Aardman invented a whole new stop-motion animation technique for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the franchise's first film since A Matter of Loaf and Death in 2008, finds Wallace inventing a smart gnome known as a Norbot designed to do jobs around the house, but it develops a mind of its own.

During Screen Rant's set visit, co-director Merlin Crossingham detailed how Aardman invented an entirely new stop-motion animation technique for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Talking about a scene with many Norbots in one shot, Crossingham explained how they developed a groundbreaking technique to achieve the shot. Read his full explanation below:

We didn’t have enough puppets. 5 across by 12 deep, it’s a lot of Norbots. And so we managed to make it so we would animate one row and then that row would attached to motion controls. We wanted them all marching in lock-step. We animate the front row, it takes a frame on a composite blue screen, and then the motion control moves it back to the second row, takes a frame, moves it back, takes a frame. And then in comp, they get layered up. And we had to do that because they were going through light, we couldn’t just do one and repeat it.

What Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl's New Stop-Motion Animation Technique Means For The Movie

The Franchise Continues To Innovate

The Wallace & Gromit movies have been innovating new stop-motion techniques since 1989 when A Grand Day Out popularized the use of plasticine (modeling clay) for animation. Aardman has also pioneered techniques to digitally remove rigs used to suspend characters, allowing for more complex sequences such as the train chase in The Wrong Tros. By refining the traditional 12–24 frames-per-second approach, Aardman has also achieved smoother motion while maintaining the charm of handmade animation. While rooted in traditional claymation, later projects have used CGI to complement stop-motion, preserving its tactile feel while allowing for more ambitious visuals.

For their latest project, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Aardman invented another new stop-motion technique to animate a large crowd of Norbots without building dozens of puppets. They animated a single row of five puppets in sync, captured each frame on a composite blue screen, and used motion controls to shift the row backward, repeating the process. By layering these rows in post-production, they created a seamless marching crowd. This was necessary because of the changes in light, so they couldn't just simply rinse and repeat.

Our Take On Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl's New Stop-Motion Animation Technique

Its Ambition & Innovation Is Its Biggest Appeal

Aardman inventing another new stop-motion animation technique for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl continues to demonstrate how innovative and ambitious the franchise is. Their latest technique – using motion controls and compositing to animate a large crowd of Norbots – redefines what's possible in the medium while still maintaining its charm. By blending meticulous craftsmanship with cutting-edge technological innovation, Wallace & Gromit continues to set the gold standard in stop-motion animation.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl releases on January 3, 2025.