Aardman Animations’ latest particular appears considerably completely different from its conventional stop-motion fare, just like the Wallace & Gromit shorts and Hen Run, or its CGI initiatives, like Flushed Away. Robin Robin, out on Netflix now, is filled with comfortable, fuzzy needle-felt characters — a departure from the studio’s signature clay-modeled movies. However there’s a purpose for that: The brand new particular comes from two new creators, Mike Please and Dan Ojari, who pitched the story to an Aardman government 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 in regards to 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 simple, proper?

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

Picture: Aardman/Netflix

The place did the concept for the story come from? How has it developed for the reason that 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 idea 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 eager 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 type of took place. That felt actually thrilling.

How we informed that story modified dramatically over 4 years. Each Christmas, we’d nook our family and friends and be like, Hey, we’ve obtained this concept for a Christmas particular. It’s this, this, this and this. After which more often than not, folks form of tried to run away from us. However when it obtained to the purpose the place we may 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 any person else.

So then we took it to a Annecy Movie Pageant — not completely with the intention of doing a giant form of pitch with numerous folks, however we serendipitously ran into Sarah Cox, the event government at Aardman, within the canteen. We made this little storybook that informed the story in actually easy little silhouettes, and we commissioned one in all our favourite illustrators to do just a few work of Magpie’s treehouse and Robin within the garbage, and only a few taster issues.

We confirmed these to Sarah, and a few of our songs as nicely. So image it: [Us] within the nook of the canteen, kneeling to indicate her this e book. She actually obtained 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 nicely. We’d written a very tough first move. I feel that script move was simply going by the motions of what was discovered plot-wise. It didn’t actually have very developed characters. Once we began at Aardman, the primary 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 unbelievable character, and has all the time been actually sturdy. 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 folks round you. We discovered that in writing, as a result of that was so enjoyable and so clear, typically that may 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 find the driving drive 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 perhaps dream of getting a sandwich sooner or later. However her journey is encapsulated in that she needs to show herself to be the identical as them. She has to be taught that she’s simply advantageous how she is, and he or she ought to embrace herself.

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

Please: Our producers Sarah Cox and Danny Smith actually have been large influences on the story as nicely. I feel it was Sarah’s concept to place ears on Robin.

What else impressed the character design?

Ojari: I bear in mind sending some sculptures of people artwork that we had within the studio over to Matt Forsythe, who was a personality designer, and Briony Could Smith as nicely, who was the illustrator we began initially with. We’ve obtained two illustrated books. We briefed them with a bunch of concepts. I feel one of many issues behind Robin was the concept of a type of bauble. We all the time favored the concept 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 chook’s standpoint?

Please: The dimensions was enjoyable. Notably within the kitchen set, I feel 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 feel 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’d all the time really feel that we had abruptly shrunk, and we may really see the world from Robin’s perspective.

Picture: Aardman/Netflix

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

Please: If you happen to 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 unbelievable mice children, who usually we don’t speak about, so I’ve obtained to provide a shout out to Amira Macey-Michael, who performs the youngest mouse, Dink. She was really our very first casting, and gave an extremely heat and endearing voice to the youngest mouse. She would add in unbelievable little… I don’t know if spoonerisms is the proper phrase, however simply little completely different takes over the traces.

Certainly one of our favorites is within the closing scene, the place she bursts out of a Christmas pudding. I don’t know if in case you have Christmas puddings within the States. They’re like a giant, spherical form of fruitcake, however they usually set it on fireplace with some brandy. Her line was a coin from the center of the sticky brown goo. As an alternative, 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 preserving it. It match completely according to Dink’s character, who occurs to like all issues moldy. She’s singing about slime and toenails throughout the movie. In order that was a beautiful little factor.

Ojari: Me and Mikey would usually do the scratch audio earlier than we recorded it, to get the timings proper. So typically you’ve got 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 deliver to it first. Richard was positively essentially the most beneficiant along with his variations. He’s simply a whole lot of enjoyable. Magpie, he’s the comedian reduction of the movie. I simply love what Richard delivered to it. He had a whole lot of enjoyable within the recording room, and that introduced this nice humor and heat to Magpie.

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

Please: Earlier than we pitched it to Sarah, we all the time had the concept that maybe it might be made in needle felt. Properly, the characters might 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 may be nice materials to make use of. And it lights actually fantastically as nicely. Once we introduced it to Aardman, we really took in little Christmas decorations in our second pitch and handed them out to everybody. From then on, I feel everybody was on board with rendering like that.

We did do a whole lot of experiments, pondering maybe the entire world needs to be needle-felted — each a part of the set and surroundings. We did a whole lot of analysis and improvement and trial and error of the way to use it, and the professionals and cons of utilizing it for various supplies. It clearly isn’t a totally needle-felted movie. However what we discovered is that with having the characters all felted — it’s a really type of tactile, bodily materials — being within the middle of the display the entire time, it offers the entire movie… I dunno, I feel there’s a form of intimacy. It makes you form of endear to the movie and characters just a little bit extra, as a result of what it’s made out of. So we discovered that to be actually an amazing 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 middle being manufactured from needle felt, we additionally needed to do the entire summary and elemental animation utilizing needle felt, in order that although the entire world is manufactured from numerous completely different supplies, it felt like there was needle felt working by 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 feel, felt fairly like a con artist: They’re simply pasted on high and not likely built-in with the world. However our VFX supervisor, John Biggins, discovered this fairly novel strategy, which I don’t suppose has been used elsewhere in stop-motion manufacturing, which was to shoot a whole lot 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 may take two pictures from each positions. It gave us all of the depth data. We may then take these parts that are on glass, and place them all through the scene. So we may have snow passing behind bushes, and smoke popping out from someplace with a personality shifting in entrance of it. We wouldn’t need to green-screen behind these characters, or rotoscope out every particular person component, 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 consequence, we predict, is admittedly satisfying, and it virtually feels extra bodily, despite the fact that there’s a whole lot 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 look like it will be troublesome, however was laborious to get precisely proper?

Ojari: Each half!

Please: Properly notably the faces, most likely.

Ojari: Yeah, one factor I feel you’re taking without any consideration once 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 substitute eyelids and shapes positioned on. The character of the eyes — we needed this form of graphic 2D language of the eyes, which appears unbelievable. Typically they will create this bizarre optical phantasm, the place they don’t do what you need them to do. I feel in case you ask the animators what the toughest factor was, it will be the eyes.

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

Robin Robin is out there on Netflix now.