'The Wrong Trousers' is an animated short directed by Nick Parker, which serves as the second film in the Wallace and Gromit franchise. The film received an oscar for 'best animated short', due to the various genres it includes- such as German Expressionism.
'Expressionism' is an artistic style which was primarily used in art and poetry until the first World War, when Expressionism became more prevalent in theatre and film. In terms of film, German Expressionism generally includes title cards, high angle shots and deep shadowing ( in German this is referred to as Helldunkel, “a sort of twilight of the German soul, expressing itself in shadowy, enigmatic interiors, or in misty, insubstantial landscapes”).
All of the key elements of German Expressionism are present in 'The Wrong Trousers' in some way or another; for example, the title card appears in the foreground of the house setting and overwhelms the screen, as well as having a shadow around the font and heavy shadows being present in the background. This in itself is highly reminiscent of German Expressionist films, as many were of a pessimistic tone and so had a 'pessimistic' title card in order to foreshadow the plot of the film and set the tone straight away.
Park also uses high angle shots as a homage to the German Expressionist genre, and mixes this with 'Helldunkel' in order to create a sinister presence within the film. He parallels the first shot of Wallace sleeping in his bedroom to a later shot of the Penguin entering Wallace's bedroom, the first shot has some shadow which again reflects the dark twist the film takes, and in the later shot the scene is completely shadowed with the only source of light coming from a lamp nearby.
This clever use of German Expressionism adds a sense of depth to the film / franchise which many will not initially see or think of due to its popularity amongst the children; it adds a deeper meaning to the Wallace and Gromit franchise due to the reminiscence of a during and post war attitude, a time in which Germany rejected Western Europe (due to the treaty of Versailles), something which German Expressionism also does. Expressionism also gives a 'widely distorted version of reality' in order to portray deep emotions; Wallace and Gromit does this through the dynamic of the duos relationship- Gromit, the dog, is probably a lot smarter and alert than Wallace, yet he still 'obeys' Wallace and acts passive towards him. Whilst the fact Gromit's character is 'widely distorted', there is some elements of truth behind their relationship, so Parker clearly uses the genre and its conventions to express this.