P1
a) Structure
Aardman Animations is a British Animation Studio based in Bristol. Aardman is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine character Wallace and Gromit. Aardman Animations was founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton.
The company is essentially split up into 5 different sections. The first is 'Feature Films'. This section of the company focuses on creating characters that are going to be recognised through comedy, storytelling, and technical excellence in animation. The second section is 'Series, Specials and Shorts'. This sections focuses on creating small series and short episode. For example, the animation for 'Shaun the Sheep' was made throughout this section of the company. The third section of the company is 'Advertising'. This is as simple as the title makes it sound. This sections creates and distributes the adverts for the different programs, shows and whatever. This is one of the ways that Aardman got so well known, due to advertising their iconic Animation and Claymotion style animation. The fourth section of the company specialises on 'Apps, Games and Interactive'. This is the section where apps are made with the iconic characters and made into small games which are downloadable on different app and smartphone devices / platforms. The fifth and final section is 'Rights and Brand Development'. This section specialises in marketing and realising commercial potential of their products in a way that celebrates and respects their creative value. The iconic brands in the portfolio includes Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Morph, while Aardman Rights have acquired third party representation for a number of top children's brands.
b) Products
Aardman makes an outstanding amount of products. They are split into different categories. These categories are: Attractions and Live Experiences / Charity Film / E-Learning / Idents / Music Videos / Tests / TV Series / Websites / Apps / Branded Content / Commercials / Games / Montage / Short Films / Trials and Virtual Reality. As you can see from the large list of categories, they make a lot of different products. Aardman Animations most iconic major feature films produced are: Chicken Run (2000) / Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) / Flushed Away (2006) / Arthur Christmas (2011) / Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) / Early Man (2018) / Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie (2019) and Chicken Run 2 (TBA).
c) Production Process
Aardman Animation's Production Process is normal run in one of two ways: either classic Waterfall development, or Agile Scrum. This is chosen in the Pre-Production phase of the project generally the only time they use Waterfall development is when the requirements for the project are either simple of totally unknown to them, and also they fully understand the technology with which they are building the thing. In software and game development this is rarely a case for them.
Waterfall is so called because you follow a sequential sequence of steps to reach the project goal. What the thing is will be specifies as much as possible in the pre-production phase of the project, and then production phase will build the thing in line with the chain of dependencies. Waterfall works well when you know very well what you will be building and all the risks you inherent in whatever technology you will be using. The waterfall process for Aardman Animations looks something like this.
Their other method of the production process is Agile Scrum. Agile project management methodologies are useful when you are building something complicated. It's all about the ability to be transparent with your stakeholders and acknowledge that what you are trying to do is hard, and that they are going to be problems along the way. Agile is designed to respond to change throughout the production process efficiently and effectively. At Aardman, they use Agile Scrum methodology, which means working in small project increments called Sprints, and intending to have a working, shippable version of whatever has the highest business value to the stakeholders at the end of each sprint. The Agile Scrum process for Aardman Animations looks something like this.
d) Marketing/Promotion
Wallace and Gromit is most likely known as the film that "Made" Aardman Animations such a hue company in the animation industry. The film was advertised almost everywhere you looked. Burger King made a collaboration with Aardman Animations to promote the film on an advert for Burger King. Posters, Billboards and Product Placement were the most popular forms of advertising around that time, therefore adverts for the film were everywhere.
Aardman makes an outstanding amount of products. They are split into different categories. These categories are: Attractions and Live Experiences / Charity Film / E-Learning / Idents / Music Videos / Tests / TV Series / Websites / Apps / Branded Content / Commercials / Games / Montage / Short Films / Trials and Virtual Reality. As you can see from the large list of categories, they make a lot of different products. Aardman Animations most iconic major feature films produced are: Chicken Run (2000) / Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) / Flushed Away (2006) / Arthur Christmas (2011) / Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) / Early Man (2018) / Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie (2019) and Chicken Run 2 (TBA).
c) Production Process
Aardman Animation's Production Process is normal run in one of two ways: either classic Waterfall development, or Agile Scrum. This is chosen in the Pre-Production phase of the project generally the only time they use Waterfall development is when the requirements for the project are either simple of totally unknown to them, and also they fully understand the technology with which they are building the thing. In software and game development this is rarely a case for them.
Waterfall is so called because you follow a sequential sequence of steps to reach the project goal. What the thing is will be specifies as much as possible in the pre-production phase of the project, and then production phase will build the thing in line with the chain of dependencies. Waterfall works well when you know very well what you will be building and all the risks you inherent in whatever technology you will be using. The waterfall process for Aardman Animations looks something like this.
Their other method of the production process is Agile Scrum. Agile project management methodologies are useful when you are building something complicated. It's all about the ability to be transparent with your stakeholders and acknowledge that what you are trying to do is hard, and that they are going to be problems along the way. Agile is designed to respond to change throughout the production process efficiently and effectively. At Aardman, they use Agile Scrum methodology, which means working in small project increments called Sprints, and intending to have a working, shippable version of whatever has the highest business value to the stakeholders at the end of each sprint. The Agile Scrum process for Aardman Animations looks something like this.
d) Marketing/Promotion
Wallace and Gromit is most likely known as the film that "Made" Aardman Animations such a hue company in the animation industry. The film was advertised almost everywhere you looked. Burger King made a collaboration with Aardman Animations to promote the film on an advert for Burger King. Posters, Billboards and Product Placement were the most popular forms of advertising around that time, therefore adverts for the film were everywhere.
e) Distribution
Aardman Animation works with a few different companies to promote and distribute their films and the licenses to use the characters around the world. In June 2013, Nickelodeon acquired licensing and merchandising rights for 'Shaun the Sheep' in India. In January 2015, VisitEngland announced a £4m marketing campaign starring Shaun the Sheep that aimed to boost domestic tourism in 2015. Not only have Aardman Animation worked with different companies, but they have also worked with a few firms to make the Animation Industry such a huge influence on films. In 2016, Aardman worked with The Isle of Man Post Offie to help celebrate it's 40th anniversary with a special set of postal collectables. Finally, the most recent distribution collaboration was in January 2018, where Hopster Studios licenses its original content to Aardman for global distribution.
f) Market Position
Aardman Animation is heavily known for their type of genre. Clay-Motion Animation and Stop-Motion. The reason they are so heavily known for being the best at these types of Animation are due to how big the Films and TV series have become due to the animation. Huge film and TV show names such as Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run have been iconic animation films, which use to be reasonably rare to see in film due to how long and how difficult the production process is, having to work with clay. On the other hand, Aardman Animation isn't really know for much else, such as location and actors. Aardman Animations is competitive with other animation companies such as Nickelodeon, Pixar, Dreamworks and many more. However, even though Aardman Animations isn't as well known as the other studios above them, their shows and animations are much more well known than some of the movies and tv series that the other studios put out. Therefore, their name might not be as high up there when comparing it to Pixar and other studios, but more people have heard of Wallace and Gromit over Sanjay's Super Team.
g) Audience
Aardman Animation has an age range of between - 10-25. The reason for this age range being the choice, is due to what type of animation and what type of Films and TV Shows they make with their animation. There is absolutely no blood, gore or anything bad in any of their animations. Therefore, it makes is so kid friendly and it is so popular towards the younger generations and ages as the animations are usually of animals which is such a pull towards kids rather than elders. However, there is the obvious exception for the elder as the first animations with Aardman Animations would have been so big when they were younger. However, their audience can vary depending on what type of animation they make, for example Aardman Animations have made adverts for companies such as DFS. This is huge for the company but it is going to be primarily focused on being aimed at more elderly people, rather than kids as it is sofas.
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