Identify: South Park And The Process Of Production

The production process for an episode of South Park is unique in the animation industry. The average episode takes a mere 6 days to produce, from initial idea to final edit. This quick turnaround can be attributed to the style of animation which resembles that of cut-out animation techniques, but is produced digitally using Maya which is normally associated with 3D animation. Maya allows the animators to retain the cheap, homemade cut-out look, while taking a fraction of the time to produce. The original pilot and the short film 'The Spirit Of Christmas' from which the premise and main cast of South Park derived, was produced by Parker and Stone using construction paper and stop motion techniques, a labour intensive process that would not have been feasible once the series was officially picked up by Comedy Central.

The most obvious and apparent influence is the work of Terry Gilliam on Monty Python's Flying Circus, but South Park takes these techniques and employs them on a larger scale, staging scenes with hundreds of characters and blends these with 3D modelling to create this anarchic, yet hand-crafted aesthetic. The animation itself is extremely limited. Characters do not have traditional walk cycles, instead moving around on Tweens, made of pre-made assets which are created digitally and assembled in Maya.