Introduction
Coraline was a stop motion 3D animation created in 2009. The film total took 30, months to film all of the motion aspects. The film premise was this family moving into a new house. The daughter of the parents is bored and neglected, and she finds a little door leading into an alternative universe where her parents are the opposite and everyone has button eyes.
Brief History of the company and stop motion
The director of the film (Henry Selick) met the author of the creator of the book Coraline and decided to do the adaptation to the book itself. Initially the film was only meant to be 47 minutes long but had so many ideas the film duration was made longer. It was staged in a 140 ft warehouse within Oregon, within that building 28 animators or more would work at a time. They would roughly get around 90-100 seconds of animation every week. The company (Laika) also used CAD and 3D printing processes to help the creation of the movie. The movie itself won awards for best music, character and production animated production. It also got nominated for academy best animated features and the golden globe reward.
Takahiro Uesugi
Takahiro originated from Tokyo Japan; he was introduced to Pixar productions then was passed over to Henry Selick to work as a concept artist for Coraline.
His most iconic creations within the movie were the architecture and designs for the pink palace apartments, and his biggest influence on the production of the movie was the colour palette. Most of the colours were muted with greyish undertones which gave more of a sinister atmosphere. He was also the creator for many sets and designs for backgrounds.
Takahiro Uesugi itself is a highly respected artist within Japan. He was born in 1966 and graduated from the school of Setu Mode Seminar of Nagasawa Setu He worked as a manga artist for 7 years and then became a freelance illustrator for posters covers and did concept art from time to time as well. In the award ceremony Tadahiro won design production himself in the film Coraline.
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Stop motion animation
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Stop motion is a very unique and stylised way of creating videos with real life objects and models. Animators have to move models or whatever objects frame by frame making it a challenge to record but with amazing and stylised pieces. The first documented stop motion animation ever is in 1898 of the humpty dumpty circus by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith. In the 1970s, stop motion hit its peak but eventually died down and fell off in the 1990s. However, a few production companies and individuals such as Tim burton and Laika still used the influence of stop motion which then gave birth to the creation of Coraline and gave it its distinctive look and style.
Why this study is important to my work
Knowing I was going to use the movie Coraline as one of my case studies, I watched the movie ahead of time to gather more ideas and inspiration for my 3D assets and how professional people used assets to influence the whole premise of the film.
Broken trees, all old and decrepit, snapped at the root - This gives the setting of it being more abandoned and wasted. This can help me within my assets in my own project which is the main aesthetic. As well, it ties into the offsetting feeling rather than just stereotypical spooky trees in children horror movies. This appeals to me even more as an inspiration because all of the nature and premise around the movie is severely old and broken. As seen in my mood board, my theme around the whole house asset is abandoned so it all ties together perfectly using corallines aesthetic as the main focus of my project.
Exaggerated character/ building models- Within the movie none of the assets and models used neither look lifelike but also stereotypically cartoonish as well. This is even more off putting and is what I exactly what I need to help my project. Due to the designs, they chose for this movie it is severely off putting, even when it was in the beginning/end. This is exactly what I needed for my assets; this can help me with the overall features of all of my designs. I can then use this as the basis for all of my initial assets keeping it intertwined with the stylised look of Coraline but then also creating my own objects for it as well.
Colouring and rendering throughout- All throughout the movie it all stays a similar theme of having cool and dark undertones on every asset. To set the feeling of the atmosphere and movie itself, it all uses cold undertones such as green and yellow. The colours are a massive part within the setting of the film to provide a certain feel within each moment. Typically, cooler and yellow undertones are used to give a more off settling feeling as there's no warmth whatsoever. Overall warmer tones such as reds and oranges provide a sense of warmth and hope, whereas in the movie there is a complete lack of that giving a sign of hopelessness and eeriness.
The overall movie-Within the movie, it is one of the only children's horror 3D films that stood out to me. It has heavily inspired me as they weren't afraid to step out of the spooky premise for children's animation movies and add more of a surreal twist into it presenting a type of horror never seen in a kid's movie. This film is very helpful to my project and studies due to the techniques of stop motion making it movie roughly helping the off feeling which is presented throughout the movie. This is also helped by the contorted models and buildings creating this whole atmosphere within the world of Coraline.
Conclusion!!
Coraline helped me with the designs and atmosphere surrounding the house model I have to base my project off of. I know now that I will use yellow and more cooler undertones to provide that unsettling premise which was seen in Corlaine. As well, with the exaggerated designs, that will help it look less lifelike, so it is more off putting towards the audience and whoever is looking at my assets. Overall, I will use the colours within the movie as rendering and the contorted designs, tying my whole 3D piece together. :)
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