“”Kubo and the Two Strings”: one giant skeleton, one colossal undertaking” by Emerson and Switaj

  • ©Steve Emerson and Steve Switaj

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Title:

    "Kubo and the Two Strings": one giant skeleton, one colossal undertaking

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Project Affiliation:


    LAIKA

Abstract:


    On “Kubo and the Two Strings” (in theaters 19 August), LAIKA launched an immensely powerful puppet – to scale. The result? The Giant Skeleton: 18 feet tall with a 24-foot wingspan from finger to finger. True to LAIKA’s reputation as the most robust, fearless stop-motion studio in the world, artists, designers, fabricators – and animators – gave life to the largest animatable puppet ever created. With real-world materials including dense CNC foam, paper, paint and a steel armature, the Giant Skeleton was a massive undertaking involving LAIKA’s notoriously collaborative crew. And upon completion of the puppet, the challenges began anew; this time on the VFX front. The panel will also address complicated environments in the real and practical worlds using reference, scanned objects, and the integration of LAIKA’s plausible lighting system – as well as the interaction of set builders, puppet makers, a camera team, and the lighting and shading group.


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