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Screening Series: The perils of stop-motion in ‘The Boxtrolls’

“The Boxtrolls” directors Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable and producer Travis Knight discuss what it’s like to encounter strict limitations within stop-motion and how they work around those confines to make sequences flow.

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“The Boxtrolls” is the latest production from Laika, the company that made the films “Coraline” and “ParaNorman,” which were both nominated for the Academy Award for best animated feature.

Again using the stop-motion animation process rather than the more contemporary computer animation, “The Boxtrolls” is about a young boy (Isaac Hempstead Wright) raised by a community of small trolls who live in boxes. After he meets a young girl (Elle Fanning), she helps him battle a scheming exterminator (Ben Kingsley) set on ridding the town of the Boxtrolls for his own gain. The voice cast also includes Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan and Simon Pegg.

“The Boxtrolls” was recently shown as part of the Envelope Screening Series with a Q&A that included directors Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable and producer and lead animator Travis Knight, who was a little hard on his craft.

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“Let’s be honest, working in stop motion is awful. It’s the worst. It’s such a stupid way to make a movie. It’s ridiculous,” said Knight, who also happens to be president of Laika. “You’re literally playing around with these dolls that are maybe 9 inches tall, trying to coax a performance out of it. You’re sweating under hot set lights. You’re inhaling noxious fumes from rubber cement and hot glue. It’s just awful.

“But it does have am extraordinary charm. I think anytime you see something that’s been brought to life by an artist’s hands, it just has a different kind of quality.”

For an elaborate dance party sequence, the production team created storyboards of the shots, had composer Dario Marianelli work up a waltz and even shot video footage of real dancers to get a sense of movement. Altogether the sequence took about 18 months to create.

It was during a meeting with the heads of various departments, Annable recalled, when they fully realized the difficult task they had set out for themselves.

As he saw the concerned looks on the faces around him, he remembered, he thought, “Oh, I think we finally overstepped.”

Watch the video above for more of their conversation and check back often for more Envelope Screening Series video conversations.

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Follow Mark Olsen on Twitter: @IndieFocus

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