| Model making, set building, visual effects and exhibition | |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Headquarters | Bristol, England , UK |
Key people | Susannah Lipscombe |
| Website | www |
Cod Steaks, Ltd. is a Bristol-based model making company most notable for building sets and props for Aardman Animations productions, including all Wallace & Gromit feature films.
Cod Steaks, Ltd. was founded in 1980 by Susannah Lipscombe and started out as a small model making company in the centre of the city of Bristol, UK. Over the following decades it evolved, moving further into the film industry, building full sets, props, costumes and miniatures for feature films, commercials and music videos.
The company moved to a larger location in 2004, allowing it to take on larger projects and incorporating new technology to produce sets and exhibitions faster and more efficiently.[ citation needed ]
On 10 October 2005, a fire in one of the Aardman Animations storage warehouses destroyed many of the sets and props built for Aardman by Cod Steaks. [1]
Cod Steaks expanded into the toy design industry in 2010 with the development of Armouron, a role-play toy with interchangeable armour elements. The concept won an award at the 2010 Toy Fair and is being marketed by Bandai. [2]
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animated images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images. Modern computer animation usually uses 3D computer graphics, although 2D computer graphics are still used for stylistic, low bandwidth, and faster real-time renderings. Sometimes, the target of the animation is the computer itself, but sometimes film as well.
Wallace and Gromit is a British stop motion clay animation comedy series created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, but has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series centres on Wallace, a good-natured, eccentric, cheese-loving inventor, along with his companion Gromit, a silent yet loyal and intelligent anthropomorphic dog. The first short film, A Grand Day Out, was finished and made public in the year 1989. Wallace was originally voiced by veteran actor Peter Sallis, and later by Ben Whitehead. Gromit always remains silent, instead communicating only through means of facial expressions and body language.
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated buddy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The feature film directorial debut of John Lasseter, it was the first entirely computer-animated feature film, as well as the first feature film from Pixar. The screenplay was written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow from a story by Lasseter, Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft. The film features music by Randy Newman, and was executive-produced by Steve Jobs and Edwin Catmull. It features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Jim Varney, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, and Erik von Detten.
Aardman Animations, Ltd. is a British animation studio based in Bristol. Aardman is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit. After some experimental computer animated short films during the late 1990s, beginning with Owzat (1997), it entered the computer animation market with Flushed Away (2006). Aardman films have made $1 billion worldwide and average $147 million per film. All of their stop motion films are among the highest-grossing stop-motion films, with their debut, Chicken Run (2000), being their top-grossing film as well as the highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time.
Pixar Animation Studios is an American computer animation studio based in Emeryville, California, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios. Pixar began in 1979 as part of the Lucasfilm computer division, when it was called the Graphics Group, before its spin-off as a corporation on February 3, 1986, with funding from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who became the majority shareholder. Disney purchased Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion by converting each share of Pixar stock to 2.3 shares of Disney stock, a transaction that resulted in Jobs becoming Disney's largest single shareholder at the time. Although the company started with short films, Pixar is best known for producing high quality, visually impressive CGI-animated feature films technologically powered by RenderMan, the company's own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan Interface Specification image-rendering application programming interface. Luxo Jr., a character from the studio's 1986 short film of the same name, is the studio's mascot.
Nicholas Wulstan Park, CBE, RDI, is an English animator, director and writer best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts, and Shaun the Sheep. Park has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of six times and won four with Creature Comforts (1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993), A Close Shave (1995) and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).
Rex the Runt is a British live action stop motion animated claymation pixilation comedy franchise, primarily consisting of a television show and two short films produced by Aardman Animations for BBC Bristol in association with EVA Entertainment and Egmont Imagination. Its main characters are four plasticine dogs: Rex, Wendy, Bad Bob and Vince.
Plasticine, a brand of modelling clay, is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids.
Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay.
The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 British stop-motion animated short film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit. It is the second film featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit, following A Grand Day Out (1989). In the film, a sinister penguin uses Wallace and Gromit's robotic "Techno Trousers" to steal a diamond.
DreamWorks Animation LLC is an American animation studio that is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It is based in Glendale, California, and produces animated feature films, television programs, and online virtual games. The studio has currently released a total of 37 feature films, notably including ones from the Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, and Trolls franchises.
Morph is a series of clay stop-motion comedy animations, named after the main character. This character was initially seen interacting with Tony Hart, beginning in 1977, on several of his UK TV programmes, notably Take Hart and Hartbeat.
Peter Lord, CBE is an English animator, film producer, director and co-founder of the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay-animated films and shorts, particularly those featuring plasticine duo Wallace and Gromit. He also directed The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 85th Academy Awards.
Silicon Gorge is a region in South West England in which several high-tech and research companies are based, specifically the triangle of Bristol, Swindon and Gloucester. It is ranked fifth of such areas in Europe, and is named after the Avon Gorge.
Toy Story is a computer animated Disney media franchise that commenced in 1995 with the release of the animated film of the same name, produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The franchise is based on the anthropomorphic concept that all toys, unknown to humans, are secretly alive, and the films focus on a diverse group of toys that feature a classic cowboy doll named Sheriff Woody and a modern spaceman action figure named Buzz Lightyear, principally voiced by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, respectively. The group unexpectedly embark on adventures that challenge and change them.
Christopher Sadler is a British animator, director and writer. He is primarily known for his work on Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, Rex the Runt, Cracking Contraptions, Creature Comforts and Shaun the Sheep.
The Shepton Mallet Digital Arts Festival is a British annual public arts festival and creative industry showcase based in the Somerset town of Shepton Mallet at venues including Kilver Court.
Dot is a 2010 British animated short film created by Aardman Animations. It is a spot for the Nokia N8.
Aardman Animations is an animation studio in Bristol, which produces stop motion and computer animated features, shorts, TV series and a selection of adverts.