Shaun the Sheep, a brilliant example of stop-motion animation

Until the last 90s, many people used to see animated feature films made by the traditional technique of animated drawings, also called “cell animation”: the starting point is a pad of paper sheets, from which a sequence of framings has the purpose to reproduce the perception of a real movement.

Animated feature films have achieved success thanks to The Walt Disney Company, whose “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, dated 1937, was an incredible success, which revolutionized the film industry, introducing a new cinematographic genre, where real actors are replaced by nice and colorful animated characters.

Another important step in the world of animation was the advent of computer graphics, which has widened the formal quality and involvement potentialities of this kind of film.

The progenitor of this new animated age is the Pixar Animation Studios’ movie “Toy Story” (1995), an authentic jewel for the period because it has brought on screen something unknown as well as innovative, a feature film capable of attracting different spectators today again.

Since that moment, technologies have been gradually improved, creating amazing masterpieces: the truthfulness of graphic images is developed by the “rendering” process, thanks to which a spatial context or an object are generated starting from the mathematical description of a tridimensional scene; consequently, this accuracy is able to reproduce similarity with different materials.

That seems to prove there aren’t rivals in this kind of entertainment, even if computer graphics is prevailing.

Nevertheless, wonders of digital animation aren’t the only ones capable of fascinating adults and children; in fact, another cinematic technique has what it takes to make life to as many pleasant animated feature films, albeit it isn’t a recent invention.

It is about stop-motion animation, whose use is a niche, but not less valuable because it brings surprising achievements.

Therefore, let’s discover its main characteristics and the most important productions, made with this technique.

Stop-motion animation: history and technical details

Unlike 3D animation, the stop-motion one was born together with the cinematographic art: it has been using since the early Twentieth Century by George Melies.

Although, the most famous pioneer of this process is probably Ray Harryhausen, to who Willis O’Brien, Ray’s teacher, must be placed side because he applied it to the cinematic masterpiece “King Kong” (1933), where the gorilla puppet is animated by stop-motion, and in “Last World” (1925).

In the past, stop-motion animation was used not only to give motion illusion but also to reproduce particular special effects, even if, since the film “Jurassic Park” (1993), it has been almost replaced by computer graphics.

In spite of its analogical nature, stop-motion animation is a very complex technique, a hard test of time and patience; all productions made with it require some years to be completed.

The secret of this trait is held in its laboriousness: in fact, each second of this kind of animation is composed of 24 photos and, in each of them, the framed character or subject has to be modified a little.

Work becomes even more difficult when, in a scene, different elements move at the same time, consequently, the animator must shift everything in every single frame, and that takes much precision and dedication, like an artisan who takes care of every detail of his creation.

There are various typologies of stop-motion animation, but the most creative and visually impressive among them is, maybe, Claymation ( abbreviation of Clay Animation), which exploits play dough puppets and, thanks to this sub-technique, many iconic characters, and feature films come to life, such as “Pingu”, “Wallace and Gromit”, “Chicken run”…

But Shaun the Sheep is superlative: his physical aspect, with a long tail, black face and legs and a funny woolly tuft on the head, is unmistakable, his cleverness and shrewdness make him special, very similar to a human being, with many adventures and stories to tell along his cinematic path.

 

Shaun the Sheep: beginnings, single episodes, feature films

At the beginning of his “career”, Shaun debuts with a secondary role in the short animated film “Wallace and Gromit: a close shave” (1995): the two protagonists have a little enterprise which deals with the washing of shop windows and, after they have cleaned the windows of a wool shop, Wallace discovers one of the sheep has fled to his home, so he takes him and names him Shaun, which wears a recognizable decorated sweater.

Oscar-winner as a best short animated film in 1996, “Wallace and Gromit: a close shave” is directed by the celebrated Regisseur Nick Park, one of the key people of Aardman Animations Ltd., the British animation studio, settled in Bristol, famous for its claymation productions, first of all, Shaun the Sheep’s ones, and many other works.

Since that first appearance, Shaun’s popularity has been constantly arousing, starting with conspicuous merchandising dedicated to him.

His consecration arrives in 2007 when the first season of Shaun the Sheep series was broadcast in Great Britain, to then conquer every corner of the world and numerous fans of every age.

The series is set at Mossy Bottom Farm, in the quiet English countryside, and tells about Shaun and the rest of his flock’s daily life; actually, the routine of these sheep isn’t so ordinary and the funny shepherd dog Bitzer is always forced to remedy their pranks.

Shaun and his woolly mates are very special, out of usual canons: they organize refined parties, play football, order pizzas on the internet, drive a tractor and other vehicles, and Shaun is the brilliant mind which manages all these unusual activities, while the Farmer doesn’t notice the strange events caused by them.

Besides Shaun, other sheeps easy to recognize are Timmy, an adorable lamb with his inseparable pacifier and teddy (since 2009 to 2012, Timmy has given life to a spin-off series called “Timmy Time”, divided into three seasons), Timmy’s mother, who has curlers on her head, and Shirley, an obese, huge sheep, who hides every kind of object in his wool.

Shaun the Sheep the series consists of six seasons, for a total of 170 episodes, aired from 2007 to 2020, where it is possible to see the gradual improvement of techniques and a greater refinement about addressed themes, without giving up on fun; for example, some recent episodes face actual issues, such as the obsession for smartphones and social media, pollution and the matter of toxic waste disposal.

The success of this slim and intelligent sheep has prompted the authors to make two animated feature films with Shaun as the protagonist, with scenes full of tenderness and laughs.

“Shaun the Sheep Movie” (2015) introduces a new setting beyond the farm, the Big City (it isn’t specified what’s its name, but it is probably London), so Shaun and his woolly friends, in order to save their Farmer, who has lost memory, collide with a new environment.

They meet many different people and contexts, a rubbish dump, a luxury restaurant, where Shaun is caught by Trumper, a surly and frustrated man who manages a kennel; thanks to Shaun’s traveling companions and a new friend, the homeless little dog Slip, the entire flock succeeds in coming back home with the Farmer, using an excellent ploy, similar to Trojan horse.

The film has an interesting soundtrack and, despite there aren’t dialogues, has an engaging pace and a variegated plot, unable to bore.

“A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” (2019) isn’t the continuation of the first film, but it tells a completely different story.

The film is dominated by a new co-protagonist, Lula, an adorable female alien who has started her parents’ spaceship accidentally and has ended up on Earth.

Her aspect and behavior are sweet and lovely because she is similar to a colorful cone, surmounted by a head with dangling ears, she is kind and naïve and also a big eater and bungler: when Lula and Shaun happen to be in a supermarket, the baby alien doesn’t hesitate to eat dozens of candies and drink three bottles of sweetened carbonated drinks, but consequences of that won’t be a simple stomach ache…

“A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” is mostly focused on Shaun and Lula: he helps the young alien to come back home, trying to recover her spaceship, which has kidnapped by a shady secret organization, among obstacles, false moves and lucky moments, till to come to a touching, happy ending.

Shaun, Lula, the Farmer, and the other sheep always find a surprising way to make their adventure captivating and thoughtless.

So, if you want to spend an enjoyable time watching a quality product, Shaun the Sheep, and his friends’ stories are perfect for the purpose: characters are lively and iconic and their tales are the result of a meticulous work, to which it must be added the gift of the imagination, the best tool to make the world a better place, by humanized sheep and pretty greedy aliens.

Sources:

• Stop-motion animation. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passo_uno
• What is stop-motion? (n.d.). Focus Junior. https://www.focusjunior.it/tecnologia/cos-e-la-stop-motion-la-magia-dell-animazione-svelata/
• Basics of animation. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animazione
• Shaun the Sheep. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun,_vita_da_pecora
• Shaun the Sheep Movie. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun,_vita_da_pecora_-_Il_film
• Aardman Animation Ltd. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aardman_Animations
• A close shave. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Una_tosatura_perfetta
• A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun,_vita_da_pecora:_Farmageddon_-_Il_film
• Shaun the Sheep. (n.d.). Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/how-the-shaun-the-sheep-sequel-team-gave-sci-genre-heart-and-quirky-humor-4130177/
• Shaun the Sheep Movie. (n.d.). Daily Bruin. https://dailybruin.com/2021/04/18/a-shaun-the-sheep-movie-farmageddon-conveys-story-through-music-sound-effects
• Shaun the Sheep Movie. (n.d.). Hollywood Insider. https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/oscar-shaun-the-sheep-movie-farmageddon/