Monday, 14 March 2005 | Levent OZLER
Astley Baker Davies: Exceedingly Good Animators
Many people over a certain age will recall with fondness the TV adverts for Mr Kipling's cakes. Whilst a man with a voice like gargling straw recalls how that 'nice' Mr Kipling made delicious cakes on his farmhouse kitchen table (I would guess about 12 million in a good year), we all knew full well that his fondant fancies started life in a string of large factories. By this same logic the animation studio Astley Baker Davies, the prodigious producers of Peppa Pig the award winning children's series which is shown in over 60 countries (yes there really are that many, I checked) should have an exceedingly large animation factory. This is not the case.
In fact the studio founded in 1994 by Neville Astley and Mark Baker, and later joined by Phil Davies in order that the company could sound more like a firm of LA attornies, is really the animation equivalent of that aforementioned farmhouse kitchen. It is a small, friendly studio that manages to produce a constant stream of top quality animation. By assembling a small dynamic team and a with a far from mystical combination of talent and enthusiasm, Astley Baker Davies have been able to produce in Peppa Pig a modern children's animation classic. A classic that has been lauded worldwide .The mantelpiece at that farmhouse would have to be very long indeed.
Remarkably all this success has been achieved by keeping the bulk of the production process in house and, apart from the sound, nothing on Peppa Pig leaves the kitchen, sorry room until it is on its way to our screens. This has been the main reason that Astley Baker Davies have been able to retain control over their high production values. Good for kids, excellent for British animation.
The future looks very bright for Peppa, George and friends. The Cartoon Network in the US has snapped up the 52 five minute episodes so far produced and there is a second series to look forward to. Peppa Pig toys are to be found in a high street shop near you and are flying out the door. This great interest in Peppa has meant that a recent competition brought in a record number of entries such that there were grumblings from the Channel 5 postman.
Nickelodeon who have been delighted with the first series know that Peppa Pig's success is down to the simple and charming storylines that every child can recognise.
Overall, viewing figures have captured a very impressive 20.0% of the core audience - figures that would be the envy of many an animated series.
As Nick Wilson, Controller of Children's Programming at Five has said "Peppa Pig is a pig with an overwhelming zest for life echoed in her little brother George. They are enchanting characters and already have a huge following."
Even the adult viewers are now competing for the attentions of Peppa.The Milkshake team recently received an email simply entitled 'From a really tired Dad'! This bleary eyed chappy wrote "Every morning my daughter wakes me up at 5.55am just in case you have moved the Peppa Pig from its 7.30 slot time slot..." Astley Baker Davies will be sending a van filled with full strength coffee to compensate the poor chap!
So what of life before Peppa Pig? Although Mark and Nev both spent some of their formative animation years at Middlesex Polytechnic their paths never crossed while there. Nev finished studying the year before Mark began teaching and instead they first met whilst animating for a TV special called Granpa in the late 80's. When Astley Baker was formed they began the excellent series 'The Big Knights'. This fondly recalled series was created using a software package called Celaction2D which was commissioned and developed especially for Astley Baker, and enabled a very clean, almost simplistic style. This style was later translated to Peppa Pig and it is a classic animation which is the very hallmark of Astley Baker Davies work.
The final piece to this talented jigsaw (should there be such a thing) was the addition of Producer Phil Davies who had been working throughout Nev and Marks time at Middlesex Polytechnic. If only fate had thrown them together sooner we could already have been on Peppa Pig Series 12!!
So what does the future hold for our talented trio and their dynamic team? -There is lots of work to be done on the second series of Peppa Pig and the team are constantly working on development ideas. Rest assured that they will remain true to their vision of a quality animation, a vision that has so far earnt them five Bafta nominations, three Oscar nominations and a well-deserved Bafta. Astley Baker Davies may never have been accused of 'kipling', nevertheless they do make 'exceedingly' good animations.
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