Features / Aardman
Review: Slapstick: It’s Shaun the Sheep!
On Saturday afternoon Shaun the Sheep fans young and old gathered at St George’s to hear from Aardman writers and directors Richard Starzak and Mark Burton about just what makes Shaun such an internationally adored critter.
With plenty of clips from the movie to demonstrate the culmination of days of painstaking animation that go into making even the shortest gag work perfectly, the talk was an interesting glimpse behind the scenes in a world where patient and usually solitary creators work their magic.
Starzak and Burton gave the gathered fans an insight into the characters in Shaun the Sheep Movie, and how the team come up with suggestions for the jokes in each scene (“Then we put them to Nick Park who tells us our little gag will take five weeks to animate, so we have to rethink it a bit”).
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Our host, comedian Marcus Brigstoke, is clearly a Shaun fan and led the conversation well. The clips selected and discussed really got across both the wonderful humour and touching emotion that work so well in all Aardman’s animation – and, indeed, in great slapstick comedy in other mediums. They also demonstrated how much thought goes into the tiny details and barely-noticed extra characters that make the comedy work so well, my favourite being the man dressed as a chicken who’s almost run over by a group of sheep dressed as a horse.
The audience Q&A was a great finish to the event. Questions ranged from the fascinating ‘how do you animate water?’ (fibre optic cables or wire wrapped in cling film, since you ask) via the fate of a farm cat that appeared briefly in one scene (the questioner seemed genuinely concerned) to kids asking how they could get into animation.
Another great addition to the Slapstick Festival line-up, this event featured some revealing stories about the patient work that goes into creating characters who have brought together young and old all over the world with a shared sense of humour.
It’s Shaun the Sheep! took place at St George’s on Saturday, January 23 as part of Slapstick 2016. For more Slapstick dates, visit www.slapstick.org.uk