Major Post 9 – Stop-motion Animation Studios

Posted on by Julia Reymundo

It was great to see the small beginnings of stop-motion animation using puppets. Earliest forms of it realeased around 1899 and it continued to developed even further as time passed. Not only was it used purely for animation, this technique would also be featured in live action films as well. Most notable films that made use of this was The Lost World (1925) and King Kong (1933). Nowadays, there are companies who specialize in this type of animation production. Two of the more popular studios are Aardman Animations and Laika Animation Studios.

Aardman Animations was founded in 1972 and is most well-known for their animated shorts featuring the adventures of Wallace and Gromit. Some of their most notable films are Chicken Run (2000), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and Flushed Away (2006). They are also known for the children’s cartoon series Shaun the Sheep (2007). During their earlier years they formed a partnership with Dreamworks Animation. They helped them create the films listed above, however, after the box-office reception of Flushed Away Dreamwork’s decided to end their partnership. This was despite the film receiving a nomination for the BAFTA award for Best Animated Film.

Laika Studios was founded back in 2005 and they specialize in feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos, and short films. Their most notable films include Coraline (2009), Paranorman (2012), The Boxtrolls (2014), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), and Missing Link (2019). Their films have received nominations and awards from different ceremonies. They’re known to show their meticulous process to the public. Seeing their process and then the final outcome must be very fulfilling for them.

It’s great to see the development of this technique throughout the years and I hope that it continues on and evolves even further.

Julia Reymundo

Laika, Kubo, Vinton- Icons of Stop motion and Claymation

Posted on by victoriacourchesne

-Major post 1

written by Victoria Courchesne

After completing the first project for our course, you might be curious about stop motion as an animation medium. What we know as Claymation today closely corresponds with the stop motion animation style of the 1900’s. One of Claymation’s most talented animators was a man named Will Vinton. In the 1970’s Vinton created his own animation studio he named after himself, Will Vinton Studios, in Portland Oregon. One of the studios most famous animations was the commercial they did for the Caifornia Raisins. The studio later became Laika studios, which has been nominated for four Oscars. The purpose of mentioning Laika is because they are my favorite Stop motion studio. Kubo and the two strings is a masterpiece of story, color, and music that has won the adoration of millions around the world. Even though the film was “ Stop motion”, the film used 3D modeling programs to create many of their assets, including Kubo’s face and the Giant Skeleton. It is interesting to compare the California Raisin ad’s Claymation style to the stop motion style the studio later adopted.

Sources:

https://area.autodesk.com/life-in-3d/5-fast-facts-on-kubo-and-the-two-strings-by-laika/

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/tag/will-vinton-studios

Some of the parts for Kubo’s face were modeled in Autodesk Inventor because of their size.