Some Christmas Cheer

Before there was Creature Comforts...

When Nick Park and Peter Lord came to visit our office a couple months back, we asked them about the genesis of the idea for the original Creature Comforts short. Aardman was commissioned to make several short films using unscripted audio for a series called Lip Synch, and Nick Park's piece was the Creature Comforts short in 1989. Peter Lord mentioned that one of the first, if not THE first animated piece to use audio recorded from real people rather than actors was Moonbird (1959) which won an Oscar for best Animated Short. John and Faith Hubley had a unique collaboration and made over 20 independent, animated films together. You can learn more about them here.

Moonbird featured the voices of their children at play and the result is a beautiful short film which has been uploaded to YouTube for our viewing pleasure:

Like Wildfire

Unbeknownst to us Aardman folk in the U.S., more show clips have been released/found their way to the internet. SO, since the cat (or in this case, the penguin) is out of the bag already, why not take a gander at one of my favorite characters:



Oh, and for those who were wondering, the rope will not be seen when this clip airs on television.

Coast to Coast with Creature Comforts

I had quite the busy week this week. After the Thanksgiving holiday I went to New York City to shoot my first "Behind the Scenes" video for Creature Comforts. I really enjoy doing these sorts of pieces and if you have the time, you can check out a DVD extra that I did called "From Scout to Screen" for a film called "Little Manhattan".

Anyway, this shoot was with two of my favorite characters, the cockroaches. We tried calling them waterbugs for awhile, but lets face it, if they live in NYC, they're cockroaches. After listening to the wonderful voices of these two ladies for 6 months, it was so exciting to actually meet them. I got to the senior center early for the interview and was there when Natalie arrived. I knew it was her right away since she has a VERY distinctive voice. She was happy to meet me too and told her friend "Can you believe this guy came all the way from California just to have a date with me?". So I spoke with her for a little while outside the senior center where all of their interviews took place, near Washington Square park. It was a surreal experience meeting someone who I felt like I knew already. As a recent transplant from NYC to LA, I find it very comforting to listen to the voices of such New York characters. Both Natalie and Lilly were very sweet and it was a pleasure to finally meet them. I also invited Lilly to come by our office when she visits California in February, but I haven't told my boss yet. I'm hopeful that I got some good footage and that it will be a part of our promotional materials closer to the airdate of the show. Here's a snapshot of me with Natalie and Lilly that Hillary, their excellent interviewer, took:



Luckily, I was told not to reveal their animals to them yet and I'm happy not to be the one who tells them that they will be cockroaches on the show. Although, in the modelmakers' defense, I think they are just about as cute as cockroaches can be. And since their set really captures New York, I think they'll be happy about that at least. Take a look:


This image is a still from a holiday promo that may air during "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on CBS, Friday December 8th.

Cafeteria Stats

I know what you've all been thinking: "Animation Shmanimation, how much coffee do these people drink?". Well wonder no more. The distinguished Brits pictured below in their enviable canteen have consumed the following over 25 weeks of production (forgive the metric figures):

1625 kilos of potatoes
375 kilos baked beans
6,000 pints milk
15, 000 pints coffee


Tea and cake figures were too astronomic to even guess at, clearly.