While Dinosaur was wowing audiences with its hyperreal fusion of computer-generated effects and real-world landscapes, director Henry Selick was following in the footsteps of f/x legend Ray Harryhausen for the new Fox film Monkeybone. Opening in early spring, the fantastic voyage into the mind of a comatose cartoonist (played by Brendan Fraser) employs the same stop-motion techniques Selick used in The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Physical sets like this vast train depot, built in San Francisco's Custer Avenue Stages as part of Monkeybone 's underworldly Down Town, lend the visuals a tactile quality that lured animators from top studios like Pixar and PDI. "Anybody can do passable computer animation," says Selick. "But a lot of people like the challenge of stop-motion. It's the hardest way to do great work."
There's no question Monkeybone is a great high tech stunt: The film combines frame-by-frame puppetry with live action, CG, animatronics, and motion-control miniature photography. Five shops helped composite all the pieces in more than 400 shots. "I think there will always be a place for stop-motion, but I'm not a purist," says Selick. "I like a marriage of elements."
ELECTRIC WORD
Photo Op
Monkeyshrines
King Of The Heap
Packet Switcher
Terminal Bliss
Spring Training
