Stop Motion Animation: Kubo


Before I saw Kubo, I was pretty sure that I could never be dazzled by stop motion films. It's hard to get a lot of minute details in because of the medium, the movements of the characters are generally less dramatic and lifelike as conventional drawn animation techniques. However Kubo is able to tackle all of these limitations to make something really beautiful. I was surprised to learn that at 400 pounds,16 feet high, and with an arm span of 23 feet, the enormous monster in Kubo and the Two Strings is believed to be the largest stop-motion puppet ever built.

Pictures of staff on the sets are also a charming find. It's cute to see how the difference in scale can produce some whimsical effect. Here are some nice shots of this and the movie:

“Many settings were built full-scale; others were a combination of miniatures, classic matte paintings and CG set extensions,” says production designer Nelson Lowry.
The boat used for this stop-motion scene was 12 feet long, 14 feet high, 41⁄2 feet wide and covered with 250,000 3D-printed, laser-cut leaves.
The skeleton weighs 400 pounds and has arms driven by rigs and counter-weights suspended from the soundstage ceiling.
The Moon Beast is Laika’s first fully 3D-printed puppet. It has 881 parts.
The Garden of Eyes sequence was made with a single one-eyed puppet that was shot from multiple angles and composited into the underwater setting. The 11-foot puppet has an eye measuring 30 inches in diameter and is motion-controlled.

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