Dave Alex, Aardman - Cinematographer and Director - Notes
Stared making films when he was young, dad was a photographer so he had knowledge in the field already. Studied at Leeds. After he graduated he was encouraged to go to Bristol for a post grad course. Met quite a few inspiring people. Did a lot of 2D animation but Bristol seemed to draw stop motion animators.
The Bolex Brothers - stop motion animation - didn't need a lot of money, could make on the kitchen table. A lot of Pixilation animation as well as.
Aardman - started animation to recorded sound on BBC. Did a lot of filming at Hyde Park cinema. Bolex camera, made in switzerland. cheap camera, did everything. Using this camera, he made a music video, a pixilation with stop motion, all done in camera, there was no post production work. Experimenting with the lens aperture and exposure to add blurs with very little budget. Took about a week to complete. (Sledge Hammer music video - trying to restore it now as still have the negatives).
Aardman expect an animator to turn out 2 seconds of animation a day. Have to break some scenes apart as the sets are so large.
Morph - first main project for Aardman - very simple set up - table top and soft lighting.
Creature Comforts - animating to dialogue - still rough animation, the finger prints adding to the charm of the animation.
The digital revolution really aided the animation process, didn't have video screen to see the shot for reference until later on. Would hope that the shot would look okay and wouldn't have to retake the shot again until it was right, very time consuming.
Nick Park and Steve Box animating 'Wrong Trousers'. Had quite a low budget. Had a small room, filmed on a side with tall sets. A lot of the chase scenes are filmed horizontally in later films.
Wrong Trousers had no digital edits, it was all done in camera. Made a dolly that would move the characters. Background was blurred, as the shot is filmed, with the character in focus. Did the same in 'Close Shave'.
+ Pirates! - Stop motion and 3D - Every two shots, single camera set up. Problem in early animations with the size of the cameras which resulted in difficulties trying to get close ups of the scene. Had quite a big budget for this animation. Lost that handmade approach - huge sets - wasn't much plasticine in the movie. Did quite a few mouth replacements. The key parts that are plasticine, just the mouths, joints would be painted out in post production.
Chicken Run - About half way through technology advanced and they were able to afford digital editing with the footage. Brought 35 old cameras - dating back to the 30's/50's.
Curse of the Wererabbit was the last film they animated on a 35mm camera. Had trouble with newer cameras as they wanted to keep the chalkiness of the plasticine within the aesthetic - Canon DSLR worked well, had a sympathetic approach.
For sets, Plywood and Jesmonite, as these are sturdy materials able to withstand the weight of the animators walking across and less risk of the temperature warping the sets. For raindrops, clear Gelatin, would stay there and use a straw to make it move slightly. Use bubble wrap for lava with a red backlight.
There was more creativity in the earlier days, cant improvise that much and need to head towards the deadline.
Student to industry - After setting up the Bolex Brothers - easy way to make films to show. Didn't think he would be were he would be - kind of just went with something he loved and made it his own. It is worth pursing - follow it!
"JUST DO IT" - If any opportunity arises go for it!
Aardman need storytelling, coming up with ideas, need experience with stopmotion to be able to feel the medium. Storyboaaaards!
"The more you do, the more you learn."
I talked to Dave after the talk about storytelling, what the internships/work experience is available with storytelling. He was lovely and told me about the story intern at Aardman, I really want to pursue this as I love storytelling.
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