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SUPER MODELS
SUPER MODELS
Heard the one about the Aardvark and the Caterpillar? It’s the charming animated world of Hamilton Mattress.
W allace & Gromit have a rival in the
model animation jungle and he comes in the unlikely shape of a drum-playing
Aardvark. They even come from the same city, both being created in the thriving animation centre of Bristol.
Hamilton Mattress is a modern day fable, as inquisitive aardvark and ace percussionist, Hamilton sets off from the savannah in search of some- thing more in his life.
“What Hamilton really wants is to be beautiful,” explains Chris Moll pro- ducer of the film and the man behind Harvest Films, its production company.
“His sidekick is Feldwick the caterpillar, who is two thirds Del Boy to one part Broadway Danny Rose; he’s a sort of failed agent who needs a hit. They both go on an adventure and of course they find out that happiness does not lie in either of those things.”
Based on a character created by John Webster, the film was directed by Barry Purves during a tight production schedule of just 39 weeks.
Shot on Fuji 125 in a studio made of two specially adapted factory units on the outskirts of Bristol, the pres- sure to deliver a high quality, half hour model animation in less than a year must have been pretty intense. Especially as no more than seven cam- eras were used at any one time and the crew would rarely number more than 20 on any one day.
For DP Paul Smith, the reliability of the F-125 stock was, at least, one less thing to worry about.
“There’s always a risk in anima- tion with the stability of some stocks,” he says. “I’ve had problems with some non-Fuji stocks in the past where I’ve been working on a shot for five days. Everything’s been fine for the first four days only for there to be a discontinu- ity in quality on the fifth.
“That would appear to be a stabil- ity issue with the emulsion. So getting it right is important, and I also like the vibrancy and the tone of the F-125. We always have great control over expo- sure, we never need to go for faster stocks, except for effect sometimes.”
Assisted in the final weeks of pro- duction by Frank Passingham, Smith’s job has been gruelling but satisfying. For Claire Cohen, puppet supervisor and builder, there has been just as much pressure to keep the stars of the film in top order. “All the characters have spare parts and for the main ones we have four identical models,” she explains. “And of course we can re-skin and repair them. Hamilton has had to have a new head every couple of months and they all get repainted fairly regularly, because they get dirty with everyone’s hands touching them.”
The actors voicing these particu- lar characters include David Thewlis, Lindsay Duncan, Henry Goodman and William Hootkins. Unusually for anima- tion, the voice cast recorded their tracks together, as if they were per- forming a radio play, rather than laying down each of their roles in isolation.
This is just one of the ways that producer Chris Moll hopes will make Hamilton the aardvark he wants to be and make Hamilton Mattress the hit, and progenitor of a franchise, that everyone is hoping for. It was for this reason that, budgetary constraints notwithstanding, the production decid- ed to shoot on film in the first place.
“What’s been great is that our sets have a real feature film look that I don’t think we would have got if we hadn’t used film. There would have been no point in giving the art depart- ment that richness of colour if we’d gone digitally and colour plays a big part of the story.”
As to the shadow of Aardman being cast across them, Moll is pretty relaxed on the issue. He, and most of his crew, have at some time or other worked on an Aardman production. What they all aspire to is having as clear and distinct an identity for their animation as their erstwhile colleagues across Bristol have.
“I would be disappointed if people say ‘oh it’s an Aardman show’, but that’s the problem you face because Aardman has become shorthand for model animation to some people.
“I hope this will go some way to changing that attitude. I hope this one will be the one that breaks the mould, that people see there are other good, popular shows being made by different people too.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
Hamilton Mattress was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
EXPOSURE • 22 & 23