Laika is Celebrating 10 Amazing Years of Bold Stop-Motion Filmmaking ~ Cinenus

"We are a passionate group of artists who believe that the smallest details help tell the bigger story." This month, Laika Entertainment based in Portland, Oregon is celebrating 10 years of "bold and memorable filmmaking". Laika is the stop-motion animation studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings (coming up). They do such amazing work constructing these wonderful films by hand, retouching frame-by-frame, moment-by-moment, creating everything from scratch and animating it painstakingly day-after-day. To celebrate the occasion, they've released a short 10th Anniversary video looking at the artistry behind Laika. It's a great reminder of just how much goes into this kind of animation.

Description from YouTube: "LAIKA, the award-winning animation studio nestled in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, celebrates 10 years of bold and memorable filmmaking this month. For a company whose name means 'little barker' in Russian, Portland, Oregon-based LAIKA has made quite a noise in the global film industry over a relatively short time. With its world-class filmmaking team, LAIKA pushes the boundaries of family entertainment and animated movies, redefining what stories can and should be told through the art form." Laika's first film was Coraline in 2009 (they also worked on Corpse Bride), followed by ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls. Next year, Laika will be telling the story of Kubo and the Two Strings. Visit Laika.com.

A quote from the Laika press release talking about how bold, and unique they are with their storytelling:

"When LAIKA began we had a simple goal: to make movies that matter," says Travis Knight, LAIKA's President and CEO, who also is lead animator and a producer on its films. "LAIKA is devoted to telling new and original stories in new and original ways."

"We aspire to make films that are bold, distinctive, and enduring," Knight continues. "We are committed to telling stories that are thematically challenging, aesthetically beautiful, emotionally resonant, and a wee bit subversive. By combining stop-motion animation with cutting-edge creative approaches, we've embraced the fusion of art and craft and technology, honoring tradition while looking toward the future. We invented new systems and technologies for liberating the camera, to make our films more cinematic. We created new techniques for building and animating our puppets, to make our characters more lifelike and to connect more immediately and intimately with audiences. We discovered new processes for integrating practical and digital visual effects, to make our worlds more authentic. But we're never satisfied. There's an inherent restlessness at LAIKA. We always want to challenge ourselves."

Cinenus

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Tuesday, 15 December 2015