Chat Ed : Just settling everyone in - we'll be starting in one minute, everyone!
Chat Ed clucks.
Nick Park : Greetings!
Peter Lord : Hello
Kate : How did you get into animation?
Graham I : Cock a doodle doo
Nick Park : Well I was always into drawing cartoons since I was 10. When I was 11 or 12 I discovered my parents 8mm camera and I started experimenting with that camera in my parents attic. I would come home from school and watch Morph which was created by Peter here!!
Graham I : Does that mean that you doodled instead of concentrating on your 'proper' studies ?
Nick Park : Yes! Absolutely!
Chat Ed chuckles
Nick Park : My rough notebooks were filled with characters that I dreamt up and that I had high aspirations for. I dreamt that one day they would be household names!
Rach246698 : How did you come up with the idea of Chicken Run?
Peter Lord : Right, well we were talking and drinking coffee and doodling . . .One of the things we were playing around with was a picture of a chicken digging around with a spoon. The first idea was simple, Oh doesn't the set of the Great Escape look like a chicken farm!! The actual story took a year of talking and discussing. We didn't have Rocky or Ginger, the final story took a year to write.
splitsplot : Did you have to compromise at all to make the film more friendly for American audiences, given you were bankrolled by an American studio?
Peter Lord : I would say definitely not. Certainly on a conscious level. For example Dreamworks had no say in the casting of the actors. They never questioned the words or the accents used. I must say they certainly helped us with the structure of our 80 minute film which is very different to a 30 minute TV special.
splitsplot : The rumour-mill says that you have two more films in the pipeline after this, one of them featuring Wallace and Gromit, can you comment on this?
Nick Park : Yeah, we actually have a deal with Dreamworks to do another 4 pictures after this. The next one is already in the development process. It's an Aardman take on the Tortoise and the Hare tale done in a Spinal Tap, Rocky Series sort of style. It's hard to describe!!
JazzyBoom : cool
Nick Park : It's being directed by Richard Goleszowski. So they are hard at work on that now. In the next year or so, while that is underway, I will be getting together with Bob Baker (the writer of the last 2 Wallace and Gromit films) to make a Wallace and Gromit feature. I already have the idea simmering away in the back of my brain. It's too early to comment on that though!
Shelley Woods : Did you base the chicken characters on people you know?
Peter Lord : mmmm no not really. They are a mixture of lots of characters. And it is true that Ginger was influenced by the character that Julia plays in Ab Fab. And Rocky was very influenced by Mel and the character he played in Maverick.
clucky_paul : What animals would Johnny and Liza be if you had to animate them ?
Peter Lord : that's a good one!
Peter Lord laughs
Peter Lord : I'm looking at Nick now - we'll do this together I think Liza would make a good Cheshire cat
Chat Ed chuckles
Steeve : yeah!
Peter Lord : and Johnny could be an ant-eater!
Ribena Gurl : LOL
Neilly : I know this is a long and complicated question, but, lip sync? - difficult?
Nick Park : It's probably the most time consuming aspect of this kind of animation. At the end of 'A Close Shave' we developed a new way of doing it quicker. You need to start with the voice track and break it down into frames, 24ths of a second. That's your guide as to which mouth shape you sculpt and normally the animator would have to sculpt the mouth with modelling tools in front of the camera. And on 'A Close Shave' we developed a technique where we would have pre-made mouths for all the vowels and consonants necessary, for Wallace I'm talking about here. On Chicken Run we have gone even further. Every single character has their own set of beaks or mouth replacements. The animator has to replace the mouth shape for every single frame - it has sped things up a great deal.
jason : How do you animate rain and water, oh, and fog and stuff ? Thats always puzzled me.
Peter Lord : In Chicken Run there is rain, smoke, fire and a lake. In all those cases they are done by Computer Generated Animation but when the rain is falling and hitting chickens we actually animate glycerin to hit the chickens. We super-impose rain falling onto the shot.
Steeve : wow
Peter Lord : They are a number of different ways of doing it. When the rain hits the chicken we put a little plastic splash shape on for one single frame.
shaven_lunatic : Didn't you ever get the urge to just stomp on one of the chickens when you got frustrated?
Peter Lord : Yes definitely!! The only thing that stops you is that they are too expensive!!
Michael Wardley : Do you prefer Wallace and Gromit because it was your first major break through or do you see Chicken Run as being just as big?
Nick Park : Erm . .well it's hard to compare really. I have to admit that I'll always have a soft spot for Wallace and Gromit. They've been with me for so long now and are of enormous sentimental value. Because they are seen as classic characters I tend to think I can go back to the them. They are like old friends.
Chat Ed : Quite a few work-based questions, guys, so I'll just put two through here...
liran bowers : my friend and I have made some claymation for our A-level coursework. We would both like to pursue this as our future, is there anywhere where we could send our work for you to see?
james carroll : I'm trying to start a small animation company, do you have any tips on getting in to see these people as Sam Fell at Aardman seems to be the only bloke to give us a chance?
Nick Park : There is a way, whether I'll get to see it immediately or not is another question. Over to Peter.
Peter Lord : James have you done any animation?
Chat Ed : James, you still there?
Peter Lord : If people have done animation then we'll look at their work.
james carroll : Yes I have mostly done 2D but we are now experimenting with plasticine.
Peter Lord : Lots of people start with us as model-makers and that's a way to work up to be an animator. But starting your own company is always difficult I do think that the internet might be offering really significant opportunities in the next couple of years because it's hungry for animation.
Chat Ed : Three rapid fire ones...?
colin : how long does it take to make one of the models?
Chat Ed : (We're running out of time now everyone..)
Michael Wardley : How long does it take to make one episode of Wallace and Gromit?
ajc9t9 : how long does it take to animate one minute of film?
Nick Park : A lot of these questions will be answered in our books. In Peter's book 'Clucking Animation' by Peter Lord and Brian Sibley, or the Making of Chicken Run.
Actually it's Cracking Animation!
Chat Ed grins
Nick Park : Sorry! Bye everyone. Thank you.
Peter Lord waves
Chat Ed : That's it folks - Nick and Peter are being dragged off by the crew....
Peter Lord : Thanks so much for the questions.
Nick Park leaves the room
Michael Wardley : thank you
Steeve : bye!
Lynsey : Ta ta!
jason : bye!! Good luck for the future !!!
clucky_paul : bye bye *buck buck*
morph : bye dad
Peter Lord leaves the room
Doc_Z : cheers
Chat Ed : aw BLESS
Chat Ed ruffles Morph
Chat Ed : That's it folks!
