Aardman Co-Founder David Sproxton's Tips for Success in the Animation Industry, Part 2 (of 3): 4 Production Tips

David Sproxton

Over the course of Aardman co-founder David Sproxton’s two in-depth interviews with Watershed’s Mark Cosgrove, it becomes blatantly obvious that his easy-to-listen-to, soft-spoken words offer an invaluable resource to animators and filmmakers alike in the way becoming successful in the business of animation.

In keeping with the theme of last-week’s article, this week signifies the second post in Stop Motion Geek’s series of articles on advice for animators and filmmakers accrued from Sproxton’s interviews with Cosgrove about the history of Aardman, wittily titled “Aardocs.” Last week, the elements of Sproxton’s advice that I chose to write about primarily pertained to pre-production, whereas this week I’ve chosen advice of his that pertain primarily to the process of production. His advice – posted below – span everything from importance of knowing your limitations to an excellent way to to build your skill-set as an animator or filmmaker to the value of creative and technical constraints in animation.

1. Know your limitations and build up your skill-set as an animator or director before venturing to produce that brilliant idea you’ve always had.

Often times, when starting out in the animation and filmmaking business, an artist has one – if not several – ideas for films that they’ve built up an expectation around as being, when finished, their masterpiece. However, as we see in Sproxton, Peter Lord, and Nick Park’s careers, in order to do that idea justice, it can often be very helpful to start with a blank slate and to instead ‘practice’ by making a film based off an idea or characters or a world that are, by design, more manageable (in the sense of the timespan it will take to complete and also in the sense of catering to your capabilities as an artist), that you intend to use as a stepping stone to improve your skills as an artist, and that you are less invested in from the get-go.

David Sproxton on the set of a Morph segment for British television show "Take Hart"

Both in their move to making short films for Channel 4 and their leap into making features, this is a lesson Sproxton and his associates Peter Lord and Nick Park have learned over the course of Aardman’s lifespan.

The biggest example of Sproxton and co.’s adherence to this adage came to them in a defining moment after the Dreamworks-Aardman feature-film deal. As Sproxton tells it, this defining decision was Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park’s to make, and it came to him when Sproxton approached Park with the prospect of making a feature-length Wallace & Gromit film. Sproxton recalls, “Nick had been doing Wallace & Gromit for almost thirteen years and he said, ‘Actually, guys, I want to do something else [than a Wallace & Gromit movie].’ And, actually, as a first feature, our big anxiety – well, not anxiety, it was a kind of concern – that in the half-hour [Wallace & Gromit] shorts there was only one extra protagonist, whether it was Wendolene or Preston or the Penguin. They was quite a small cast, basically, and you could string a half-an-hour story around a very small number of characters. When you went to a 90 minute thing you needed subplots, you needed extra tensions, and Nick and we thought, ‘How do you do this? You’ve got one small speaking part in Wallace and a dog that doesn’t speak – how the hell do you string that out to 90 minutes?’ Kind of went through our head, ‘How do we construct a story?’ And we didn’t really have the experience. I think Nick felt actually, ‘I’ll put those [Wallace & Gromit] aside. Let’s come up with another idea.’ He came up with this wonderful idea of, basically, an escape movie with chickens. I think for Nick it was a bit of a release to get away from Wallace & Gromit, do a different sort of story. Same sort of sensibilities, same absurdities, same nuttiness, but a story where you kind of knew you had a bigger framework and that you could make that work.”

A still from Chicken Run (Courtesy of Aardman Animations)

This adage is complimented well by third of Sproxton’s tips from the first article in this series – that knowing your limitations as an artist and specializing in one or two aspects of the animation process are vital for artistic growth, both individually and as a member of a film production or studio.

Sproxton tells another story about the early days of Aardman that compliment this lesson quite well. The story takes place around a time in the early 80s where Sproxton and Lord were experimenting with the concept of creating animations to recorded conversations that took place in public settings between the general public.

“Around about the time Channel 4 was starting,” Sproxton explains, “there was an animation festival and Channel 4 put some money into it to basically meet animators because their remit with Channel 4 was to make films for minorities – everyone’s in a minority, just different interests – and they said, ‘We must get into animation.’ Suddenly, all these British animators came out of the woodwork. Jeremy Isaacs – who was a brilliant chief exec, as it were, in those early days – saw this piece [Down and Out] and said, ‘I’ll have five of those for our first week of transmission.’ He wanted ten, five-minute pieces for the first week of transmission, which was about eight months away. We said, ‘We can’t possibly do ten of those.’ He said, ‘I’ll tell you what, five now and five of something else later.’ And that was our [Sproxton and Lord’s] first commission. That was it. Job done. Five short films. Great. Inevitably we were very late in delivery. In fact, we were about six months late, so they kept the transmission date for the first anniversary year and stripped these five pieces across the week at nine o’clock at night, which was the most unbelievable piece of scheduling for us.”

A still from the 1979 short film Down and Out (Courtesy of Aardman Animations)

We can learn from Sproxton and Lord’s behavior here. In this story, Sproxton and Lord knew their incapacities (at least to some extent, even if they were – in all fairness – a little over zealous in how much time their ability to produce the project in the estimated timespan) and, because of that, they only undertook an amount of work that they knew they could produce while retaining a certain level of quality. Learning and applying this lesson is key to being successful in the animation industry.

I think for Nick it was a bit of a release to get away from Wallace & Gromit, do a different sort of story. Same sort of sensibilities, same absurdities, same nuttiness, but a story where you kind of knew you had a bigger framework and that you could make that work.

“I suppose with all great filmmakers,” Sproxton observes, “you start with small stuff and then you have these aspirations, you have these ambitions, you want to tell bigger and bigger stories, and that is the shift to features. It is quite a shift from a 30 minute story to a 90 minute film and it takes a time to get there, adding extra subplots, extra characters.”

A still from 2005's Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Courtesy of Aardman Animations)

2. Work in the industry of television advertising.

After creating their 1989 Oscar®-winning Creature Comforts short film, the then-small animation studio that was Aardman became something that the cultural consciousness began to become aware of, which then kicked off their career in producing commercials, at which they were very successful.



It is in both their success in and in how much they learned from their work in advertising that Sproxton revels, “Much to our amazement, the advertising work continues to this day and it’s actually been, for quite a while it proved to be the financial backbone for the company. We learned a hell of a lot on it. I’ve often said that it’s probably the best funded film academy you can have, partially because your working with – in those days it was the mid-80s to the mid-90s – some very bright advertising people…They [advertising agencies] wanted high production values. They were going to be answerable to their clients. We didn’t know what we were doing and it was great in those early days to have that kind of mentoring and support and we learned a ton of stuff. It allowed us also to bring more people in – model makers, designers, cameramen, and trying to find a few more animators. We built up a small coterie of skills through the advertising business…[In commercial work] you ran on fear – fear of failure. And I can remember waking up in a cold sweat at six in the morning absolutely fearful of, ‘Are we going to pull this off?’ The expectation was very, very high…You had the money to pull in the right people, but it does kind of pull you up by the bootstraps both in the craft skills and, in a way, equipment and the language and what was expected.”

This is advice that Sproxton again reiterates and expounds upon in his second interview with Cosgrove, saying, “Ads are an opportunity to do stuff that you wouldn’t normally do. The best ones push us quite hard. It’s very nice to do some of the promo stuff as well because – although the money is much less significant – it’s just trying something new and different which we can put on our reel and say to ad agencies, ‘Look, we’ve done this. Do you like this? Can you use this elsewhere?’ It’s the best fully-funded filmmaking academy you can get because you have to deliver a message. You have to work with third parties. You’ve got a pretty good budget so you can work with top-quality people. There’s no excuse for not getting them right. And, in any one year, if you are a very busy commercials director, you’ll be doing a whole range of quite different work so you can kind of spread your wings a bit and learn a lot, I think.”

3. Use creative constraints to foster creative problem solving skills and to hone your skills as a filmmaker and a storyteller.

Another takeaway from Sproxton’s comments about Aardman’s work in advertising pertains to a maturity in their work ethic that came about as a result of working in the advertising industry. This was, in fact, a by-product of the how commercial work imposes certain limitations and constraints that forced them to edit their ideas and to hone their skills. He elaborates, “The thing about ads – it’s changed a bit now with the online stuff – but a 30-second ad is 750 frames. It’s not 751 and it’s not 749, it’s 750. So that discipline of getting a story across in that 30 seconds or in 20 seconds is actually a really, really good discipline. You can’t stretch to, ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter if it’s 91 seconds.’ No. It actually is 30 seconds. So you’ve got to make it hit home.”



This is merely one breed of constraints – a runtime constraint. However, budgetary constraints are another kind of limitation that often breed creative and interesting solutions. There are other kinds of limitations that can be wonderful to impose upon yourself as an artist and a storyteller that can make the end result of your project much better in the end – a limitation on the number of characters or sets that you build, how refined your story is before you start, etc. All of these can be extraordinarily helpful to an artist, especially when in the “blue sky” period of production (the brainstorm phase of a project)…most of the time. Whatever you as an artist are doing you should do consciously and for a reason. Some limitations can result in a bad film, which are the kind of limitations you need to steer clear of. However, because every artist is different from the next, it is important for you, the artist, to assess and reassess why you’re doing what you’re doing and what end result you’re aiming for. However, creative limitations are a tool that are available to artists, and it’s one that you should be aware of. What you do with it is up to you.

The thing about ads – it’s changed a bit now with the online stuff – but a 30-second ad is 750 frames. It’s not 751 and it’s not 749, it’s 750. So that discipline of getting a story across in that 30 seconds or in 20 seconds is actually a really, really good discipline. 

4. Start making your films now.

Sproxton tells the story of Aardman with a direct nonchalance, “It all started at a kitchen table. Pete [Peter Lord] and I met as schoolkids…Pete and I got to be great mates and we started playing and thinking up stories. I was always interested in photography and kind of I guess like the process thing about films…Anyway, to cut a long story short, one day we got out the Bolex, stuck it up on a stand and actually just cut images out of color supplements. We’d obviously watched programs like Vision On, which obviously used a plethora of styles. Cut out is the easiest thing to do. We didn’t really understand cel animation or actually how you drew stuff. We just moved stuff around and did stuff with chalk drawings.”

(From the right) Peter Lord, David Sproxton, and Nick Park

This is the most indisputable of all creative advice – just starting doing what you love. Start now. Yet, no matter how often it’s said, it can never be reiterated enough: in order to become great at something – whether it’s filmmaking, animation, cinematography, screen-writing, puppet fabrication, or something entirely different – you’re going to start out producing a level of quality that you wish you could bypass, it’s inevitable. Often these are called “failures” – a term I believe is a misnomer and that I take high offense at. If you never try, if you never start or follow through with a project – despite how terrible you might be at the beginning of your career at your craft – you will never, never make anything you are proud of, and your career is as good as over.

...one day we got out the Bolex, stuck it up on a stand and actually just cut images out of color supplements. We’d obviously watched programs like Vision On, which obviously used a plethora of styles. Cut out is the easiest thing to do. We didn’t really understand cel animation or actually how you drew stuff. We just moved stuff around and did stuff with chalk drawings.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to start following your passion. Start making things, and start now.

David Sproxton

You can go watch the complete collection of “Aardocs” – Sproxton’s interviews – by going here.

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