There is a certain alchemy at work in any Aardman production — that particular blend of humour, heart, and handcrafted charm — but Vengeance Most Fowl, the latest Wallace & Gromit adventure, reveals just how seamlessly that magic is now augmented by digital visual effects. At the heart of this latest outing is Wallace’s latest well-meaning but misguided invention: a “smart” garden gnome that quickly becomes rather more sentient than anyone might have hoped. For Gromit — ever the long-suffering but loyal canine companion — this is confirmation of his worst fears: Wallace’s increasing dependence on technology is, once again, courting disaster. Joining the production as VFX Supervisor was Howard Jones, whose work with Aardman stretches back to Pirates! and Shaun the Sheep. For Vengeance Most Fowl, Jones describes a production philosophy that remains fiercely loyal to Aardman’s roots in stop-frame animation — the puppets, the sets, the hand-made detail — but is also unafraid to deploy digital tools in service of the story, as you can hear in this week’s fxpodcast. As Jones explains to fxguide, every effort was made to shoot practically wherever possible. VFX was never there to replace puppets, but to support them: rig removal, set clean-up, subtle environmental enhancements. And yet, as anyone who has seen the film’s spectacular climax knows, sometimes the demands of scale, spectacle, and sheer comic absurdity require a little more than can be done in clay. For example, the final canal chase, set high atop a vertiginous aqueduct, is a case in point. While much of the world was built practically — including a vast 1/10th scale valley model — the aqueduct itself, and particularly its towering legs when the camera was viewing down from the boats, were digital creations. The challenge wasn’t just technical; it was aesthetic. The visual effects had to blend invisibly with the miniature sets, preserving the illusion of scale while avoiding the trap of making everything feel like a toy. The water, always a tricky element in miniature filmmaking, was handled digitally using Houdini simulations. But here again, restraint was key. The water effects needed to be believable, but not so realistic that they shattered the handcrafted feel of the world. It’s a fine line for the VFX team, too perfect, and the VFX would betray the aesthetic; too crude, and the scene would collapse under its own ambition. Throughout, Jones and his team walked this line with remarkable precision. The result is a sequence that feels epic without ever losing its signature Aardman warmth. Even the explosion that caps the sequence — a gloriously oversized fireball born of Embergen and Houdini simulations — serves not as a moment of gritty realism, but as a perfectly judged punchline to Wallace’s latest misadventure. While the canal chase is the obvious showpiece, the film is packed with quieter, equally intricate work: in-camera focus pulls on miniature sets, digital fog designed to both obscure and reveal, computer screen inserts that carry their own embedded jokes, and dozens of subtle VFX tweaks invisible to all but the keenest viewer. Perhaps the best measure of success is that none of it feels like visual effects. In Vengeance Most Fowl, Aardman’s commitment to story, character, and craft always comes first. The technology is there, but it’s in service to something older: a tradition of storytelling that is as playful as it is precise. STS7Photographer: Richard Davies As Jones himself puts it, “the joy of working on a film like this lies not just in the technical challenges, but in being part of a production where the playfulness on screen mirrors the spirit behind the camera”. And in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, that spirit is alive and well — as eccentric, inventive, and unmistakably Aardman as ever.