HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO FILM CORALINE MOVIE

Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chief executive of DreamWorks Animation, has said that 3-D added $15 million to the budget of his studioвЂ™s coming animated feature вЂњMonsters vs. This has been a constant problem for 3-D films, because they cannot command higher ticket prices if they look like everything else, even as they are more expensive to make. Of the 2,000 theaters booked to show it, only 900 are equipped for 3-D the rest will project it in 2-D. Unfortunately for the filmmakers not everyone will get to see вЂњCoralineвЂќ in its 3-D glory. If you have multiple puppets in the same scene, it just amplifies it.вЂќ YouвЂ™re having hair and cloth and all different parts of the body, eyes, facial animation. вЂњYouвЂ™re moving grass frame by frame,вЂќ Travis Knight, one of the movieвЂ™s lead animators, said of the amount of detail they were working with. Selick and his colleagues still needed to find a way to make the alternative world stand out, literally.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO FILM CORALINE MOVIE

But with the entire movie now in 3-D, Mr. ThatвЂ™s when 3-D, which had only recently become technically viable thanks to better technology and more comfortable glasses, came into the picture. MechanicвЂ™s words, вЂњdidnвЂ™t really do the wowвЂќ it didnвЂ™t look special enough for Coraline to want to stay, or for audiences to be impressed. Mechanic said he considered stop motion вЂњkind of passГ©вЂќ and cast around for ways to make it вЂњshowier.вЂќ Since cell animation was moribund and computer-generated imagery was all the rage (everything from the Pixar movies to вЂњMadagascarвЂќ), he suggested that half the movie be shot in stop motion and the other half in C.G.I.Д«ut the alternative reality, in Mr. Mechanic thought вЂњCoralineвЂќ would be live action too, but Mr. Mechanic was chairman of 20th Century Fox. Selick took the unpublished manuscript of the book to Bill Mechanic, a producer of the movie, who had worked with him at the Walt Disney Company on вЂњNightmareвЂќ and again on his third feature, the live-action вЂњMonkeybone,вЂќ when Mr. It took several years for the filmmakers to come up with their own version of sepia-tone Kansas and Technicolor Oz. Selick describes this scenario as вЂњAlice in WonderlandвЂќ meets вЂњHansel and Gretel.вЂќ Moviegoers might recognize more than a little bit of вЂњThe Wizard of Oz.вЂќ But as the movieвЂ™s tag line says, be careful what you wish for their slightly sinister button eyes telegraph that this new life may not be so happy. Unlike her real parents, who pretty much ignore her, the Others cater to her every need. And then she finds a secret door that leads to a parallel universe where everything is much better, most especially her Other Mother and Other Father (also voiced by Ms. Outside are an aloof cat (Keith David) and a pesky boy (Robert Bailey Jr.). Downstairs are a pair of ancient actresses (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French). Upstairs is a Russian gymnast (Ian McShane) who is training a troupe of performing mice. Selick from Neil GaimanвЂ™s book about an 11-year-old girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning) who moves with her distracted parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) to an apartment building in the middle of nowhere, Oregon. The title character in в€јoraline,В” the first stop-motion animated feature to be shot entirely in 3-D. And while that effect dates back at least to the early part of the last century, filmmakers are still learning how В— and how not В— to implement it. вЂњCoraline,вЂќ which cost approximately $60 million to make, is the first stop-motion animated feature to be shot entirely in 3-D. Selick, whose previous credits include the stop-motion вЂњNightmare Before ChristmasвЂќ and вЂњJames and the Giant Peach.вЂќ вЂњIt helps in enormous ways, but at the center itвЂ™s still this incredibly labor-intensive performance through a puppet by an animator.вЂќ вЂњThe technology is almost like window dressing,вЂќ said Mr. To him 3-D is just a means to end, to showcase the medium he loves to work in: stop-motion animation, in which the hands and every other part of the characters in the movie (actually theyвЂ™re puppets) are manipulated frame by frame to achieve movement and expression and to tell a story. Selick doesnвЂ™t want audiences to focus on it.

While not the most warm and fuzzy scene in any cinematic form, what makes it particularly ghoulish is the feeling that you could run your fingers through the dollвЂ™s sawdust innards and touch its button eyes.ДЄs the 3-D experience becomes an increasingly regular part of moviegoing, scenes like this one will be impossible to resist for directors eager to play with the technology. DURING the title sequence of вЂњCoraline,вЂќ Henry SelickвЂ™s latest stop-action animated movie, two hands disembowel a doll and then reassemble it with needle and thread.

How long did it take to film coraline