The Great Corelli (2019)

"The Great Corelli is a young and successful magician at the height of his career as an illusionist. However, during the most important performance of his life, he fails a crucial magic trick, disappointing his audience. In the aftermath, he finds himself performing brief and modest magic acts in a rundown old theater." What unfolds from there was far from what I expected — the ending took me by surprise.

TRAILER

 

 The Great Corelli (2019)

Reminder - Click on FULL-Screen size video icon, lower right

Timelapse

Some special effects, digital erasing rigs, compositing & miniature set extensions

Artist Heather Colbert was the character designer and fabricated the puppets for 'The Great Corelli'. There were a total of two puppets. Only one was a machined stop motion armature from Edu Puertas' → Kinetic Armatures located in Spain ... this armature was for the older/senior magician character. The other armature of the younger version of the magician, which was a precisely hand-made Wire Armature which worked sufficiently well for the animated scenes. Go to Heather's website (link below) for details & many photos.

→ HEATHER COLBERT ←

ABEL CARBAJAL - Director & Animator ....

Originally from Galicia, a region bordering northern Spain, stop-motion director and animator Abel Carbajal graduated from ESCAC (Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia, near Barcelona) in 2018. His final-year short film, The Great Corelli, was created after completing a specialization in 'Visual Effects & Animation'. The project took nearly two years to produce, with filming lasting nine months.

While working on his animated short, Abel sent a sample to Laika Studios in the USA., which garnered their favorable attention. He later traveled to the United States to work in stop-motion animation for Laika, the prestigious studio behind Coraline and other well-known stop-motion features. I am not sure, but I think Abel is perhaps still at LAIKA or might later work for the studio's new stop motion feature → Wildwood 

  

→ Instagram     → Youtube       → Vimeo      → Linkedin

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STUDIO CROMA - Animation

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Matteo Burani and Ariana Gheller jointly operate an independent production house >> Studio Croma Animation, located in Bologna, Italy. Their website offers an immersive and engaging experience, particularly when viewed on larger screens such as laptops or desktop computers. The design of the site feels like a guided tour, inviting visitors into the creative world of Studio Croma. Their animation & special effects work are eclectic, producing advertisement spots, music videos, and animated shorts which use a variety of mixed media animation styles. Matteo and Ariana come across as warm and approachable, encouraging visitors to reach out. 

They currently have a few animated shorts which are available for viewing. You can explore Studio Croma at their >>Youtube or >> Vimeo channels. Their recent work, partially crowd funded, was released in 2024 ... 'Playing God' is a 9 minute animated story that has toured various film festivals.While it may have been available at some point, it seems to not be available for viewing at this time. If you are curious about 'Playing God', you might ask and communicate with them here >> Contact

Playing God’ is an animated short film created using the CLAY stop-motion animation technique. Good to see the Clay medium being used in a more 'pure' form somewhat remininscent of the vintage works of >> Will Vinton Studios with their ClayMation™ brand. The key creators behind 'Playing God' are Director Matteo Burani and Producer Ariana Gheller. Despite their official titles, both Matteo and Ariana are deeply involved in multiple aspects of the production process. They contribute to the design, including stage set construction, puppet fabrication, camera & lighting, and actively participate in the hands-on animation itself.

 
Here is the short Trailer-Teaser!

  Playing God | Backstage Teaser

Playing God | 50 Clay Puppets

  Ariana and Matteo interview

Link >> STUDIO CROMA 

 

UPDATE / BONUS

This is from Studio Croma's other Projects -- Other Animators or studios use Croma's services to produce whatever custom puppets, props, miniature sets, etc.  Take note -these Behind the Scenes have a short story musical style presention!👍😎

 All in a day's work

BLU | Puppet Making Backstage -  Fabrication of Replacement Puppet Faces, NOT using any 3D printing. The connecting magnets are embedded in a keyed polyurethane hard resin neck/skull base ... then each of the custom facial feature expressions are hand sculpted using putty epoxy which hardens & bonds to the resin component (with the embedded magnets). Also, for Croma's client, they produced numerous puppet hands as backups if the wire fingers break during animation. If you do not understand, just study the video using full screen and select slow motion video speed!

MORE >> NO 3D printing handmade replacement  >> Puppet face replacement test

 

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Tony McVey visited by 'Tested' Adam Savage

 

 

Years ago, I use to hang-out at Tony McVey's studio He is very much a hands-on 'renaissance man'. He can practically do it ALL, not only creative artistry as most of you already know about, but technically, Tony has much expertise in the fabrication aspects. I picked up many tips from his armature construction methods. Also, his molding & casting skills are absolutely incredible, doing involved multi-piece molding of complex puppet figures shapes ... and also he does miniature props fabrication!

For many years I have worked at a grave-yard shift blue collar job which just mentally exhausted me 😟 . As a result, for years, I've been pretty much 'Socially AWOL' ... kind of like a lone wolf. This video below from Adam Savage visiting Tony, is perhaps a reminder to me that I should maybe get out of the closet more and hang-out a bit, in person, and say 'Hi' to Tony and other fellow artists. But ...I digress! Check out the video below where Adam has some great conversation with Tony!

 

Below are some past spotlights I did about Tony, if you should want to revisit (click on blue facebook logo)  ....

 

 

I had a T. rex Stop Motion Puppet Made (OC)

 
THE KONG THAT NEVER WAS

 

Gardens of Miranda -Years ago, a very ambitious project from Tony. He was hoping to do a series and managed to get one episode finished. Tony doing practically ALL the work by himself. I would sometimes visit him, and see the in-progress work. As the usual course of 'passion projects', I am guessing, a conflict devoting personal time to a project verses the financial necessity of real jobs to pay the rent and bills. Look at the many years it took Phil Tippett to complete 'Mad God'. To me, Gardens of Miranda has an especially serene ambiance to it. Everything moving at a calm pace as the story unfolds. It would be something if this could be completed as a completed short maybe 20 or so minutes. I KNOW ... more money & time, which most of us do not have these days!

Gardens of Miranda Episode 1 from Tony McVey on Vimeo.

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LYNDON J. BARROIS - Gum Wrapper Mini Figures

This is interesting.It serendipitously appeared online during my random web surfing. Artist & Animator, Lyndon J. Barrios. I have not previously heard of him. Apparently he has an eclectic background. He does work in CGI, also has done directorial duties on various projects.  He recently was spotlighted in the (click >) New York Times. The article is not easily available.If you want to read the article,NY Times says you can sign in using your Facebook or Google account. I will post alternative informational sources about Lyndon, here at SMW & RetroFX 😎

This is a text version of the NY Times, Lyndon Barrios article without the photos (click >) Sculpture Doesn't Get Much Smaller than This

Here is a video of Lyndon in an interview, this was back in 2014 on NBC's Today Show. This will introduce you to Lyndon about his unique art work.

 

Here is behind the scenes, more details, very recent (2024)

 

Here is an example, of one of his works, where the micro gum wrapper figures are stop motion animated. It is very stylized, kind of free-form organic aesthetics. Click on the Photo below to watch.

 

 

To my surprise, Lyndon directed an episode of The PJs  many years ago in 2000!  I also did some freelance work for Will Vinton Studios (1998-99) helping setup their armature department & designing the armatures for the stop motion characters. Here is Lyndon's episode that he directed. 

UPDATE - I forgot to include this short animation by Lyndon ... called 'Prizefighter' (2020)

Lyndon has an eclectic resume, including his work in CGI animation. Below is the link to his Website.

IT'S A WRAPPER

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Stopmotion (2024) ... A Thriller-Horror

Note - Any photos ... click once, then click again to enlarge or zoom in

Just released at select theaters in USA. Check movie listings such as Fandango, or other movie listing resources in your area or country.  Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the price to see 'Stopmotion' is $18.  for a  ticket ... OUCH 😮. It has been a number of years since I  actually went to a movie theater. Also, as you know, the Pandemic really hurt the movie theater business. 

UPDATE - Stopmotion will be later available for online streaming May 31 on Shudder which is a subscription platform. They offer a free trial. Phil Tippett's Mad God is also on Shudder. You can watch both then at your option, cancel the subscription.   

Overview (no spoilers) ....

"Directed by Robert Morgan ... it is a blend of live-action and stop-motion elements. It falls within the horror-thriller genre, offering viewers a chilling experience that combines traditional filmmaking with the painstaking artistry of stop-motion animation The film’s premise revolves around Ella Blake, a talented stop-motion animator who becomes consumed by the grotesque world of her horrifying creations. As she delves deeper into her project, the line between life and art blurs in increasingly nightmarish ways"

Movie length is 93 minutes. I see that  an Apple Macbook is what she (the animator) used. That is not a spoiler! You can clearly see it in this Trailer ....

My impression from the trailer ... it appears to have high production quality, with good horror-thriller filmmaking style. My only minor criticism might be about the movie title 'Stopmotion'. Perhaps gimmicky or a  marketing ploy to get attention?  Come on  ... the animation technique is the name of the movie? They couldn't be more creative with the movie title? I could think of better alternatives such as, 'Puppet Nightmares'. or maybe 'Animator's Terror Dreams'

The director, Robert Morgan has been creating indie stop motions shorts for many years. To me, Robert's work has somewhat of a  Brothers Quay, creepy style with that grungy &. rough aesthetics.. Here is one of his early stop motion shorts from 2001, that is not as grimy looking or shocking, but still has creepy vibes ... The Cat with Hands ....

The above is from Robert Morgan's Youtube Channel

Interview with Robert Morgan ....

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THE VANDAL (2021) - Short & Behind Scenes

This almost, 16 minute stop motion short (mixed with live action) was initially release a few years ago. I am guessing it did some film festivals. The director / creator of The Vandal is Eddie Alcazar. I was not familiar with his work. His Biography ... LINK

I would suggest that you might watch in this order, preferably on your laptop at full screen, for a better immersion experience! 😁

Note - Any photos, click, then again, for larger image. Also video player option at full screen

THE VANDAL - Trailer

THE VANDAL - Animated Short - "A man recovering from a lobotomy (Bill Duke) suddenly loses the love of his life, who was also his caregiver. The aftermath leads his mind into the incomprehensible." WATCH ....

BONUS - Behind the Scenes! 👇

This appears to have been released some months ago in 2023 - Making of THE VANDAL

It looks like the stop motion puppets were made of cast Silicone Skins. I do not see in credits if they were 3D printed. Perhaps the main characters heads were actually sculpted by an artist, then afterwards, molded to make the skins. The heads/face have a neutral expression.  In the film, the puppets do not talk. Only the close-up live action, we see the actors talking then cuts away to the stop motion.

Inter-mixing live action with puppets gives it a surreal, fantasy element. Not meant to represent reality. CGI would NOT work! Eddie Alcazar has labeled the effect technique as 'Meta-Scope'! The primary tricks of The Vandal were: Using very large LCD Screens as the background elements (of the pre-filmed miniature sets), somewhat similar to old school Rear Projection. The other trick was ... motion tracking the puppets heads and compositing the actor's REAL eyes onto the puppets.  This reminds me of similar technique used years ago in 2007, on another stop motion short titled Madame Tutli-Putli LINK.

Here is something else, I do not see mentioned much. Apparently, the final version of The Vandal was re-edited and the scene below was deleted .....

THE VANDAL - CREDITS

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I, BARNABÉ (2020)

I, Barnabé / Moi, Barnabé is an indie animation by artist-creator, Jean-Francois Levesque. Through the Canadian NFB (National Film Board) this independent produced stop motion short was released in 2020. As with many indie features, they are first made available to the audience at various film festivals, then later, through other distribution such as dvds or online streaming.

In late 2021, 'I, Barnabe' was released for everyone to view and enjoy. It is not an Aardman or comedy stye entertainment animation, but instead, it is low key with some humor, and its topic touches some deep themes. There are no words or dialog. All the story telling is through the visual animation performance. In addition to stop motion there is some mixed animation styles including 2d drawn.

 

Here is a quick storyline description from the NFB ....
"Confronted with doubt and feelings of emptiness, drunk with unhappiness and seeking to drown his sorrow, Barnabé experiences a curious metaphysical visitation; lightning strikes the spire of his church and a mysterious bird appears, forcing him to reconsider his life. What is his truth pointing him towards? What is the deeper meaning of his life on earth?"

Any Video, you can click player for Full Screen viewing

You can watch the entire animated feature here (15 minutes) ....

Magazine article Interview with Jean-Francois Levesque

BONUS - Behind the Scenes! 👇

JIM RANDALL -  Armature 'Puppet Head Mechanics' Designer/Engineer and  BRENDA BAUMGARTEN - Expert Puppet Fabrication Artist

Below is for the Hardcore Stop Motion Fanatics 😲

So ... you cannot get enough for your Stop Motion Addiction? 😉 Take a look at Jim Randall's Facebook posting of over 30 photos that he has made available for your viewing knowledge edification.

Go Here ... Jim Randall's  BARNABE MAKING OF A PUPPET HEAD

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HighRise (1980) - Mark Sullivan

About 3 years ago (2020) I originally posted this at the Stop Motion Works facebook page and also, at that time, uploaded Mark's HighRise short at my SMW Youtube channel.  Recently, some kind of glitch occurred where the video image had lots of lines and static. I had to delete that original Youtube post, and re-uploaded the HighRise video again. Here is the new one ....

                                                                           
Just paraphrasing my past commentary:

'HighRise' was one of Mark Sullivan's earliest indie personal project as a filmmaker. All filmed with a 16mm Bolex movie camera using stop motion, hand made miniatures & models, and matte painted scenery & backgrounds. Old school classic special effects.

Mark's career progressed, becoming a professional artist - creator in special effects work, contributing to many well known Major movies. He earned a reputation of being very talented & skilled in Matte Painting visual special effects. Also, he is an accomplished Stop Motion Animator and versed in puppet fabrication & other eclectic skills as needed, to create Cinematic Visual Magic!

Note - Some of photos you can 'click' to see larger size image

Setting up a shot ... Suspended from an 'aerial brace' rig, the miniature building is hanging in front of the large background sky painting.

Looking at the photos, it appears that there were Two miniature models of the high-rise skyscraper. For close-up shots, this was about 4 feet (122cm) tall and the small model for distant scenes, appears to be about 12 - 13 inches (30 - 33cm).

Mark Sullivan animating the alien UFO space craft, landing on the large miniature model of the skyscraper building.

This is a 'Multi-plane' set-up. The miniature building model is attached with wires to an overhead 'aerial brace' rig. The clear glass (in the window frame) was air brushed to create an atmospheric haze in front of the model. The glass, foreground, and other elements are animated frame by frame on the sliding base, creating the 'trick effect' that the alien craft is flying over the desert planet landscape.

 

Another photo with a clearer view of the 'Multi-plane' set-up. You can see the glass window frame and other miniature ground elements which  slide on top of the animation table surface, by way of stop motion animation. Each sliding element is calibrated to move a very small incremental distance for each animated frame.

So basically, the miniature building did not move much or only minimally animated. The illusion of movement over the desert terrain was mostly created from the moving foreground, mid-ground, and background elements. Mark said that he added timed exposure 'blurs' to the front foreground which moves faster than the other sliding elements.

On location: Mark mentioned that he used a home made Camera Matte Box (similar to this here & here) which was attached in front of the 16mm Bolex camera lens. I assume the matte box had a front clear glass pane. Looking through the camera reflex viewfinder, on the glass (attached to matte box), you 'tape off' the outline of the building rooftops to create a hold-out matte for later double exposure (film back winding).

In the Studio: A counter black matte is made using black tape, black paint, etc.. This creates a reverse hold-out matte for the bottom half of the film. Now the miniature high-rise building can be inserted into the top half of the film, again, by way of double exposure (film back winding).

The final composite ... achieved by 'back winding' the film a number of times in the camera, similar to the Harryhausen Dynamation technique of in-camera compositing.

 

I think this is a  'glass' pane set-up on location. I am not sure if that is the miniature skyscraper model or perhaps it is a 'painting' of the building on glass, and lined up above the distant real city skyline ... maybe a test. This shot was not in the movie.

A 'Location Glass Painting' of background, distant desert field, mountains, & sky ... the painted glass pane in front of camera ... blending the live action foreground with the matte painting ...  the actor is Mark Sullivan's father, Thomas Sullivan.

A perspective matte painting of the high-rise building ... smoke & slight orange flame-like glow was added by double exposing (back winding the film).

This is the Alien / UFO that has the bothersome addictive habit of stealing large buildings from the planet Earth. The bug-like miniature model was 'scratch built' by Mark Sullivan. The body was carvable, sandable rigid foam. It uses 'Wire' Armature for the slight movements of the leg appendages.

Additional information / links for you: 

 

'Making Of' story / interview, (PDF file)  -  CINEMAGIC #23, year 1983


Mark Sullivan's VIMEO channel

In depth 2013 article interview with Mark Sullivan - NZ Pete Matte Shot

Nominated for a few major awards  / Some of Mark Sullivan's credited film work

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It's About the MOTION - Step up your Harryhausen Game

There is a lot of information available on human/people character animation (colleges, online, books & courses, etc), but not as much on 'Creature Animation'. In the realm of the very niche art & craft of stop motion animation, Ray Harryhausen popularized realistic-surreal creature animation ... he commercialized it as a marketable entertainment product. However, since Jurassic Park (1993), Creature Characters has been taken over by CGI, but just my observation ... the digital creations are perhaps becoming homogenized or having similar aesthetics? Audiences are becoming more finicky and looking for variety, something different ... Stop Motion can and does provide that visual flavor difference & uniqueness. Is Retro in general, now becoming a marketable thing?

For the Harryhausen Stop Motion Warrior who wants to keep ALIVE, 'Old School Retro' Creature Character animation within the Stop Motion medium ... you ... have to Teach yourself ! When exploring fantasy, monstrous, alien, other-worldly creature characters, you should study from actual 'nature' which can inspire your creative imagination. How would a 2 headed, 4 legged with 4 arms & 2 tails creature-monster, move and behave?😮 There are plenty of Nature & Wildlife documentaries out there and many are free to watch. One resource that I have known about for many years and I particularly like ... is the BBC Motion Gallery.

 

The BBC Motion Gallery can be used as a resource for studying motion from real existing animals, birds, fishes, insects, or whatever real natural life forms that exist on this planet.You can use their search engine to find specific items and study the motion of different creatures.

It is a comprehensive collection going back to the early beginning days of BBC broadcasts in 1922, to the present day.With more than 125,000 license-ready clips to choose from plus over a million hours of footage from the BBC’s Broadcast Archive.

As I said before, you can still do a general online search of Nature & Wildlife videos ... Youtube, Vimeo, Daily Motion or free movie channels that offer documentaries. Although, you have to watch the entire video until you find what you need.  If you cannot download video, there is option to screen capture record with specialty software. The BBC Motion Gallery is just a good additional motion studying & analysis resource for animators.

 

They have available for free ... sample clips & snippets that can be downloaded. The video clips have the BBC watermark and are very short, but for animation purposes, that does not really matter. We can use those sample clips and loop it (repeat cycle) to study the motion, movements & behaviors. Check out the BBC Motion Gallery!

Visit - BBC Motion Gallery

NOTE: I did not download these sample videos. They are embedded here in the blog and play/run from the BBC's servers. If you are on a computer or laptop. place the Mouse pointer inside the video player, then right click the mouse (PC Windows) and sometimes a menu will appear giving you options to play back video at different speeds, or Loop the video.

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THE PRIMEVALS - Advance Previews of Scenes Not Seen Before

It appears that Charles Band (Blue Moon Entertainment), producer of THE PRIMEVALS, was generous and released this to Screen Anarchy, for the anxiously awaiting FANS. They are naming it, 'Never Seen Before & BTS Clips'. I believe, the first clip / scene will be in the final film and the other BTS (behind the scenes) here, are individual clips. Yes ... there are FIVE clips / scenes. ENJOY ....

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This was from the Screen Anarchy website ... and sharing here to perhaps help expose The Primevals to more people (audience).

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'The Inventor' - Unknown Indie Feature gets Big Boost

Blue Fox Entertainment will distribute this mixed animation comedy using Stop Motion with 2D animation. They say in theaters (in the U.S.) August 25. Not sure if available later for stream watching. Details here, Animation Magazine - The Inventor distribution news

 

There has not been much 'public' information on the progress of  'The Inventor' only until now, with this distribution deal. Some years ago I heard about 'The Inventor' ... it is a very, very Independent film ... it has been percolating & moving along. I also recall that the project acquired some funds through a KickStarter campaign. As stated, it is not a full stop motion feature but is combined / mixed with 2D drawn animation.

As far as I know, the stop motion crew was not humongous like a Del Toro 'Pinocchio'. 'The Inventor' crew seems to have been small. I recognize the names of veterans & highly talented stop motion animators, Justin Kohn and Timothy Hittle, also, both Nightmare Before Christmas Alumni, however, I do not know the names of other Stop Motion animators who may have contributed.

I could not find any current, new trailers or teasers for 'The Inventor'. There is only this one that has been available since about 3 years ago. It was originally for the promotion of the KickStarter campaign. You can watch below ....

 

Oh ... I did find this micro-behind the scenes but I had to go to 'European' websites to find this. They seem to get the good stuff.  You have to go directly to website, to watch it ... CineEuropa - The Inventor teaser

Just me speculating ... I wonder ... if the success of Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio perhaps, may have helped motivate Blue Fox Entertainment to distribute 'The Inventor'? ... Hmmmm 😏

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