Daniel Crush

Aardman Report

Throughout this report, I will be researching the company, ‘Aardman’ to see what they do,
who the founders are, the history behind the company as well as a range of other
interesting facts and information.

Who are Aardman? Aardman Animations, based in

Bristol, is a British animation studio. The company is
known for creating a range of popular films using stop-
motion clay animation techniques. Some of these films include, ‘Wallace and Gromit’,
‘Shaun the Sheep’ and ‘Chicken Run’, which are their most popular releases. Furthermore,
all of the stop-motion films that Aardman have created are among the highest grossing
stop-motion films of all time, and their debut stop-motion film, ‘Chicken Run’ (which was
released in the year 2000) being the highest grossing stop-motion film of all time. Aardman
is a world leader in animation that produces feature films, series, advertising and digital
entertainment for both domestic and international markets.

Who were the Founders? Aardman was founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton,
as a low-budget project. They wanted to realise their dream of producing an animated
motion picture.

Peter Lord: Peter Lord was born on 4th November 1953 in

Bristol. He 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 clay-animated
films and shorts, such as the plasticine duo, ‘Wallace and
Gromit’. In addition, he also directed, ‘The Pirates! In an
Adventure with Scientists!’. This was later nominated for, ‘Best
Animated Feature’ at the 85th Academy Awards. Moreover, he is also the executive
producer of every piece of Aardman work.

David Sproxton: David Sproxton was born on 6th January 1954

and is the co-founder of Aardman Animations studio with
Peter Lord. He became friends with Peter Lord at a young age
as they went to the same school. Furthermore, David
graduated from Collingwood College, Durham University
before starting as an animator, producing segments for the
‘Vision on TV’ program. He was also credited as the
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cinematographer for the BAFTA Award nominated, ‘War Story’, as well as the Oscar-
winning, ‘Creature Comforts’. Some other productions that he was involved in include:
‘Chicken Run’, ‘Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ and ‘Arthur Christmas’.

History of Aardman? Aardman’s adeptness of engaging audiences with compelling stories

told through animation, has earned the company a deserved worldwide reputation. The
studio has had ten Oscar nominations, and has won four of them.

Furthermore, Peter Lord and David Sproxton began their animating

partnership at school. They registered the name, ‘Aardman
Animations’ in 1972. After they graduated in 1976, they moved to
Bristol where they produced their first professional production. This
was creating the character, ‘Morph’ for the children’s programme,
‘Take Hart’. From the start, both Peter and David were interested in
developing an adult audience for model animation.

In 1982, ‘Conversation Pieces’, commissioned by Channel Four Television, enabled the pair
to develop an innovative technique of animating puppet characters to real-life
conversations. Films such as, ‘Early Bird’ demonstrated that real people could be
characterised with insight, humour and sensitivity by Aardman.

Additionally, 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’. He
then joined Aardman full time in 1985.

Once again, in 1989, the studio was commissioned by Channel Four Television to
create a series of five, 5-minute films, ‘Lip Synch’. This series further explored
the world of animation based on true characters and real voices. It also
included Peter Lord’s ‘War Story’ and ‘Going Equipped’, Barry Purves’
‘Next’, Richard Goleszowski’s ‘Ident’ and Nick Park’s ‘Creature Comforts’. This
then went on to win the Academy Award for ‘Best Animated Short Film’ in
1990.

In 1993, another milestone was passed with the completion of

Nick Parks’s Oscar winning film, ‘The Wrong Trousers’ which
quickly became one of the most successful animated films ever
made. This was Aardman’s first 30 minute film.

Furthermore, in 1995 Aardman produced Nick Park’s third Oscar

winning film, called ‘A Close Shave’. With immediate success, it
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confirmed the studio’s reputation, as well as establishing Wallace and Gromit as household
names.

In 1998, Aardman won a BAFTA for an 11 minute short film, ‘Stage Fright’, commissioned by
Channel Four Television.

‘Chicken Run’ was Aardman’s first full-length theatrical feature

film to be funded by DreamWorks. It was directed by both Peter
Lord and Nick Park. Being released in June 2000 in the UK and US,
it had excellent reviews and outstanding box office receipts.
Additionally, the film has grossed over $220M at the worldwide
box office.

In October 2005, ‘Wallace and Gromit’s’ first feature film was

released by DreamWorks, ‘The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’. The
film topped the box office charts in the UK and US, as well as
gaining many prestigious international awards such as the
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film and a BAFTA for
Best British Film.

In November 2006, the studio released their first CG film

worldwide by DreamWorks called ‘Flushed Away’. This was also
nominated for a BAFTA in 2007, a year later.

Moreover, in March 2007, Aardman’s television series, ‘Shaun the

Sheep’ debuted on BBC1 and CBBC. This was inspired by Nick

Park’s 1995 Academy Award winning short film, ‘A Close Shave’.

In 2008, Wallace and Gromit’s, ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’ was

broadcast on BBC1 on Christmas day. It ended up with a record
audience of 16.15 million. As well as that, it was nominated for an
Oscar in the Best Short Animated Film category and went on to
win the BAFTA for Best Animated Short Film. Furthermore, every
Wallace and Gromit adventure has now won a BAFTA and they
have all been nominated for an Oscar.

In recent years, the company have been focusing on making

‘Shaun the Sheep’ animations of CBBC and they announced
(in 2013) a new independent filmmaking partnership with
StudioCanal where they created their first feature length
‘Shaun the Sheep’ film that was later released in 2015. More
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recently, Aardman have had a number of feature length films in development, which will be
released in the future.

What do they produce? Aardman produce a variety of products. Not only are they known
for their popular films such as ‘Wallace and Gromit’ and ‘Chicken Run’, but they actually
produce animations for music videos, advertisements,
games, branded content, e-learning, virtual reality, websites
and much more. As well as that, Aardman have produced a
range of short films. Furthermore, due to the popularity of
the films and TV series they have produced, Aardman have
released some merchandise that can be found at:
‘www.aardstore.com’. On the store, you can purchase some
figurines of your favourite characters, including a
‘Shaun the Sheep’ sculpture. You can also buy some
artwork, some accessories such as key rings, notepads
and mugs. Moreover, you can purchase books, toys
and also you can purchase the films made by Aardman
on the site.

What have they produced? As I mentioned above, Aardman have

produced a range of products. I’m going to start off with some of the most
popular films that Aardman have produced. The studio’s first ever feature-
length film was ‘Chicken Run’ that was directed by Peter Lord and Nick
Park. It was released in the year 2000 and is a stop motion animated
comedy film. It has received over $220M and has become the highest-
grossing stop motion animated film ever.

Another feature-length film produced by Aardman and directed by Nick

Park and Steve Box was, ‘Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’.
This was released in 2005 as a stop-motion animated comedy.
Furthermore, it was the studio’s second feature-length film after, ‘Chicken
Run’. Moreover, ‘The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ is part of the ‘Wallace and
Gromit’ series, whereby, Wallace and his intelligent mute dog, Gromit are
pest control agents and they come to the rescue of a village plagued by
rabbits before an annual vegetable competition.

Additionally, another feature-length film produced by Aardman is ‘Flushed Away’ that was
released in 2006 as a British-American computer-animated-action-adventure comedy,
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directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. This time it was Aardman’s first
completely computer-animated feature as opposed to their usual stop-
motion standard.

Aardman have also produced some adverts. Some of these include an

advertisement for one of Whitworths products called ‘Bright Little Nuts’, a
Starbucks advertisement and one for DFS’s ‘Mammoth Winter Sale’.

Whitworths Starbucks DFS

How are their finances? Since 1972 (when the company was started) Aardman haven’t had
really any financial problems. In 2010, Aardman had posted a turnover of £53.5M and in the
next year, 2011; they had a turnover of £66.8M. However, in 2012 the company had a
massive reduction in their profits compared to the previous year. The profits had dropped
from £66.8M to £22.2M, a loss of £43.8M. Aardman did say that there was no specific
reason behind this loss but did mention that they got rid of a number of small projects that
they had been working on. Each year after this, the profits have been slowly creeping up. In
2015, Aardman had made a turnover of £23.6M. The year later, in 2016, Aardman had made
a turnover of £26.3M, up from £23.6M.

Furthermore, a lot of what the company earn goes towards the 339 employees that work at
Aardman Animations.

For example, some of the jobs at Aardman include CG Supervisors

who have base salaries of around £46K-£49K, Business Affairs
Executives who have base salaries of £38K-£41K and, of course,
the animators who have an average hourly salary of £24-£26.
Moreover, there are a lot of other jobs entailed around Aardman
Animations including Creative Directors that have base salaries of
£61K-65K per year and Production Assistants that have a base
salary of around £22K-£24K.

Who works there? There are around 339 people that work at Aardman. Throughout these
339 people, there are a range of important job roles that range from receptionists to
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directors. After watching a studio tour of the Aardman studios I found out a range of jobs
that are included within Aardman. As you can see from the list below, these are the jobs
that are entailed within Aardman:

 Receptionists,
 Riggers (fixing props/sets),
 Art Directors,
 Artists,
 Graphic Designers,
 Animators (key and assistant),
 Video Editors,
 Model makers,
 Canteen workers,
 Directors,
 Assistant directors,
 Warehouse personnel,
 Computer/Software technicians,
 Painters,
 Machinists ,
 Senior Artists,
 Prop designers,
 Shooting Units,
 Sculptures,
 Production Managers.

What is their level of responsibility? With every job in Aardman, there’s always a high level
of responsibility, whether that be working as a receptionist or working as a director. For
example, if you worked as a receptionist at Aardman you would be expected to greet
visitors, in person or on the telephone, as well as answering or referring inquiries. Whereas,
if you were a director of some sort at Aardman, it would be your responsibility to make
strategic and operational decisions as well as ensuring that everyone is meeting statutory
obligations. Furthermore, if you were a warehouse worker at Aardman, you’d be expected
to receive and process incoming stock and materials that may be used in order to construct
a set. In addition to that, you’d also have the responsibility of packing and shipping orders,
or managing, organizing and retrieving stock in the warehouse.

How is Aardman organised? Aardman do have an organisational structure to ensure that

they meet deadlines and stay on track with the production of a product. Aardman, who
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create stop-motion animations, will have a range of

departments working on the same thing, for example, a film.
Each department will refer to the same wooden boards,
pictured on the right of the page. What the boards do is enable
everyone to know what they are doing each day and when
there work needs to be completed by. As well as that, if you
complete a task early, you won’t have nothing to do because you can see the whole
schedule of the production. This also ensures that the work production is effective.
Furthermore, at Aardman Animations, the people working on a product will have a briefing
every morning around these wooden boards so that they know what they are working on.
Once a task is completed the note/image on the board can be crossed off with a black pen.