1) A Grand Day Out
Ingenious inventor Wallace loves cheese, and he’ll do anything to replenish his supply--even if it means building a rocket ship and traveling to the moon! The debut film featuring Wallace and his smarter-than-your-average-dog Gromit, A GRAND DAY OUT revived interest in stop-motion animation just when it seemed as if the technique was hopelessly outdated. A labor of love for Nick Park, the 25-minute film took over six years to make.
Details:
Sound: HiFi Sound, Stereo Sound
Notes:
The film started as Nick Park’s graduation project for the National Film and Television School in England. He finished it over six years later, while working at Aardman Animations.
Park first started thinking about Wallace and Gromit in art school in Sheffield. Gromit originally was a cat. He became a dog because dogs are generally bigger and thus, easier to manipulate for an animator.
Gromit originally had a voice. The voice was cut because the animators thought that his facial expressions were communicative enough.
One of the reasons Wallace and Gromit have disproportionately large hands is because the animators can more easily manipulate them.
Wallace and Gromit’s pupils are tiny holes that can fit the end of a paper clip. This allows the animators to manipulate eye movements.
Park likes to call the robot on the moon "The Cooker." There were originally supposed to be several robots on the moon, in a tribute to the bar scene in STAR WARS.
The short film might have won an Academy Award, if not for the fact that it was competing against another Park creation, CREATURE COMFORTS, which won the award that year.
Park’s father has said that the interior of the rocket ship is similar to a caravan he once built for the family.
"Everybody knows the moon's made of cheese." -- Wallace, explaining to Gromit why they are going to vacation on the moon.
2) The Wrong Trousers
Eccentric inventor Wallace has created a device that transports him out of his bed, dresses him, and prepares his breakfast. One morning, however, his machine plops him in the "wrong trousers," a pair of mechanized pants, which take him on a wild ride. Meanwhile, the domestic bliss of Wallace and his faithful dog, Gromit, is shattered when a mysterious penguin leases a room in their home. Is the penguin that Wallace has taken into their household a criminal mastermind or is Gromit just jealous of the attention Wallace has been lavishing on their new boarder? The answer is revealed in a thrilling climax that raises the bar for action in the medium of stop-motion animation.
Details:
Sound: HiFi Sound, Stereo Sound
Notes:
The film’s budget of about 650,000 pounds was over 50 times the budget of A GRAND DAY OUT.
Nick Park did most of the animation for Wallace and Gromit, while Steve Box did much of the animation for the penguin. Park has said that during prodution of the film, Box’s movements began to resemble the penguin's motions.
Park has admitted that he likes to wiggle his fingers just like Wallace does.
The perspiration from the penguin’s brow is actually glycerine or perspex slowly blown across a clear glass in front of the model.
Wide-angle lenses are generally not used by stop-motion animators, because that would mean that the camera would have to be placed close to the set, giving the animator little room to maneuver in between shots. Park deliberately built some of the sets with the characteristic distortion of wide-angle lenses to simulate their use.
The city museum’s artworks--Picasso’s "Les Mademoiselles D’Avignon" and the Egyptian sarcophagus, for instance--have bulbous noses just like Wallace.
"They’re techno trousers, ex-NASA...fantastic for walkies!" -- Wallace presenting his gift to Gromit
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