How Aardman Made Wallace and Gromit’s Silent Villain

Stop-motion animation is a challenging enough prospect for any studio, even Aardman. form has been pioneering for decades at this point. But what happens when you decide to bring back a villain who can’t say a word, can barely move any part of his face, and can mostly get by with standing still and blinking?

“It was one of the hardest parts of the whole movie,” Nick Park said recently. Reverse about the decision Bring back Feathers McGrawvillain Wallace and Gromitsecond television appearance, Wrong Pantsdecades later Revenge Most Birdstreaming now Worldwide on Netflix. “At least Gromit has an eyebrow to raise. He can understand thoughts more clearly. It’s all about the simplicity of Feathers movement, thoughtful and small movements. Look here, wink. Minimalism, indeed.”

As Park explains, Wallace and Gromit Considering that the second half of the duo is a dog who cannot speak, he is no stranger to silent characters. But Gromit is still surprisingly expressive: his ears can move, his eyes look like any other human characters, he can move different parts of his face, and he has full arms, legs and even a neck to move and express his body. clearly conveyed his feelings to the audience. Feathers is a small stylized penguin (sometimes disguised as a rooster). His eyes are small beads, his whole body is shaped like glass. If Feathers wants to use body language, he has his fins restrained in a unique way and then moves his entire body at once. And again in both Wrong Pants and Revenge Most Birdit remains completely charming, sometimes wicked, and still completely delivered to the audience.

Despite more than three decades between his screen appearances, Park’s technique (and now his Revenge Most Bird co-director, Merlin Crossingham) “felt” like any other character in Feathers. Wallace and Gromit remained the same. “We use camera movements, sound,” Crossingham said. “He’s very cinematic because we as filmmakers rely on all these tricks to make him a hero/villain that you see and love to hate.”

The more things change, the more some things stay the same. But for Wallace and Gromitand more Aardman speaks to the timelessness of the craftsmanship involved in this kind of traditional hand animation. “Back when Toy Story first came out in the ’90s, a studio like us, we’re like, ‘Oh boy, how much time do we have left?”’ Park concluded. “But we continued. As long as you’re telling good stories, telling compelling stories with compelling characters, that’s really the technique.” All these years later, Feathers remains as charming as ever – and still down to the same cinematic tricks.

Wallace and Gromit: The Bird’s Revenge now streaming on Netflix.

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