Like those people who work there, Aardman Animations’ studio is charmingly modest. Hidden away on a commercial estate on the outskirts of Bristol in a rather anonymous-looking building, you wouldn’t think that this was the home of Britain’s most successful animation company – four-time Oscar-winners and the creators of such beloved clay characters as Morph and Nick Park’s hugely popular human and canine duo, Wallace and Gromit.
When I visited last year, production was well under way for Aardman's latest film – the first movie outing for the family television favourite Shaun the Sheep. Touring the studio – really 25 or so separate mini-studios, where various scenes were being animated concurrently – it was clear the pressure was on. "Shots Until the end of the film: 427" read a rather ominous-sounding notice on one wall.
"Animation films are never finished, only released," says Mark Burton, though he and co-director Richard Starzak seemed relaxed when we met for lunch in an Aardman boardroom. The pair had just come up with a new ending for the film. "It's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle that's being filled in," says Burton, whose previous credits include co-scripting the Wallace and Gromit movie The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
While Shaun the Sheep began life as a character in the 1995 Wallace and Gromit short A Close Shave, it was Starzak who came on board to turn Shaun into one of Aardman's most successful television shows. Four series and 130 episodes later, it's been sold to 180 countries – a remarkable tally no doubt helped by the fact that there is no dialogue in these stop-motion shorts. Just baas, bleats and barks.
The film’s premise is simple: Shaun and his flock head to the big city to rescue their myopic farmer after he develops amnesia, so the primary language is slapstick.
“People love that kind of humour all around the globe. It’s been very useful to us,” says Starzak, who admits that the silent comedies of Jacques Tati were an influence. Worried perhaps that it’s all sounding a little highbrow, Burton chips in: “There’s lots of fart jokes as well.”
Fans of the show will certainly recognise some familiar characters – including the loyal sheepdog Bitzer and the greedy pigs that live at Mossy Bottom Farm with Shaun and friends.
“You have to take those characters and in a sense start again and build a story from scratch,” says Burton. “So it is a challenge.”
Understandably, they’ve introduced some new characters, including Trumper, the villainous animal-containment officer who spends his days hunting down strays.
What hasn't changed is the typical Aardman humour. Each set is flush with amusing sight gags ("Repellent Ales", for example, is emblazoned on one city billboard) that boast a nostalgia-tinged view of the world. Put that down to shared values and a shared cultural background. "We're a similar age group influenced by the same things, I suppose, whether it's Carry On films or [comic] The Beano – things that made me laugh as a kid," says Starzak.
More than three years after making the movie, both men say they cannot stop thinking about sheep now.
"I do a lot of Shaun the Sheep dreaming," says Burton. Starzak, meanwhile, who moved to a house in the countryside, said the first thing he hears every morning when he wakes up is bleating. "Some of the bleats sheep do are wonderful," he said. "I've tried to record them. But unless you get a sheep into a sound booth, it's more or less impossible to get a clean recording."
• Shaun the Sheep opens in cinemas today
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