Chicken Run: Hatching the Movie [Hardcover]

Brian Sibley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

Chicken Run is the first feature film from Aardman Animation, the British 3-D animation studio that created the Academy Award-winning Wallace & Gromit short films. In this spirited comedy, to be released in the U.S. by DreamWorks in June 2000, a band of intrepid chickens led by an American rooster (the voice of Mel Gibson) and an English hen (Julia Sawalha of Absolutely Fabulous) bust out of their coop to avoid becoming chicken potpies-and prove that some chickens are anything but.

Here's the complete story of the making of this epic adventure. The book takes readers inside England's magical Aardman animation studio, where animators make movies (at a rate of four seconds per day) out of bits of clay, metal, paper, and wood. Based on extensive interviews with acclaimed directors Nick Park and Peter Lord and their gifted team of stop-action animation artists, and reproducing a wealth of visual material, the book is the next best thing to spending every day for three years building and playing with model chickens!

250 illustrations in full color, 9 7/8 x 9 1/4"

BRIAN SIBLEY, a well-known British author and radio personality, is coauthor, with Peter Lord, of Abrams' popular Creating 3-D Animation. An expert on animation, illustration, and fantasy literature, his many books include Shadowlands: The Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman, The Land of Narnia, and The Map of Tolkien's Middle Earth. He lives in London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 191 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; First Edition edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810941244
• ISBN-13: 978-0810941243
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,519,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have been a professional writer for thirty years and a freelance broadcaster for the BBC in London for almost as long.

My career began as a radio-writer with dramatisations for the BBC which include serialisations of J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", C. S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" and Mervyn Peake's "Titus Groan" and "Gormenghast" for which I won a coveted Sony Radio Award. I have also made radio programmes on a wide variety of topics from the history of magic to the crimes of Jack the Ripper! Series of note include "A Century of Cinema", "The Sound of Movies" and "'Ain't No Mickey Mouse Business!"

My specialist interests have always been film (in particular animation) and children's literature and I have broadcast numerous radio and TV programmes and written several books about both these topics.

For the best part of a decade I presented weekly arts and film programmes on the BBC's domestic and World Service networks but have spent the last few years concentrating on books including a couple of best-sellers on the making of Peter Jackson's film trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings" and researching and writing that director's authorised biography, scheduled for publication in 2006.

I live in London with my life partner, a professional magician, in a house overcrowded with so many books, DVDs and CDs (not to mention all those old videos and gramophone records!) that it is seriously beginning to look like one of Amazon.com's smaller warehouses!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Another great resource for the hatching animator June 15, 2000

By Karen Lewis

Format:Hardcover

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How did they do that?

"Chicken Run: Hatching the Movie" provides an engaging, behind the scenes examination of the workings at Aardman Studios, offering insight into the personalities and technologies that brought us Wallace and Grommit, as they work towards the completion of their first feature-length animated film.

There are plenty of photos from the final movie, but more importantly, the book is stuffed with the artifacts of the animation process- the sketches and drawings, storyboards and photographs that record the way the film was developed from idea to story to finished storyboard and characters.

The book stops short of offering specific timelines, technical details or recipes for plasticine, but the aspiring animator is given ample opportunity to read between the lines. There is a wealth of information and inspiration to be had; something to learn on every page.

Sibley's narrative follows Nick Park, Peter Lord and others as they discuss, revise, and rethink their ideas, meet with Hollywood moguls for the first time, hire and then change writers, and work their way through the transition from commercials and short films to producing a two-hour, animated movie.

The writing is open and lively, describing the time involved and the twists and turns in production as the storyline is developed and revised, characters and ideas introduced and then axed. This frank discussion of the creative process at work is perhaps the book's most valuable asset.

"Chicken Run - Hatching the Movie" is an ideal companion to Aardman's earlier book "Creating 3-D Animation".

One book gives a superb, do-it-yourself introduction the techniques and process of model animation, while the other provides an in depth study of the creative process in action during the production of a single feature.

Together, these books provide the most useful resources on claymation and model animation to date.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderfully Whimsical Book June 20, 2000

By Ronald Harmon

Format:Hardcover

Anyone who has the slightest interest in knowing how an animated movie is created will love "Chicken Run - Hatching the Movie." by Brian Sibley. Even the design of the book is whimsical in style and lush with color illustrations from the new movie as well as from other films from this animation house.

A lighthearted introduction written by Mel Gibson (who is the voice for Rocky in the movie) sets the overall tone for the book. In this overview there is a brief history of the animation process with some really slick photos of the British Aardman Studios that both Nick Parks and Peter Lord, the directors of "Chicken Run," help to put on the map with several Academy Award nominations for their past films.

Animation and story development is not just fun and games as one might think but envelops serious thinking and work. The book is sprinkled throughout with wonderful idea sketches, watercolor paintings, storyboards and outlines showing how script and plot ideas for "Chicken Run" were developed.

A wonderful chapter on the actual making of the physical characters gives an inside look into the art studio itself where molds, paint, and artists bring these figures made of a clay-like substance called plasticine into existence. In a chapter called "Making the Right Moves" Sibley details the various problems that animators had during production. Trying to give the human characteristics of anger, hate, love, fear, and happiness in front of the camera is a major feat in itself. The difficult task of lighting a scene along with making the miniscule movement of each figure to create the animated move almost sounds like torture. And when one realizes that the largest film shoot in one work way was a mere 26 seconds you wonder if it is. The animators say their work normally floats along on inspiration but at other times when they are tired, getting the job done becomes a matter of will. They are so involved with their work that it is only when the camera isn't running that they realize that they are only working with a lump of plasticine.

This book is definitely written for the connoisseur of animated films and filmmaking but children could also enjoy the "fun" illustrations from the movie, which are a large part of this publication.

The seriousness of this studio's filmmaking makes for some very interesting reading. A quote by one of the directors, Peter Lord, not only sums up the animation process but could be the kernel theme of this book. "We make films and by the way, they happen to be animated."

Ron Harmon [e-mail]

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Get inside the mind of Ardman! August 28, 2000

By Myke Feinman

Format:Hardcover

This is the most delightful book about the making of a movie I have ever read! The text is full of funny stories and interesting details about the process that went into hatching this chick flick!Being a published cartoonist myself, I found reading about the process the Ardman folks went through to be fascinating.Also good were the photos showing the different animators at work making the models of chickens and other assorted poultry items.This is a must for any fan of Ardman! Viva Wallace and Grommet! Viva Rocky the Rhode Island Red and his favorite chick, Ginger!You will not regret buying this book! Myke Feinman, publisher and cartoonist for Ink and Feathers Comics