CORALINE TAKE TWO
D irected by stop-motion auteur Henry Selick and adapted from Neil Gaiman’s novella of the same name, Coraline follows its titular character, 11-year-old only-child Coraline Jones, as she searches for excitement through a tiny door in her new home. On the other side, she finds an alternate reality and seemingly wonderful world that’s alarmingly like her own but with button-eyed clones and ‘parents’ who want her to stay forever. A film of many firsts, Coraline catalysed Laika, an Oregon-based production house which focuses entirely on stop-motion animation (and has since released four other features to critical acclaim). With a crew of 500+ people and a production pipeline that spanned over four years, the film required precise attention to every intricacy, as well as dedication that can only be derived from true artistic passion. Coraline made history as the first feature-length film to create ‘replacement faces’ – a stop-motion term meaning the variety of facial expressions swapped onto figurines – with a 3D printer. According to Laika, the team designed, printed and hand- painted 15,000 faces, including more than 6000 for Coraline alone. There were 28 Coraline puppets in total – each taking several months to make – with the main one measuring almost ten inches tall. Selick – who’d seen success directing Disney-backed projects The Nightmare
WORDS Katie Kasperson IMAGES Laika/Focus Features The film that established Laika as a household name in stop-motion animation, Coraline has amassed a cult following since its 2009 release, with fans and critics both touting its attention to detail
Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach , and who’d collaborated with Wes Anderson on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – was no stranger to cinematography, coming from a background in stills photography and other arts. He decided to shoot Coraline in stereoscopic 3D – the first stop-motion animated film ever to do so – with help from DOP Pete Kozachik. Two cameras, which are situated a few centimetres apart, captured each frame. Selick employed Japanese illustrator Tadahiro Uesugi as the film’s concept artist, who drew inspiration from The Wizard of Oz , a film that also contrasts bright colours with the drab mundanity of everyday existence. In Coraline , the Other World is characterised by its vibrancy – a welcome change from the unsaturated Pink Palace, a dilapidated Victorian triplex where the Joneses reside, and where it appears to be permanently overcast (this is Oregon, after all). Celebrating its 15th anniversary with a 4K-remastered, 3D cinema re-release and an animation exhibit at the BFI, Coraline’s fan club only continues to grow, perhaps thanks to its ambition and originality. Often credited with reviving stop-motion animation as a medium, the film has a certain tactility that simply can’t be replicated by CGI or AI. It’s as much a labour of love as a work of art.
SMALL WORLD Coraline set a new standard for stop-motion filmmaking and was the first animated movie shot in stereoscopic 3D
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