Hey folks, Harry here. Well, I have a treat for you. Coming up here, I have some Gorgeous images from CHICKEN RUN. Today in my little witty mailbox, I received a Digital Presskit for the film and I've selected some pretty darn fine images to have on your desktop. Now... I know, there are still some of you that refuse to believe that this film is going to be worth a crashed Grade A egg on the scruffy floor of the neighborhood grocery... Well, you are being a cynical bastard. My love and passion for CHICKEN RUN comes not from Dreamworks, but from across an ocean where Nick Park and Peter Lord and the denizens of Aardman have been working away.
In the above shot, you are taking a look at NICK PARK. Now traditionally we Americans only have seen Nick wearing a tuxedo and a really loud light up or rhinestone bow-tie and accepting an Academy Award for his brilliant animated shorts. Literally... if you have seen the pure filmmaking wonder of his films.... The sheer genius of his shot selections, the bristling energy of his comedies... My God... To know his work is to be faced point blank with Sheer unadulterated genius.
And this time out, he's partnered with Peter Lord to make Aardman's first feature film. Peter Lord is responsible for two brilliant shorts that I've seen... WAT'S PIG and ADAM... he's done two others... but unfortunately, I never saw those. Peter co-directed this film with Nick and from what I've been told... that partnership came off without a hitch. In that first pick, Nick is directing Mr and Mrs Tweedy as the tool over their gigantic Chicken Pie machine... the ultimate fate of non-egg producing chickens!!!
I wish the above shot of Rocky were in full frame... ie, the correct aspect ratio as then you would see how complete the picture is. You see... a signature of Nick Park's work is the sheer brilliance of his frame. But here, we are looking at their use of colors. In the above shot, Rocky has made off with a radio and is bicycling his way back to the internment camp for Chickens when he comes across this sign. This deadly foreboding sign of doom. CHICKEN PIES! Death, boiling gravy, meat ripped from bones, feathers torn out. Food for HUMANS!!!
Alright... now this shot... This fantastic brilliant shot. Well, here is where you see Nick Park. Right there. Look at that. The entire frame is used. Foreground, midground and background to create an ominous threatening clinical air to things. Mrs Tweedy... repressed evil egg counting witch... A chart in the background showing the decline of egg production. An angry look upon her face... a frustrated look. The muted use of colors, save for her own single subdued purple dress. You see... this is the CLASSIC use of color to tell a story. In Hollywood of old, you would see a grey New York with a technicolor Audrey Hepburn... the single shot of color in her world walking towards camera. Everyone else... greys, blacks and whites. Audrey... Bright reds and yellows and blues. Bigger than life. And in the foreground.... An Incomplete Carton Of EGGS!!! Signalling the impending DOOM of chickenkind!!!
Here we have the resident rodents, the heavy set one is Nick, played by the fantastic Timothy Spall. And the thin one is Fetcher, played by Phil Daniels. Now... I don't know... I haven't read the script or seen this scene... But this looks like either a dance number or some sort of bizarre rat ritual. But notice still... the use of lighting and color... the detail... they are not just dancing upon regular ol Christmas lights... they are dancing upon... Spikey Evil Christmas Lights... the ones that when the fell off the line, they would stab into the bottom of your feet hobbling you for at least two days of agonizing pain.
Then... here is a scene with 17 different characters being animated... 17. It looks as if while planning or enacting some sort of escape plan, someone lifted the roof off of their coop and caught them in the act. Most likely, this would be Mr Tweedy as he is the human that is not underestimating the awesome intellects that reside in these fowl beings. "Even a man who is pure at heart and says his prayers at night... knows that chickens will attempt to escape by flight!" Words to live by. These are not domesticated unthinking animals. They feel, have desires, ambitions. Do you think they wanted to be captured and forced to poop out large white calcium coated yolks? Why NO! They wanted to help bring about world peace, cure disease.... record the latest dance craze! I know it. Seriously folks... Have you ever looked into the soul of a chicken? You can see so much wasted years. People suppressing them. Consuming them. Caging them. It's a time they did something about it!
