#CORALINE LAIKA STUDIOS MOVIE#

Butler concurs: вЂњItвЂ™s more playful, for sure. вЂњOn the face of it, itвЂ™s lighter and brighter,вЂќ says producer Adrianne Sutner. Its creators are understandably pushing it as more mainstream than the work that came before it. Link is LaikaвЂ™s first release with the smaller Annapurna Studios, which has problems of its own.

Each of LaikaвЂ™s four features has grossed slightly less than its predecessor, and those were distributed by the well-established Focus Features. LaikaвЂ™s films are critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated, but they have yet to conjure a commercial smash on the order of Disney or Pixar (or DreamWorks or Illumination). If it sounds like heвЂ™s giving the picture a hard sell, itвЂ™s understandable. Link at the Laika studio next to fabric samples and other stop-motion puppets. вЂњWe say that every time, but every time itвЂ™s true.вЂќ

вЂњThis is definitely the most ambitious thing weвЂ™ve done,вЂќ says Chris Butler, the filmвЂ™s writer and director.

#CORALINE LAIKA STUDIOS MOVIE#

Pitched as вЂњa little bit Indiana Jones, a little bit Sherlock Holmes, a little bit Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and a little bit Around the World in 80 Days,вЂќ the movie follows explorer Sir Lionel Frost and his unlikely travel companion, an eight-foot-tall yeti named Link, who together are searching for the birthplace of Bigfoots: Shangri-la. Missing Link is LaikaвЂ™s fifth animated feature, following Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012), The Boxtrolls (2014), and Kubo and the Two Strings (2016). As soon as they hear that itвЂ™s actually a little nine-inch puppet that humans brought to life frame by frame, itвЂ™s this вЂHoly crap! Movie magic!вЂ™ moment.вЂќ Kids come out of a film still having no idea how we did it. вЂњI think thereвЂ™s something about stop-motion thatвЂ™s so tactile. вЂњAs kids come out of the theater nowadays, I think a lot of time theyвЂ™re just telling their parents, вЂOh, thatвЂ™s cool, but that was just done on the computer,вЂ™вЂќ says Brian McLean, LaikaвЂ™s director of rapid prototyping. But the people at Laika, a stop-motion animation studio near Portland, Oregon, like it that way. The meticulous, labor-intensive process of stop-motion is something of an anomaly in these days of computer-generated animation. But there are actually 24 frames in each second of footage, and 60 seconds in each of the 94 minutes of Missing Link. Seen in rapid succession, the shots look like natural, fluid movement - like actual pants ripping at the back seam. for stop-motion animators, beholden to an intricate process that involves shooting each frame of action individually, making tiny physical adjustments to reflect the next hip bend or fabric tear, and then shooting again. вЂњItвЂ™s a lot of work for not a lot of frames,вЂќ Jones says. LinkвЂ™s posterior tufts of fur, will appear onscreen for just one or two seconds. The wildly intricate setup, so detailed that you can see the unique threads that snapped to bear Mr. Link is the filmвЂ™s titular Bigfoot.) вЂњHeвЂ™s about to try and jump over a wall, so he bends over and his pants split open.вЂќ Link is kind of, like, doing calisthenics,вЂќ Jones continues. The вЂњoverscaleвЂќ piece, almost unrecognizable as a rear end, is much larger than the average nine-inch-tall Bigfoot puppets scattered elsewhere in JonesвЂ™s rigging laboratory. вЂњThis,вЂќ Ollie Jones explains, вЂњis our first and possibly our last ever 300 percent butt piece weвЂ™ve ever built.вЂќ The special-effects supervisor gestures toward a combination of metal rigging, fabricated fur, and stretched clothing, all of which was used for a single close-up in the stop-motion animated movie Missing Link.

A вЂњsmattering of art-school rejectsвЂќ in Oregon brought you Missing Link, LaikaвЂ™s latest stop-motion animation film.

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