Interview with Mark Burton, nominated for SHAUN THE SHEEP THE MOVIE, together with co-director Richard Starzak
Mark Burton
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What is SHAUN THE SHEEP THE MOVIE about and what was the initial motivation / idea? The film is about how we sometimes take the things we have and the people we love for granted. But the initial motivation was to explore the potential of the TV series. We always believed that the characters could carry their own feature-length story. What is the advantage of stop motion compared to other forms of animation – apart from being your signature style? |
It’s a real process, everything you see physically exists – the puppets, the sets, the props and so on. It’s like live action filmmaking in miniature.
Sometimes this creates limitations but pushing at those limitations can be very creative. Working with stop frame animators is special too, it’s like working with actors, the craft and physical precision of their work adds another dimension.
Before the film, there was SHAUN THE SHEEP the TV series. In what way is the film a departure from there?
In the TV series the farm is like a workplace with a boss (the farmer), his foreman (Bitzer), and a bunch of workers (Shaun and the flock); but for the film we re-imagined them as a family with the farmer more like a father figure, Bitzer an elder sibling, and Shaun a sort of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’. This gave us an emotional story for the film. The other departure from the TV series was literally a departure – we took the characters off the farm, out of their comfort zone, and put them in the opposite environment – a city.
How was the work process from the first idea to the finished film? And what were the main challenges along the way?
We spent 18 months working on the script and the animatic, then another year on animation and post-production – but for an animated film, that was fast, a white knuckle ride. The hardest thing is that you have to keep developing and improving the story, even though you’re in the middle of tough production deadlines.
It is your first feature film as directors. What was different from your previous Aardman productions?
No different in that we have a hugely passionate and committed crew who work on all the Aardman productions. We also have a very experienced Aardman “Brains Trust” with such luminaries as Peter Lord, Nick Park, Dave Sproxton, and Steve Box. They gave us invaluable advice and support. But at the end of the day directing a movie is brutal! There’s nothing that prepares you for it.
Can you describe how you work together as a directing duo? Do you have specific roles, talents, fields of work?
Richard is more on the visual side, he’s an artist, animator and character designer. Mark’s background is in story and screenwriting, both for TV and film, so in some ways it was a Yin and Yang situation. That’s not to say Yin and Yang didn’t argue about a lot of stuff – sometimes the only way to move forward is to have an argument, then win it or lose it.
Who do you consider your influences – artists, animators, directors?
For this movie we were especially inspired and influenced by the silent comedy masters like Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and also by the French director Jacques Tati.
What do you think is unique about animation “made in Europe” and what are the main differences to American and Japanese animation films?
I think the sense of humour is unique, especially (if I can be so bold) with British films. European animated films are often smaller productions, not developed and produced by a studio system, which means they are fuelled by passion more than money, this makes them quirky and original if sometimes a lot less commercial but we like American and Japanese animated films too – a well-told story is a well-told story.
