Hollywood's special effects are normally home-grown but the technology behind the new film from Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animations was created in Sussex.

Computers built by Worthing-based Sight Systems were used in the shooting of every scene of Chicken Run, a new film featuring the voices of Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha and Jane Horrocks.

The movie is being produced by Stephen Spielberg's Dreamworks studio.

Sight Systems' custom-designed Aardcase was used by Aardman Animations' Oscar-winning team to check every move Chicken Run's 3D plasticine characters made.

Connected directly to cameras on set, the Aardcase captured images on a hard drive as the film was created frame by frame.

Chicken Run was recorded on 35mm which had to be developed before it could be watched.

But the Worthing-built computer let directors Nick Park and Peter Lord check the animation as soon as it was shot. It meant they could be sure the minute changes to characters, 24 for every second of film, were perfectly judged.

The Sight Systems technology was also used in Wallace and Gromit films, a Lurpack butter advert and the Cadbury's animation seen during episodes of Coronation Street.

Sight Systems general manager Bradley Roberts said the firm worked closely with Aardman to develop the hardware.

"They had a concept of what they wanted but their normal computers weren't rugged enough.

"We've had a long-running relationship with Aardman Animations. We manufacture the whole computer system for them."

He said the brush with megastardom enjoyed by the ten-man firm was unlikely to be its last.

Sight Systems is marketing hard in the entertainment industry.

It has also worked for firms ranging from Rolls Royce to Castrol Oil.