Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave (1995)

Director:

Nick Park

Writers:

Bob Baker (written by) &
Nick Park (written by)

Release Date:

15 October 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Crime | Family

Plot:

Wallace falls for Wendolene, a wool shop owner, while Gromit is framed for the sheep rustling.

Plot Keywords:

Sheep | Sheep Rustling | Framed | Wallace And Gromit | Dog

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 17 wins

Cast

Peter Sallis	...	Wallace (voice)
Anne Reid	...	Wendolene Ramsbottom (voice)

Directed by
Nick Park

Writing credits
Bob Baker		(written by) &
Nick Park		(written by)

Produced by
Peter Lord	....	executive producer
Colin Rose	....	executive producer: BBC
Michael Rose	....	producer
Carla Shelley	....	producer
David Sproxton	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Julian Nott

Cinematography by
Dave Alex Riddett		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Helen Garrard

Art Direction by
Phil Lewis

Art Department
Trisha Budd	....	assistant art director: props
Tim Farrington	....	scenic artist
Richard Higgs	....	graphic designer
Michael Salter	....	storyboard artist
Jason Spencer Galsworthy	....	model maker
Zennor Witney	....	model maker

Sound Department
Paul Hamblin	....	dubbing mixer
Adrian Rhodes	....	dubbing editor
Jack Stew	....	foley artist

Visual Effects by
Jeff Cliff	....	mechanical models
Linda Langley	....	model sculptor
Del Lawson	....	model technician
John Parsons	....	model coordinator
John Wright	....	mechanical models
Stella Bogh	....	digital compositor (uncredited)
Pete Hanson	....	studio manager: CFC (uncredited)
Alison O'Brien	....	visual effects producer (uncredited)
Kevin Phelan	....	scanning and recording producer: CFC (uncredited)
Tim Wellspring	....	visual effects coordinator: CFC (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
John Bradley	....	gaffer
Simon Jacobs	....	photographer
Sam James	....	camera operator
Ian Jewels	....	gaffer
Tristan Oliver	....	photographer
Frank Passingham	....	photographer
Paul Smith	....	camera operator
Nick Upton	....	camera assistant

Animation Department
Steve Box	....	key character animator
Gary Cureton	....	character animator
Sergio Delfino	....	assistant animator
Nick Park	....	character animator
Peter Peake	....	character animator
Loyd Price	....	character animator
Nick Upton	....	animation assistant
Ian Whitlock	....	assistant animator
Allan Yates	....	animation systems engineer

Editorial Department
Bridget Mazzey	....	assistant film editor
Tasmin Parry	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
Nic Raine	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Simon Rhodes	....	music scoring mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Alan Gregory	....	technical crew
Bob Gregory	....	technical crew
Glenn Hall	....	technical crew
Harry Linden	....	floor manager
John Oaten	....	technical crew
Peter Thornton	....	production consultant

Thanks
Tara Bacon	....	thanks
Lisa Bilbe	....	thanks
Mike Booth	....	thanks
Elizabeth Buttler	....	thanks
Douglas Calder	....	thanks
Ben Cook	....	thanks
Charles Copping	....	thanks
Maxine Guest	....	thanks
Toby Hannam	....	thanks
Beverley Issacs	....	thanks
Curtis Jobling	....	thanks
Janet Legg	....	thanks
Beth MacDonald	....	thanks
Stuart Markovic	....	thanks
Jason Marshall	....	thanks
John McAleavy	....	thanks
Viv Paeper	....	thanks
Darren Robbie	....	thanks
Susannah Shaw	....	thanks
Arthur Sheriff	....	thanks (as Arthur Sherriff)
Barry Shutler	....	thanks
John Truckle	....	thanks
Adam Vernon	....	thanks
Sophie Wright	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Aardman Animations (as An Aardman Animation Production)
• BBC Bristol (in association with)
• BBC Children's International (in association with)
• Wallace & Gromit (in association with) (as Wallace & Gromit Ltd.)

Distributors

• BBC Bristol (1995) (UK) (TV)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1995) (UK) (TV)
• Northern Arts Entertainment (1996) (USA)

Special Effects

• Computer Film Company, The (CFC) (optical effects) (as Computer Film Company)
• General Screen Enterprises (optical effects) (as GSE)

Other Companies

• Aardman Animations  thanks (as the Staff of Aardman Animations)

Also Known As:

A Close Shave (UK) (short title)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Finland:S | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:Atp | Spain:T | South Korea:All | Sweden:7 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | Australia:G

Company:

Aardman Animations

Trivia:

There is a large billboard with a painting of a baker and the slogan "Buy Bob's Buns." The co-writer of the film is Bob Baker.

Goofs:

Continuity: The porridge gun shoots at Wallace, and some of it lands on the wall. In the next shot, the porridge is gone.

Quotes:

Wendolene Ramsbottom: I'm sorry about this.
Wallace: For what?
Wendolene Ramsbottom: Nothing. Just stay away from me, from my shop, and my silly, silly windows.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Room 101: (#10.5)" (2005)

Close to perfect.

Even though the story is probably less impressive- and overdone when compared to the other Wallace & Gromit shorts, it still probably is my favorite. It's simply such a fine and entertaining movie to watch, not in the least because it has Preston, the evil villain dog in it and a whole bunch of sheep.

It's an impressive looking movie, with some surprising big sequences. What I always love about the Wallace & Gromit movies is that they often feature some amazing build-up and shot action sequences and chases in particular. It's often worth the price alone already.

This was the second Wallace & Gromit short to win an Oscar for best animated short, which not only proofs the quality and entertainment level of the Wallace & Gromit shorts but shows as well that you don't need a big budget or impressive new techniques to make a brilliant animated movie with. The claymation is impressive as always and has lots of details to it. It must be an incredibly time consuming but also incredibly rewarding process to make a movie like this. Nick Park must surely enjoy it. He's in the claymation business for over 20 years now, together with Peter Lord.

This movie takes some chance to add another human character to the movie. All of the previous Wallace & Gromit movies were mostly purely about the strange friendship between the man and dog, in which the dog always seemed like the more clever and rational of the two. This gamble however worked out fine for the movie and the added love-story plot actually adds a lot to the movie. As a matter of fact, after this movie Wallace had many more love-interests in later Wallace & Gromit adventures, such as the big theatrical released "Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" and the latest short "Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'".

It of course are not just the human characters that make this movie but also really the animals. Preston the dog is such a great and evil movie villain. The sheep in this movie also provide the movie with lots of hilarious moments and they are cute looking as well.

perhaps my favorite Wallace & Gromit short.

9/10