Organizing a Stop-Motion Film Production at Aardman Animations

Adam Savage visits Aardman Animations, where the studio is in production for its new film Early Man. A stop-motion film production requires many departments to work together to film dozens of scenes concurrently--so how is all of this organized? In chatting with Early Man's first Assistant Director Ben Barrowman, Adam learns how a sprawling film production is kept on track for its filming deadlines!
Watch the trailer for Aardman Animations' Early Man here: • Early Man - NEW Traile...
Shot and edited by Joey Fameli
Produced by Kristen Lomasney
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Tested is:
Adam Savage / donttrythis
Norman Chan / nchan
Simone Giertz / simonegiertz
Joey Fameli / joeyfameli
Kishore Hari / sciencequiche
Sean Charlesworth / cworthdynamics
Jeremy Williams / jerware
Ariel Waldman / arielwaldman
Gunther Kirsch
Ryan Kiser
Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman
Thanks for watching!

[@nigelcarren]

I also work from cork-boards, and the best thing about a cork-board (just like a note-pad), is I do not have to wait for either to boot-up when I wake up at 3am with another world-beating idea! And to date, no cork-board or note-pad has ever crashed when the power goes out! Old school is new school folks.

[@Sunila_DragonladyCH]

I actually use the digital equivalent (Index Card) on my iPad, because as much as I'd prefer real cards, I don't have the space to organise them as is shown here (this is crazy). So I can organise and move hundreds of cards around and then even print everything out as a txt file. And unless I forget to recharge the iPad it's just as instantaneous in the middle of the night :)

[@matthewbenton569]

Loving this Aardman series. Went to their studio in Bristol some time ago and it's amazing to see how my childhood favourites were produced

[@SwitchbackCh]

Major respect for Adam for showing such enthusiasm for the art of animation. With all his varied interests, he really is a Renaissance man amongst geeks.

[@kairon156]

This is was awesome to learn about. I know what story boards are and seen 1 or 2 videos on how stop animation works but I never seen anything this concise and well laid out.

[@xulfor9549]

and thats why i will always respect stop-motion .. so much work behind , amazing !!

[@lazis002]

You should do a video with Robot Chicken and see how their process differs to Aardmans .

[@reggiep75]

The Robot Chicken animation studio is probably janky as fuck and all the better for it as they're all high on random substances. I would still like to see their studio setup tho haha.

[@JonatasAdoM]

+reggiep75 They need a warning for viewers to stop eating before watching it.

[@patrickbetts5504]

There's an old video from [AS] for that kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGbXlI2tit-kpcU

[@DFSqu]

Quite the project management challenge. Interesting approach to solving it. I wonder how other studios track this kind of stuff.

[@ChristopherSmith-bh4sz]

Love this organisational style, gives a complete physical overview at a glance that you can't get on a computer screen.

[@ck2d]

That thing is so cool. I love how old school/analog it is.

[@Animatortor]

Absolutely awesome!

[@Animatortor]

Haha, so we do! Hello :)

[@imc7691]

Welcome to my home city Adam hope you enjoyed your time here. Aardman animation are great I’ve followed there growth from Morph in the 70s to the latest movie. 👍👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@RomboutVersluijs]

So cool that they even do these boards manual instead of on a computer. Looks very impressive, so much work!!! Damn the person who plans these most really know every step, seems so complicated for a layman like me.

[@RomboutVersluijs]

But how about rescheduling, that's super time-consuming! on a computer its simply drag and drop. Now you need to move 100s of pins and paper and rubber bands.... aiaiaia

[@RomboutVersluijs]

They should make a Tee for that guy... Lord of the Board

[@TheHordeQ]

Honestly the only reason I can see for not updating is so that this board guy doesn't lose his antiquated job security.

[@Noise-Bomb]

I personally think that the physical representation of the schedule is very helpful. You can stand in front of it and discuss the various bits and tasks with the team and you can see what to do on the first look. I think I will adopt this method in a slightly different way for my work in project scheduling for engineering tasks because it is very intuitive and self explanatory. Also i think that it is more comfortable just like it‘s easier to use a whiteboard than a smartboard. Or a good sketch table is easier to use than any cad program. There is just something about the rustic and analog way that makes it that much more intuitive (and a pain in the ass to use afterwards). But for a creative task like making a movie or engineering something i like the old fashioned way. As my prof. said if it has to be done quickly use a pencil and a piece of paper. If it has to look good as well use a ruler. And if you’re done do it in CAD.

[@DEO777]

"So cool"... like a horse and buggy that you see when traveling through an Amish community.

[@JayFolipurba]

Adams hands hover way to close to this holy board at some points in the video. It's the same feeling when a stranger gets too close to your children

[@dan_zehner]

This is amazing!!! I'm a project scheduler for a National Science Foundation research center, so I really geeked out on this. :D :D :D

[@gameoverwehaveeverypixelco1258]

This sort of stuff should go on the Blu-ray too. So cool.

[@bengray5013]

Hope you’re enjoying your time in Bristol, Adam. I live just a couple of junctions down the motorway from there 😀

[@MirkWoot]

Going to make a big year calender like this!

[@BallisticTech]

Any other Agile/Scrum/Kanban folk watching this and thinking in terms of sprints, swim lanes, wips, transparency, definitions of done, impediments, etc..? lol

[@besttoasterna4889]

That's an awesome way to lay out a deadline.

[@cubas5505]

I had an early preview of this movie and it was actually really funny and cool, 9/10 would recommend.

[@PenTangleify]

Whaaaat you were in my city and I had no idea!! Love Aardman

[@INVINCIBBLE]

It’s called a Pull Plan it’s a part of LEAN construction. It’s a very common thing

[@boz465]

everyone needs these such a good idea

[@Berven-gf9jq]

Love it. Great upload 🙂

[@ghostcontrollingameatsuit5119]

Stop motion has a special place in my heart Thanks to the Neverhood game

[@kayde_ie]

Hey Tested, love the channel and all the content. Especially love these videos at Aardman - would you please make an "Aardman Tested" playlist for us animation students? :)

[@alaskankare]

LOL, so this board represents lots of hard work, with just pins holding things in, and its their entire schedule of work, but Adam stands within 2 INCHES off these precious notes and starts waving his hands over everything! Dear Lord, that guy must have been having a heart attack! Anyone else notice him grip the board when Adam's arms go flailing about?

[@Fuzzycat16]

I doubt...Adam tends to be careful .....

[@KolbyKirk]

Ben seemed relaxed to me.

[@bigblobofbutterfilms8318]

This is amazing!

[@Fuzzycat16]

Why are these videos so damn short? We need more Adam.

[@capri5246]

i realy like the camera work in this vid

[@JaredElliott1]

So who remembers 'Angry Kit'? I loved those videos!

[@dannya8614]

Just beautiful :)

[@micr0chap]

I'd be interested to know how much footage, if any, in an animated movie, gets left on the cutting-room floor. Is any editing at all required in such an incredibly pre-planned shot-by-shot process worked out in advance and in such detail at 30 or 60 fps?

[@k15DarkKnight]

Adam you are in my hometown and I missed it :((

[@SanialDropB]

I live in Bristol!

[@neotoybob1]

They need to shoot stills of all these boards everytime they change or update an event--then they'd have a stop motion movie of the whole process!

[@DaveLennonCopeland]

Why did the previous video go "Private" after I watched it?

[@tested]

we had an error in the video, and are correcting it to republish early next week!

[@DaveLennonCopeland]

Tested - Okay... an error? The 9 minutes or so looked good, I guess it was an actual content/script thing then. :)

[@badmat2370]

Glad to hear that, i was so pumped to watch this one!

[@GuardianThe007]

Tested good old Joey.....slacking off again

[@blazertundra]

I was wondering where it went. I didn't have time to watch more than 10 minutes yesterday and was bummed when I couldn't finish it today.

[@prettypointlessvideo]

Hi from Bristol!

[@paytoncordova8598]

You should do a video with Laika and see how their process differs to Aardmans .

[@AJ-ku7nm]

Seams like you have been over to the UK quite a bit in the last year Adam? Or did you just have a very busy few weeks traveling around visiting all these places?

[@tzgzz9245]

i wonder if theres an software version of this they use now?

[@josefbrett7971]

Wasn't there another video about the shoot? Did I imagine it?

[@johnthaxton9235]

I hope while you're in England you're going to the Maker Central show. Tho I think its in march. Please please go to it and do a vid since I can't go.

[@jonathancharlesworth4431]

I want those boards sooooooo much, and for no reason whatsoever.............next project sorted

[@stevenholt458]

I bought the Wallace & Gromit set of DVDs today they had on offer in the supermarket.

[@ActiveBoiz]

So, what about the other video?..wrong timing I figure?

[@outlanderfrog]

All these people confused about this very analog method. News flash: not everyone processes information in the same way. And in a company made up almost entirely of visual artists and people who work with their hands, seems to me it's likely many of them prefer this. There's just something about being able to see the big picture AND have tactile interaction with it (in a story meeting for instance) that's just satisfying. And as I said before, some people just process information better that way. I know I do. Also, I didn't hear anywhere in the video where they said there ISN'T a digital version; there very likely is. So just relax. They only manage around 30 people, and they only shoot a couple of seconds a day. Not exactly chaos.

[@Noise-Bomb]

I will adopt this method for scheduling engineering tasks in my project team. This is better than any fucking computer program. At best with a few humorous notes and a bit of bad language for good measure. stuff like: About time you get your shit together Frank. or: Will it even damp? That’s gonna be awesome.

[@abhinav7506]

Why not use software like ms project or primavera?

[@jmalmsten]

That looseness about the third act reminds me a bit of the featurettes that are available from Studio Ghibli. Hayao has had a tendency to leave the progression kind of vague and will fill the bits in script wise as production moves along. Kind of laying down the tracks in front of a... rushing... train... Huh... Oddly fitting metaphor, come to think of it, :P

[@Build_the_Future]

Why would they not map the schedule on a computer? That would seem way easier

[@dimitreze]

this is crazy 😃

[@dav1sable]

Adam looks like Norm dressed as Adam in the thumbnail of this vid

[@danieldc8841]

This is from the 19th of June?

[@deadlockgaming6584]

the 20th of June

[@johnsmitty7447]

early man releases in theaters today so the video was prob under nda

[@igt3928]

5:33 that's straight out of "between two ferns"

[@mercuriallimit]

LOL every time when Adam is excited, his hands goes to chest's height and he shakes his butt hehehe

[@MrChief101]

Nice enough- but so singular and evolved, could'a spent another 5 minutes explaining a few more columns of info. Or back to Day One, mid point. I'm sure the guy is busy, but Adam had his own block after all!

[@srchoy]

So is this Post-It Note heaven or Post-It Note hell? I can't decide.

[@Rizon1985]

It'd be so easy to do this with software enabling you to have it everywhere, available to everyone, projecting it in meetings, have a change history of the planning, ... Digitising this doesn't have to make it harder to adjust or lose the overview or whatever you think makes these physical boards better. And it means you have protection against very common occurrences such as human error, theft or a damn fire. It's not far fetched to call it stupid and irresponsible to still run all your employees this way.

[@MostlyInteresting]

Its a Kanban board. From Japan. Time tested. Hint...there are electronic versions guys.

[@decibelfilm]

Ben has Aardman character ears.

[@beatles9880]

I love Aardman and Bristol but I'm just a bias Bristolian.

[@mcrettable]

those are some strong bulletin board needles holding those stretched rubber bands together O_o or is it just me

[@garnetk3751]

he looks like one hell of a coordinating organizer. or is it an organizing coordinator?

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

Man I'd love to turn that into software.... would require working really closely with the people who make use of the boards, but to me as a software developer it just screams to be something digital!

[@stormveil]

To a man with a hammer...

[@victornguyenbao6722]

Kanban in action :)

[@DudeWhoSaysDeez]

Thats a good optimization problem... How to best utilize each workers schedule.... hmm

[@laurastewart8763]

If you are still in England check out Alex Steele. He is an English you tuber who is a young blacksmith.

[@Ashtonlaw]

Anyone know what the "Block" labels mean?

[@WesleyTreat]

In theater terminology, "blocking" is the choreographing of actors' positions and movements in a scene. I can't be sure, but the term may apply here in a similar way.

[@jamesjason8471]

Exactly so, +Wesley Treat, Maker of Things. Blocking is the process of transferring the storyboarded elements into the shot. Where positions of characters and props are finalized and a very rough animation is done to check everything important is in the frame and if the animation is not going off the frame.

[@saikoujikan]

Based on Creature Comforts BTS, the early process of this has members of the crew literally standing in position with set pieces of prop stand-ins in place to get the right composition.

[@williamreed912]

Microsoft Project? - Tasks, dependencies, resources, budget, analytics, etc.

[@auzp9447]

They should have shot this video in black and white

[@brainybricks4371]

I am shocked that dont use a digital version like excel

[@kimbleproductions3584]

Wouldn't cloud based project management software work just as well if not better? Surely there is something created specifically for the movie industry by now.

[@SuperRealracer]

1:46 - But nobody asked what the "Caterpillars" note actually meant, whether it was that they needed to be modeled, or caught.

[@jeffking6546]

Question for adam: i have grown up watching you both online and tv aswell as many other makers both real and fictional. About a year ago i finally had saved up enough money for a 3d printer and dont you know it not 2 weeks after the warranty ended the thing broke. I did all i could to fix it but it wasnt a snap together kit it was a prebuilt machine so i had no idea what I was doing. Since it broke beyond my skills to repair i have lost the inspiration to create things. A new printer is too far out of my price range (im 17 and i work durring the summers). How do you get your inspiration back after being discouraged?

[@1pureum]

Phh who needs computers, "we like to make things hard for ourselves because we are artists."

[@1pureum]

or actually I would like to see them back that thing up.

[@greyareaRK1]

If the elastics snap, animators can be thrown two weeks into the future or past.

[@nawarRushdi]

Wow

[@fifiifif]

You’ve been here?! Welcome!

[@QUIINCUNX]

I need help guys. I want to see a video of Adam going through his field notes and have him walk us through them. Please thumb up this comment to hopefully get it noticed. I need to see Adams notes

[@MichaelBerthelsen]

0:51 Gonad flees?

[@bytesizedengineering]

It seems like this guy would benefit from using something like Microsoft project or Trello. It would make his job a lot easier.

[@zwerko]

What's wrong with plain old digital Gantt charts? Turning it physical seems way too much effort for little yield.

[@Tensen01]

Much easier to move things, change things, and visualize. It can all be viewed at once and stood back from. cannot do that digitally.

[@theadamdurrant]

No way to back up that server if there's a fire! :S

[@theadamdurrant]

Richard Clutterbuck my comment still applies

[@thornheartred]

This makes my OCD so happy!

[@skagerstrom]

Related to John? :P

[@savoie0721]

Aardman has never heard of Trello lol

[@2DRichochet]

homeboy pronouncing Emanuel as E. Man Well

[@gromit8023]

Hope he enjoyed bristol :) it's a great city

[@ThatOneDudeWhoPostsStuff]

I'm assuming these videos were filmed waaaaaaaaaaaay in advance because of NDA's.

[@EnAimBoy]

It's like an analog version of Trello..... wait a second why don't they just use Trello

[@paradonym]

#No4K

[@tylerwest4156]

bench maintain moment deputy extended sharp face tongue.

[@ikmnification5737]

5:53 Units Interlinked *Interlinked*

[@Vice1stlast]

Totally missed opportunity to stop motion this whole episode. smh...

[@jimwilliams1536]

Moves label to demonstrate incorrect positioning, carefully repositions label...

[@hasan0770816268]

yes, this is a great system, because computers haven't been invented yet

[@cortster12]

Believe it or not, this is faster than planning on a computer. Shocking, I know, but it's true.

[@paradonym]

Rubber bands on pins on heavily used boards... Legal guns?

[@ewhjfewhehgkwhgew8334]

Ben Barrowman has exactly the same voice as me and it's making me uncomfortable!

[@ElliotLynch]

whos justmas timberton