- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,428
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
I'm attempting to put together some facts, and hopefully will be forgiven if I get something incorrect.
I've always been a fan of stop-motion filmmaking. Although the art and concept goes back to the 1890s, most viewers (inclusive of cinephiles) probably won't equate the art form going back much further than 1933, in a film that used articulated structures to bring creatures to life, along with their fur coverings.
That was 90 years ago, and while every few years some major filmmaker will get studio support to do a production - look no further than Pinocchio- for the past decade or so the best work (IMHO) has been performed by a company not from Hollywood, but from Hillsboro, Oregon, the fifth largest city in the state, with a population just over 100,000.
It's in this location, in the northwest part of the state that you'll find LAIKA studios, which has been creating some of the finest stop-motion films, well...
Ever.
Ever in this case, in terms of feature films goes all the way back to 2009 with Coraline.
Three years later, they released ParaNorman, followed by Boxtrolls (2014), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), and Missing Link (2019).
Look at the talent behind the productions and you'll find connectivity.
Travis Knight directed Kubo, and was Lead Animator and / or Producer on Boxtrolls, Coraline and ParaNorman. He also directed Bumblebee and produced Missing Link.
Chris Butler was a writer on Kubo, Character Designer on Coraliine, Director/Writer on ParaNorman and Director / Writer on Missing Link.
Arianne Sutner, whose credits go back to The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), produced ParaNorman, Kubo, Missing Link, and the forthcoming Wildwood, which coincidentally is directed by Travis Knight, with a screenplay by Chris Butler. It's photographed by the great Caleb Deschanel.
The other attribute that four of these films have in common are brilliantly produced special editions from Shout Factory.
Coraline and Paranormal arrived in 4k via Steelbooks as well as regular packaging late last year.
On 28 Feb The Boxtrolls and Kubo will make their 4k steelbook appearance. Both are filled to the brim with quality special features, and a new Dolby Atmos track. These should be considered poster children for the overused term Special or Collectors' Editions.
I wondered how much difference there might be in these new 4k versions, and the answer turned out to be - a great deal. If you love the films as much as I do, more than enough to upgrade.
I'll leave it to others to go into the basic storylines of these wonderful films, but I wanted to make certain that these editions were highlighted, as they're a big deal.
I did make note of one anomaly whilst (for our friends from the north) viewing, which appeared to be some imperfect frames during some motion, but wondered if it might be some sort of "in-between," those frames done in hand-drawn animation general done by secondary staff.
As every frame of these is created by hand, it makes sense that in-betweens might be created by digital means, and it appear that might be the case in post.
It was explained to me thusly:
"One of the many challenging things about stop-motion animation is that because we are making our films one frame at a time, the characters/shots do not have the typical motion blur that you'd see in live action capture. Most shots it's not a problem, but others required some additional heavy lifting. When problematic, it manifests itself as "strobing" -- steppy or poppy movement during rapid action of characters, character appendages or camera movement.
There are four ways that we'll typically counter this -- painted and cut sheet plastic, multiple puppet parts, go motion or motion estimation software in post production."
I'm thinking that what I'm seeing falls under "go motion or motion estimation software," and I wanted to make the point that this is part of the film, and not in any way a disc or authoring problem. It's part of the art of the film.
I'm looking forward to Wildwood!
Image – 5 (Dolby Vision)
Audio – 5 (Dolby Atmos)
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors - Yes
Makes use of and works well in 4k - 4.75
Upgrade from Blu-ray - Yes
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. As an Amazon Associate, HTF earns from qualifying purchases. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.
I've always been a fan of stop-motion filmmaking. Although the art and concept goes back to the 1890s, most viewers (inclusive of cinephiles) probably won't equate the art form going back much further than 1933, in a film that used articulated structures to bring creatures to life, along with their fur coverings.
That was 90 years ago, and while every few years some major filmmaker will get studio support to do a production - look no further than Pinocchio- for the past decade or so the best work (IMHO) has been performed by a company not from Hollywood, but from Hillsboro, Oregon, the fifth largest city in the state, with a population just over 100,000.
It's in this location, in the northwest part of the state that you'll find LAIKA studios, which has been creating some of the finest stop-motion films, well...
Ever.
Ever in this case, in terms of feature films goes all the way back to 2009 with Coraline.
Three years later, they released ParaNorman, followed by Boxtrolls (2014), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), and Missing Link (2019).
Look at the talent behind the productions and you'll find connectivity.
Travis Knight directed Kubo, and was Lead Animator and / or Producer on Boxtrolls, Coraline and ParaNorman. He also directed Bumblebee and produced Missing Link.
Chris Butler was a writer on Kubo, Character Designer on Coraliine, Director/Writer on ParaNorman and Director / Writer on Missing Link.
Arianne Sutner, whose credits go back to The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), produced ParaNorman, Kubo, Missing Link, and the forthcoming Wildwood, which coincidentally is directed by Travis Knight, with a screenplay by Chris Butler. It's photographed by the great Caleb Deschanel.
The other attribute that four of these films have in common are brilliantly produced special editions from Shout Factory.
Coraline and Paranormal arrived in 4k via Steelbooks as well as regular packaging late last year.
On 28 Feb The Boxtrolls and Kubo will make their 4k steelbook appearance. Both are filled to the brim with quality special features, and a new Dolby Atmos track. These should be considered poster children for the overused term Special or Collectors' Editions.
I wondered how much difference there might be in these new 4k versions, and the answer turned out to be - a great deal. If you love the films as much as I do, more than enough to upgrade.
I'll leave it to others to go into the basic storylines of these wonderful films, but I wanted to make certain that these editions were highlighted, as they're a big deal.
I did make note of one anomaly whilst (for our friends from the north) viewing, which appeared to be some imperfect frames during some motion, but wondered if it might be some sort of "in-between," those frames done in hand-drawn animation general done by secondary staff.
As every frame of these is created by hand, it makes sense that in-betweens might be created by digital means, and it appear that might be the case in post.
It was explained to me thusly:
"One of the many challenging things about stop-motion animation is that because we are making our films one frame at a time, the characters/shots do not have the typical motion blur that you'd see in live action capture. Most shots it's not a problem, but others required some additional heavy lifting. When problematic, it manifests itself as "strobing" -- steppy or poppy movement during rapid action of characters, character appendages or camera movement.
There are four ways that we'll typically counter this -- painted and cut sheet plastic, multiple puppet parts, go motion or motion estimation software in post production."
I'm thinking that what I'm seeing falls under "go motion or motion estimation software," and I wanted to make the point that this is part of the film, and not in any way a disc or authoring problem. It's part of the art of the film.
I'm looking forward to Wildwood!
Image – 5 (Dolby Vision)
Audio – 5 (Dolby Atmos)
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors - Yes
Makes use of and works well in 4k - 4.75
Upgrade from Blu-ray - Yes
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. As an Amazon Associate, HTF earns from qualifying purchases. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.
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