Dan Ojari and Mikey create an aerial view of Christmas in "Robin Robin"

*** This article originally appeared in the December '21 issue of Animation magazine (No. 315) ***

Fans of Aardman Animations' mesmerizing stop-motion gems will receive an early Christmas present in November when Netflix premieres the studio's new special. Robin robin. Created and directed by Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, the half-hour short film centers on a robin who decides to prove himself with his adopted mouse family by stealing a poinsettia from the human home. Produced by Aardman Executive Creative Director Sarah Cox, the music special features the voices of Bronte Carmichael as Robin, Richard E. Grant as Magpie, Gillian Anderson as Cat and Adeel Akhtar as Dad Mouse.

Ojari and Please, who formed Parabella Studios after graduating from the Royal College of Art in London and directing award-winning short films Slow Derek e The Eagleman deer, respectively, presented the idea to Cox at the 2018 edition of the Annecy Festival in France. “We presented the idea to Sarah in a cramped corner of the Annecy Festival canteen and sang her the song Magpie. So, it took about two and a half years to make it, which is amazingly fast in animation, ”says Ojari.

He adds: "I was thinking about what the dream project would be for Mikey and me, and I thought a Christmas special would be ideal as I love that sense of tradition where families get together once a year and watch. an animated show. We also always wanted to do a musical and it was really fun to use the lyrics to tell the story and add this element of weirdness to the film. The music is as nuanced as the animation, which can go from loud and playful to subtle and dramatic ".

Terrific felt

One of the many things that sets this special apart from Aardman's previous designs is that it uses needle felt instead of the usual plasticine puppets or CG animation, for which the studio is best known. As Ojari explains, "The idea of ​​using needle felt for characters in a Christmas story has always thrilled us, and Robin robin it was the perfect opportunity to try it out. We made our tree with felt decorations of a mouse and a robin and took them to the first encounters. There is a real Christmas atmosphere in them and you feel like you can hold and cuddle these puppets "

"Needle felt is really tactile," says Please. “It's bright, it absorbs and reflects light, and it works beautifully for stop-motion animation. You can get the lights on the characters that really show their imperfections. It was a challenge for the Aardman puppeteers, but they were really excited about it and the incredible level of expression we could get from the puppets. "

Ojari says one of the great inspirations for him and the team was Raymond Briggs' 4 adaptation of Channel 1982. the Snowman (directed by Dianne Jackson and produced by John Coates). “There is such a great tradition of watching animated specials on vacation with the whole family. The team and I kept watching the Snowman over and over for inspiration. We have grown up with these special offers as well as the Wallace & Gromit short. In more recent years, we've been treated to animated shows like The Gruffalo e Room on the Broom. It is these beautifully crafted films that are like little gifts to the world. We think it would be great for Robin robin to watch next year and this year in the same way ”.

When asked about the more challenging aspects of the special, both directors admit that each scene has had its share of tough times. "Every hit was tough," says Please. “Our animator Suzy Parr worked on some scenes involving the most intricate choreography for Robin and the Mice. Robin's song had a lot of moments where he had to step on the trash, and sometimes it took up to two weeks to block those scenes. Even the smallest moments have so many different levels, and post-production of those scenes was incredibly difficult too. In a way, the shooting of the scene is just one layer of the cake. "

"The introduction of the Magpie house was also very difficult," continues Please. “We worried about the details of that scene. Sometimes we had three or four people working for weeks on how a scene works or on the elaboration of a character arc. It is about understanding that Rubik's cube of putting together the pieces of a story. The distressing part happens when the groundwork is laid. We had a team of around 167 people working on the film, and it was all shot in Aardman's Bristol studio, mostly during the pandemic. "

Please say that one of the biggest lessons they learned from the project was how to make a musical. “We had never made a musical before, so understanding how the musical themes worked over the course of the film and that they needed to have shape and structure was a big learning curve,” he says. “It was a fun challenge to find where the mirrored moments were and the places where the themes combined to create new melodies that told a story in and of itself. So learning how to use music to tell a story was tricky, but in the end it was a huge plus. "

Looking back over the past few years, the two directors say they are quite enthusiastic about every last element of the production. "The fact that we were able to make a stop-motion musical with Aardman for Netflix is ​​in itself something to be quite thrilled about," comments Please. “But if we were cornered and had to commit to a single component to celebrate, maybe that would be the story we were able to tell in a relatively short amount of time. And that depends on each team working to their full potential. The composers who work with the story team, our co-writer Sam Morrison, our editor Chris Morrell, the amazing animators who are able to say so much with so little. "

In a way, everything went smoothly, including the director's love for Christmas specials and all that Aardman. "We have always felt that Aardman was at the top of our industry," concludes Please. "Thanks to Aardman, both Dan and I grew up on stop-motion movies and it was a surreal experience working with the same people who inspired us!"

Robin robin will premiere on Netflix on November 24.