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Aardman Animations details Shaun the Sheep creation process for 3DS, how they were approached
"As with all 3D, it comes back to the brain's ability to put displaced images together," Sproxton says. "We shoot right eye content and left eye content. Conventional 3D cameras have two lenses, both a little distance apart. Our character models are too small for that - we couldn't get two lenses that close - so we actually take a shot, move the camera a few millimetres, and then take another. In post production, that gets put back together as a single 3D frame." - David Sproxton, Aardman co-founder
Sproxton went on to discuss the how and when of this Nintendo/Aardman deal.
"Nintendo approached us before they launched the 3DS last year. They'd seen our characters and they wanted content for the handheld. They asked what our most international brand was, and that's Shaun the Sheep. It was quite a smart move, really. I think they realised we've been in 200 countries worldwide, it's silent comedy so it travels, and it's slapstick so it works well in little snippets. This is exactly the kind of thing we're best at doing. We started thinking about the series, and then we sent them, I think, 15 little paragraphs of episode ideas. I think we did rough storyboards, and they said fine. We sent them other storyboards, and they liked them too. In the end, they just said, "You know what you're doing, make it work, and, if you can, see if you can get a 3D element into the gags." Then they just let us get on with it."
Check out the full interview for more details on the creation process
Sproxton went on to discuss the how and when of this Nintendo/Aardman deal.
"Nintendo approached us before they launched the 3DS last year. They'd seen our characters and they wanted content for the handheld. They asked what our most international brand was, and that's Shaun the Sheep. It was quite a smart move, really. I think they realised we've been in 200 countries worldwide, it's silent comedy so it travels, and it's slapstick so it works well in little snippets. This is exactly the kind of thing we're best at doing. We started thinking about the series, and then we sent them, I think, 15 little paragraphs of episode ideas. I think we did rough storyboards, and they said fine. We sent them other storyboards, and they liked them too. In the end, they just said, "You know what you're doing, make it work, and, if you can, see if you can get a 3D element into the gags." Then they just let us get on with it."