Research #3 - Model Makers

John Wright Modelmaking

A studio specialising in the production of quality models, sets, puppets and props. They also manufacture a range of armatures and ball and socket joints for use within the animation industry.

Established since the early 1990's, and based in the centre of Bristol, John Wright Modelmaking has earned a reputation for producing high quality models for the animation industry.

Their skilled team of model makers with backgrounds in engineering and sculpting have created work for many award winning  film and advertising productions. 
They have created models and sets from animated films to children's television programming and commercials, such as: 'A Close Shave; for Aardman Animations and 'Fifi & the Flowertots'. 

Cod Steaks

Founded over 25 years ago in Bristol's harbour side, they now operate from a 1.5 acre site in central Bristol, with purpose built workshops to take care of every creative requirement. 

Their passion is in the detail and they offer the highest quality of design and craftsmanship with a wealth of creativity, imagination and inspiration to boot.

With over 25 years' experience, Cod Steaks is recognised by many of the world's top creative businesses as a leading provider of 3D design, model making and construction services. 

Scary Cat Studio

With widespread experience within the stop-frame animation industry, they specialise in all aspects involved in the creation of animation puppets, whether that be a simple plasticine upper or a sequence of replacement animation models.





From sculpting the maquettes to assist with early character development to the design and construction of ball and socket armatures, they can produce the puppet that is best suited to the animator's requirements. 

Some of the puppets they have created are for the Duracell advert, the Specsavers advert with Postman Pat and Tatty Teddy.

Mackinnon and Saunders

They are one of the world's leading puppet making companies specialising in the design and construction of characters for television shows, feature films and commercials. 

With over 30 years of experience, Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders'  talented team have had the privilege of bringing some of the worlds' best known animated characters to life. From Bob the Builder, Postman Pat and Fifi and the Flowertots, to Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox. 

From concept moquettes, mould making and armatures to costume, hair and pain, the team will always go the extra mile to ensure the characters they produce create the maximum impact on screen

What skills do you need to work as a model maker?

Jobs in the Animation Industry.

Ways into the animation industry -

Apprenticeships
Degree Courses


There are various different parts of animation you could work within (35 to be precise, on the creative skillset website). These range from an Animation Director/Supervisor to a Model Making Team Leader. 

• Animation Director or Supervisor
• Responsible for the quality of the animation, keeping it on the brief and for delivering consistent performances. 
• Interpret the brief from the Director and other relevant departments.
• Animator (Stop Motion)
• Animating models or puppets on frame at a time to create a performance and provide the action outlined in the storyboard.
• Bring the models/puppets to life. 
• Inbetweener
• Produce the drawings between key poses in order to complete the illusion of movement and action.
• Responsible for producing neat and accurate in-between drawings, as directed by the Assistant Animator, Animator or Animation Director.
• Model Maker
• Producing the working models, props, and/or puppets for stop motion animation.
• Need to be all-rounders, able to work in several craft areas. These include sculpting, mould making, casting, trimming and seaming, foaming, metal working, welding, painting, finishing and costume making.
• Roto Artist
• Tracing the areas of live action frames where computer graphics will overlap or interact with live image.
• Creating clear areas (mattes) within the frame to allow all elements of the scene to be layered convincingly by the Compositor.

Research #2 - Practitioners and Films

Jan Svankmajer - Food (1992) 

Here is the video on vimeo. 



Food is a 1992 Czech animated short film directed by Jan Svankmajer that uses claymation and pixilation. It examines the human relationship with food by showing breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Svankmajer was born in Prague from a German Bohemian descent, but has assimilated into Czech. 

An early influence on his later artistic development was a puppet theatre he was given for Christmas as a child.

Stop-motion features in most of his work, though recently his feature films have included much more live cation sequences than animation. 

Stephane Aubier - A Town Called Panic (2009)

Here is the English version trailer on YouTube.  

A Town Called Panic is a 2009 stop-motion animated film., co-produced by Belgium, Luxembourg and France. It is based on the TV series of the same name. It premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was the first stop-motion film to be screened at the festival. 

The plot is three plastic toys names Cowboy, Indian and horse that share a house in a rural town. Cowboy and Indian plan to surprise Horse with a homemade barbecue for his birthday. However, they accidentally order 50 million bricks, instead of  the 50 they actually require. This sets off a chain of events as the trio travel to the centre of the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe of pointy-headed creatures. 

The film was made over the course of 260 days in a studio on the outskirts of Brussels. 1,500 plastic toy figures were used during filming. 

Otmar Gutmann - Pingu (1986) 

Here is an episode called 'Pingu as a Chef'

Gutmann was a German television producer, animator and the founder of The Pygos Group, now controlled by HiT Entertainment. He is perhaps best known for his long running work in Pingu. 

The animated tales of 'Pingu' and his penguin friends and family, are known all over the world through television and video. Pingu was first presented at the Berlin Film Festival in 1987, in a short pilot film featuring a penguin in an Arctic snowscape. 

With the addition of plot lines, but without voice-over narration or traditional dialogue - the characters communicate with vocalised squeaks and grunts rather than words - Pingu became a successful series, appealing mainly to children under five.

Aardman  -  Purple and Brown/Dot and Gulp

Purple and Brown (2006) is a stop-motion animated short television series devised and directed by Rich Webber and edited by Mike Percival. The series first aired March 2006, on the Nickleodeon's UK channel and later became a staple on the American Nickleodeon network as part of part of its former Nick Extra short program. 

The storyline is led by the characters of two clay blob friends, one purple and the other brown, who get caught in ridiculous situations. Purple and Brown don't speak, but they understand everything. Despite any given predicament, the duo can never help but giggle with a low, recognisable laugh. 

Dot  (2010) is a short film created by Aardman Animations. It is a spot for the Nokia N8. It is the worlds smallest stop-motion animation. 

Aardman used innovative Rapid Prototyping 3D printing technology that used a computer-generated model of an object or characters and then prints it in full 2D using a plastic resin material. The entire set was no more than a metre and a half long, all elements of which were used to help sell the scale of the project to the viewer. 

Marketing Weeks explains the plot: "The film features Dot, a tiny 9mm girl who waked up in a magical, magnified world to discover her surrounding are caving in around her."

The short is in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the worlds smallest stop motion character animation."



Gulp  (2011) is a short film by Aardman Animations and is the worlds largest stop-motion animation. 

The film was shot on a Nokia N8, which was suspended over a beach. Sand sculptures were used in the production. The film stretches over 11,000 square feet. ShortOfTheWeek describes the plot as "a Jonah-style adventure of a fisherman getting caught in the belly of a giant fish."

Western Spaghetti (2008)

Amazing stop-motion artist Pes (Adam Pesapane) shows us how to cook spaghetti with tomato sauce using non-food ingredients. He uses inedible items, including a Rubik's cube as garlic, pick-up sticks as spaghetti and post-it notes as butter. 

PES is an American director and stop-motion animator of numerous short films and commercials. An early influence on his animation style is the work of Czech surrealist Jan Svankmajer.

TIME Magazine named it the #2 Internet film of 2008 in its 'Top Ten of Everything 2008'. The film also won an Honourable Mention at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2009. 

Balance (1989)

Balance is a German animated film, directed and produced by twin brothers Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein. 

It depicts the struggle of five fisherman on a particularly unstable platform and the conflict that develops between them after they find a mysterious box.

In the 8-minute film, the brothers manage to create a powerful message about greed using a minimum of visuals and sounds. The visual design includes several of the same nondescript puppets dressed in drab clothing that is almost identical. 

 Madame Tutli-Putli (2007)

A 17 minute stop-motion film made by Montreal filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, collectively known as Clyde Henry Productions.

Madame Tutli-Putli boards a night train for a mysterious and suspenseful journey. When train robbers cut open a man's stomach and steals his kidneys, she tries to escape. 

The stop-motion animation took them more than 5 years. Critics lauded the film for its groundbreaking techniques. Portrait artist Jason Walkers created the technique of adding composited human eyes to the stop motion puppets. For the lead character, actress Laurie Maher was recorded acting out the motions, but only her eyes and her eyebrows were ultimately visible in the final film.