File name: WK-movies15
Headline: Bringing stop-motion to life
Section: WK
Run date: Sept 15 2005
Artist: ranoa X70000
Size:
2005 ©
Bringing stop-motion animation to life
The film “Corpse Bride,” opening Friday, uses stop-motion animation to make its cast of puppet actors come alive. Animators moved the 16-inch-tall puppets a
fraction of an inch between each shot to create the illusion of motion. Some of the techniques, such as the use of tiny gears to control facial expressions, are new.
Skeleton armature
Latex skin
Puppet wardrobe
The metal skeleton of the puppet provides structure
and stability while allowing full range of movements.
Rubber skin attaches to the armature and
provides the body shape and muscles.
Artists create a miniature wardrobe
for each puppet character.
With the armature inside a mold, puppet
makers inject foam latex to create the body.
Facial features are a mix of prosthetic
glue and acrylic paint.
Mechanized head
Allen-wrench access points in the ears
and hair allow animators to manipulate
intricate gears in the head that control
facial expressions.
Block mold
Detachable
head
Foam
latex
Metal
armature
Puppet
outline
Allen-wrench
access points
Frame
by frame
Animators use
14 sets of
removable
eyelids in
varying sizes to
achieve a blink.
A quarter-second
of footage:
Frame
1
Seconds
0.04
2
0.08
3
0.13
4
0.17
5
0.21
6
0.25
Silicon layer
makes face
seem more
lifelike.
Wire-frame hands
Bendable wires in the hands
allow animators to position
the fingers.
Wire
Foam withstands hot
stage lighting
and constant
handling by
animators.
Hinged joints
To allow posing in still positions,
puppet-actor joints are tighter
than human joints.
1/8-inch
steel rod
Shoes attach
to armature
For the film’s town crier character — whose
mouth movements are more expressive than
others’ — animators employed a traditional
stop-motion technique. For each frame, they
placed a different mouth panel on the face.
A look at some mouth shapes and sounds:
Jointed toe
for walking
G, N, R group
Old-school animation
Hand-sewn
clothing is
glued to
foam body
Ah group
Oh and U group
Area
of face
adjusted
Sources: Animation supervisor Anthony Scott, Mackinnon and Saunders, Warner Bros. Graphics reporting by B ra d y M a c Don a ld
R a o u l R a ñ o a Los Angeles Times