film is the first film that uses a color 3D printer to make a character's face.
·In order to make several pets for the film, the crew spent 3-4 months together, not including design and testing time. In the film, 60 technicians were dropped and 178 pets were made. ·The protagonist Norman has a total of 8,800 faces with different expressions and matching eyebrows and mouths. This means that the different combinations of these faces, eyebrows, and mouth can produce 1.5 million independent and different expressions for Norman.
· In Norman’s iconic hair, there are a total of 275 steel nails. The materials used to make Norman hair include wool, hot glue, super glue, animal fur and hair gel.
·Norman encountered the whispering ghost scene in the bathroom, and it took the crew a year to complete the filming.
·In order to build the exterior scene of the small town, the crew made a 300-foot-long path and made more than 2,000 trees around the road. ·There are about 36 different locations in the film. In order to produce these locations, the crew Qinglai has 18 carpenters, 18 landscapers, 6 crane workers, 12 landscape painters, 11 gardeners and 10 costume designers. The teacher comes to work.
· The T-shirt that Norman wore was tailor-made for Norman, and it took 102 stitches to sew it out. Among them, 48 stitches were sewn on the neckline.
·120 different clothes were dropped in the whole film.
·The smallest prop in the whole film is the perfume sprayer used by Norman's mother, all handmade by technicians. This prop plays an important role in the film. The size of the final product is about 1.5 cm high and 0.32 cm in diameter. The nozzle is even smaller, with a diameter of only 0.15 cm.
◎Behind the scenes production
After a long creation of "Ghost Mother" with a strong spiritual atmosphere, the famous Laika Entertainment almost non-stop devoted to the filming of "Psychic Boy Norman". In fact, this is not a project that Laika hastily launched, but a twelve-year creative process. Chris Butler, one of the film’s directors, said: “The story of this movie took root in my mind when I was a teenager. Therefore, I always say that I have conceived this movie. It’s been twelve years. But I’ve said this for several years. I’ve always wanted to make a film about children and zombies, in the style of John Carpenter and John Hughes. For a long time Since then, I have always loved movies such as "The Seven Treasures", "Ghost Chaser", "Little Monsters", "ET", "Ghost Driven" and "Scoobyby", and I hope I can shoot them. A movie with a similar style. Later, I created the script of "The Psychic Boy Norman". This script is very short, only 30 pages, and has a lot of stylized shots and scenes. In the production of "Mother Ghost" At that time, I took out the script and everyone in the company liked it very much, so I decided to collaborate with Sam Phil to shoot this film.” Talking about the collaboration with Barrett, Phil said: "About two and a half years ago, Butler found me and showed me the script. It was a very complete script. It already had all the elements needed for a movie, and it was extremely stylized. Although. The story of the film is a bit horrible, but this is still a film made for children. In other words, this is a family-friendly film in which everyone can find happiness. In the film, Butler added a lot of John. The elements of Carpenter are very interesting. These contents are both scary and uncontrollable. When it comes, I really like films like "Halloween"." Stop-motion animation The development of stop-motion animation in recent years can be described as smooth sailing. From the popularity of "Mama Ghost" and "Mary and Max" to the popularity of the summer file "Fantastic Pirates" in 2012, stop-motion animation is a rare cartoon. This has become the hottest movie category. Regarding the filming of this film as a stop motion animation, both directors said that this is a natural thing. Sam Phil said: "This is very natural. From the beginning, we tacitly decided to make this movie a stop motion animation. Because you want to make a zombie movie for kids, then it can only be possible It’s a stop motion animation. However, we don’t want to shoot a traditional and simple stop motion animation. You know, after "Mama Ghost", we have always wanted to eliminate some of the inherent limitations of stop motion animation. The skills are pushed to a higher level. Therefore, we used many different techniques throughout the film, such as CG techniques, post-compositing techniques, etc.-because we want to express the zombie world, do this It’s a must. But fundamentally, this film was created with the most traditional handwork." This new technology and old handcrafting process has become a feature of the film, said Chris Butler. "At the shooting site, we had a lot of messy things, and it felt very traversal. There are clay that has matured more than 100 years ago, and the latest computer technology. Moreover, we also have a green screen. From this perspective, this film The movie was shot using the most modern filmmaking technology. With the help of this new technology, we shot a lot of big action and special effects scenes. Although some scenes were very difficult to shoot and took a lot of time, but I'm still very excited. We did this, and Laika's senior management were also very satisfied, because it created a new shooting mode for stop motion animation, and what we did is likely to become the future development direction of this animation. " We also have a green screen. From this point of view, the film was shot using the most modern filmmaking techniques. With the help of this new technology, we have shot a lot of big action and special effects scenes. Although some scenes were very difficult to shoot and took a lot of time, I was still very excited. We did this, and Laika's senior management was also very satisfied, because it created a new shooting mode for stop motion animation, and what we did is likely to become the future development direction of this animation. " We also have a green screen. From this point of view, the film was shot using the most modern filmmaking techniques. With the help of this new technology, we have shot a lot of big action and special effects scenes. Although some scenes were very difficult to shoot and took a lot of time, I was still very excited. We did this, and Laika's senior management were also very satisfied, because this created a new shooting mode for stop motion animation, and what we did is likely to become the future development direction of this animation. "
◎Film evaluation
"New York Times": In addition to Norman's adventures, what really attracts the audience, speeds up the pulse, and widens the eyeballs of the film is the magical visual effect of the film.
"New York Post": Probably the most dazzling movie in visual effects so far this year.
"Los Angeles Times": This may be the most interesting film of the year about ghosts and zombies. "Arizona Republic": The level of scary and humor are equal, and both are enough to satisfy fans who like old-fashioned horror movies.
"Variety": Few movies face death so directly or even rudely in this film. "Austin Chronicle": This stop-motion animation by Laika Studios is as creative as their last work "Mother Ghost", and the storyline always revolves around the message it conveys: being different is a good thing-no, It's a great thing, no matter how many villagers and zombies chase you for it. "USA Today": Wisdom pays tribute to many classic ghost and horror films, with Tim Burton's visual style, and gratifyingly not many humorous jokes.
"Rolling Stone": Go see it! This film has a lot of magic.
"Entertainment Weekly": Although the story may be somewhat simple, this stop-motion animation still shows the unparalleled effort of these animation artists.
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