Aardman’s Åsa Lucander on ‘Darcy’s Tale’, Moles, and Making Climate Issues Personal

Aardman has long been known for its ability to blend heartfelt storytelling with meaningful messages, and the studio’s latest project, ‘Darcy’s Tale’, is no exception. Directed by Åsa Lucander, this poignant short film raises awareness of groundwater flooding – one of the least understood, but most devastating types of flooding in England. Commissioned as part of the national initiative Let’s Talk Groundwater Flooding, the film follows Darcy, a lonely mole searching for love, whose world is upended by rising waters.

Following the success of ‘Missy’s Tale’ in 2021, Aardman was once again entrusted with translating a serious environmental issue into a touching and terribly adorable narrative. From early concept sketches, to final animation, Åsa and her team crafted a story that both informs, and tugs on the heartstrings. As her secret mission though, by creating Darcy’s character, the director was hoping to raise the profile of moles amongst animal lovers.

Speaking with LBB’s Zoe Antonov, Åsa takes us behind the scenes of ‘Darcy’s Tale’, sharing her insights into the creative process, the challenges of depicting groundwater flooding in an accessible way, and the impact animation can have in raising awareness about real-world issues.

LBB> What inspired you to take this project on, and how did you approach translating such a serious topic into animation?

Åsa> We were lucky that we had built a relationship through a previous short film in 2021 called ‘Missy's Tale’, created for Cornwall Council, The Environment Agency and Defra's #BeFloodReady campaign. ‘Missy's Tale’ highlighted the impact flooding can have on homes and families, from the perspective of Missy the cat.

‘Darcy’s Tale’ is a follow on from ‘Missy’s Tale’, with the focus this time being on groundwater flooding.

The projects align well with our values as a company, and it felt important that we contributed to raising awareness of what the implications of climate change are on our society and lives. Creatively, it was very much a joy from start to finish, as there was room to create a compelling story as well as deliver an important message.

LBB> Can you talk us through the creative process of bringing ‘Darcy’s Tale’ to life, from concept to final animation?

Åsa> The client came to us with a very open brief, with the wish to raise awareness of groundwater flooding and its devastating impact, which unfortunately not many people are aware of. The aim was to drive focus and support to the new national network, Let’s Talk Groundwater Flooding, created by three groundwater flooding projects funded by Defra.

With this in mind, I wanted to create something that would grab audiences’ attention with an emotional storyline at its core. So, I decided to tell a love story about a mole.

Once we had the idea and the script for the film, we then moved on to thinking about its visual look. We took some artistic licence in terms of how we portrayed the flooding and devastation; it became more of a stylisation of what floods look like and how the water rises. However, getting there, we studied a lot of reference material and talked it through in depth with the team.

We were lucky everyone loved the mole and its love story, and after some intense discussions over the name, the mole was named Darcy. It was also important for the client for the mole not to be of a specific gender, but up for interpretation. So, the voice over had to be addressed accordingly.

This is also where I started to sketch out the characters. I did the design for Darcy and the early sketches of the other characters then the final designs were made by the awesome Alba Filella.

We then created a style frame that would dictate the look for the rest of the film. This was done by Marc Moynihan who added his magic to the visual look of the film and created a beautiful visual world both above and underground. He was also joined by Chloe Bristol in creating the backgrounds. The technique was 2D, backgrounds created in Photoshop and animations in Animate, with textures applied in TV Paint and then comped together in After Effects.

Once the story and look were in place I created a thumbnail board that was then passed to the storyboard artist Barry Reynolds, who drew out the action in more detail. Those panels were turned into an animatic – which is a moving story board where we can start to get a sense of the pace and timings. It’s here we lock down the timings of the shots and don’t deviate much from the action in the film.

At this point the animatic gets shared with the composer, Matt Loveridge, so he can start composing the music for the film. We share a brief and discuss in depth what we want out of the music and the emotional tones for various stages of the film. He did a fantastic job in creating the all-important music for the film. It’s a delicate balance between supporting the voice over and visuals and for it to then carry the story and elevate the emotional beats.

Alongside this we start with the animation. I’m very fond of frame-by-frame traditional animation and wanted to keep the feel of that in this film as much as possible. It’s a balancing act where we are racing against a tight schedule.

We had five amazing animators working on the film, Henrique Barone, Mara Farella, Salvador Padilla and Olly Montague and I think they did a fantastic job. Once the animation was done it got passed to Monique Malan and Clea Tselentis who applied textures in TV Paint. We then combined character animation with the backgrounds and added finishing touches and effects in comp, which was done by Bram Ttwheam, Spencer Cross and Bijun Zhuge. The film was edited by Dan Williams and sound effects by Andrew Weigh and William Davies.

LBB> How did you develop the character of Darcy the mole, and what made them the perfect protagonist for this story?

Åsa> Sometimes it is easier to tell a story from an animal’s perspective. Animals create great empathy in humans, and this empathy can then be combined with a simplified narrative to provoke genuine feeling from audiences.

The film is about groundwater flooding so we wanted it to centre around an animal whose habitat this would affect – a mole seemed like a perfect fit.

Groundwater flooding is much slower to occur than river flooding, for example. There might be heavy rains in the spring, but it can take up to six months for it to rise into your garden and cause long-lasting devastation.

With spring come showers, which can be the culprit for groundwater flooding. Therefore, I wanted to begin the story in spring and finish in the autumn.

Thinking of what other events that are happening in spring and in our gardens my thoughts were drawn to the celebration of love. Lots of animals are finding partners and building homes and families together. From there, I started to weave a story together, one that people could relate to, even if it was portrayed by animals.

LBB> What were some of the biggest challenges in visually representing groundwater flooding in an engaging and accessible way?

Åsa> The aim for the film was to raise awareness of groundwater flooding through an emotionally engaging story that draws the viewer in and subsequently encourages them to learn more.

Because of this we felt there was room for creative licence to depict the flooding in a visually interesting way that would work with the parallel story of a mole looking for love.

LBB> How did the collaboration with Defra, the Environment Agency, and Project Groundwater shape the storytelling and messaging of the film?

Åsa> When we were approached by the Let’s Talk Groundwater Flooding team to help raise awareness of groundwater flooding, we knew this was an important issue to highlight in a creative and engaging way and were keen to be involved.

Our brilliant producer Hannah Richmond also made sure that everyone was well informed, involved and happy during the whole process from start to finish.

LBB> Were there any key learnings from your previous flood awareness film, ‘Missy’s Tale’, that influenced the way you approached this project?

Åsa> From the response to ‘Missy’s Tale’, and the fact that everyone seems to engage with the story of a pet, we leant into the emotional story to draw the viewer in.

LBB> What do you hope audiences, especially those unfamiliar with groundwater flooding, take away from ‘Darcy’s Tale’?

Åsa> Animation has the power to bring complex issues to life, and we hope the film helps people understand the risks and how by supporting each other, we can build a brighter future together.

LBB> As an animation studio, how does Aardman balance entertainment with raising awareness about real-world issues like climate change and flooding?

Åsa> I feel raising awareness can come in many forms. It can tackle the issue by being informative, shocking and even by utilising humour, or, like in our film, telling a story in an emotionally engaging way. What’s important is that we grab people’s attention, make them take a break in what they are doing, think, and then hopefully act.

LBB> Do you have any favorite moments or behind-the-scenes stories from working on ‘Darcy’s Tale’ that you’d like to share?

Åsa> It’s hard to find a favourite moment, but I think it was fantastic that we had such an international team behind the film. The daily catch-ups became both a joy and a chance to have a chat with everyone. And I really enjoyed that. I was also so impressed with the whole team who put so much love and detail in all parts of the project. So, a massive thank you all for that.

But, to think of something specific… While doing my research on moles, I learnt, to my utter horror, that moles are not loved by everyone at all, and many people go to great lengths to eradicate them from their precious lawns. So, my secret hope is that this film will create a new love and appreciation for moles. They are important for our grounds. And utterly adorable too.