ParaNorman | Hidden Worlds: The Films of LAIKA

The Technology and Craft

Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototyping means using a 3D color printer to quickly create small items. LAIKA used rapid prototyping to create puppets, puppet faces, parts, and props for ParaNorman.

ParaNorman is the first stop-motion movie to utilize a 3D color printer to create replacement faces for its puppets
Over 31,000 individual face parts were printed for the production
Four 3D color printers were active for a combined total of approximately 572 days of straight print time
45 animators, riggers, and modelers comprise LAIKA’s Rapid Prototyping (RP) department
RP-made replacement faces require a 10-step process, taking over 5-6 hours of cleaning and coating to get each one ready for its close-up
Color 3D printing face parts added skin translucency and color variations, so lighting reacted more delicately, making the faces seem more real

Faces

As in Coraline, the puppets in ParaNorman use multiple “replacement faces” so that the puppets have a wide range of expressions.

Norman has about 8,800 faces with a range of individual pieces including brows and mouths. Being a "man of 8,800 faces," he has approximately 1.5 million possible facial expressions
In several shots Norman’s face is close enough to the camera that it fills the entire theater screen, magnifying his 1.875-inch-wide face roughly 380 times!
Over 250 unique faces were utilized for one character to create a single shot that lasts only 27 seconds
The faces for all characters are housed in LAIKA’s face library, stored in over 1,257 archival boxes
The greatest number of unique faces used in a single shot is 545, spread across 7 characters—the shot, near the end of the movie, is 42.7 seconds (1,024 frames) long and took over a month to complete

Armature Test Video, ParaNorman, 2012.

The many faces of Norman, ParaNorman, 2012.

Behind the Scenes, ParaNorman, 2012.

Norman's 275 hair spikes, ParaNorman, 2012.

THE PUPPETS

Time

To craft a new puppet from scratch takes at least 3-4 months from start to finish, not including design and testing time. For ParaNorman, 60 puppet makers created 61 characters that comprised 178 individual puppets. Printing replacement faces required four 3D printers working constantly for approximately 572 days (about a year and a half).

Once a character has been created in its finished form for the first time, the multiples of that puppet can be fashioned faster
It took 60 puppet makers to create the 178 individual puppets for the film's 61 characters including, for Norman himself, 28 full body puppets
There are 275 spikes in Norman’s signature hair style — made primarily from goat hair held together with hot glue, hair gel, fabric, and super glue; as well as medical adhesive, Pros-Aide make-up adhesive, thread, and wire

On the set, ParaNorman, 2012.

The Costumes

120 different costumes were designed and made by hand for the film

Norman has 5 costume changes in the movie: hoodie & jeans, t-shirt & jeans, pajamas, his school play Puritan costume, and baseball uniform
The bottom edge of Norman’s T-shirt has 102 stitches – all handmade and measured in length and spacing – with 48 stitches around his neckline
Norman’s parents, Sandra & Perry, wear three sets of clothing in the movie: their smart “going out” clothes, their casual home wear, and their sportswear
Although she is the most style-conscious member of the Babcock family, Norman’s older sister Courtney has only two outfits in the movie: her pink velour track suit and her cheerleader outfit
The costume department’s sewing needles are size 15 extra-long beading needles, about the circumference of a human hair

ParaNorman Street Shoot, ParaNorman 2012.

Perfume Bottle, ParaNorman, 2012.

THE Props

Hand-Crafted

Approximately 31,600 hand-made props were created for ParaNorman.

Of the 26 animatable (meaning, with moving parts) vehicles the model shop made— all can roll forward and backward, and most of them have working headlamps, windows, and taillights
The station wagon and van have working lights, hinged doors, real chrome accents, functioning suspensions, and working steering
8 complete versions of the van were made for the shoot: 2 for exterior shots, 2 for interior shots, 2 for the rollover sequence, and 2 built at half the size for long-distance road shots
The Town Hall Archives sequence encompassed two full sets/stages with over 20,000 miniature books, over 5,000 paper items (paperwork, maps, files, etc.), and over 400 hand-folded file boxes
The smallest animatable prop was Norman’s mom’s perfume sprayer, which gets used in the station wagon to ward off the (zombie) Judge. Made of brass and then chromed for a brushed stainless look, it measures 5/8” in length and 1/8” in diameter, with the pump nozzle 1/16” in diameter – and it works!

THE SETS

It takes a Village

LAIKA is home to a diverse and creative community of storytellers, artists, inventors, technicians, and craftspeople who hail from around the world. More than 320 crew members worked to bring ParaNorman to life. To create some three dozen unique locations for the town of Blithe Hollow, the production utilized 18 carpenters, 18 model builders, 6 riggers, 12 scenic painters, 11 greens artists, and 10 set dressers. Many of the town’s settings and features, such as the Blithe Hollow Witch Statue, were inspired by real locations in Salem, Massachusetts, including the famous Salem Witch Statue.

ParaNorman has nearly three dozen unique locations, all hand-built

A crew of 93 artists in the ParaNorman art department used over 4,000 pounds of silicone for prop and set fabrication
For the outdoor sets, 300 feet of country road were created out of recycled plywood coated with three types of paint — additionally, 2,000 trees were made from shredded cardboard to create the forests. Laid end to end, the trees would stretch about 2 miles

Filming, ParaNorman, 2012

LAIKA studio, set design for ParaNorman, 2012

THE SHOOT

Illusion of Movement

Stop-motion animation is created by taking a series of still photographs, one at a time. Objects are repositioned between each frame and photographed again, thereby creating the illusion of movement. Instead of a conventional movie or video camera, LAIKA animators shoot with a still camera. ParaNorman was filmed with a DSLR Camera, which generated 20 hours and 29 minutes of total footage that amounted to 1,770,601 frames.
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ParaNorman has nearly three dozen unique locations, all hand-built

A total of 63 cameras were used to shoot the movie as well as 53 motion control systems and 21 motion control track & boom rigs
70 Fluorescent fixtures and 1,102 C-Stands for holding lights and other objects were used
The bathroom sequence, when Norman is contacted by the ghost of Mr. Prenderghast, took one year to shoot
The "ghost reveal shot," where Norman is walking through Blithe Hollow and interacting with its ghosts, required 28 visual effects artists working for over two years
Principal photography on ParaNorman lasted 18 months with a total of 35 animators working on 52 separate sets. Each animator shot an average of 4.38 seconds of film per day, which means only 12.78 minutes were completed in an entire week of production.

The shoot, ParaNorman, 2012.