Universal Pictures have given us this new and exclusive look at the amazing way in which ParaNorman has been animated. It’s been done using stop-motion which is a technique that is best known for being done at Aardman Animation Studios on TV programmes like Wallace and Grommet or more recently in Pirates: In an Adventure with Scientists. It never ceases to amaze me how much hard work and dedication goes into animating these characters working for days, weeks or months to produce just a few seconds of footage that will eventually go into making a feature-length movie.
In this featurette, we get to see how the faces are animated and how ParaNorman has used new techniques to make the character look even more realistic when it comes to the way they move and the way their faces and smaller details like hair all flow naturally for the finished product.
ParaNorman is directed by Sam Fell & Chris Butler and has a voice cast which includes Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Tucker Albrizzi, Tempestt Bledsoe, Alex Borstein, Jodelle Ferland, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Bernard Hill, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Elaine Stritch.
In ParaNorman, a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he’ll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst of all, moronic grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits. Following LAIKA’s groundbreaking Academy Award-nominated animated feature Coraline, ParaNorman is only the second stop-motion animated feature to be made in 3D.
ParaNorman is released September 14th. Keep your eyes peeled for our review (spoiler, we liked it a lot!).
