FORMAT REPORT

Claymation
Claymation is the generalized term for clay animation, a form of stop animation using clay. The
term was coined by its creator, Will Vinton, owner of an animation studio that worked with clay
artists to create clay animation. Claymation involves using objects or characters sculpted from
clay or other mouldable material, and then taking a series of still pictures that are replayed in
rapid succession to create the illusion of movement. Some of the more famous characters created
in this form include Gumby and Pokey, Wallace and Gromit, and the California Raisins.

In a Claymation production, artists sculpt the characters out of clay and often support the
sculpture with wire molds underneath. To create the illusion of movement, the position of the
sculpted characters is altered slightly in every still photo, or frame. Just like other forms of
animation, Claymation generally requires a storyboard or background for the characters to be set
against and to develop what they will do or say. Depending on the length of production, the same
character may need to be sculpted hundreds of times.

What is Stop Motion Animation?

Stop motion animation is an animation technique that physically manipulates an object so that the
object then appears to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments and in between
each movement is photographed to make up a frame this creates the illusion that the object is
moving when the series of frames is played. Stop motion can be done with clay and also puppets.

Example of Stop animation:

One of the most well-known examples of stop animations is the Aardman animations production of
Wallace and Gromit & Shaun the sheep, both still very popular Claymation animations.

Despite the development in technology, stop animation is still used for the entertainment of others
with many stop motion blockbusters being released. Such as Shaun the sheep movie (2015) with a
box-office gross intake of $106 million & the 2013 nominated Academy award for best animation
feature The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012) with a box-office gross intake of $123
million.

Aardman
Aardman Animations, Ltd., also known as Aardman Studios, or simply as Aardman, is a British
animation studio based in Bristol. Aardman is known for films made using stop-motion clay
animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit. After
some experimental computer animated short films during the late 1990s, beginning with Owzat
(1997), it entered the computer animation market with Flushed Away (2006). Aardman films have
made $972.1 million worldwide and average $163 million per film. All of their stop motion films are
among the highest-grossing stop-motion films, with their debut, Chicken Run, being their top-
grossing film[1] as well as the highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time.

The company name is taken from one of its early characters, a superhero created for Vision On in
1972. Unlike the claymation productions that the company are famous for, Aardman was cel-
animated. The name derives from the Dutch phrase "aard man" meaning Nature Man, when joined
together, "aardman" becomes "Earthman" more commonly translated to: "goblin". However, co-
founder David Sproxton has claimed that the name was a result of being unable to "find another
word with more A's in it than 'aardvark'" as schoolboys.

2007- present:In April 2007, Aardman signed and in 2010 renewed[18] a three-year deal with Sony
Pictures Entertainment to finance, co-produce and distribute feature films. The next year, Aardman
released a new Wallace and Gromit short film, called A Matter of Loaf and Death. The first film
made in partnership with Sony was computer-animated Arthur Christmas (2011), which is
Aardman's first 3-D feature film. 2012 was the release of The Pirates! In an Adventure with
Scientists (known internationally as The Pirates! Band of Misfits), Aardman's first 3-D stop-motion
film and Peter Lord's first film as a director since Chicken Run. Additional two films were
announced in June 2007: The Cat Burglars, a stop-motion directed by Steve Box, about cats that
steal milk, and their plans to pull off 'the great milk float robbery'; and an untitled Nick Park
project. Aardman is also known to provide generous resources and training to young animators by
providing awards at various animation festivals. For example, The Aardman Award at the UK's
Animex Festival in Teesside provides world class story consultation to a promising young animator,
for their next film. In 2008, Aardman joined with Channel 4 and Lupus Films to launch a user-
generated content animation portal called 4mations. They also designed the BBC One Christmas
Idents for that year, which featured Wallace and Gromit to tie in with the showing of the new
Wallace and Gromit film called A Matter of Loaf and Death on Christmas Day at 8:30pm. In April
2008, Aardman launched the Aardman YouTube channel, which is a YouTube Partner channel
featuring the entire Creature Comforts TV series, the Morph series, Cracking Contraptions and clips
from the Wallace and Gromit films. From December 2008, Aardman also started posting various
flash games on Newgrounds, the majority of which are based on Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the
Sheep. In 2009, Nintendo announced that Aardman would make twelve short films using only
Flipnote Studio from Nintendo DSi. The films were posted on Flipnote's Hatena web service
provider. The first film was called The Sandwich Twins and was released on 16 September 2009.
The remaining eleven films were released on a weekly basis until Christmas, and can also be
downloaded using Hatena. In October 2013, Peter Lord (co-founder of Aardman Animations)
created a fund raising project on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The campaign has a target of
75,000 which will be used to fund 12 new one-minute episodes of Morph. Lord is hoping to start
production in January 2014 using the original stop-frame animation. Backers of the project will
receive a variety of rewards, including early access to the new animations and a small box of clay
used in the production, depending on the individual's level of funding. In 2015, the company
bought a majority share in New York-based animation studio Nathan Love, announcing the merger
with a short film called Introducing: Aardman Nathan Love in 25 September of the same year .