Chris and Alex return to the feature films of the Bristol-based Aardman Animations studio for Episode 67, travelling from the world of Kensington propriety ‘up top’ to the underground chaos of Ratropolis ‘down below’ for Flushed Away (David Bowers & Sam Fell, 2006), which tells the story of the trials and tribulations of high society rat Roddy St. James who is inadvertently flushed down into the sewers of London. Mirroring this narrative collision of worlds, Flushed Away also bears the industrial weight of such duality, being part of a 12-year, four-film $250million agreement between Aardman and Hollywood studio DreamWorks Animation to produce a series of animated features. Listen as Chris and Alex examine how Aardman’s stop-frame processes (and signature silicon-based Plasticine style) combined with the workflow of computer-animated films in the U.S.; character modelling and the sculpting of digital clay as part of the Flushed Away’s CG/stop-motion hybrid aesthetics; pantomimic expression and film comedy; questions of national identity and the film’s construction of a ‘national fantastic’; the Romantic origins of fantasy storytelling; and the contribution that Flushed Away’s creativity with waste, junk, garbage and cultural detritus makes to its crafting of a highly-detailed animated world.
Life, Animated (2016) (with Janet Harbord)
Footnote #40 - Puppetry
The Dark Crystal (1982) (with Tanya Kirk)
Arthur Christmas (2011)
Footnote #39 - Special Effects
Disney: A Tale of Technology and Innovation (Live at the British Film Institute) (with Chris McKenna)
Footnote #38 - Storybook Openings
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) (with Taylor Driggers)
Footnote #37 - Silent Cinema (with Lawrence Napper)
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) (with Lawrence Napper)
Footnote #36 - Horror Cinema (with Stacey Abbott)
ParaNorman (2012) (with Stacey Abbott)
Footnote #35 - Twice Told Tales
Cats (2019)
Fantasy/Animation - Announcement
Footnote #34 - Science Fiction (with Mark Bould)
Free Guy (2021) (with Mark Bould)
Footnote #33 - Can Colour Blind People Work in VFX? (with Chris McKenna)
Dumbo (2019) (with Chris McKenna)
Footnote #32 - 3D (with Nick Jones)
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Multiverse Fancast
Cinema: A to B
I Finally Watched...
Pod Meets World
Kill James Bond!