![]() ![]() Instead of actors, there are posable puppets. The vast majority of the elements in stop motion films are designed and built in the physical world. More environments, more effects, lots of crowds.” “It was beyond anything we’d ever done previously here at LAIKA. ![]() “We were looking at a story that was epic,” Visual Effects Supervisor Steve Emerson told Inverse. LAIKA FILMS PRODUCED FULLThe world that Kubo and companions Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) traverse is full of forests, oceans, icy wastelands, and grand, mysterious structures like the Hall of Bones. ![]() The story of Kubo’s (Art Parkinson) quest through a fantastical Japan to unravel the mystery of his legacy and save his family, Kubo and the Two Strings moves through a number of big, expansive locations. Kubo and the Two Strings is LAIKA’s biggest undertaking to date. The technique is full of challenges and inherent limitations, but with an army of creatives and a unique hybrid method that blends visual effects and traditional tactile stop motion animation, LAIKA embraces those challenges and removes limitations with some ingenuity and a lot of Tyvek. At LAIKA, though, the art of stop motion animation is very much alive. Once Pixar burst on to the scene with 1995’s Toy Story, computer animation quickly dominated the field - it was faster, cheaper, and more creatively freeing than anything that came before it. Earlier this summer, Inverse visited the set of LAIKA’s next film, Kubo and the Two Strings (in theaters August 19), to take a close look at the process and talk to the creative team that brought to life the studio’s biggest film yet. In the age of computer animation, the Oregon-based studio has produced several of the best and most beloved animated films of the last ten years: 2009’s Coraline, 2012’s ParaNorman, and most recently, 2014’s The Boxtrolls. In March 2015, the company announced it would expand the studio in an effort to allow for production of one film per year.LAIKA Studios has spent the last decade not only fighting to keep stop motion animation relevant, but also working to take the old school art form to new technical heights - one frame at a time. Laika has also optioned Colin Meloy's fantasy novel Wildwood and Philip Reeve's fantasy book Goblins, as upcoming feature film adaptations. It was directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable and received an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature nomination as well. Their third film, The Boxtrolls was released on Septemand was based on Alan Snow's fantasy-adventure novel, Here Be Monsters!. The new independent commercial division is now called House Special. After working on stop-motion commercials for clients such as Apple Inc., Fox Sports, ESPN and Coca-Cola, Laika spun off its advertising portion in July 2014, to focus on feature film production exclusively. Their second stop-motion feature film, ParaNorman opened August 17, 2012, which also received an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature nomination. At the end of the year, the studio laid off more staff in its computer animation department to focus exclusively on stop-motion. After directing Moongirl and Coraline, and unsuccessfully renegotiating his contract, Selick departed Laika in 2009. The following year, the studio released its first feature film, Coraline, which received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The studio laid off a significant portion of its staff in 2008, when its second planned feature Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure was cancelled. ![]() They also announced their first projects, a stop-motion film Coraline and CGI animated film Jack & Ben’s Animated Adventure. In July 2005, the successor to Will Vinton Studios, Laika, was founded and opened two divisions: Laika Entertainment for feature films and Laika/house for commercial work, such as advertisements and music videos. The following year, Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, joined the studio as a supervising director. In 2002, Phil Knight acquired financially struggling Will Vinton Studios to pursue feature-length productions. In 1998, Knight made his initial investment and son Travis started work at the studio as an animator. In the late 1990s, Will Vinton Studios, known for its stop-motion films and commercials, sought funds for more feature-length films and brought in outside investors, which included Nike, Inc. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |