Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends at Young V&A

Aardman Studios have distinguished themselves through their use of stop-motion techniques and the “thumbiness” of their characters, that is, the visible sign of the fingerprint, not simply an oversight in the manufacturing process, but rather the hallmark of handcraft. This year, the studio – which produced the inventive Wallace & Gromit series (launched in 1989) and films such as Chicken Run (2000) and Early Man (2018) – celebrates its 50^th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the Young V&A is hosting a special exhibition: more than just a sequence of props and galleries of early sketches, the curation aims to provide immersive installations for younger visitors – allowing them to delve fully into the experience – while also offering a fun and insightful display for adults.

The layout is organised to showcase the entire process, from the initial idea for a story to the final delivery of an animated film, or indeed any piece of animation. It begins with the concept, the sketches and the planning, before moving on to the making of each individual character, the multiplication of the puppets, the organisation of the settings, and eventually the creation of movement through the stop-motion technique, the sound and the editing. Bringing everything together is a complex art, and the exhibition beautifully – and playfully – presents it as a linear journey, complete with stations where visitors can touch and hold the objects described in the captions. The videos are kept short and to the point for each thematic section.

The first room is all about imagination and drawings, together with one of the studio’s earliest characters, Morph. It is particularly interesting to see the various iterations of Wallace (with moustaches, a different nose, a thinner mouth, etc) before the version that continues to be broadcast today. Repetition and multiple attempts are not failures: in fact, the dedicated display reminds us that the famous duo was born from an idea casually sketched on a scrap of paper, almost ready for the bin.

The area dedicated to the sculpting of characters is fascinating: it reveals a level of careful and detailed craftsmanship that is almost unbelievable in its thoroughness. The numerous costume references (with notes on how certain shapes and textiles will force her to walk in a specific way) for Lady Tottington are drawn from magazines and fashion show lookbooks, while a sheet of paper indicates the dimensions of each element (the teeth, the hat, the leather bracelets) for Goona. Once again, the curators take the opportunity to highlight how everyday life can still provide much of the material needed for this part (not only for the inventiveness of the narrative), like the lentils used for Wallace’s rocket in A Grand Day Out. There is also the biggest and heaviest of them all – the Mammoth puppet from Early Man – as well as the largest single model ever made by the studio: the pirate ship from The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012).

The light and sound design sections offer hands-on installations that provide a small insight into the technicalities of integrating these elements with the rest of the production, and the unexpected order in which they are introduced in the process.

For Aardman movie fans, this collection of items is both a historical and wonderfully diverse celebration of the studio’s creativity. For younger audiences, it’s an inspiring little journey, where the screen (and its final products, ready-made) is barely present and mostly appears at the very end. For casual visitors, it offers a very reasonably priced ticket to travel back to the ingenious craft of bringing fiction to life, an engaging illustration of what it takes to create – and have – fun.