IAT 343 Animation Comparison Essay
Chris Truong 301139052
The two animations I will be comparing are Coraline (2009), directed by Henry
Selick and Neil Gaiman, and 9 (2009), directed by Shane Acker.
Coraline
The movie focuses on Coraline, the title character who moves to a new
house. Her parents pay little attention to her, resulting in Coraline exploring the home
and the forest around her. She stumbles upon an alternate world where her parents are
more attentive and nice.
Coraline is created using stop motion techniques with puppets. Stop motion is
where the physical items are moved in small increments each frame to simulate actual
movement. The puppets have a “bone” structure similar to humans, allowing for
movable body parts. While filming, any potential mistake in a frame may result in a
reshoot. The process is highly detailed. Miniature sets and props are handmade and
have to be carefully painted, from each blade of grass to the large pink house. Every
item that is seen in the film is first modeled on the computer and then sent to the
designers who create the puppets or props. For character expressions, the face is
animated on the computer before being given to the puppet animators who replicate the
effect. Puppet animators have over 13,000 faces to choose from for the character
Coraline alone.
The use of puppets and props help created the mood and effect that live action
films can’t produce. Characters and sets feel surreal and by using lighting and special
effects, it immerses us in another world. The overall setting and mood of the film,
according to Selick is “dark tone against light fun” (Webgeri). Lighting greatly helped
created the setting for this film. Dull lifeless light is used when the character is bored.
Dark blue light is used when the character is scared. And candle light effects are used
when she is having fun. These three different lights are very consistent within the film.
9
9 is set in a post apocalyptic world which is terrorized by machines. The
machines have destroyed all living things on Earth. The only things left alive are nine
stitch-like figures created by a scientist. These stitch figures (called stitchpunks) try to
survive in this world while figuring out what they are.
Like Coraline, 9 is set with a dark tone and atmosphere. However, their
techniques in creating the film are different. Whereas Coraline uses stop motion
techniques with puppets, 9 is created using 3D modeling techniques. The animators
thought of using lighting and shadows to draw the audience to the action, such as
silhouettes of characters in a candle lit room. This was done so that there are fewer
objects to model and animate, cheaper for production, as well as create strong contrast
for the viewer to focus on a particular object.
The stitchpunks’ textures and equipments are modeled after real items. The crew
found inspiration in the scrap yards and physically modeled the characters as a
reference to see how realistic they can look. These models were later transferred to the
computer for modeling and rigging. This is the opposite of Coraline, where they used 3D
modeling first.
Reference:
Webgeri. (2008). Coraline Behind the Scenes-Crafting The World Of Coraline.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmy_nhfo-xw. Retrieved Nov 5, 2012.
Kdlmd243. (2009). Coraline-Making Faces. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oVF3-7zvP0. Retrieved
Nov 5, 2012.
Trimble, T. (2009). 9: The Making of a Stitchpunk World.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/visual-effects/4330275. Retrieved Nov 5, 2012.