Shaun the Sheep, the film set visit at the Aardman Studios – SPIEGEL ONLINE

What happens when an English farmer lost in the big city? Sure, he suffers a loss of memory and celebrity hairdresser. His sheep, unable to survive on the farm alone, set out to search for their farmers. But you can not find it, because all people look the same in their eyes – and devastate their way half the town

The plot of “Shaun the Sheep – The Movie.” Is filmed as glorious as you would expect from the expect creators of the television series of the same name. The sheep are the most busy trying to remain undetected in the unfamiliar surroundings – Slapstick churning.

When they are finally unmasked in a gourmet restaurant, Shaun, their smart leader, is brought to the shelter by an animal trap. He escapes, finds the peasants – but does not recognize him. Shaun is devastated, but in the end there is still a happy ending.

The first feature film with the most famous sheep in the world was a particular challenge for the animators of Aardman Studios in Bristol. The episodes of the television series “Shaun the Sheep”, which has been running since 2008, each only seven minutes to play and always in the same setting: a farm in the English county of Shropshire. For the feature film, which hits theaters on March 19, the makers now had to fill 80 minutes. In order to keep the tension, they created not only a new scenery, but also additional characters.

A classic father-son story

For the first time Shaun leaves the farm and discovered the big wide world. “We wanted to put him in a different environment and see how he reacts,” says screenwriter Richard “Golly” Goleszowski that once invented Shaun. In the city Shaun makes acquaintance with Trumper, the hard-hearted animal catcher who plays the role of the villain. For warmth, however, makes slip a little bitch who longs for a family.

The relationship between the flock of sheep and the farmer has been redefined for the film. In the series, the farm had worked on the model of a factory, says director Mark Bruton. The farmer was the factory owner, the dog Bitzer, the foreman, the sheep of the workers. In the movie, they now play a family: the farmer as a father, Bitzer as big brother, Shaun as rebellious middle child.

“For 80 minutes you need much stronger story,” says Goleszowski. “One with emotional depth, so you can identify with the characters”. The film is ultimately a father-son story. Shaun wants to be independent and lean on against the father. “Then he experienced how difficult a life without a father.”

The man-sized city scenes in the studio are designed with great attention to detail. The cafe is called “A Gulp Coffee”, an ironic reference to the English chain “Costa Coffee”. It was not always easy for the animators to move the characters in the huge scenes, tells Golly. The shooting is tedious: Each scene is presented with figures, filmed, then minimally changed, one arm raised slightly, slightly altered a face, then filmed again. Per day arise about six seconds of film.

Shaun made his debut in 1995 as a supporting actor in “Wallace and Gromit” movie “A Close Shave”. His six-minute appearance as verfressenes sheep was well received, even then knew Goleszowksi that the figure had what it takes to own series. Shaun should be like a twelve year old boy: cleverness, courage, and with a healthy tendency to anarchy. “We love this age,” says Goleszowksi. “At that age, boys are testing their limits.” Growing up is not provided. “Shaun is always the same, just like Bart Simpson always remains the same,” says Golly. “I can not imagine that he reaches puberty, with small horns on my head.” That the little sheep has become worldwide in over one hundred countries to be a hit with children and their parents, his inventor returns, among other things, that Shaun does not talk. In the film there is no dialogue, communication takes place exclusively on looks and gestures. The body language is universal, says Goleszwoski. The’ve American silent film star Buster Keaton known.

In the studio in Bristol workshop manager Nigel Leach proudly displays his wealth of self-made dolls: Shaun is twelve inches tall, it is available in different styles. The animators have a choice between twelve different mouths that can be glued to the black head. In the workshop are sewing machines, irons, vises and boxes of materials. On the wall are sketches of clothes with which to dress Shaun and his friends in the city, garden gloves, turtlenecks, flat caps, platform shoes. He must be very careful not to violate any trademark, says Leach. “We can not just show sneakers with three stripes”.

It is part of the art of Aardman that even the clothes in the film provide laughs. Also allusions to famous movie scenes from Hollywood classics can not be missing. “We try to make ourselves laugh,” says Golesowski. When turning often come spontaneously added ideas. “Some jokes understand only adults,” he says. But there is no special humor for children. “If we find it funny, it comes into the script.”