moved his eyebrow down, and there and then I discovered Gromit.
“He was suddenly more introvert and more expressive with his eyes, and therefore more sensitive and long-suffering.
“All these expressions started coming out, he was more intellectual than Wallace, and a nice dynamic emerged between them.”
The comments come ahead of the premiere of Larger Than Life on Tuesday, which is a 360-degree immersive projection to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Aardman Animations.
Discussing the multimedia show, Park said: “There’s so many sequences. It’s absolutely jam-packed with stuff.
“We’re digging up our whole history, and it’s all on screen in front of you.”
