POULTRY IN -MOTHE CHALLENGE OF TECHNOLOGY

CHICKEN RUN

1931 2007

FILM<TEXT.

MARIANQUIGLEY

'e feature-length animatedChicken Run (Peter Lord

and Nick Park, 2000)' generat-ed $224 million in ticket salesworldwide and became thethird-highest grossing Englishfilm of all time in the UnitedStates. The success of thisfilm is due to the strongstorytelling techniques,humour and distinctive stylefor which the world's leadingstop-motion studio, AardmanAnimations, is renowned.Chicken Run is a comedy withsinister undertones: it offersentertainment but also acommentary on modernity

and the threat of technology,both through its storyline andby the directors' determinationto retain their traditional clayanimation technique.^

The Aardman studio wasestablished in Bristol,England, in 1976. It has areputation for producingshort, innovative animatedfilms with a distinctive'English' look and handmadestyle. Nick Park, who joinedthe studio in 1985, has wonOscars for two of his shortfilms featuring the charactersWallace and Gromit: A Grand

Day Out (1989), The WrongTrousers (1993) and A CloseShave (1995). More recently,the two characters alsostarred in a successfulfeature-length film Wallaceand Gromit: the Curse of theWere-Rabbit (Nick Park andSteve Box, 2005).

Chicken Run, Aardman's firstfeature-length film, was madein partnership with the USstudio DreamWorks SKG andthe French company Pathe.Aardman had rejected offersto make a feature film fromDisney, Warner Bros, and Fox

117

1931 2007

studios because they wantedto maintain control ofproduction and their individ-ual aesthetic style and modelanimation technique. WhileChicken Run utilizes theproduction methods andgeneric conventions charac-teristic of Hollywood films, itavoids the smooth perfectionof those made by Disney andDreamWorks. The film also

production of Toy Story(John Lasseter, 1995}, thefirst animated feature createdentirely by a computer, 3DCGI (computer-generatedimaging) films have becomeimmensely popular withaudiences. In comparison,Aardman employs the moretraditional technique ofstop-motion animation usingmodels made of clay or

the eighty-minute featureChicken Run. Consequently,one day's shooting generallyproduced only ten secondsof footage. The necessitiesof mass production for afeature-length film includedthe construction of 387chickens. For the large bodyparts of the models, theanimators favoured metalarmatures covered with

THE BACKGROUND SKIES WERE HAND FAINTED AND CLOTHING

AND PROPS INVOLVED DETAILED CONSTRUCTION - FOR EXAM-

PLE, THE MINIATURE KNITTED GARMENTS CREATED BY THE

CHARACTER B A B S IN THE FILM WERE ACTUALLY

KNITTED BY THE MODEL ANIMATORS USING TOOTHPICKS.

syllable. For example, thecharacter Rocky required thecreation of approximatelytwenty different mouths.

The construction of back-ground scenery and propswas equally painstaking. Thebackground skies were handpainted and clothing andprops involved detailedconstruction - for example,the miniature knitted

^garmentscreated by the

character Babsin the film were

actually knitted

18

retains the British humour,characters, dialogue andsettings made popular by theWallace and Gromit films.including the characters'distinguishing 'coat hangermouths'.''

Stop-motionanimation: an arduousnaturalism

Since the Pixar studio's

plasticine - one of the mostarduous forms of cinematog-raphy. This very hands-onmethod requires the re-sculpting of the moving partsof 3D figures and filmingframe by frame - as opposedto the continuous filmingused in live-action filmmak-ing. At the rate of twenty-fourframes per second, thismeant approximately100.000 individual frames for

silicon rather thanplasticine, dueto silicon'slesser weightand greaterdurability. However,the chickens' plasticineheads and wings had tobe continually replacedand the need formeticulous lip-synchingmeant that their beaks hadto be changed for every

by the model animatorsusing toothpicks. Closeexamination of Mrs Tweedy's(Miranda Richardson) dressreveals a pattern of chickenfeet; the interior of theTweedys' house is clutteredwith miniature furnishingsand ornaments including awedding photograph inwhich they cut a caketopped by a chickendecoration,

Although stop-motionremains the essentialtechnique, computertechnology was used forediting and in visualizing andplanning film sequences.Computer graphics wereused to calculate thedimensions of a set and toplan camera angles and toenhance the film's visualappearance. For example,the support for the 'flying'chicken was digitallyremoved from the chickencatapult sequence.'' As PeterLord notes;

[There] are things in there- the elemental things likefire, water, and gravy - that

you can't do nicely instop-framing... they weredone in CGI. At the end ofthe film, we spent severalmonths retouching andrepairing in a digital form at acomputer film company inLondon, because all thechickens were supported onhuge steei rigs, which wehad to make disappear.^

Whereas CGI tries to replicatereality, stop-motion is filmedwith real-world objects andthe lighting is similar to thatused in live-action films.Consequently, a greaterdegree of naturalism isachieved. Aardman refers totheir particular style as'live-action in miniature'.Where CGI tends to becharacterized by a smoothperfection, it is sometimespossible to see the animator'sfingerprints on the surface ofthe plasticine models used instop-motion. In addition,Aardman films tend to place amore subtle emphasis oncharacter and story ratherthan on spectacle and specialeffects (notwithstanding thepie machine sequence and

the final escape scene whichare both splendid examplesof spectacle). Peter Lordexplains;

There is a fundamentaldifference between workingwith your hands and yourarms and your fingertips, andworking on the keyboard...You grab the puppet withtwo hands, and you feel thewhole thing move, you feeithe twist of the chest awayfrom the hips, the roli of theshouiders ... The camera hasto move right, the light has tobe right, the actor has to dothe right thing - make-up,costume, everything has tobe right. Just for onemoment in time. That's theway we work. I believe thatthe humanity in what we'redoing, the process, all comesthrough in the final film.^

Although the scale of theproject meant that Lord andPark had to sacrifice thehands-on animation to theirlarge team of animators, theymaintained creative controlof Chicken Run.

A prisoner-of-war film... with chickens

Chicken Run's openingsequence deliberately setsout to fool the audience. Itconveys a night-time vision ofa prisoner-of-war camp; abarbed-wire fence enclosingrows of huts and what seemsto be a watchtower {it is infact a water tank). We see asilhouetted figure hiding inthe shadows of the (prison)huts. Guard dogs and a manwith a rifle patrol the fence.However, the sinister ele-ments of the film are sudden-ly subverted by a close-up ofthe figure's large chicken foot.After capturing this runawaychicken. Ginger (JuliaSawalha), the farmer MrTweedy (Tony Haygarth)pronounces; 'No chickenescapes from Tweedy's farm'.In this way the film clarifies itssetting - a chicken farm innorthern England - and thedriving motivation of itscharacters - escape.

Elements of the sinister andthe absurd permeate the film.The chickens' fear of death

1931 2007

F ILM<TEXT

is symbolized by MrsTweedy's Nazi-iike boots, theshadow of the axe used tokiil Edwina when she fails toproduce eggs, and by themonstrous, chic ken-devour-ing pie machine. Theseimages are contrasted withuniikeiy scenes of chickenspractising tae kwon do, rock'n' roll dancing and catapuit-ing into the air in their

such as the rolier skate usedto puil her aiong the under-ground tunnei and the eggbeaters used to driii a hoie tothe surface - also foreshad-ows the chickens' eventualescape in an aeroplanemade from a crate.

The film's intertextuaieiements playfully draw upona range of early and contem-

wealthy American Gisseducing British women,'" AsFowler notes derisively, theyare 'overpaid, oversexed andover here'. The two rats. Nick(Timothy Spail) and Fetcher(Phii Daniels), are modeiiedon the scroungers in prisonfilms who aim to tradeblack-market goods foreggs (but they receivewhat is iiterally chicken

AARDMAN FILMS TEND TO PLACE A MORE

SUBTLE EMPHASIS ON CHARACTER AND STORY

RATHER THAN ON SPECTACLE AND SPECIAL EFFECT

20

desperate but clumsyattempts to escape. Theimpetus of the fiim, and Itscomic absurdity, is highlight-ed in the four unsuccessfuiescape attempts which arecompressed into the sectionfeaturing the opening credits.Here, the naturai ungainli-ness of the chickenscontinually foils Ginger'sattempts to free them.However, the inventive use ofsimple, everyday objects -

porary British and Americanfilms and serve to heightenits comedy. Parodic aiiusionsto escape fiims inciude thepost-Second Worid Warprisoner-of-war films madeby Britain's Ealing Studiossuch as The Captive Heart(Basil Dearden. 1946).Complete with a stock RAFveteran Fowler (BenjaminWhitrow), Chicken Runplayfully aiiudes to the Britishwartime experience of

feed). They alsoprovide comiccommentarythroughout thefilm - on thechickens' attempts to fly ('it'sraining hen'; 'Poultry inmotion') and at the end of thefilm in their 'what comes first'chicken and egg debate.

There are also direct refer-ences to the American fiimsStalag r 7 (Billy Wilder, 1953)

- hut number 17 is the secretmeeting place for thechickens' escape pians -and The Great Escape (JohnSturges, 1963i-Ginger, iikeSteve McQueen's character,is continuaiiy placed in'soiitary confinement' whencaught escaping, but here ifis a coai bunker and shebounces a sprout rather thanI a basebail against its innerwaii. Rocky (Mei Gibson) andGinger's escape from the piemachine recaiis Indiana

Jones {Raiders of the LostArk [Steven Spieiberg,1981]). Rocky'scry'Freedom!' as he iscatapulted into thesky aiiudes to Mei

Gibson's iead charac-ter in Braveheart (Mel

Gibson, 1995) and theshaking ground and puddlewhich heraid the arrival ofthe circus truck remind us ofJurassic Park (StevenSpieiberg, 1993).

Chicken Run's dark-edgedhumour and the sense of theabsurdity of human life recallEaiing comedies such asKind Hearts and Coronets

(Robert Hamer, 1949) andThe Lavender Hill Mob(Charles Crichton, 1951)."However, despite its 'Englishsensibility'. Chicken Runfeatures a number of recog-nizable Hollywood genericconventions such as themusical song-and-danceroutine, which, though usedmore sparingly here, is astaple element in Americananimated features. For themost part, though, the filmretains the Yorkshire idiom inkeeping with its 1950sNorthern English setting. Aclash of both gender andculture underlies the relation-ship between the leadingcharacters, the EngiishGinger and the AmericanRocky who are based on theAmerican Hollywood celebrityduo of Katharine Hepburnand Spencer Tracey.

Director Nick Park, who onceworked as a chicken packer,explains that he chosechickens for the charactersbecause they are humblecreatures often ridiculed.^ Hisability to endow them withhuman emotions and frailties

makes them convincing andevokes empathy. Althoughthere is more dialogue inChicken Run than in theWallace and Gromit films (thedog Gromit doesn't speak),Park's masterful manipula-tion of the models' glasseyes and plasticine eye-brows is a major element inconveying the characters'human-like emotions.

The character Ginger, whospends night after nightsitting on the roof of her hutwatching a flock of geesewheeling freely overhead,epitomizes the individual'syearning ambition to riseabove the limitationsimposed by others. One ofthe inspirations for the filmwas the fable The GoldenEagle' in which an eagle whogrows up amongst chickensfails to fly himself becausehe thinks he is a chicken.'"

Ginger and her ally Mac (LynnFerguson), the frenzied,fast-talking Scottish inventor,continually devise schemesfor escape. But it is not untilthe arrival of Rocky, the 'Lone

Free Ranger' who is catapult-ed into the chicken farm bycircus cannon, that thepossibility of 'flying the coop',rather than digging under-ground, occurs to Ginger

For Ginger, the Americaninterloper Rocky symbolizesfreedom and the paradise ofthe natural, free-range worldthat she glimpses fromabove the narrow confines ofTweedy's chicken farm. Thecharacter Rocky is inspiredby Mel Gibson's portrayal ofMaverick in the film of thatname (Richard Donner. 1994)- a loveable but unreliablerogue who comes through inthe end - and the characterThe Fonz in the 1970sAmerican television seriesHappy Days.'' Ginger is atfirst taken in by Rocky'scharm and her mistakenbelief that he can fly. Sheagrees to shelter him fromanother form of animalcaptivity - the circus.Although, like Fowler, shebecomes sceptical of hisbrash promises to teach thechickens to fly, she is wonover after he heroically

rescues her from the piemachine.

The following scene, in whichthey sit together on therooftop, marks a change intheir relationship and revealsthe character traits thatunderlie their outer bravado.A more compassionateGinger is apologetic andgrateful to Rocky, who in turntries to admit that he doesn'tdeserve the medal Fowlerhas given him. as he isunable to fly. When his verbalattempt at honesty fails, haleaves the medal and thebottom of the circus posterrevealing the truth about himfor her to find. Escaping on atricycie he has cadged fromthe rats with the falsepromise of paying them witheggs that he will lay (theyaren't aware that only henscan lay eggs), his conscienceis pricked by a billboardadvertising Mrs Tweedy'schicken pies. And so 'thewanderer' returns at the elev-enth hour to aid the chick-ens' flight to freedom.

The other hens, who pnavide

2007

F ILM<TEXT

the source of much of thecomedy in the film, are easyprey to Rocky's charm.Lacking Ginger's organiza-tional skills and strong driveto escape, they fall intodisarray without her determi-nation and leadership. Bunty(Imelda Staunton), thechampion egg layer, accepts

organized, the chickens allcontribute to their successfulescape. A teapot covered byBabs' knitted tea cosy foolsMr Tweedy into thinking it's ahen, while it is Fowler'spicture of a RAF plane whichinspires Ginger's ultimateescape plan. Like Rocky,Fowler himself has not been

Wrong Trousers: and theMutton-0-Matic machine inA Close Shave. These,together with the piemachine and the plane inChicken Run, reflect theinfluence of WilliamHeath Robinson,namely the Britishcartoonist and

AMBIVALENCE TOWARDS GLOBAL CORPORATISM AND

MODERN TECHNOLOGY IS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE

CRUDELY AND LOCALLY MADE FLYING MACHINE,'

WHICH REPRESENTS FREEDOM AND THE 'AUTOMATED

SLEEKNESS OF THE PIE MACHINE SYMBOLIZING

ENTRAPMENT AND, ULTIMATELY, DEATH'.

Lord's attraction to this'magical vision of technology'echoes their humble begin-nings as filmmakers when'just about alt you neededcould be stored in a card-board box'.'^ The battery-op-erated radio Wfth whichRocky escapes reminds usthat Chicken Run is set in anera of less sophisticated^-*-. technology, prior to the^ w ^ computer and the

Internet, and thateven the transistorradio was not

commerciallyavailable until 1954.

is

1nS

- 1 r^ ~-i /'

her lot in life as hereditary -all her ancestors wereegg-layers. Babs (JaneHorrocks), whose constantknitting recalls Gromit, lacksintelligence and is prone tothinking Ginger has returnedfrom a holiday whenever shereturns from solitary confine-ment. When Mrs Tweedydoubles their feed rations, itis only Ginger who is alert tothe farmer's underlying

•̂ motives. However, once

altogether honest, finallyadmitting that he was merelyan air force mascot whonever flew a plane. Nonethe-less, he too overcomes hisinadequacies in the end.

Against the machines

Machines feature in all threeWallace and Gromit films:Wallace's Auto-Jam Ballisterin A Grand Day Out: theTechno Trousers in The

illustrator's early twenti- jmeth-century whimsical -Zdrawings of ^ ^ J w t L iimaginary ma- ^ ^ ^ Pchines. The Americancounterpart of these earlyvisions of technology can beseen in the early animatedfilm Plane Crazy (Walt Disneyand Ub Iwerks, 1928) inwhich, just like the chickens,Mickey Mouse flies anaeroplane made out of oldcrates and planks. Park and

^ y But there is a darker sideto mechanization linked

to the rise of large globalcorporations. In Chicken

^ Run, the chickens live inconstant fear of death -

firstly if, like Edwina (namedafter a politician whotriggered a crisis in theBritish egg industry), they failto produce eggs, andsecondly by the pie machinewhich threatens to turn theminto consumer goods. In theend, however, it is themalevolent employer Mrs

Tweedy, rather than theworker chickens, who isdevoured by the machine -which she installed for herown mercenary ends. Noteven her henpecked busi-ness-partner husband comesto her rescue.

Thus even the lowly andapparently dim-wittedworker-chic kens canoverthrow the means ofproduction and their profit-eering human employers,provided that they are'organized'. Furthermore,modern technology andglobal capitalism candehumanize. Ambivalencetowards global corporatismand modern technology isexemplified by the crudelyand locally made flyingmachine, which representsfreedom and the 'automatedsleekness of the pie machine

symbolizing entrapment and,ultimately, death".'^ Similarly,resistance to the sleekperfection of CGI andAmerican corporate domi-nance has enabled the film'sBritish directors to maintaintheir own artistic integrity"and to produce a delightfulfilm imbued with a strongsense of humanity, albeitwith chickens.

Dr Marian Quigley is anhonorary research fellow atMonash University. •

Endnotes' C/7/c/(en ffun [DVD] TM

and © DreamWorks LLC.Aardman Chicken Run Ltd.and Pathe Image 2000.

^ Clay animation, whichfeatured prominently in theearliest days of cinema,has undergone a revivalsince the mid 1970s.

Plasticine, rather than clay,is often used today as it iscleaner and offers a widerrange of colours.Giannalberto Bendazzi,Cartoons: One HundredYears of Cinema Anima-tion, Indiana UP, Bloom-ington and Indianapolis/John Libbey, London,1994, p.278.Brian Sibley, Chicken Run:Hatching the Movie, HarryN. Abrams Inc., New York,2000. p.160.Quoted in Jeffrey Wachs.'Fire, Water, and Gravy: theSecrets of Chicken Run'.< http ://w w w. reel .com/reel.asp?node-features/interviews/parklord>,accessed 23 September2007.Lord in Wendy Jackson,'An Interview with Aard-man's Peter Lord, Anima-tion World Magazine, 2.2,

May 1997,<http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype^search&sval=peter+lord&article_no=771>. accessed 23September 2007.

^ Wachs. op. cit.^ David Stratton, 'Chick

Flick as Escapist Fare',Weekend Australian,Review, 9-10 December2000. p.22,

^ Chicken Run DVD, op. cit.'" Sibiey, op. cit. p.47,'' Chicken Run DVD, op. cit'• Sibley. op. cit. p.31.'̂ ibid., p.37."* Marian Quigley,

'Glocalisation vs.Globalisation: the Work ofNick Park and Peter Lord'.Animation Journal. AJPress, Savannah. USA.2002.

This Film As Text guide was produced by ATOM edltor@atom.org.au > For more information on SCREEN EDUCATIONmagazine, or to download other free study guides: www.metromagazine.com.au > For hundreds of articles on Film asText, Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies: www.theeducationshop.com.au > If you would like to be invitedto free screenings for teachers, please email editor@atom.org.au writing 'Subscribe'. Please indicate in which state orterritory you are located.