If you’re attending the Annecy Animation Festival this year, then you’ll notice that the festival trailer was created by Aardman and directed by Dan Ojari. It highlights the beautiful craftsmanship that the team are capable of while showcasing what Annecy is all about, and that’s creating a space for various voices.

At the Lights, Camera… Aardman! Panel, Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton took to the stage to look back at 50 years of Aardman. The company goes way back, as Lord and Sproxton had been friends since they were 12 years old and began animating when they were 16. While the company could’ve been named Lord & Sproxton, the two had created a 2D short about a superhero called Aardman, and in the short, Aardman ends up avoiding a pothole, just to end up falling through the ground anyway. When put on the spot when they needed a name to be put on their payslip, they went with Aardman. After all these years, it’s hard to imagine it as anything else.

Nick Park, the creator of Wallace & Gromit, entered on stage as we continued looking back on the studio’s decades-long history. Aardman continued making shorts and did a lot of work with various companies such as Channel 4 and Lurpak, to name a couple. It came a time where they decided to move on with shorts and step into the world of feature films. They had gained their credibility, and not only did they have two shorts nominated at the Academy Awards in the same year, but they also won for Creature Comforts, a hilarious short about animals being interviewed about their living conditions in the zoo, which we also got a look at.

Aardman’s very first feature film was Chicken Run, and we learnt that it was pitched as “The Great Escape but with chickens”, a pitch which Steven Spielberg loved, as that was one of his favourite films, which they learnt while pitching it to him at a dinner in Hollywood (oh, how far Lord and Sproxton have come).

Aardman has expanded over the years, with the crew getting larger and larger with each project. To celebrate the hard work of everyone involved, a short montage of the crew working behind the scenes on various projects such as Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Lord, Sproxton, and Park left the stage, with Sarah Cox, the Chief Creative Officer at Aardman, entering to reveal some announcements with special guests.

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom

The first project that was spoken about was the latest Shaun the Sheep film, The Beast of Mossy Bottom. It’s co-produced by Studio Canal and being distributed by Sky Cinema in the UK, with a global release being planned and a mid-September date currently locked in.

The film has been described as a Halloween movie that will look deep into Shaun’s (Justin Fletcher) psyche after he turns into a mad scientist when Timmy’s (Justin Fletcher) pumpkin is smashed by the farmer and he takes it upon himself to regrow it using mad science. Shaun risks everything with Timmy and the Flock. The creative team also watched a lot of horror films to get inspiration for this Halloween-themed Shaun the Sheep movie.

Exclusive Footage Description

A tall hairy monster appears over the hill as “Monster” by The Automatic is playing. Shaun, Timmy, Bitzer (John Sparkes), and the Flock run into the house, boarding the windows and doors for their protection. The cuckoo clock goes off, scaring them, and they proceed to board up the clock too.

The monster has managed to squeeze his way into the house. The Flock hides all over the house, from inside lamps to a bathtub. The shower head begins to drip, causing one of the Flock to turn it off, which makes a screeching sound. We then hear Bernard Herrmann’s iconic ”The Knife” from Psycho, but the sound ends up actually coming from one of the Flock, flossing their teeth.

The monster reaches behind the shower curtain and instead of reaching for the Flock, it picks up a razor. Shaun peeks a look, and from the mirror, we get a closer look at the monster who resembles The Farmer (John Sparkes).

Let’s Go Timmy!

Let’s Go Timmy! was revealed at the Aardman panel, which will be a further expansion of Mossy Bottom. It’ll be a preschool show that will have a mixture of both 2D animation and the iconic Aardman stop motion. The show will focus on Bitzer the sheepdog as he’s tasked with getting Shaun and his two best friends, Yabba and Apricot, to Mossy Bottom School safely each morning.

There will be 5 x 30-minute-long episodes which will be directed by Merlin Crossingham and Daniel Bins and produced by Stephanie Miller with Lucy Pryke, the commissioning executive for the BBC. Let’s Go Timmy! will be released next spring for the BBC. 

The (Almost) Untold Story of Danger Delilah

One of the bigger surprises at the Aardman panel was the announcement of an entirely brand new project titled The (Almost) Untold Story of Danger Delilah. There was no footage shown, but we got a look at concept art and a poster which was drawn by Oliver Jeffers. The project is based on his Once Upon A Alphabet story and follows Danger Delilah, who discovers that her world is beginning to disappear and that she’s a character in someone else’s story that’s been forgotten about. She decides to take things into her own hand and rewrite her story. 

The project has entered its next phase, and they are now beginning to pitch it. Pete Lord will be writing the script. 

Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu

The Pokémon x Aardman project has been revealed to be a comedy show titled Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu. It’ll be set in the Galar region from Sword and Shield, a region that’s inspired by Great Britain, the home of Aardman, making this the perfect collaboration. All the blurs and effects are made in-house. Pichu’s Lightning uses celluloid, and dust clouds use cotton balls. The show will be released next year. 

Exclusive Footage Description

Animation tests were shown for Sirfetch’d which showcased him bowing, slashing his sword, and his feathers atop his head swishing down, hiding his vision. 

Animation tests were also shown for Pichu which highlighted him climbing, zapping fast with his electricity to grab berries, and rolling around. 

A fully animated scene from the pilot was showcased which featured Sirfetch’d walking while Pichu was in the background jumping around and zapping about like an excited child, landing in front of Sirfetch’d, which causes him to respond annoyingly. 

An almost 2-3 second clip of Pichu getting scared was shown which was visually stunning as the lightning was going crazy behind, making great use of the celluloid for effect.

Aardman Academy

To wrap things up, Aardman announced that they’ll have a new MFA course at The Royal College of Art where students will be able to do a year working at the studio. A fun little trailer was shown to announce the news. This, as the final announcement for the Aardman panel, felt like a full circle, giving space for future animators to have a future at big renowned studios like Aardman.