Kubo and the two strings - new Laika Animated feature

DaddyfromNaboo · Jul 7, 2016

Wow. Just wow.

Laika´s movies are getting better and better. Loved Coraline and ParaNorman, still need to see Box trolls but can´t wait to see Kubo and the two strings.

I´ll just link to AICN´s page about Kubo since they have four videos including making of and trailer that I am too lazy to copy and paste

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/75619

Japanese visual elements, set in medieval japan-like world, beautiful designs, great timing. I am ashamed to say it, but this I like much, much more than the latest Pixar movies. I haven´t seen "Dorie" yet, but I passed on The good Dinosaur and were terribly disappointed by Monster Academy. I think that Laika is slowly and more or less secretly stealing Pixar´s thunder a bit. Or does anyone feel that comparison is not justified?

PoopaPapaPalps · Jul 8, 2016

I'm a sucker for stop motion animation from the beginning and Para-Norman is one of the best family films I've seen in some time. Laika's films never talk down to their audience (though Box Trolls was a bit too precious, I found) and their technique is always flawless. I'm sure to check this film out.

If it's any consolation, I've not seen a Pixar film since Up!, I think, and I found only a third of that film any good.

dascoyne · Jul 8, 2016

On a positive note it's a stop motion animated film whose trailer didn't begin with "From the mind of Tim Burton". So I'll give it a chance.

karmajay · Jul 8, 2016

Trailers make this look pretty good!

Dessa · Jul 9, 2016

Wow, this is stop-motion? I saw the trailer before Warcraft, and I thought it was 3D! I'm looking forward to it.

The 48th Ronin · Jul 9, 2016

Dessa said:
Wow, this is stop-motion? I saw the trailer before Warcraft, and I thought it was 3D! I'm looking forward to it.

I'm guessing you meant "CG" - it was shot in 3D using physical objects, so it *is* 3D!

And while it is primarily stop-motion, Laika's films have become "hybrids" - a blend of stop-motion and CG.

I spent about 21 months working on this film in the model shop - there's a look here at some of the props that we made:

http://collider.com/kubo-and-the-two-strings-behind-the-scenes-laika/

Dessa · Jul 9, 2016

D48thRonin said:
I'm guessing you meant "CG" - it was shot in 3D using physical objects, so it *is* 3D!

I'd actually meant "3D" as in "3D animation" ^^;. Since "CG" can refer to effects, too, not just animation and modeling.

Moviefreak · Jul 9, 2016

Dessa said:
I'd actually meant "3D" as in "3D animation" ^^;. Since "CG" can refer to effects, too, not just animation and modeling.

I knew what you mean. The same as we, who used to hand draw animation, refer to the traditional form as 2-D animation. :thumbsup

Dessa · Jul 9, 2016

Moviefreak said:
I knew what you mean. The same as we, who used to hand draw animation, refer to the traditional form as 2-D animation. :thumbsup

*glances at her BA in 2D animation...*

Moviefreak · Jul 9, 2016

Dessa said:
*glances at her BA in 2D animation...*

:lol........ Or should I say?....

Maybe you are one of the lucky ones who actually transitioned into computer animation? Or maybe you are like many of us who lost a career and got lost in the shuffle of a new art form.

Dessa · Jul 9, 2016

Moviefreak said:
:lol........ Or should I say?....
Maybe you are one of the lucky ones who actually transitioned into computer animation? Or maybe you are like many of us who lost a career and got lost in the shuffle of a new art form.

Sadly, not in the industry at all... my harddrive with all my work died right after I graduated, and it wasn't recoverable. Just trying to make ends meet now.

Moviefreak · Jul 9, 2016

Dessa said:
Sadly, not in the industry at all... my harddrive with all my work died right after I graduated, and it wasn't recoverable. Just trying to make ends meet now.

Sad to hear that. Once the industry shifted to computers my career died as well.

DaddyfromNaboo · Jul 9, 2016

D48thRonin said:
...
And while it is primarily stop-motion, Laika's films have become "hybrids" - a blend of stop-motion and CG.
...

Indeed, and to be honest i cannot get a grip on the economics behind all of this. Maybe its been explained already, but to me it seems like creating the characters and parts of the environment in 3D and then doing traditional filmwork, then again enhancing it in 3D very ... honest and applaudable, but isn´t it much more expensive with an end result that is hardly distinguishable from pure CGI? Some of the sequences did seem to my (self proclaimed) trained eye so perfect that they could have been all CGI.

The 48th Ronin · Jul 10, 2016

DaddyfromNaboo said:
Indeed, and to be honest i cannot get a grip on the economics behind all of this. Maybe its been explained already, but to me it seems like creating the characters and parts of the environment in 3D and then doing traditional filmwork, then again enhancing it in 3D very ... honest and applaudable, but isn´t it much more expensive with an end result that is hardly distinguishable from pure CGI? Some of the sequences did seem to my (self proclaimed) trained eye so perfect that they could have been all CGI.

The hybridization is generally a question of space and time...

Space - digital set extensions because sometimes there simply isn't enough stage space (some of the practical sets are already quite large).

Time - digital background characters because in a shot with a dozen or more characters milling about, the logistics of hand-animating each one via stop-motion becomes impractical.

There's also the matter of when a practical, physical solution to an animation element can't be found (at least not to the director's satisfaction) that the fall-back is digital.

DaddyfromNaboo · Jul 10, 2016

D48thRonin said:
The hybridization is generally a question of space and time...

Space - digital set extensions because sometimes there simply isn't enough stage space (some of the practical sets are already quite large).

Time - digital background characters because in a shot with a dozen or more characters milling about, the logistics of hand-animating each one via stop-motion becomes impractical.

There's also the matter of when a practical, physical solution to an animation element can't be found (at least not to the director's satisfaction) that the fall-back is digital.

That´s exactly what I was aiming at. CGI is almost limitless, and the last boundaries are already about to be shed, i.e. believable human characters. I love seeing Laika´s approach, but it seems like crossing the border from CGI, which obviously is the starting point, to physical model seems more complex and expensive than doing it all CGI. Do you probably have an estimate when it comes to budgetary spread between all-CGI and the hybrid approach? Is it a matter of time? Or is it just a philosophical question?

The 48th Ronin · Jul 10, 2016

DaddyfromNaboo said:
I love seeing Laika´s approach, but it seems like crossing the border from CGI, which obviously is the starting point, to physical model seems more complex and expensive than doing it all CGI.

You misunderstand... physical models are the starting point - the CGI serves only to assist/enhance the stop-motion animation. If CGI was the starting point, what would the point be of doing these films stop motion?

DaddyfromNaboo · Jul 11, 2016

D48thRonin said:
You misunderstand... physical models are the starting point - the CGI serves only to assist/enhance the stop-motion animation. If CGI was the starting point, what would the point be of doing these films stop motion?

Ah, I see. So the characters are first sculpted, then scanned, manipulated and changed, then printed? I guess I have to put that Art of ParaNorman into my Amazon shopping basket at last

And probably renew my subscription of Cinefex ...

The 48th Ronin · Jul 11, 2016

DaddyfromNaboo said:
Ah, I see. So the characters are first sculpted, then scanned, manipulated and changed, then printed?

Bingo! :thumbsup They scan the heads of the hand-sculpted character maquettes and do the facial animation in the computer. The 3D printed face pieces (which number in the thousands per character) eliminate the need to do all of that by hand, which would be impossible. So while the animators are doing traditional old-school stop-motion animation with the bodies of the puppets, they are simultaneously doing high-tech replacement animation with the 3D printed face pieces.

DaddyfromNaboo said:
I guess I have to put that Art of ParaNorman into my Amazon shopping basket at last And probably renew my subscription of Cinefex ...

That book is a very good place to start. Unfortunately we've never made it into Cinefex

Even though Laika received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (the "Oscars") this year for the facial animation technique.

annanake · Jul 11, 2016

I don't care if they used two paperclips and a piece of old chewing gum to make it looks like its gonna be great .

LOL.

O.k. I'm lying I do care .

PoopaPapaPalps · Jul 11, 2016

@D48thRonin - If I can ask you a personal question, how did you wind up working with Laika? From your PictureTrail stuff, if looks like you mostly work in 1:1 props. I assume those skills carry over into working in smaller, miniature scale but is it a different case? I see on a lot of art showcase sites a real following for doing things on small scales and it seems like it's an all together separate skill entirely to have.

Kubo and the two strings - new Laika Animated feature

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