The Boxtrolls: A Seven-Year Journey Comes To The Screen

A boy named Eggs. A Boxtroll named Fish. And a whimsical town that holds a dark secret. Thus begins LAIKA’s third feature film, The Boxtrolls, arriving in wide release Friday September 27th. It’s a tale that both children and adults will enjoy, capturing the humor, oddness, charm and peril that LAIKA films are known for while also showcasing the latest advancements in the world of stopmotion filmmaking. The venerable cast includes such stalwarts as Ben Kingsley, Dee Bradley Baker, Steve Blum, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Tracy Morgan, Elle Fanning, Fred Tatasciore, Maurice LaMarche and Game of Thrones' Issac Hempstead Wright.

ASIFA-Hollywood, in conjunction with Focus Features and the San Francisco Film Society, held a screening at San Francisco’s Metreon Theater on Tuesday September 23rd to highlight the upcoming release. Watching the smoothness of the animation, the flow of the story and the marvelous detail, viewers may forget the thousands of hours, dozens of story drafts and herculean efforts required to create something so amazing, so lost will they be in the film itself.

Fortunately, CEO, Executive Producer and Lead Animator Travis Knight, Directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi, Producer David Ichioka and Editor Edie Ichioka were on hand after the screening to reveal the secrets of the magic that went in to making the film the public will come to love.

Crafting the Story 

“It’s a coming of age story,” said CEO Travis Knight to the film crowd on Tuesday evening.

“At it’s core it’s like all LAIKA films, there’s something deeper at its’ heart.” It all started seven years ago.

Coraline was in production and the LAIKA team had purchased the rights to Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow, slated to be the studio’s second feature film. This proved to be a task of epic proportions, as the book spans 544 pages and includes a cavalcade of wildly imaginative characters like Cabbage people, Rabbit women, and of course, Boxtrolls. Whittling down the ideas created by author Alan Snow proved to be a feat in itself.

Director Anthony Stacchi’s mantra became “throw everything out but the title and see what comes back. After six drafts there were still Cabbage heads and a giant rabbit destroying the city.”

Director Graham Annable, a board artist on Coraline and Paranorman, helped the team craft what would become the beginnings of the tale after boarding a scene between the boy protagonist Eggs (voiced by Issac Hempstead Wright) and his surrogate Boxtroll family Fish (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) and Shoes (voiced by Steve Blum). “Within three months we got rid of everything before and after [that scene.]”

The scene became the bedrock of the film, and although it did not make it into the finished film, it provided a blueprint for everyone on the team to rally behind.

Stopmotion Animation and Rapid Prototyping – Past Meets Future 

One of LAIKA’s best known traits is its ability to bring lifelike performances using both traditional stop motion techniques while also embracing advanced technology.

“The movie really happens through the conversation with the animators,” said Graham. “We would visit the animators on the set everyday or every two days.” At LAIKA all animation is done on 1s (as opposed to 2s and 4s, which is more common for 2D and CG animation).

 “You get one rehearsal on 2s and 4s. Rehearsals are best described as Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs,” said Stacchi. Ideas are mapped out, then the animators animate by moving the character by hand, recording it, then moving again, a painstaking process resulting in 30 to 45 frames a day.

One of the ways that LAIKA has emerged as a powerhouse player in the industry is by embracing a technique known as rapid prototyping. This process allows an individual to instruct a computer to create a 3D printing of an object, for example, Eggs’ head, and also allows artists to design and texture the object using the computer.

“They’re meant to do one-offs,” said Knight. “We’re using it as a mass production device.” For example, there were hundreds faces created just for the character Eggs alone, and hundreds more created for the other titular characters of The Boxtrolls, enabling the animators to switch out expressions of the characters, creating more variety for them to showcase in the film. Often faces were printed in two halves so that the artists could mix and match, creating a wider variety of facial features.

 After years of developing, modifying and experimenting with this technology, the LAIKA team has found a myriad of ways to bend it to suit the company’s needs.

 “Our painter figured out how to get the printer to get certain kinds of colors it didn’t want to print,” said Knight as an example.

“The company is full of MacGyvers,” added Stacchi. “It’s like something out of Star Trek, it shouldn’t exist,” remarked Knight. “When the machines rise against us this is what they’ll be using…until then we’ll use it to make cartoons.”

Putting It All Together – Editorial and Stereo 3D

Editorial’s job is to take the story reel created by the storyboard artists and essentially put together a film. Once the story reel is approved, they take footage from the animators and begin to craft the movie. It is a painstaking process, and one that is not done until it is done.

“It is a tsunami of amaterial at all times. You’re not just a tube the material pass thorugh. You are required to make it beter than when it first came thorugh,” said Editor Edie Ichioka.

“Everyone who touches it plusses it – it si always changing, it’s a dynamic process.”

“Dailies last all day – material comes through editorial all day,” said Producer Daivd Ichioka. And unlike many films created in the past few years, The Boxtrolls was shot in stereo, in order to give it an authentic 3D look.

“We don’t do 3D in post,” remarked Ichioka. “When you shoot it with stereo you see the whole world as it was built,” said Knight.

And Finally…The Dance Sequence 

In the film Eggs and his new friend Winnie (voiced by Elle Fanning) attend a party where dozens of individuals perform a complicated waltz. It’s a spectacular sequence that proved to be an amazing feat to animate.

 “We presumed the most difficult scene would be the robot smashing the whole town, but was the dance sequence,” said Graham. “It took all 18 months of the shooting schedule for 2 minutes of dancing.”

The LAIKA team used two choreographers form the Portland Ballet and brought in dancers, and filmed their entire dance from every convieable angle in order to study the realistic and beautiful moments of dance. All of the effort and detail, from the artistry to the technology, was in service to the characters within the film.

 “[We] Try to bring more naturalism to the movements. We have to push the performance of the puppets, to show they have emotions, aspirations and hopes and dreams,” said Knight. LAIKA’s continual push to create engaging stories, coupled with their technical logical advancements, is showcased in vivid color in their third feature film.

“The artists at LAIKA can do anything, they’re brilliant,” said Knight.

Special thanks to the LAIKA, Focus Features, San Francisco Film Society and ASIFA for arranging the screening for animation professionals and fans alike. 

The Boxtrolls opens today, September 26th, at a theater near you. 

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Women, Wine and Animation ILM President Lynwyn Brennan Shares her Story at the Walt Disney Family Museum

Animation professionals, students and fans were in high spirits on Thursday August 28^th at the Walt Disney Family Museum to hear President of Industrial Light and Magic Lynwen Brennan share her tales of entering the animation and VFX industry. Having served as President for the past 15 years, Ms. Brennan shared her wealth of knowledge with warmth and humor to the crowd of over 100.

Early Beginnings

“I have been extraordinarily lucky,” Ms. Brennan stated. Her Welsh heritage instilled in her the belief that women could do anything. Her grandmother worked as a scullery maid, and was smart and self-assured and taught her daughter the same life lessons. Her Grandmother’s efforts and hard work enabled her mother to attend excellent grammar schools and become the first person, male or female, in her family to attend college. Her mother taught for 40 years and later became a principal of the school. Her mother had ““nothing but the highest degree of effort and kindness and respect for everyone,” said Ms. Brennan. And she taught her that “there is nothing you cannot do.”

The Fall That Changed Her Life

Her mother’s faith and courage in her abilities enable her to overcome one of the most difficult periods in Ms. Brennan’s life. During her early adulthood, while visiting an amusement park with friends Ms. Brennan fell off a rollercoaster. The accident fractured her leg so severely that it resembled jelly on the inside according to doctors.

The doctors informed her mother that her foot would need to be amputated, but the Ms. Brennan’s mother would have none of that. Her mother massaged her foot and leg for hours, then commanded the doctor to bring in a different ultrasound machine when the first did not show a positive result “Because the first was obviously not working,” said Ms. Brennan. Finally a tiny pulse appeared in her foot, and after her first surgery, Ms. Brennan awoke to see her mother grinning ear to ear and her foot securely intact.

“I told you if you want something enough nothing is impossible,” her mother stated.

Turning Point

As her leg healed that year Ms. Brennan was forced to reevaluate her goals. She spent the year in and out of the hospital, eventually receiving six surgeries and physical therapy to regain the ability to walk. She spent the year bored, laying on the sofa, watching movies with her brother to pass the time. That time spent would serve as another turning point. She and her brother began to discuss movies and storytelling, what made films work and not work. Her brother had started a small VFX company, and seeing Ms. Brennan’s interest, appointed her as head of marketing. 


“I was the only one so I was head of myself,” Ms. Brennan said. In order to get excellent bids they had to give the appearance of being a large corporation. They did this by working diligently, seven days a week, and their work paid off whenILM became one of their clients. They worked on such films as Death Becomes Her and Jurassic Park. And they were able to secure the bid by listening to everything ILM wanted and coming through, said Ms. Brennan.

Even though Ms. Brennan greatly enjoyed working for the company and their clients, a part of her wondered when she would return to her original path. She had gone to school for science, not film, and in the back of her mind she still planned to return to that original goal. In 1995 they sold the company to AVID, but not without a little sadness mixed with the pride of selling the company.

“It was hard to see the company you put your heart and soul into go into a large corporation,” said Ms. Brennan.

Later she worked at Autodesk, which she enjoyed, but with no intention of staying. She rented everything, including furniture, believing that she would soon return to her original goal. Her brother’s advice enabled her to realize that her goals had changed, and that VFX and film was a great fit for her.
“It is better to regret doing something than to regret not doing it,” she recalled him saying.

Industrial Light and Magic

It was this advice, coupled with her courage that she could do anything, and that anything was possible, that led her to ILM. She was mentored by many strong and smart women, including Gail Curry, and learned one of the best pieces of advice that she implements daily.

“If there’s a tough choice make the one that’s the best for the artists Gail told her,” said Ms. Brennan. In order to do this, one must know the artists, who they are, what they stand for and what is important in their lives. “Know every artists names, their kids names, their spouses name and where applicable their pets,” said Ms. Brennan.

Inspiration All Around

Unbeknownst to her, she was being groomed to become the next President of ILM. She agreed to do the job on two conditions, that the previous president would stay for six months and that they could reevaluate how she was doing.

At ILM the majority of executive leadership are women, stated Ms. Brennan, and they inspire, challenge, argue and keep the right side of sane. Her boss, Kathleen Kennedy, is one of those inspirations. “The word ‘can’t’ is not in her vocabulary,” said Ms. Brennan.

Life At The Company

Being one of the top-tiered VFX and animation studios in the world is a heavy undertaking that Ms. Brennan enjoys each day.

“There isn’t a typical day,” said Ms. Brennan. ILM, because of its offices around the world, is a 24 hour operation. However there are a few things that do occur each day. She starts the day off with a conference all in London, followed by watching the dailies for every project in production,  bidding on what’s coming in, calling clients,  checking the finances for each show and projecting how many people will be needed for a project.

When asked what the hardest film is that they’ve worked on, Ms. Brennan responded with a laugh, “Whatever we’re doing right now is the hardest. Whatever we’re doing right now is the one that’s not going to get made.”

At the time each project has its own challenges. This past summer, Transformers 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lucy were all coming down the pipeline and were completed within weeks of each other.

“All converged at one time and that was terrifying,” said Ms. Brennan. “But there were all so last month I have other worries now.”

Working Together: Mentoring and Beyond

Mentoring was one of the things that enabled Ms. Brennan to get to where she is today. She found mentors on purpose and some came to her, seeing in her an ability to work diligently to get things done. The two most important things she recommended, when seeking out a mentor, is to have both confidence and integrity.

Trust your gut and never question your integrity, said Ms. Brennan. It was this trusting in her gut that enabled her to change from her original science field after graduating from university to embarking on adventures in film.

“I definitely have an unusual path into it. My gut told me ‘go this path’ even though your plan was this way,” she said.

She also expounded on the idea of likeability, something that women often feel they must conform to in order to be successful in business.

“If by wanting to be liked means showing kindness and respect – there’s no downside to that,” said Ms. Brennan. Empathy doesn’t mean you want to be liked but that you want to treat your employees well, she continued.

“Just because you care about someone doesn’t make you weaker, you do it because it makes you human,” she stated.

And What About That Little Upcoming Film Star Wars?

No conversation with an ILM veteran would be complete without finding out a little about the upcoming Star Wars film.

“It’s set in space,” replied Ms. Brennan to the ecstatic crowd. “There’s a robot called R2D2 in it. And that’s all you’re getting from me.”

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