STUDIOS // AARDMAN DIGITAL | BETA INSIDE AARDMAN
Aardman’s reception area, behind which are creative facilities of every kind
THE AARDMANSTUDIO is a remarkable facility. Tucked down a self-effacing Bristol side street, it may not boast the square footage of the sprawling Canadian super-studios, but it contains what developers the world-over would have good reason to envy. As well as the Aardman
Client work for the Cartoon Network (top) and famed
creations in clay by the Digital team’s co-workers (above)
then a relatively small team within the company.” As a result, unrelated companies started to catching on to what Digital were doing, and began enquiring about help with IP from outside Aardman’s doors. “So as well as doing our own work, which was going really well, we started to do external work, much like our commercial team does,” continues Manion. “It was then that we found ourselves working on quite a large range of different digital projects, but generally with a focus on entertainment.” Since, the staff at Digital have made an
array of games for high profile clients including the BBC and Cartoon Network, while producing own IP like the Home Sheep Home series, while involving themselves in unusual projects like the Tate’s movie, The Itch of the Golden Nit, where children used Aardman Digital crafted web-based
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
development tools to create an entire film, relatively free of adult influence. It would be easy to assume that those
projects have come in on the back Aardman’s name alone. After all, with a forty-year heritage defined by huge and well-regarded IPs, it must help with securing client work. Or so you’d think.
A FOOT IN THE DOOR “We really do have to prove ourselves,” insists Aardman Digital technical lead Mark Burvill of the idea that the logo on his business card could secure he and his colleagues work. “Aardman’s reputation can get our foot in the door, for sure, and we probably do find it easy to talk to whoever we want out there, but actually converting that into work is never easy. We still have to prove ourselves in the way everybody else does.”
Digital team, it contains the beating heart of the company’s heritage that is the model workshops, where Wallace, Gromit, Morph, the Creature Comforts characters and a wealth of other animation icons have been shaped from clay, fabric and even Girls Aloud brand fake eyelashes. There’s also a network of film and stop- frame animation studios, edit suites, grading rooms, audio booths, a sprawling CG team, an advertising department, a merchandising division, set and prop making workspaces and numerous other facilities. There’s everything needed to produce games, websites, feature films, adverts, TV shows, music videos and much more besides, and, if needed, it is all at the disposal of the Digital staff. Elsewhere, in the hallways walls are adorned with the
history of the company, from photos of its earliest days to concept art that set the foundation for some of Aardman’s most famous output. Mezzanines play host to elaborate sets from the films, and there’s even space for a quaint garden with its own pond; apparently the place to find the company founders when they find time for some respite from their daily workload. And, as a quantifiable
testament to the allure of the creative powerhouse’s resonance with consumers across the globe, outside the main entrance a stream of families and aspiring creatives arrive to peek inside or have their photo taken with a Gromit sculpture placed in the main courtyard. It is a place of near unrivalled character, and is undoubtedly an inspiring place to visit, let alone work inside. Across its many floors and outbuildings, heads are buried deep in work, and there is no doubt that those lucky enough to earn their own Aardman business cards are seriously devoted to what they do. But, unquestionably, the studio is a factory of fun.
“It’s not the case that being Aardman means there’s no effort to find work,” adds Manion. “Like anybody we do loose pitches to other companies. It’s not like we’re the only team out there doing these kinds of projects.” But the Aardman name does bring something else to the table. In reality, it’s a pressure, but a positive one that encourages the team, and helps attract both sparkling talent and some of the industry’s sharpest freelancers, which the core team rely on. “It is pretty powerful to have Aardman’s heritage in the back of your mind all of the time,” explains Lorna Probert, head of Digital production. “Just walking out the office you see all these icons. From where I’m sat now I can see the top of the Top Bun Windmill and things like that. That is really powerful, to think of the millions of people that have seen that. And in a meeting room here there’s
Aardman Digital’s head of production, Lorna Probert (above), says creativity is the priority at the studio
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