Coraline

This was a delayed preview to the movie Coraline.
I was hesitant to write this because I was lazy and I wanted to see how it did in the box office this weekend - I'm happy to announce that it did quite well.

the reception has been quite warm - the movie is sitting at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and Ebert gave it 3 stars.

I'd like to briefly go over the production of this movie and some of the details of this process that stick out to me.
We all know that Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman are the forces at work here, but how did they make 'Coraline'?.
The production technique employed in this movie was stop motion animation. Think Nightmare Before Christmas or Wallace and Grommet.

I need to point out it has been about a solid decade since a real feature presentation done using this medium. Digital innovations in cinema led Disney to jump on the Elfman/Selick/Burton wagon of Nightmare. The camera moves and the animation really couldn't have been imagined before the tech exististed.

Now, let's see where 15 years of technological leaps and bounds in the most profitable industry have led us.
First of all, number one box office movie this weekend was a chick flick with an all star cast that cost 30 million to film - Just Not That Into You. Coraline cost about 70 million.

The extra money went into the right places, the filming was perfect. The DP lit everything perfect. Some scenes really take your breath away.

Direction from Selick and having Gaiman on set really made sure that this was as true to the story as could be imaged.

But the most impressive part of this production was Laika Animation Studio's devotion to making the entire presentation in 3D. Sadly the movie could only be shown in about 1200 theaters that support RealD 3D across the continent. Despite these minor set backs the movie has earned about 16 million so far.

To produce this movie, the stage was divided by curtain into about 50 or so sections. Each section was filming a different part of the set.

the Other World garden scene is perhaps the second most jaw-dropping.
This set involved the creation of few thousand prop flowers. All of which lit up. This is no digital animation trick, these are props and lighting, together in a most organic and beautiful marriage.


Here is a prop artist working on the set of the Other World garden scene.

Words cannot really express how deeply moving the imagry is in this film, it has a tremendous deal of variation.
I look forward to seeing this movie again and providing a more illuminating review.
The only thing that I feel that I can comment on is that RealD 3D involves the glasses. The glasses filter alot of light and so the screen does look incredibly dark. This is good for Coraline. It makes it one of the best productions in this medium ever, but I doubt very much that this summer's release from Pixar Studio's titled 'UP' will be able to deliver on such an intangible factor. In either case, I hope I can be confident in parting with these words: People want 3D - they will get what they want, just like they always do. Technology will provide for us. The movie Coraline is a shinning example of how far things can come over time.