Aardman
David Sproxton and
Peter Lord founded Aardman Animations in 1972. They met at school and began their animating partnership in their spare
time, using a 16mm camera.
For the show
'Vision On' they were asked to create a short piece using cell animation, which
had a nerdish Superman character, called Aardman. In 1972 BBC then bought this
film, which in turn started the creation of
“Aardman Animations”.
Morph the
brown clay figure made his first appearance in 1976, in “Take Hart”, the follow
up series to “Vision On”, and his success led to the BBC producing a 26 part,
five-minute series, ‘The Amazing Adventures of Morph’ which was aired in 1981.
After years
of making animated series for children, David and Peter where sure that there
was an adult audience ready to watch an animated show. ‘Down and Out’ and
‘Confessions of a Foyer Girl’ where what was created, however the BBC rejected
both of these as they thought it would diminish their reputation. In Quick
retaliation to this they began to work on a very popular show called ‘Creature
comforts’, which was a real lip synced interview with thousands of people.
1972:
David
Sproxton and Peter Lord complete their first film, Aardman, for BBC Bristol.
1976:
Founding
Aardman Animation, Sproxton and Lord create new character, Morph, for BBC's
Vision On.
1978:
Aardman
receives commission for two Animated Conversation short films from BBC.
1982:
Animated
Conversation concept is developed into series of five "Conversation
Pieces" for Channel Four.
1985:
Nick Park
joins Aardman.
1986:
Aardman
receives international acclaim for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"
video.
1989:
A Grand Day
Out, the first film featuring Wallace and Gromit, directed by Nick Park, is
released.
1993:
The second
Wallace and Gromit film, the Oscar winning The Wrong Trousers, is released.
1995:
Wallace and
Gromit's third film, A Close Shave, also earns an Oscar.
1999:
Aardman and
DreamWorks sign 12-year, four-film deal for $150 million.
2000:
The first
Aardman feature film, Chicken Run, is released to critical and popular success.
2003:
Filming
begins on first full-length Wallace and Gromit film, with a proposed release
date of summer 2005.
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