At first, the two directors who seldom give interviews were a bit cautious when facing questions from foreign reporters. They were a little serious and inconsistent with Sean's character. When the chatter box was gradually opened, the British's cold humor and sharp complaints could not be heard. After tidying up, all kinds of jokes came with open mouth.
During the interview, the two directors revealed a lot of unknown stories about clay animation. For example, it took 10 months to film "Shaun the Sheep", and this is a very quick filming experience. For another example, the most difficult thing in making clay animation is not the production of the dolls, nor the shooting process, but the conception of the story. In their words, "Shaun the Sheep" is two people who "eat a lot of Chinese food for takeaway" before thinking about it. The story that comes out, but there is no Chinese element in the movie... It can be
seen that the two directors are quite proud of their works, and they boast not to converge. “Clay animation is a glorious tradition of Adman. It can also be very popular." As a proud British, I will naturally not give up any opportunity to step on American animation. "We don't want to see all the cartoons that are sold are from Hollywood, but we still hope that there will be animation companies from other countries. Good works can convey different cultures and values." Well, although Pixar is good, it would be nice to take a look at Adelman for another taste.
At the beginning of the film, there was no dialogue. Don’t worry about the audience’s dislike of "Little Sheep"
Reporter: What is the difference between making a feature film and a 7-minute animated series?
Mark Burton: A TV series only takes 7 minutes to an episode, while a movie is 85 minutes long. It needs a story to support this more than 1 hour. We are more focused on how to tell stories and consider setting the background of the story in the city.
Reporter: In terms of character creation, feature films are much more refined than dramas.
Richard Starzak: I think this is also the difference between the movie version and the TV series, because the movie version has ample duration, and I can dig deeper into the personality characteristics of each character.
Reporter: The film pays tribute to quite a few classic film market works, such as "Abbey Road", "Taxi Driver", "Shawshank's Redemption", "Breaking Bad", "Wolverine" and so on.
Mark Burton: Actually, these were not planned from the beginning. We were also in the process of filming, gradually inspired, or came up with it temporarily, and thought this idea was good, so we put it in the movie.
Richard Starzak: For example, in the prison section, the motionless dog was inspired by "The Silent Lamb." And the ones you just mentioned, when you are developing the storyline, you think you can put this here and put that there.
Reporter: There has never been a villain in the "Shaun the Sheep" series before. What is the reason for creating a villain this time?
Mark Burton: We think that after Sean comes to the city, he needs a big villain to stop Sean from doing things, such as rescuing the farmer. The villain just mentioned is the administrator of the animal shelter. His setting is the image of a bully. In the movie, he is responsible for doing some very domineering behaviors against these little animals.
Richard Starzak: The villain's setting, and Sean's desire to escape the farm and break free, also have a certain amount of care. After the lamb came out, he encountered such a villain in the city that he had never seen before on the farm.
Reporter: "Sean the Sheep" has no dialogue, and some subjective shots are used. These are not common in cartoons. Would you worry that the audience might not be able to accept this technique?
Mark Burton: Movies without dialogue have existed for a long, long time. There was no dialogue at the beginning of the film.
Richard Starzak: Because "Sean the Lamb" has no dialogue, we have to use the camera to tell the story. This looks more lively and lively, and the story will be very compact. Children should like this format more. As for the subjective perspective, it is through these perspectives that the audience can see what the character is thinking without dialogue.
The action image is from two
reporters who rehearsed for 10 months and finished filming quickly : Can you share some interesting facts in the filming process?
Richard Starzak: Before the filming starts, I will do some fighting and other actions with Director Mark and then record them. The relevant painters will do it in the film according to our images and actions.
Reporter: So the two directors themselves also took on the work of "motion capture"?
Mark Burton: For "Sean the Sheep", these dolls are our actors. So we will also integrate ourselves into these dolls, rehearse and set up positions, do some actions, record them and hand them over to the animators to handle them, and they will make dolls one by one. This is a very traditional craft.
Reporter: Today's world is full of 3D animation, why do you still insist on doing clay animation?
Richard Starzak: Clay animation is Adelman's glorious tradition! In fact, children still like watching clay animations, because when watching clay animations, the characters they see are real, just a real doll placed there. This is different from CGI animations. The effects of this technique are different. Although this is very old school, this is why we have always insisted on making stop-frame clay animations.
Reporter: Compared with other 2D and 3D animations, what are the advantages of clay animation?
Richard Starzak: We have puppets with these props, and we have to perform lighting, photography, etc., so it's almost like making a movie. Especially when we are actually shooting, it is actually relatively fast to arrange the dolls in such a way.
Reporter: Everyone thinks that the production of clay animation will take a long time.
Mark Burton: In fact, the time period for general animation film shooting is also very long, because they have to do pre-modeling, CGI settings, etc., which are time-consuming and expensive. As for clay animation, we generally need 18 months to make one. The filming of "Shaun the Sheep" was relatively fast this time, and it only took 10 months. For the whole team, it is really exciting. This shows that we can make a movie in a relatively short time.
Reporter: What was the most difficult thing encountered when shooting a clay animation?
Mark Burton: The most difficult thing is to conceive the whole story. We spent countless days and nights in the studio, drank a lot of coffee, ate a lot of Chinese food delivery (laughs), worked hard to spread our thoughts, and put the story Expanding branches and leaves, this part is the most difficult.
Reporter: So the most difficult thing is not to make a puppet, nor is it the process of shooting?
Mark Burton: We have a very professional technical team, including animators, lighting engineers, or post-production staff. The effect of the things they made is very intuitive, that is, it is very good, and everyone can see it there. But for a story, you never know whether it is a good story or a bad story. You can't see it until it is presented as a whole.
Richard Starzak: I want to say a few more words about the doll production. There is an animator in the team. He is the only person in the department he is in. He is responsible for the production of all more than 40 dolls. And take on some set work. He is also very painful every day, sitting in the corner all day, thinking about how to make the puppets, showing different characteristics, and he is about to be driven crazy (laughs).
Reporter: Can you reveal how many people there are in your team?
Richard Starzak: At Adman Animation, there are about 120 to 150 permanent staff in the office, plus the post-production staff, including lighting engineers, sound effects artists, etc., about 200 people. Of course, this number includes chefs and cleaning staff, who are also part of the entire team.
Reporter: I can see that the chef's craftsmanship is very good.
Mark Burton: Thank you! We are his loyal fans (laughs)!
I hope that Hayao Miyazaki will return. Hope that his Chinese colleagues will also be a clay animation
reporter: In addition to the animation produced by Adelman, do you have any animations you like?
Mark Burton: We all like Pixar's animations and Miyazaki's movies. "Spirited Away" is a great masterpiece.
Reporter: Can you share some feelings about these movies?
Richard Starzak: Pixar's ability to tell stories is great. Their works can move people's hearts, and they are always moving. And Miyazaki's movies have very strong elements of Eastern culture. Although I don't particularly understand Japanese culture, I can feel that his animations are like magic, with a magical feeling.
Reporter: But unfortunately he has retired.
Richard Starzak: Maybe he will come back again, I hope so.
Reporter: In China, there is a director who specializes in stop motion animation called Hu Zhaohong. He has filmed many classic stop motion animations, such as "Mirror Flower" and "Strange Old Man", but in recent years no new works have come out. What do you think? Is this traditional animation technique fading in the movie market?
Mark Burton: Oh, this is too regrettable. I hope "Shaun the Sheep" can lead the trend and let everyone do clay animation.
Richard Starzak: I don't think it is necessarily a problem with the animation medium, maybe it is a problem with his own style. The audience's tastes are constantly improving. Perhaps his animation style has not absorbed new elements, so he can't keep up with the audience's footsteps. Because it turns out that clay animations can also be very popular, such as "Shaun the Sheep" (laughs).
I hope to learn to use chopsticks before starving to death. It is a blessing that China has "Pleasant Goat".
Reporter: If you add Chinese elements to "Shaun the Little Sheep" in the future, what do you want to add? Dragon? Panda? Or the Great Wall?
Mark Burton: The dumplings and roast duck we had today were very good (laughs)! Unfortunately, the idea of panda has been seized by DreamWorks.
Richard Starzak: We had an idea. We wanted to be a panda that escaped from the zoo, dressed in sheep's clothes, mixed in the flock, and pretended to be a sheep. We have this plan now, but it has not yet been implemented. For another example, you can also add a plot of the sheep using chopsticks (laugh, do the action of using chopsticks) in the drama.
Reporter: Uh... how do you feel about chopsticks?
Mark Burton: I think chopsticks should be a very convenient tool. It can be very fast to eat. But I'd better learn to use it before I starve to death, otherwise my eating experience will be ugly.
Reporter: There is a very famous cartoon character in China, which is also a sheep, called "Pleasant Goat". If they are interested in looking for your cooperation, would you have any intention?
Mark Burton: It sounds like this series is doing a good job. I hope it can sell well, and I also hope that "Shaun the Sheep" will sell well in China. But the two do not necessarily have to be tied together, and two interesting sheep may not be interesting when they come together.
Richard Starzak: We don't want to see all the cartoons that we sell come from Hollywood. We still hope that animation companies from other countries can make good works that can convey different cultures and values. We are very happy to have such an animation selling well in China.
Reporter: This year is the Year of the Goat in China. Do you know anything about it?
Mark Burton: Yes, we know that this year is the Year of the Goat, but it is limited to this, because there are many people in the UK to celebrate the Chinese New Year. In fact, we also want to know the year corresponding to each animal, which looks very interesting.
Originally published in Phoenix Entertainment
http://ent.ifeng.com/movie/dianyingrenzaixian/special/dyrzx100/
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