Sir Terry’s Pratchett’s best-selling short story of a quintessentially English town which is thrown into disarray by a huge snowfall and the dramatic appearance of a 14-feet tall Abominable Snow Baby. Shunned and feared by the local townsfolk, Snow Baby is rescued by an indomitable Granny, who along with grandson Albert welcomes him into her home, showering her new pet with love and affection, changing the town’s perception and helping the community overcome their initial prejudices.
Screen legend and comedy icon Julie Walters (Harry Potter, Mamma Mia, Paddington) stars as the voice of fearless ‘Granny’, whilst Hugh Dancy (Black Hawk Down, Ella Enchanted, Hannibal, Downton Abbey 2) voices her courageous grandson ‘Albert’ with narration from ‘Homeland’ star David Harewood (Homeland, Supergirl, Blood Diamond).
Created with traditional hand drawn animation techniques to capture the timeless nature of Terry Pratchett’s story, The Abominable Snow Baby is part of a long and established tradition of Channel 4’s animated Christmas specials such as The Snowman, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and last year’s Quentin Blake’s Clown.
Halo provided Picture and Sound Post Production.
Sound Designer and Dubbing Mixer, Gerrit Swanepoel says, “The brief from our client was to keep the sound design as realistic as possible (apart from the odd abominable snowcreature or two, of course). The joy of working on an animated film is that we start with a blank canvas, and are in total control of creating a believable soundscape for our characters to inhabit, and in this film they inhabit a landscape chin deep in snow. To keep the audio as authentic as possible we used recordings of natural snow and ice events to build up the soundtrack, for example frozen lakes cracking was used for the abominable snowmum’s footsteps, snowballs are real snowballs, the ambience tracks are real snow landscapes. Add to this a beautiful soundtrack and the brilliant voice talent of David Harewood, Julie Walters, Hugh Dancy, and a bevy of supporting characters (including some halo personnel), we’ve hopefully created an immersive and heart-warming tale for Christmas Day“.
Eagle Eye Drama’s Head of Production, Isobel Nicolson says, “Louisa was amazing and it really felt like you guys bent over backwards to provide everything we needed. No complaints at all. Very happy team this end!“.
Director: Massimo Fenati
Creative Directors: Tess Cuming, Jo McGrath, Walter Luzzolino
Colourist: Katherine Jamieson
Online Editor: Adam Hall
Sound Designer and Dubbing Mixer: Gerrit Swanepoel
Post Producer: Louisa Sutherland-Smith
Sales Exec: Will Garbutt
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The Abominable Snow Baby airs at 1900 on Christmas day on Channel 4