Disclaimer: I was provided on an all expense trip to visit The Boxtrolls set in Portland. It has been under embargo until now! I am so excited to share this AMAZING geek filled experience with all of you. All opinions are my own.
I always knew what the definition of Stop-Motion animation was, but never in a million years would I have pictured what I experienced when I went on Laika’s “The Boxtrolls” set! I understood that they used puppets, I pictured a black curtain and a few things moving and then mostly computer animation. I had NO clue what to imagine. I had never been to Comic-con or any place to actually see what a set would look like.
Costumes: Lets start with the costumes. Picture a HUGE board for each puppet. The costume designer would go through and pin and save any picture, fabric, colors, material, that would go with that design for that puppet/character. There was an entire area where the wall was just costumes.
Costume Designer Deborah Cook works on one of Egg’s outfits during production of LAIKA and Focus Features’ family event movie THE BOXTROLLS, opening nationwide September 26th.
Credit: LAIKA, Inc.
Puppets: These little guys are AMAZING! They are a little bit bigger than my hand. The are constructed to move in any way possible that you would need for the movie. Their faces pop on and off and their are THOUSANDS of combinations with eyes/mouth that go with each puppet.
An animator’s hands working on the delicate process of the puppet’s movement during production of LAIKA and Focus Features’ family event movie THE BOXTROLLS, opening nationwide September 26th. Credit: LAIKA, Inc.
3D Printing: WOW! So these amazing printers are so cool and they RUN all night long to create all of the puppets. So EACH printer is assigned one character/puppet. Therefore any slight variations in color from printer to printer doesn’t ruin the movie.
Sets: Each set is so detailed! They have tons of many accessories that go on each set. So just imagine if the set is out side and there is a little wind. Any leaves or things going across the screen have to be moved along with the character set by set.
David Pugh works on the extensive Market scene during production of LAIKA and Focus Features’ family event movie THE BOXTROLLS, opening nationwide September 26th. Credit: Eric Adkins / LAIKA, Inc.
In the movie there is going to be this sewer scene where they wanted the water refection to show up on the screen. So the engineers came up with using a circular glass material (like you would see on a shower door) and add mirrors underneath it and have it spin. With the right lighting it created this amazing reflection! This was only ONE scene!
Matias Liebrecht works on Eggs during production of LAIKA and Focus Features’ family event movie THE BOXTROLLS, opening nationwide September 26th.
Credit: Jason Ptaszek / LAIKA, Inc.
Spreadsheet: What a way to make a nerdy spreadsheet teacher geek out! Each frame was filled with numbered puppet parts to be able to easily snap on and off for each frame!
***The details it takes to create a movie like this are so unbelievable. If you watch the video below, even the accordion works! The attention to detail is AMAZING (How many times did I use this word in this post?…There is a reason for this!)!!
Everywhere Friday, September 26, 2014