A Matter of Loaf and Death

The Wallace and Gromit TV short “A Matter of Loaf and Death” has been nominated for an Oscar for best animated short film in the 82nd Academy Awards. It was made at the Aardman animation studio and directed by Nick Park. Nick has previously been Oscar nominated five times and won four times (the fifth nomination was against another of his own films).

A Matter of Loaf and Death was the big TV hit of Christmas 2008 and features the voices of Geraldine McEwan, Peter Sallis and Sally Lindsay.
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A collection of 13 short films from the Aardman Animations studio have been added to a film site called Indie Movies Online. The movies are free to watch although you do have to sit through a 30 second advert before the movie plays.

Among the movies on offer are Peter Lord’s Oscar-nominated Adam in which God is attempting to lay down some rules to the first man on Earth – while Adam himself is longing for somebody to keep him company. Plasticine animation.
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Cover of the Morph DVD.

If you are considering having a go at Plasticine animation then an easy way to start is with a “my own Morph” kit from Flair Create.

The Plasticine stop-motion character Morph first appeared on a children’s TV art show called “Take Hart” in 1977. He interacted with the shows presenter Tony Hart, providing short humorous sequences. Much of the action consisted of Morph changing shape, such as rolling into a ball. Or he would disappear into the table top as if sinking into water. These kind of actions suit the medium of Plasticine as it is infinitely changeable.
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Tristan Oliver.

Director of Photography, Tristan Oliver, demonstrated the secrets behind Aardman’s animated Wallace and Gromit movie “The Curse of the Wererabbit” to a group of 11 year olds in a video clip on the BAFTA website.

In very clear language Tristan takes the children through the process from scripting to animation using clips, real models from the films, drawings and stories. Near the end of the video clip he takes questions from the children who demonstrate a great enthusiasm for the subject.
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Stop Motion Pro interface.

Having mentioned the Stop Motion Pro software in my previous post about plasticine animation I decided to test drive the free version that  is available as a download from the Stop Motion Pro website. The latest Wallace and Gromit half hour special from Aardman, “A Matter of Loaf and Death” was filmed using Stop Motion Pro HD Studio. You would expect software of this calibre to be very expensive, but luckily for us home animators it comes in a range of prices to suit most pockets. The basic version is called “Stop Motion Pro Action!” and this does enough to satisfy the needs of a novice animator. It is compatible with Microsoft Vista, XP and Windows 7.
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Plasticine animation in progress.

Maybe you have been inspired by the adventures of Wallace and Gromit and would like to produce your own animated plasticine films. If you are wondering where to start here is a complete beginner’s guide to plasticine animation.

First some advice from amateur animator Fred O’Neil (writing in Animator’s newsletter issue 4): “Try putting a ball of plasticine in front of the camera, set the camera to single frame, and take one picture only. Taking care not to shift the ball from its original position, squeeze it very slightly, and take another picture. Continuing in this way, the ball you began with will assume various shapes, and in this way you can obtain inspiration. Work patiently and slowly for the whole effect can be spoiled large movements.”
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