Flushed Away is a new animated film, made under the Aardman banner at the DreamWorks studios in California. Four years in the making, the film is a first for the company, made not with the traditional stop-frame animation it is so famous for, but using computer images.  | | Ian working hands-on on the Were-Rabbit |
It is also the first time that an Aardman film has been made outside the company's home city of Bristol - though the story idea was created by Bristol staff and other Aardman folk were sent out to California to work on the film and give it the distinctive Aardman look. As the film received its world-premiere in New York in October, BBC Radio Bristol's John Turner spoke to Aardman animator and former Speedwell School pupil Ian Whitlock, about working on the film. Ian, a lead animator on the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit film, explained that Flushed Away was originally envisaged as a traditionally-made stop-motion feature, but the scale of the story, and size of the sets needed would have been just too big. DreamWorks, who co-produced Aardman's previous feature films Chicken Run and the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, stepped in and production moved to the company's premises in Los Angeles. "It's a very nice place to work. They look after their people very well and it's a very nice campus, but you work very long hours," said Ian, who spent six months in California working on the film. With a host of star voices including Kate Winslett, Hugh Jackman, Bill Nighy and Andy Serkis, Flushed Away tells the story of a pet rat who gets flushed down the toilet. "Basically it's about an upper crust rat living in a flat in Kensington who is evicted and flushed into the sewers where there is an alternative version of London," said Ian. The film then follows the adventures of Roddy the rat, played by Jackman, as he makes friends, has adventures and meets a villainous toad. Flushed Away opens in the US in November, though cinema-goers in the UK will have to wait until 1 December to see the film here. But will those hoping to see the claymation characters Aardman is known for be disappointed with the CGI version, and is this the end of traditional animation in Bristol? "Everyone is hopeful that people will respond well to the change, " said Ian. "But this isn't what we are going to do from now on. We are still going to do stop-motion films." And with a new Shaun the Sheep series, made the old fashioned way, currently in production for the BBC, it looks as if the Aardman animators will continue getting their hands dirty for at least a little while longer. Meanwhile, a special screening of Flushed Away, including a question and answer session with Aardman founders Peter Lord CBE and David Sproxton CBE, takes place at the Curzon cinema in Clevedon on Friday, 29 November. The event, hosted by BBC Points West's Sally Challoner, also includes a live charity auction and is part of the celebrations marking 10 years since local people rescued the historic cinema from closure. Tickets are available on 01275 349010 between 10.30am -1pm daily. | 
