How did Nick Park create a Nation Loving Animation?

How did Nick Park create a Nation Loving Animation?

During this study I will be exploring how Nick Park conveys emotion using his animation and how this animation can show/express or create emotion. I will be looking at what influenced Park and how this has led to his success. By looking closely at the models body language and facial features I will be able to determine how this creates an ‘emotion’ for an audience such as anger or happiness. I will also be exploring how set design and lighting contribute to the overall ‘feeling’ and mood.

Park was born 6/12/1958 in Preston, Lancashire. His mother, Celia, was a seamstress while his father Roger Park a photographer, 'Dad worked in his garden shed a lot, made things, was full of ideas, and acted in the same way Wallace does,' says Park in an interview to The Observer ^[1]. Clearly Park’s father was a great influence to him, leading him to base his main character Wallace on his father although ‘It's only after making the first Wallace and Gromit film - A Grand Day Out (1989) - that I suddenly realised he's actually based very much on my father’ ^[6].  Park attended a Catholic High school and began making his own home-made movies with his mother when he was just 13. However he began creating hand-drawn strips of his family’s pet hen, Penny and a rat called Walter when he was just 11 using a camera his father gave him, “That’s how I spent my time...” Park recalls “While my mates were out playing with their bikes, I was in the attic.”^[1] Park studied Communication Arts at Sheffield Polytechnic where he created his first Wallace and Gromit Adventure ‘A Grand Day Out’, “My growing-up years were always a reference point. Actually, the north itself was always a reference point.”^[3]

Like his father Park was also very inventive and would send creations such as ‘a bottle that squeezed out different wools’ to Blue Peter. These ideas show clearly through Wallace as he is an inventor. Interestingly these ‘inventions’ are the focus of many of Park’s productions for instance in ‘Wallace and Gromit in The Wrong Trousers’ (1993) it is the invention of the ‘trousers’ that cause the problems and in ‘Chicken Run’ (2000) the chickens are inventing ways to escape. This is also shown in the recent production of ‘Wallace and Gromit’s World of Inventions’ (2010), a TV series where Wallace and Gromit are the presenters and looking at interesting inventions to encourage the younger generation to invent. I was fortunate to attend one of these events held by the BBC for the broadcast of A World of Inventions. The show captures the need for inventions as well as the enjoyment of inventing the item. Park also has a keen interest in wildlife ‘...indulging in his favourite hobby, watching wildlife.’ And it is, ‘...These two influences, family and animals, encapsulate his world and his work completely. His films are filled with deranged sheep, psychopathic penguins, mournful pumas and neurotic chickens ... flat-capped, waist-coated Wallace...’ ^[1].

Each creation began life as a small sketch/doodle on a notebook which Park develops further into a storyboard and finally actual characters and a set, until a final film is created, “Nick has an art pad with him all the time” says Sheriff (a collaborator of Park’s) “He scribbles out his ideas on it. All through Chicken Run he kept doing Wallace and Gromit sketches”^[1] . Park constantly developed these drawings until they created the perfect characters and vision that was personal to him but would also appeal to an audience. Park particularly enjoyed humorous adventures in which Gromit would ultimately save the day “Gromit was the dog I never had.”^[1] Park’s first film ‘A Grand Day Out’ began with a simple idea ‘An inventor trying to visit the moon’, with this idea Park takes us on a journey of humour and adventure. The films have everyday situations presented within the plot which appeals to an audience such as Wallace’s romancing of on screen ladies, Piella Bakewell, Lady Tottington and Wendolene. The films are designed for laughs which are conducted with a British attitude, most ‘jokes’ are ironic and include British dialect, “Wallace and Gromit are unquestionably northern characters, and Park’s stories share a charm, a plain-spoken warmth, and a sharp ear for florid language.”^[3] For the feature film ‘Chicken Run’ a lot of the language had to be reviewed to make it understandable for American audiences, “We put in a couple of jokes early on because we cut out some stuff as well because it was taking too long to get into the story. So we lost about a minuet’s worth of animation at the beginning.”^[2]

Park’s choice of media is an important aspect in the creation of his characters “I’m a clay man myself.” Says Park “They probably wouldn’t have come about the same way if they came from a computer because there isn’t that kind of direct access to the clay that humans feel.”^[2] The use of clay means the models are easy to mold allowing easy adaptation of movements and texture as well as showing a hand-made quality, “I just find it such an expressive medium and a very immediate medium as well.”^[2] The animation feels very personal which the audience responds to. In many frames the markings of fingerprints can be seen showing the care and time taken into making the models “And we're proud of them. The Wallace and Gromit films have a very handmade feel to them and I think that's part of the charm.”^[6] My own attempts at modelling also show this, “It tells you that they are real; they are tangible. Luckily for us, our audience has always appreciated that personal touch.” Peter Lord states ^[11] about the Wallace and Gromit Franchise. Although the models have developed since ‘A Grand Day Out’ in design and personality, they remain the same much loved characters that the public associate with stop still animation. Metal skeletons’ have been added to the newer designs after ‘A Grand Day Out’ allowing for longer use and more realistic movements, “Wallace and Gromit have got metal skeletons inside and that helps to hold them up. Most of the floors are made of metal - just under the carpet there's a metal sheet usually with holes in it and you can either screw down the feet - this is a way of making them stand up - if you've got a metal or wire skeleton it helps. Also use a magnet to keep the feet down.”^[6] The metal skeletons also stop the models melting under the hot lighting conditions. Park did have to use a form of digital media in ‘The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit’, “...there’s a scene where Wallace uses the Bun Vac for the first time – sucks up all these bunnies and they’re spinning around. It was in a glass case and we couldn’t access the bunnies.”^[2] Instead Park allowed the London Picture Company to scan a clay model into a computer and animate it. “I do like a lot of computer animation - in the right hands it can be really good. I think it's just me - I just always will like to work with tactile materials - I love plasticine and working with clay - it's as straightforward as that.”^[6] Gromit is very simple design with few colours giving a clear contrast between his nose and ears. He has no mouth and instead uses his ears and eye brows to convey emotion, “Raised eye brows often symbolize suprise and astonishment as well as uncertainty and confusion. Lowered eye brows symbolize deception or annoyance. Eye brows can evoke anger, sadness, fear and other various emotions that the human body can communicate.”^[7] By placing his body in a human-like position such as folding his arms, Park makes Gromit more human but also enables the audience to relate to what Gromit is expressing. This is a very important aspect which Park integrates into all of his animal characters. Wallace as a human can be more expressive and it can be more accepted for a more exaggerated approach to his emotion. With the added addition of a voice (Wallace is voiced by Peter Saillis), Park can allow Wallace to be more openly expressive, “Wallace’s enthusiasm meshes with our sense of Britishness.”^[3] Wallace is also defined by the clothes he wares, typically presented in a green sleeveless wool jumper and shirt, complete with a red tie. These are carefully patterned and given a rough texture as to represent woollen material. Wallace and Gromit are also designed with plastic eyes; this reflects light making them appear more human. Park’s style of modelling is instantly recognisable with human characters having large round noses and large hands with the exception of the Lady Tottington and large toothy mouths. The eyes sit on the surface just lightly indenting the modelling clay. The birds are also very recognisable, being bottle shaped with small black beady eyes, that an audience recognises immediately as being a Park creation.  

The sets upon which the characters live and act can be very small but incredibly detailed. Park’s attention to detail gives the films a more realistic edge but also conveys the characters personalities in their surroundings, “...played out in a kind of eternal historic present. The world Wallace and Gromit inhabit harks back to the 1960’s and 70’s.”^[3]. Wallace’s personality is not only in his actions and what he says but in the items he’s surrounded with, this is even more important for Gromit who is a silent character, shown knitting or cooking. In ‘A Grand Day Out’ “Inside the rocket, it’s all like wallpaper and furniture he’s made [Wallace]...He made like a trailer [Roger Park]...It had wallpaper inside just the same.”^[2] The wallpaper is very detailed showing the period of time which the characters’ live in “You can see it in the wallpaper, interior decor, the houses and corner shops near their home in West Wallaby Street.”^[3] The texture of the sets is very important; nothing is flat but carefully detailed to represent the real life sized item, “Smoother textures can contribute to a softer more soothing mood and can aid in focusing attention on a specific element.”^[8] Even small knick-knacks that litter an average house are included within the set, such as trophies, ornaments, books etc. The list is endless as Park aims to relate to the audience as much as possible, again giving it a more personal touch. The bigger the productions the larger the sets and more detailed, in ‘The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit’ Park and his team create over 40 new characters all with their own tastes and personalities, “Park concedes that it [The Sets] reflects his childhood and adolescent years in Preston.”^[3] The production process is long and tiring taking months to create a single scene, with Park paying attention to detail in every frame. The characters are moved inch by inch as photos are taken in between, “A happy character will perform every movement and action faster than a sad personage.”^[7] Then the photos are reeled together to create a moving image and the films we see today. ‘Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit’ took five years to make. Park is always trying to find inventive and exciting ways to film such as the train sequence in ‘The Wrong Trousers’ “I really wanted that train sequence to be like nothing you've ever seen - really high speed... So what we did was we had this living room set which was about 20 feet long and we had the camera on rails and we attached the train out of shot. It was attached with a metal rod to the camera and every time we took a frame, which was actually a second exposure or two second exposure, we pushed the train and camera along at the same time which made the background blur on each frame.”^[6] Park also uses the lighting to his advantage creating moving shadows that dim with the natural light but stay harsh like most indoor lighting when the characters are inside; shadows are also used as an ominous effect, with approaching villains creating tension in the audience.

Park also has a love of ‘classic British’ films and pays homage to them in many of his films, “I used to be into movies based on H G Wells stories, such as ‘The Time Machine’ and ‘First Men in the Moon’. I loved sci-fi films.”^[3] In ‘The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit’ Park creates a ‘Vegetarian Hammer Horror’ a homage to the ‘Hammer Horror’ genre by using dark shadows, with enclosed spaces and highlighted music. As well as carefully showing the characters’ reactions rather than the actual action, keeping the mood tense and exciting throughout the film “It’s about people locking up their vegetables rather than their children.”^[1] ‘Chicken Run’ pays homage to ‘The Great Escape’; however throughout all his films he keeps the well known comic humour of the first Wallace and Gromit.

Although Park has amounted to great success he is still described as ‘shy but spiritual’ (Richard Goleszowski) and even describes himself as “an observer, quiet and contemplative”, this also fits a description of Gromit. Little appears to have changed in Park’s lifestyle since his success, “he recalls being so average few teachers could even remember his name.”^[3] He continues to promote inventing, ‘Wallace and Gromit: A World of Inventions’ as well as provide adverts but we can hope to see more of Wallace and Gromit in the future. It is this time taken to create each individual film that anticipates the audience for a new release.  Park is respected by many other film makers such as Danny Boyle, Pixar’s John Lasseter and Hayao Miyazaki (creator of animated movie ‘Spirited Away’) who seek out Park’s opinion. 

Reference List

·         [1]  http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2005/sep/18/features.comment

An Observer article written Sunday 18^th September 2005 by Robin McKie

·         [2]  http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/655/655696p2.html

An interview with Nick Park by Jeff Otto, in the US on October 4^th 2005

·         [3]  The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday October 21 2009, page 29, ‘A Cracking Combination’, by David Gritten.
An Article about Nick Park and the recent release of ‘Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit’.

·         [4]  National Media Museum, Pictureville, Bradford, West Yorkshire. BD1 1NQ.
www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

·         [5]  http://www.aardman.com
The studio in which Park works for, the website gives a virtual tour of the studio and information on characters and film making.

·         [6]  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/forum/2314009.stm
An Interview with Nick Park, Tuesday, 15 October, 2002, 17:26 GMT 18:26 UK, Name of news reader is unknown.

·         [7]  http://animationguides.com/character-emotion-in-animation
Website looks at making animated characters have ‘believable’ emotional expressions.

·         [8]  http://accad.osu.edu/~efarrar/thesis/proposal6.0.pdf
A study by Eric Farrar on elements that effect the presentation of emotion in Animation.

·         [9]  http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/nick-parks-quick-animation-guide/6938.html
Nick Park conducts his own guide on how to create an animation in collaboration with ‘Blue Peter’.

·         [10]  http://www.animatormag.com/topical/plasticine-animation-beginners/#.Typ7cqVOj4s
A beginners guide to modelling clay animation.

·         [11]  http://www.close-upfilm.com/features/Featuresarchive/wallacegromit.htm
A detailed look at the design of characters for ‘Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit’.

Pictures/Video reference:

·         [A]  http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2010/11/haynes-publishes-wallace-gromit-manual.html
Image of A ‘Cracking Contraptions Manual’

·         [B]  http://moodbuilder.com/blog/?cat=15
Shows pictures of the actual models used in Wallace and Gromit.

·         [C]  http://wallaceandgromit.net/2009/04/09/wallace-gromits-world-of-cracking-ideas-exhibit/
A fan site dedicated to Wallace and Gromit.

·         [D]  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/6395400/Wallace-and-Gromit-storyboard-drawings.html?image=1
A gallery of Wallace and Gromit storyboards created by Nick Park courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.

·         [E]  http://wg.popcorn.cx/nickpark/
Park with his Oscar.