Aardman Animations’ latest particular appears to be like considerably completely different from its conventional stop-motion fare, just like the Wallace & Gromit shorts and Rooster Run, or its CGI tasks, like Flushed Away. Robin Robin, out on Netflix now, is stuffed with mushy, fuzzy needle-felt characters — a departure from the studio’s signature clay-modeled movies. However there’s a cause for that: The brand new particular comes from two new creators, Mike Please and Dan Ojari, who pitched the story to an Aardman govt at a movie pageant.

Robin Robin follows a younger robin named Robin (Bronte Carmichael), who was raised by a household of mice. Unable to sneak round like her siblings and father, Robin feels misplaced. She meets a materialistic magpie (Richard E. Grant), who tells her concerning the human custom of hoping on a Christmas star. All Robin has to do is acquire a star and want to be a mouse! Ought to be straightforward, proper?

Polygon talked to the writer-director duo about getting the story excellent, crafting the intimate look impressed by Christmas decorations, and pushing the boundaries of felt animation.

Picture: Aardman/Netflix

The place did the thought for the story come from? How has it developed because the first conception?

Mike Please: It’s a narrative Dan and I’ve been chewing over for a really very long time. We first conceived the premise most likely about eight years in the past, and all of it got here collectively over one night time in our studio. We have been serious about concepts for a Christmas story. And the quite simple narrative of [a bird] raised by mice who goes on an journey to steal a Christmas star form of happened. That felt actually thrilling.

How we advised that story modified dramatically over 4 years. Each Christmas, we might nook our family and friends and be like, Hey, we’ve received this concept for a Christmas particular. It’s this, this, this and this. After which more often than not, individuals kind of tried to run away from us. However when it received to the purpose the place we might get to the tip of the story and other people would nonetheless be there, we’re like, Okay, the little factor we’ve been baking is able to serve to someone else.

So then we took it to a Annecy Movie Pageant — not totally with the intention of doing an enormous kind of pitch with numerous individuals, however we serendipitously ran into Sarah Cox, the event govt at Aardman, within the canteen. We made this little storybook that advised the story in actually easy little silhouettes, and we commissioned considered one of our favourite illustrators to do a number of work of Magpie’s treehouse and Robin within the garbage, and just some taster issues.

We confirmed these to Sarah, and a few of our songs as properly. So image it: [Us] within the nook of the canteen, kneeling to indicate her this guide. She actually received excited. Then we took it to Netflix, they usually have been equally excited. As soon as we pitched it, all of it occurred fairly fast.

Dan Ojari: We had a script at that time as properly. We’d written a extremely tough first go. I believe that script go was simply going by way of the motions of what was found out plot-wise. It didn’t actually have very developed characters. Once we began at Aardman, the principle factor we began on was discovering who the characters have been, and actually ensuring it was Robin’s story to inform.

Magpie is such a implausible character, and has all the time been actually robust. As a result of he’s such a materialist, it feels that he has a really clear character arc: He ought to be taught that Christmas isn’t all about issues, it’s about individuals round you. We discovered that in writing, as a result of that was so enjoyable and so clear, generally that might take over as that central througline. As quickly as Robin ran into Magpie, it grew to become Magpie’s story.

Picture: Aardman/Netflix

So we needed to actually work on who Robin was. It was to find the driving pressure behind her, like setting off and eager to show she was like her brothers and sisters, setting off to do one thing fairly foolish, like steal crumbs and possibly dream of getting a sandwich in the future. However her journey is encapsulated in that she desires to show herself to be the identical as them. She has to be taught that she’s simply tremendous how she is, and he or she ought to embrace herself.

It’s humorous how when you’ve gotten a figured-out plot, you are feeling such as you’re in good stead to translate that into a movie. After which if you truly come to make it […] fairly shortly you notice you simply have a mountain to climb. You want a complete crew to climb it. We have been lucky to work with our co-writer, Sam Morrison, and the implausible story crew and edit crew at Aardman.

Please: Our producers Sarah Cox and Danny Smith actually have been huge influences on the story as properly. I believe it was Sarah’s thought to place ears on Robin.

What else impressed the character design?

Ojari: I bear in mind sending some sculptures of folks artwork that we had within the studio over to Matt Forsythe, who was a personality designer, and Briony Could Smith as properly, who was the illustrator we began initially with. We’ve received two illustrated books. We briefed them with a bunch of concepts. I believe one of many issues behind Robin was the thought of a form of bauble. We all the time appreciated the thought of a ball, as a result of it will visually look very imbalanced.

What was attention-grabbing about viewing the world from a mouse and fowl’s perspective?

Please: The dimensions was enjoyable. Notably within the kitchen set, I believe that’s most likely the distinction of worlds that we now have within the movie. You actually really feel small with Robin, exploring the kitchen. And I believe that’s partly as a result of we constructed a double-size kitchen. So that individual set, the entire puppets are 170% regular scale, so it was practically double an actual kitchen. Once we went in there, we might all the time really feel that we had out of the blue shrunk, and we might truly see the world from Robin’s perspective.

Picture: Aardman/Netflix

Did the actors carry something to their performances that influenced the animation, or stunned you?

Please: For those who can hear the actions and the iterations and the character within the voice, it’s a present for the animators. Definitely we now have Richard E. Grant, Gillian Anderson, Adeel Akhtar, and Bronte Carmichael, however then we now have implausible mice children, who typically we don’t speak about, so I’ve received to present a shout out to Amira Macey-Michael, who performs the youngest mouse, Dink. She was truly our very first casting, and gave an extremely heat and endearing voice to the youngest mouse. She would add in implausible little… I don’t know if spoonerisms is the proper phrase, however simply little completely different takes over the traces.

Considered one of our favorites is within the ultimate scene, the place she bursts out of a Christmas pudding. I don’t know you probably have Christmas puddings within the States. They’re like an enormous, spherical kind of fruitcake, however they typically set it on fireplace with some brandy. Her line was a coin from the center of the sticky brown goo. As a substitute, she goes, a coin from the center of this sticky brown poo. It simply cracked all people up within the studio, and we ended up maintaining it. It match completely in keeping with Dink’s character, who occurs to like all issues moldy. She’s singing about slime and toenails all through the movie. In order that was a beautiful little factor.

Ojari: Me and Mikey would typically do the scratch audio earlier than we recorded it, to get the timings proper. So generally you’ve gotten one thing actually particular, and that’s a special approach of working, since you’re actually honing in on the intonation of a sure line. At each stage, we hear what the actors would carry to it first. Richard was undoubtedly probably the most beneficiant together with his variations. He’s simply loads of enjoyable. Magpie, he’s the comedian reduction of the movie. I simply love what Richard dropped at it. He had loads of enjoyable within the recording room, and that introduced this nice humor and heat to Magpie.

The characters have this very fuzzy and mushy look, which is completely different from different Aardman films — why go for this method?

Please: Earlier than we pitched it to Sarah, we all the time had the concept that maybe it may very well be made in needle felt. Properly, the characters may very well be. As a result of there’s one thing very endearing about characters rendered in needle felt. Within the UK, there’s a factor rising from custom, which is needle-felted decorations. And sometimes they’re little mice and elves and issues. They’ve such easy designs, however they’ve such character, and a life to them. So we thought, Oh, that might be nice materials to make use of. And it lights actually fantastically as properly. Once we offered it to Aardman, we truly took in little Christmas decorations in our second pitch and handed them out to everybody. From then on, I believe everybody was on board with rendering like that.

We did do loads of experiments, considering maybe the entire world needs to be needle-felted — each a part of the set and surroundings. We did loads of analysis and growth and trial and error of methods to use it, and the professionals and cons of utilizing it for various supplies. It clearly isn’t a very needle-felted movie. However what we discovered is that with having the characters all felted — it’s a really form of tactile, bodily materials — being within the heart of the display the entire time, it provides the entire movie… I dunno, I believe there’s a kind of intimacy. It makes you kind of endear to the movie and characters just a little bit extra, as a result of you recognize what it’s made out of. So we discovered that to be actually an incredible asset in storytelling.

Picture: Aardman/Netflix

What was the toughest factor about working with the needle felt?

Please: So in addition to the characters within the heart being product of needle felt, we additionally wished to do the entire summary and elemental animation utilizing needle felt, in order that although the entire world is product of numerous completely different supplies, it felt like there was needle felt working by way of it. So we filmed all of our parts, like flames and snowflakes and smoke, on conventional multiplane glass. Integrating that was actually tough. The primary makes an attempt, I believe, felt fairly like a con artist: They’re simply pasted on prime and probably not built-in with the world. However our VFX supervisor, John Biggins, discovered this fairly novel method, which I don’t assume has been used elsewhere in stop-motion manufacturing, which was to shoot loads of the movie in stereoscopic.

We shot from the left and right-side place. On the digicam, we now have just a little slider that might take two photographs from each positions. It gave us all of the depth info. We might then take these parts that are on glass, and place them all through the scene. So we might have snow passing behind timber, and smoke popping out from someplace with a personality transferring in entrance of it. We wouldn’t must green-screen behind these characters, or rotoscope out every particular person ingredient, as a result of the stereoscopic gave us the data.

John would additionally take 3D scans of the units to assist us with all that integration. And so the ultimate outcome, we expect, is admittedly satisfying, and it nearly feels extra bodily, despite the fact that there’s loads of VFX concerned. As a result of all of these parts which can be used within the VFX are actual issues that we filmed, and we have been capable of push that felt all through the world.

What small element doesn’t seem to be it will be tough, however was arduous to get precisely proper?

Ojari: Each half!

Please: Properly notably the faces, most likely.

Ojari: Yeah, one factor I believe you’re taking with no consideration if you watch it’s that each… just like the eyelids, they’re not like mechanical issues, or wired issues you possibly can transfer round. Each eyelid and eye form must be hand-positioned, and alternative eyelids and shapes positioned on. The character of the eyes — we wished this kind of graphic 2D language of the eyes, which appears to be like implausible. Generally they will create this bizarre optical phantasm, the place they don’t do what you need them to do. I believe in case you ask the animators what the toughest factor was, it will be the eyes.

Please: I believe John Biggins in VFX results would agree with that. He mentioned probably the most period of time he spent on the whole movie was the eyes.

Robin Robin is offered on Netflix now.