Friday, January 24, 2025

What's a Tet'niss? (Star Wars)

Being an old schooler neo-luddite, I basically have not paid much attention to the plethora of Star Wars sequels, prequels, spin-offs, different iterations. For me, it's Star Wars (1977), Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983). THAT'S IT ... no more, no mรกs, nicht mehr, pas plus!!

This series is titled Skeleton Crew under the Star Wars banner. It is not a theatrical movie. Series is online stream available if one is subscribed to Disney+. Since I have been out of touch with all the different incarnations of the Star Wars franchise, this is my first time seeing trailer about this specific series.


  If you cannot hear the audio below, look for speaker icon (lower left) and turn on sound (unmute)

@bigareviews The trash crab is bloody stop motion!!! #starwars #skeletoncrew #stopmotionanimation #philtippet #crab #cinetok #moviemagic #trashcrab @Star Wars ♬ Major Tom (Coming Home) [Single Version] - Peter Schilling



There are only a few behind the scenes.They are more like 'making of' shorts.




This one is moderately longer


At one of the Facebook groups, Webster Colcord who works at Tippett Studio, said, that in post production some motion blur added and also digital tweaking where the stop motion slightly chattered. 

  
Here are some write-ups / articles, click below

Bringing the Towering “Tet’niss” from Star Wars: Skeleton Crew to Life

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew | Stop Motion & Old School Matte Paintings

 

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Saturday, January 11, 2025

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

I am surprised to have missed this one, Aardman Animation's 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl' (2024). It seems to have been under the radar, as I personally, have not seen much publicity or promotion about it. This Aardman feature is financed by the online streaming platform, Netflix. They also financed the Guillermo Del Toro, Oscar winning,'Pinocchio'(2022). Netflix really did full scale promotion for 'Pinocchio' likely because having a higher A-list tier status due to the well known director. With this Wallace & Gromit feature at a lower production budget, it seems the marketing of it was much less. 

Just posting whatever behind the scenes about 'Vengeance Most Fowl' that is available. I'm not interested in the movie reviews. Since I have worked in Stop Motion, I have a bias towards technical aspects of movie production, specifically the Special Effects! My only very minor review-critique ... the behind the scenes here for this W&G movie, are not as detailed compared to other past stop motion features from other studios, however, it may still interest you, especially if you are a hardcore Stop Motion Aficionado!๐Ÿ˜ 

NOTE - There are numerous videos here. If they do not all appear, just refresh, reload your browser a few times.

 
 Trailers 4:21


 BBC - Behind the scenes W&G: Vengeance Most Fowl 14:58

 

Some clips from Vengeance  5:08



BAFTA -Bringing 'Vengeance Most Fowl' to Life  17:40




W&G: Vengeance Most Fowl, Behind Scenes 3:27


The One Show (UK) Behind Scenes - Vengeance Most Fowl 5:41


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 BONUS

Retrospectively, Aardman Studio single-handedly, seems to have won the most awards in the Stop Motion niche.

Creature Comforts - Academy Award 1989 & *BAFTA Nominated 1990
The Wrong Trousers - Academy Award 1993 & *BAFTA Award 1994
A Close Shave - Academy Award 1995 & *BAFTA Award 1996
Curse of the Were-Rabbit - Academy Award 2005 & *BAFTA Award 2006

*British Academy of Film and Television Arts


'Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers' (1993)  - 28:59


Th


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Friday, December 20, 2024

Rankin-Bass 'Animagic' - Part 2


Geez ... it looks like Rankin-Bass was a high production animation factory farm ๐Ÿ˜ฎ.  Here are four more stop motion animagics that I was not aware of. 
They sure have squeezed every drop out of 'Christmas'๐ŸŽ„ If you are masochistic enough ๐Ÿ˜‰ to endure this onslaught of Rankin/Bass, you can do a 'Study' of the animation and puppet build quality throughout the years. Example: The earlier animation might be slightly jerky & stiff compared to the newer animations where the puppet movements might be a little more smoother and the puppet fabrication may have a more finessed quality.

'The First Christmas' - 1975, length 23:43 



'Nestor - The Long Eared Donkey' - 1977, length 24:32
 



'Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July' - 1979, feature length, 1 hour 37 min 



'The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus' - 1985, 48:39

 


I do not have time to embed additional videos in this post but will provide links below where you can watch them ....

Click >> 'Willy McBean and his Magic Machine'- 1965 Full feature about 90 minutes 

Click >> 'The Daydreamer' - 1966 - Full feature about 90 minutes, Stop Motion & Live Action mix

Click >> 'The Ballad of Smokey the Bear' - 1966 - 51:39

Click >> 'Mad Monster Party' - 1967 - Full feature length about 90 minutes

Click >> 'Here comes Peter Cottontail' - 1971 50:48

Click >>  'The Emperors New Clothes' - 1972 - 50:58, Stop motion & Live Action mix 

Click >> 'Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town' - 1977 - 50:06

Rankin/Bass also produced many 2D cartoon works for series and other projects. OUCH ... this is too much. Going to take a long break from Rankin-Bass! For just about everything that they produced, here is a Wiki page. They got most of it but maybe only missed a few >> List of Rankin/Bass Productions films

Here is Part 1 >> Rankin-Bass 'Animagic' Marathon

 

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Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Rankin-Bass 'Animagic' Marathon


Here are videos of the Rankin/Bass production company's cornucopia of wholesome family viewing stop motion animated specials from the vintage days going back to the mid 1960s. Since Christmas is coming up, these are focused on that holiday. Reviewing this, I am reminded about the high content production output of Rankin/Bass. Each of the specials were about 30 to 50 minutes in length and one was a full feature length at one and a half hours!

You should know that all the stop motion was outsourced to a Japan studio/artists and that Rankin/Bass somewhat trademarked or described their stop motion style as 'Animagic'. As stated, this is only the Christmas theme content. Rankin/Bass also produced other stop motion covering other themes or holidays and they also have done 2d cell (cartoon) animation.

Submitted for your review. You have the option to watch some of these, or not. You can also watch one or two each night, you know like The12 days of Christmas thing!. If you do, you might overdose & saturate yourself and possibly, never want to see another Rankin/Bass holiday special. LOL! ๐Ÿ˜

NOTE - There are numerous videos here. If they do not all appear, just refresh, reload your browser a few times.

'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' - 1964, length 51:43


'The Little Drummer Boy' - 1968, length 25:36


'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' - 1970, length 50:42



'The Year Without Santa Claus' - 1974, length 50:07

 

'Rudolph's Shiny New Year' - 1976, length 50:07

 

'The Little Drummer Boy, Book II' - 1976, length 23:37 

 
 
 
'Jack Frost' -1979, length 48:21


 
'Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas' - 1979, feature length 1hour 37min



'Pinocchio's Christmas' - 1980, length 48:57


'The Leprechauns Christmas Gold' - 1981, length 24:47

 
 
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BONUS

This one below, might be an interesting one.. I think this one made around 2018. It is a ten minute Rudolph re-creation homage, duplicating the original Animagic look & style. It was not done by Rankin-Bass. This was on a DVD as a special featurette..I have no idea why '4D' is in the title ... it is your classic stop motion
'Re-imagining Rudolph in 4D' - 2018, length 9:17


 
You want more? The video below is the behind the scenes of Re-imagining Rudolph. Bent Image Labs Studio in Portand, Oregon, USA, produced this. I also recognize a veteran animator >>> Jerold Howard

'Re-imagining Rudolph, Behind the Scenes' - 2018, length 10:40
 
 

A FEW MORE!

This was around 2016. A collector at an auction acquired two original stop motion puppets Santa & Rudolph. They were not in good condition, so they found a stop motion studio to restore the puppets - length 3:40.
 



A retrospective & guest commentaries by Henry Selick, Chiodo Brothers, and others
'The Animagic World of Rankin/Bass' - 2018, length 47 min
 

 
 
Okay, this post kind of BURNED me out! ๐Ÿ˜ฆ Do you know how much time it takes to search these videos, then tediously inserting each video here!?  You might bookmark and save this one for future, if you ever want to revisit or show any of these videos to your kids or family!!
 

MORE >>> Rankin-Bass 'Animagic' - Part 2


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Details >> STOP MOTION WORKS & RETRO FX




 

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

'Dynamic Duo' (2028) - In 'Momo Animation'?

 

Warner Bros Pictures and another co-producer have in the works, an animation feature titled 'Dynamic Duo'. The story is a bit confusing to me. It is not about 'Batman' per se, but instead it focuses on the origins of his partner 'Robin'. Apparently, there are two 'Robin' characters?? Here is a clearer brief description >> Dynamic Duo - Robin Movie Explained

Swaybox Studios in the state of Louisiana (USA) will be undertaking this feature animated project. What is unique is that it will not be fully CGI animation, however, it will still use CGI special effects, as most current movies do. Swaybox has not yet completely revealed their methods. From what I can piece together ... The overall animation appears to have elements of real miniatures & models, real live-action puppetry (similar to 'Muppets'), and the facial animation to be done using 'performance motion capture' super-imposed over the real puppet rubber/silicone heads. So, the final facial animation of the puppet might be labeled as Cgi. Swaybox is calling their proprietary effects technique, Momo Animation.>> Dynamic Duo - Mixed Animation  

Some of the initial 'press releases' for 'Dynamic Duo' might have been unintentionally misleading, stating that it will also be using some Stop Motion. That is not correct. To quote Swaybox, they say, Dynamic Duo "... will use some 'practical effects' elements of stop motion". They are likely referring to the actual physical puppets which are handmade & real but they will be live-action controlled by the puppeteers.I am pretty much certain that the Swaybox puppets will not be stop motion hand-animated frame by frame.

Here is one of  Swaybox's earlier demo reels >> Swaybox 2017 Demo Reel Remember that this is not full CGI, but instead, using a combination of special effects mixed methods. Of course, the animation in their reel is more 'cartoon like'. I am certain that 'Dynamic Duo' will have more human realistic character designsAfter watching that reel, I cannot be convinced the rubber/silicone puppet heads are the actual heads that were filmed as the final version? The texture is too smooth and has an airbrushed Cgi aesthetic to it. Here is a more recent one >> Swaybox Studio's 2022 Superbowl Ad 

Behind the Scenes




If the below Facebook video does not work, here is direct link Swaybox Studio Interview Ignore and close the Facebook log-in box and you can still watch the video. Be sure to turn on the sound/audio (Un-mute icon button)




Below Swaybox Studio video was posted by someone and he thinks it is a mechanical controlled animatronic puppet. So far, the information about how this was done is not fully revealed by Swaybox. You take a look ... the face of the puppet does not have the realism appearance of a rubber/silicone texture. It looks like that it is heavily filtered or having an airbrushed soft appearance or it's a CGI face swap produced by the real time performance capture software.



This is how I think Swaybox's proprietary Momo Animation live performance motion capture works ... the actual puppet head is like a muppet hand puppet with the puppeteer's hand/hands (inside the head) controlling the puppets internal facial movements, then the motion capture technology via the recording camera, instantly clones the real puppet's puppeteer-ed facial movements with a Cgi face swapped version. This is all observed on a monitor and done in real time 'live'. Afterwards in post-production, the puppet Cgi head animation is maybe tweaked & refined. Take a look below how Swaybox performance face motion capture method might work. In this example, a real human is the reference performance model for the Cgi to clone & do the face Cgi swapped version. If I am wrong with any of this, in my assessment or guesstimate, please feel free to correct me!


 
Other special effects elements ... some of  the behind the scenes photos that I've seen from Swaybox's other projects shows that much Green Screen is used to composite/blend the real elements of the miniature sets & models, with the live-action puppets and I'm guessing, that also, 'motion tracking' of the the live action puppets entire general movements are then later  in post production, digitally combined & blended with the background scenes (miniature sets & models) Swaybox photos >> Behind the scenes gallery  

Dynamic Duo, is suppose to be released sometime in 2028Sheesh ๐Ÿ˜•... that is sure a long way off. I think, that I will not be on the edge of my seat or waiting with bated breath for this. I got other life matter things to do! ๐Ÿ˜€

Swaybox Studios >> Website

Swaybox Studios >> Instagram

 

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Friday, October 18, 2024

Mackinnon & Saunders: Beetle Juice 2, Pinocchio, & More


 With 'Beetle Juice, Beetle Juice' winding down its theatrical release, it appears that it is now in its digital release, available for online stream viewing. Perhaps later this November could be released on DVD & Blu-ray.  When BJ2 originally released just a few months ago, there was not much technical behind the scenes and a mystery for a short while about the authenticity of the stop motion effects.Warner Bros mostly showed online interviews with the actors. Well finally, here is albeit, a short behind the scenes specifically about the stop motion scenes. The Sandworm was the primary stop motion special effects, but there were also some other more minor, secondary scenes also using stop motion. Take a look ....



An hour presentation about Mackinnon & Saunders' work & history by Richard Pickersgill, Lead Puppet Maker Supervisor. This talk was before the release of 'Beetle Juice 2', so that movie is not mentioned here. Some rare behind the scenes images & a few videos about the construction of the stop motion puppets. M&S were responsible for the design & fabrication of a few of the lead  stop motion puppet characters, with focus on the highly engineered Pinocchio puppet character. It is a talk / presentation, so some of you might get bored, however the the true stop motion aficionado, it is rich with edifying stop motion making of information  .... 




Below are just a few examples of projects to which Mackinnon & Saunders has contributed:


The making of Frankenweenie (2012) ....

 

More ....



Making of Isle of Dogs (2018), Featurette 1 ....


 

More ... Featurette 2 ....

 

Website link ....

Mackinnon & Saunders



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Friday, October 11, 2024

Coraline (2009) - In Remastered 3D (2024)

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Since Coraline's original release in theaters in February 2009, I lost count how many times it was re-released thereafter to theaters again! The most recent ones, was the Re-mastered version this summer of August 2024 (a limited theater run), and now a newer 3D Re-mastered Coraline, again, to be re-released to theaters, October 31 &  November 2024. As far as I know, there are no new scenes. (link below)

The different re-releases of Coraline

The primary aspect of these re-releases are that they are re-mastered versions. This article also gives more details it better. (link below)

CORALINE Returns to Theaters for Halloween

Below ... a revisit of a few behind the scenes. This is 15 year old tech & methods but still cool for us stop motion nerd heads. Today, in high end stop motion features, the production pipeline is still basically the same with the continued emphasis on the "hand-made". In addition, currently there some more refined methods of printing puppet anatomical parts and also, there is much post production digital cgi combined with the stop motion.

Hand-Making Coraline - Laika Studio first Feature


The Stop Motion Puppets


Animator Eric Leighton's physical contortions doing Stop Motion


Hand Made in Stereo 3D


Henry Selick explains deleted scenes -Extra Features on Dvd (July, 2009)


BONUS





BONUS - BONUS

You can stream watch the original Coraline at the listed links below. Keep in mind that it may not be highest definition as in the re-mastered versions at theaters and you will not have the 3D immersion visual effect. Also, you will not have the experience of viewing movies in an actual theater with a live audience. Or what about missing the enjoyment of getting your tubs of heavily buttered popcorn and sugar-high soda pops?๐Ÿ˜

Link > CORALINE on The Roku Channel - Free with Ads

Link > CORALINE on TUBI - Free with Ads


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