A DIRECTOR'S much-loved film has been nominated for an Oscar.
Brighton-born director Will Becher, 41, is thrilled that Shaun the Sheep Farmageddon has been nominated for an Oscar in the animated feature film category.
He said: “The nominations were announced three or four weeks ago, and I was in the studio in Bristol animating Shaun when I heard, and I didn’t know what to do with myself because it is the ultimate prize in the film industry.
“It is a long process making a film like Farmageddon with a lot of people involved and a lot of time and energy, so it is a nice reward.”
Will attended Varndean Sixth Form College and when he was 16 created a three-minute short film called The Bug, which was picked for a screening at London’s National Film Theatre as part of the Co-operative Young Film-makers’ Festival in 1996.
With the aim of directing his first feature film by the age of 40, Will managed this when took on the job for Farmageddon. Will worked his way from a work placement on Chicken Run to doing a degree in animation in Edinburgh.
When he graduated, he was invited by Nick Park to join the animation team on Curse of the Were Rabbit. In doing so, Will became one of production company Aardman's youngest-ever feature film animators and now is one of the directors at the company.
Will and Aardman Studios will be up against the giants of the animation world. Pixar have two films nominated, Soul and Onward, one film by streaming service Netflix called Over the Moon and one film called Wolfwalkers which was done by studio Cartoon Saloon.
Shaun the Sheep Farmageddon is a stop motion animated picture which is a very different to the computer-generated imagery (CGI) films and takes a much different approach.
Will said: “We work with miniature models and we have to physically move them and take pictures of the movement, generally the animators manage to shoot two seconds on a good day.
“It is more like a marathon than a sprint, the days are crammed full. We start really early in the morning and we film all day long. Every day I will be walking around briefing the animators and then launch them on the shoot which could be one day or four weeks for just one shot.
“We started with six months of completing a full storyboard so everyone knows what the plan is, but it can still take a lot of work to bring it to life.”
All the hard work has paid off after their nomination for this year's Oscars. The ceremony will take place in London and Los Angeles due to Covid travel restrictions. Will will be in attendance at the ceremony in London. It takes place in the early hours of Monday UK time.
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