How Aardman Made Wallace & Gromit’s Silent Villain Work

Stop-motion animation is a daunting enough prospect for any studio, even Aardman, who has been there pioneering for many years at this point. But what happens when you decide to bring back a bully who is known to be unable to say a single word, can’t move any part of their face, and usually walks past and stops and blinks?

“This has been one of the hardest parts of the whole movie,” Nick Park said recently Different about the decision to bring on Feather McGrawbad of Wallace and GromitThe second release of TV, The Wrong Pantsdecades later The Great Revenge of the Birdsnow they are streaming worldwide on Netflix. “At least Gromit has a face that can move. He can understand emotions. It all depends on the simplicity of the way Feathers move, the movement is deliberate and small. Look here, blink. Minimalism, really.”

As Park explained, Wallace and Gromit is no stranger to silent characters, given that the titular second half of the pair is a dog that cannot speak. But Gromit still talks amazingly: his ears can move, his eyes are human-like, he can move different parts of his face, and he has arms, legs, and even a neck to move his body and express. his thoughts clearly to the audience. Feather, on the other hand, is a small penguin (which sometimes disguises itself as a rooster). His eyes are small, his whole body is shaped like a bottle. If the Feather wants to use body language, he has his fins, which are blocked in their ways, and then he moves his whole body at the same time. And yet, in both The Wrong Pants and The Great Revenge of the Birdsshe is still completely charming, sometimes evil, and still completely speaking to the audience.

Although there was more than three decades between his screen appearances, Park’s methods (and now his The Great Revenge of the Birds Co-director, Merlin Crossingham) liked to make Feathers “feel” like everyone else Wallace and Gromit they will be the same. “We use camera movement, sound,” Crossingham explained. “He’s a very cinematic character because we rely, as filmmakers, on all the tricks to make him a hero/villain that you see and love to hate.”

When things change, other things change too. But about Wallace and Gromitand Aardman often, talks about the ephemerality of the art involved in these animations. “When will you come back?” A Funny Story it first came out in the ’90s, a studio like us, we’re thinking, ‘Oh boy, how long do we have left?’” Park concluded. But we continued. As long as you’re telling good, compelling stories about the people involved, that’s the only way. ” All these years later, Feathers remains as compelling as it ever was—and still has the same cinematic feel.

Wallace & Gromit: Revenge of the Many Birds now streaming on Netflix.

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