“Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie” set report
Earlier in the year Skwigly were fortunate enough to get a very special sneak peek behind the black curtain at Aardman‘s Aztec West studio, while they were crafting their newest adventure Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie, the highly-anticipated follow up to their 2015 hit Shaun the Sheep Movie.
This impressive studio spans an entire warehouse that houses directors, producers, model makers, animators and a vast amount of equipment – all in honour of their 17cm tall superstar Shaun the sheep, who has now been a staple at Aardman since his 1995 in Nick Park‘s A Close Shave. The mischievous young sheep has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame through not only his internationally beloved TV show, but also theme park rides, spin-off shows, and now not one but two feature films.
(Aardman/Studio Canal)
Directed by Will Becher and Richard Phelan and produced by Paul Kewley, the new film takes us where no sheep has gone before; Shaun is paired up with the unusual Lu-La (named as a nod to the 50th Anniversary of the Lunar landing in July 2019), a tentacle-limbed, dog-like alien who has crashed landed on to the farm.
When we first sat down to talk about this movie, we knew we wanted to add a new element of nuance, of Shaun growing up. So, we needed a new character, one that he has to grow up to look after. That’s LU-LA. She’s a young alien who has crash-landed on Earth, and who needs Shaun’s help to get back home. She is a puppet unlike any other in the Aardman universe. She’s stretchy. She moves at a speed that no other character can. Her eyes bug out.
-Richard Phelan, co-director
Shaun must help Lu-La avoid capture by the notorious agent Red whilst attempting to reunite her with her family.
Lu-La in Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie (Aardman/Studio Canal)
The film offers impressive scope in set design, with up to 70 shooting across over 35 units, including the largest interior set the team have ever created in the form of Agent Red’s underground base, a visual spectacle full of diodes and beeping lights that would feel at home in any bond film.
Because of that scale, the sets that we built were so big on this that one actually had to be built outside the studio, brought in in pieces and actually assembled on their side, with the cameras shooting it sideways. A bit like they used to shoot Batman and Robin climbing up the buildings in the old TV series, but hopefully a bit more convincingly! In the first Shaun [movie], we showed some scale, but on this one we actually had to build Mossingham village! That was a very big build. One of our biggest sets ever. A lot of time went into that. I would say that that set is at least a man-year’s worth of work. Maybe a bit more.
-Matt Perry, Production Designer
The biggest new addition in this film is, of course, Lu-La herself – the rambunctious childlike little alien is everything younger audiences could possibly want in their own alien friend. She’s cute, sparkly and comes equipped with a myriad of special powers, something that Shaun and the flock enjoy to no end.
(Aardman/Studio Canal)
“The visual tone of the farm has been more informed by the American Midwest,” states Production designer Matt Perry, with rows of corn and iconic crop circles. Previously the adventures on the farm have generally taken place in the summer months, but for Farmageddon the team decided to set in autumn to give it an eerie feeling throughout. At the height of the production there were 28 animators, capturing on average two seconds of animation per day. The film shows how comfortable Aardman has become at creating funny, visually stunning and crowd pleasing feature films.
Shaun is known in over 170 territories worldwide and is set to visit Japan next summer as part team GB at the 2020 Olympics. This iconic wooly figure has no plans of settling down anytime soon and with Lu-La by his side his adventures are sure to continue for a long time to come.
Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie is out in UK cinemas this Friday