E-MAIL THE AUTHOR | ARCHIVES By Christopher Stipp
August 12, 2005
THE CORPSE BRIDE AND MY NEVER-ENDING QUEST TO GET A WORD IN EDGE-WISE.
I admit that I debated for a while.
I vacillated between getting up and leaving the press conference before it started and coming back for the V FOR VENDETTA panel which followed the conclusion of this one. I have yet to sit down and watch A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (gasp!) but I have probably been the most staunch supporter of Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit series if for no other reason than the animation is just silky smooth.
Years ago Nick gave me the thrill of animation back. It had left me briefly when the gas was starting to run out in me due to the scarcity of original, accessible animation. Watching THE WRONG TROUSERS was something so visceral I’ll never forget turning on my PBS channel and catching the scene where the dog who doesn’t say a word is trying to capture this beady-eyed penguin that is shifty as all hell even though he himself doesn’t say anything as well. The dog is in pursuit of this little mammal and it all plays out using this model train, spare pieces of track and Nick deftly makes you feel that there is real motion to all of this.
When I saw the trailer for THE CORPSE BRIDE, then, and as I sat in my little metal chair at the Comi-Con I thought that, if nothing else, the world could see what those in the animation field have been cooking up.
I’m rather finicky when it comes to what draws me in as an animated aficionado. In recent years I’ve depended on SPIKE AND MIKE’S TWISTED FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION open my third eye to the possibilities that are out there and I’ve seen the likes of Breehn Burns, Don Hertzfelt, John Dilworth, Bill Plympton and scads of other animators inspire me to want more out of those who use this medium.
The long and short of it is that I want someone out there to become inspired; not necessarily by what BRIDE producer Allison Abbate and co-director Mike Johnson have to say, mind you, but by what the finished product says for those who still feel the need to create something with their minds and hands.
In a way, running this press conference really is my own selfish act as I hope someone out there gets on the stick and is able to come up with something as amazing as what CORPSE looks like it will be, in terms of technical achievement, and gets me to care again, in a fresh way, about the possibilities of what animation can do.
I hope you like the press conference and I make note, again, like a petulant child craving attention, of the questions that I was able to ask personally. There were some good people in the crowd asking questions but if you don’t like what you see here, just wait until next week.
I talked to someone this week you all should get to know…
The scene that you showed, where a veil was flowing in the wind, that seemed like it was a first for stop-motion animation. Could you talk a little bit about that?
Mike: Yeah, good question. The veil was probably our single biggest challenge. So we had certain animators who were veil specialists who could create that silky underwater look.
The only drawback to that was it would take 3 to 4 weeks to get a single shot. So, as often as we could we would get the puppets to do it but occasionally we would rely on the CG effect.
In reference to the short scene you showed where maggots were seemingly interacting with the puppets, what was the one thing that caught your attention when you were preparing to do that scene?
Mike: I think the one thing that stuck in my throat was the maggots, how to get the puppet to interact with them, how to get the maggots to pop out of [the brides’] eyes, how they will crawl up her arm or ride down her shoulder.
The puppets are 16 inches tall so that means that the puppet-scale maggots had to be at least 2 inches long which no animator can get facial expressions out of. So we worked on two different scales, one giant sized maggot that we could animate and digitally pop onto them [later.]
Allison: I thought it was a nice combination and use of visual effects because we were really adamant to keep it as stop motion as possible but we used digital effects to help out. In this particular case with the maggots we talked with our digital effects house to work with us in trying to find out a way to combine these things. It was a delicate balance in how they helped us and not over helped us; it was a nice relationship.
Do you feel pressure that this new movie had to be just as good, if not better, than NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS?
Mike: I don’t think we set out to top it but there definitely is pressure to be as good since the films are obviously going to be compared with each other and sit alongside each other but think, in addition to that, we wanted to show how stop motion animation has advanced and progressed since NIGHTMARE was made so we did have to push the envelope a little bit to create a new look.
Do think it was any easier this time?
Mike: Well, I don’t think it was any easier but we do have better tools now but it still comes down to the individual animator who helps us one frame at a time.
Me:(wOOt!) How did Tim Burton move along the direction of the film? I know animators are of their own world like Nick Park who is an animator and he has his own vision of how to move his characters but how does Tim Burton, a director, come into the process of meeting both the animated world and the animated vision?
Mike: Well, I don’t think it really worked that way. I think that Tim had an idea of the tone that he wanted and then my job would be to interface with these animators and get the look he was after. So, I would work one-on-one with the animators through each shot and Tim would have final approval on which shots or he might say that he wanted something to look a little snappier or “let’s tone it down here, next time.â€
Who is your target audience for this movie? How do you sell CORPSE BRIDE to children? You’ve got the fans from NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. It seems like a challenging movie to promote.
Allison: Well, I think that there is something for everyone in this movie. I think that you have a really beautiful bride which will think that…it’s a fine line where we don’t want girls to be afraid because she’s dead but she’s so beautiful and so full of life and so sweet and innocent and I think that girls will understand her plight. And, also, there’s a bunch of really cool characters and it’s the same way that some of the characters from NIGHTMARE stole the show.
But really, I do think that there is something for everyone in this movie; there’s a beautiful love story and I think there’s something that adults will be able to relate with as well. It’s just a cool twist on the love triangle thing.
Can you talk a little bit about the voice work in this movie?
Mike: Yes, the voice performance, in a big way, determines how the shot is going to go. But I don’t think that’s in any way eliminating or restricting to them. I think that it’s really the inspiration so when there’s a good line, or a really good reading, it can take that much further to the level of performance.
Allison: We bring the script, the storyboards and the puppets to the reading so that the actual actors can be inspired by them.
Can you tell what each of the actors brought to the characters?
Allison: I think with Johnny there was an intelligence he brought to it but since he was playing the straight man it was hard say but there was a strong presence that he brought to it.
Helena, though, infused so much of her personality into it. The way she moved…she’s so smart…it had to be so innocent and so guileless and insightful but she couldn’t be ditzy. She brought such a tragic sadness to it. There’s really not one thing you can put your finger on.
Mike: And that’s really the final piece of the puzzle in creating these characters. They’re designed on paper and sculpted as puppets but it’s not until we get the voice in there that the character comes together.
Can you talk about the music in the film? I think I heard Danny Elfman singing…
Allison: Danny Elfman plays the part of Bonejangles. He actually has lines in the movie. There are four songs in the movie. Unlike in NIGHTMARE, you’re not really relying on them. They sort of punctuate the movie throughout and they simply set up the narrative. Helena Bonham Carter sings her own songs which is really cool.
Me: (Always with the hardballs…) The reshoot process. Were there any? Any scene where you shot it and said, “You know, we have to ditch this…â€?
Mike: Occasionally. By the time we get to the stage and start shooting we’ve already tried it many different ways in storyboard form so it’s pretty locked when we get there. But, occasionally, there are reshoots or a scene that we can’t use but most of the time we’re shooting at a 1:1 ratio and that’s what you have to do in stop motion.
What’s up next for the both of you?
Mike: Vacation. We’ve been on this for a very long time and I want to step back and see how people will respond to it.
Allison: And we’re not done yet. We’ve still got a couple months.
How long has this movie been in production?
Mike: Well, Tim originally thought of the idea for at least 10 years. It was simmering somewhere in the back of his mind. But once the movie got the green light he assembled the team he wanted and he was ready to go. From there, though, it’s been three years from start to finish.
Me: What’s left to do from now to the release date? What has yet to be polished?
Allison: There are still visual effects that need to be cut in…
Mike: Yeah, from the footage we showed there were a lot of the rigs and rods that need to be removed…
(Laughs)
So yeah, there is a lot of just cleaning up yet to do.
How did you feel getting up in front of 6,000 fans [for the presentation in the big hall]?
Mike: Animators, by our nature, are introverts so it’s kind of cruel to be standing in front of a crowd like that.
Is this your first Comi-Con?
Mike: Yeah, I can relate as I grew up collecting comic books but there are some out there who go really deep with it.
(Laughs)
It’s just great to see all the enthusiasm.
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE (2005)
Director: Scott DerricksonCast: Tom Wilkinson, Laura Linney
Release: September 9, 2005
Synopsis: A bitter and repressed single lawyer (Laura Linney) takes on the church and the state when she fights for the life of a priest who performed a deadly exorcism on a young woman. Linney must battle the cocky state lawyer as well as her own lonliness, as she realizes that her career so far has not fulfilled her, nor is she happy in her job on a day to day basis. View Trailer:
* Small (Flash)
Prognosis: Skittish. I would’ve never really thought that I could be driven to yell back at a computer screen but I have.
What you see, immediately, about this trailer is that it really has the sense of mood right when things begin. You see the word “exorcism†alongside words like “based on a true story†and the horror aficionado in all of us stop washing the dishes for a second because there’s some intrigue. I mean THE EXORCIST was, and still is, a great horror primer for any young child who has to have a nightmare or two coming to them and so there should be no reason why this should be any different.
Except that it is.
We get some of the scary scary by the opening lilt of the vocal music employed in the background. Not to take too much away from the trailer’s aim to be “spooky†but the music sounds just like the same chant they used in SCROOGED. That movie, too, I guess, sort of, tried to be a little spooky so it gets a pass; “I don’t care if you hit me, Frank, but take it easy on the Bacardi,†I love that line.
The visuals though are really well photographed. You have a farmhouse in what looks like the moments before the first snowfall of the year and there’s some real cinematic weight with the starkness of it all.
You get Tom Wilkinson’s voice doing the background work and you realize he’s the one who was involved with the exorcism of Emily Rose. His tone is very direct but you can hear how he has that “I don’t care if you don’t believe me but I’m totally not shitting you on this†in his voice.
We get the unspooling audio tape of the “actual†exorcism just so you don’t think they’re trying to fake you out. Who knows if the audio is real or not but, hey, it’s spooky.
You establish all this cred up until this point, that this could be really real or just sorta real, and then all of a sudden Laura Linney walks in as the journo who is getting the scoop on the real story but she just looks like she’s fresh off a runway from Milan. It’s jarring.
The trailer makers give you a little taste from a flashback where Satan is getting his icy cold grip on Emily. The bed is creaking, the sheets are being pulled off her bed. It’s getting spookier.
Laura listens to Tom go on and on about this as they walk together on a cold morning, Laura looking dashing in her woolen toque, her hair wonderfully made up on the side so she can look warm but still retain that certain sexiness, and then Campbell Scott pops up as a lawyer who is playing the part of the skeptic.
Is Emily dead? Is our man on trial for killing her?
I just let it play for a while, everyone standing on either the side of not believing in this crap or who try to make you think that something supernatural is going on but all of a sudden you get this Enigma-style Monk chanting as, in another flashback, Emily is sitting in a college classroom. She turns to someone in her room and the guy opens his mouth like locusts are going to start flying out of his mouth but, instead, tar streams down his eyes. Now that’s an effect.
This all comes to a head with all sorts of crazy effects but I have to admit, while the beginning is slightly hokey, the ending did a good job with convincing me there might be a scare or two in this thing.
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