Bradford Animation Festival: Box Trolls, behind the scenes notes

Presenter Mark Shapiro on behind the scenes in Box Trolls

For the animation we animated on ones 24fps with the main software used - After Effects, Photoshop, Dragon Frame and Nuke. The studio sets were 2 acres, the same size as 2 football pitches however temperature was a huge problem with how it can bend the wood on the sets, so the temperature had to be stable to stop the sets from warping. Animators make 10% of the entire production with 400 people working on the film and four different departments worked together to make the sets. Worked alot with Mackinnon and Saunders for the armatures and with electricians on set to light up the puppets. Some of the puppets were digitally made up and added in as it saved time on the production stage, alongside with painted back drops. They wanted asymmetrical lines, the lack of straight lines would make the scenery absorb a rustic appeal.

Coraline included alot of interiors, Paranorman included more environments/outdoor whereas Box Trolls consisted of a mixture of both. Creating the backgrounds were a lot like theatre production. Coraline was printed black and white for the 3D faces and had to be hand painted. Animations 2 and half to 3 seconds a week per animators, 2 and a half years of production, mechanical animation for the music room as no lines to save time and cost. Nelson worked on production design and decided red would work well for the mischievous trio that want to destroy the box trolls, and it is also seen in Winnie's red hair that suits her personality. Winnie's hair was made with material that had wire in it so that it could be easily animated, same as the snatcher so that his hair could be animated as well.

The mecha drill was a challenge through how fire escapes the grates, and they struggled with ideas on how to create this fire effect. Conveniently the size of the grate was big enough to fit an ipad mini in which they created a fire app for the illusion of fire, with added CG graphics for when the flames escaped the bars on the post production frames. Ollie who was head of rigging, created a fantastic illusion for the water, as the studio had not animated water before it was difficult considering how they would be able to manage this, as animating the water frame by frame would be extremely time consuming. For the water he took a frosted warped shower door and used that for the basis of the water, using light underneath the pane to create the illusion of shadow and movement.  This was really interesting to hear through how they not only used rustic and tactile like techniques for their hand made stop motion but used technology and other items that you would not necessary consider using to create the illusion of the certain elements motion.

The puppet process starts with drawing and mapping the armatures for the model, ensuring that it would work in proportion of the model design. After which the armatures are made and then casts are made to make the main bulk of the model. Creating the face is much like making a swiss watch, there are so many tiny elements and details that have to be considered and for the ease of changing the faces, adding magnets to the back makes changing the expression easier on set.

I found this behind the scenes talk for the film box trolls extremely inspiring through how they used not only techniques they had refined from the past animated features they had created but also ones that they had not used before, ones in which they wanted to learn and wanted to improve from the past successes. I found how they added wire into the hair of the models inspiring as not only did it save time on animating, it made the animation feel smoother and that much more stylised compared to Paranorman and Coraline in which the hair felt too stiff as it moved. I also found it interesting through how they recycle sets and store about 80% of the sets to reuse in the next few animations.

Q&A

Do you have a plan sheet? Puppets look identical etc?
Yes plan sheet, 3D printer helps a lot - use rule of what things look like and time to ensure that everything is the same. Still adding in the human element, for instance we have a puppet hospital for when the puppets break.

Narrative? All three of the films are quite the same in quality.These narratives translate well for puppet animation - when animating in ones, it gives that quirkiness. We just signed a deal to create 3 new films with Focus. News on that will be announced later on. 

Animating in the same style?

A lot of the animators have worked together before these three films, for instance Fantastic Mr Fox. Animators do have different movements but the idea of storyboards and pre vis help to make it easier.

What was the budget for the film?

85 million dollars for the budget for Box Trolls which was in production for 2 and a half years.

How did you create the 3D prints? - Facial Expressions
We create the faces by sculpting them first in Maya, so that we already have a guide line for the expressions that would happen in the scene. All the designers have an understanding of the animation.

What materials do you use for the armatures? 

Mainly use aluminum or steel. Don't use tin as it bends and doesn't have the same stability.