Digital-Tutors Believes in Ghosts (and Zombies) – Thanks to LAIKA’s ParaNorman

Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of hosting a list of presenters from around the VFX industry at our Night of Hollywood Visual Effects in OKC. One of our guest presenters included Mark Shapiro of LAIKA animation studios. Mark presented on LAIKA’s previous work on Coraline and previewed, the then-upcoming, ParaNorman.

This weekend, the Digital-Tutors team had a night out at the movies to see the latest stop-motion, CG movie and see what it’s like to talk to the dead in the animated zombie comedy, ParaNorman.

ParaNorman follows the story of a young outcast, Norman, in a witch-cursed town who has his own family curse, or gift, to talk to the dead. While we’ll leave the rest of the plot and story for your own viewing pleasure, we enjoyed following along as Norman and his improvised crew try to save the town, all while dropping hilarious one-liners and building memorable characters we could all relate to.

The mix of stop motion and CG made for a visually exciting few hours. The stop-motion workflow is a remarkable testament to details and patience, and knowing what goes into both the stop motion and the CG made the visuals that much more intriguing and impressive. There were moments where the stop-motion was so amazingly fluid, it left you in awe.

The CG elements however, not only made the movie possible, but mixed the two world’s together so seamlessly you only needed to enjoy the movie as the two forms complemented each other.

As our VFX instructor put it: “LAIKA’s unique blend of stop-motion and visual effects was taken to a fantastic new level with ParaNorman. From the scale of the sets, the expressiveness of the characters and some absolutely stunning scenes leaves you with a sense of amazement and wonder at how far they have pushed the medium. Between the incredible VFX, compelling story and hilarious script, I will definitely be watching it again.”

We hope everyone gets to see ParaNorman and see LAIKA’s latest work!

Make sure to let us know your favorite parts.

See more on ParaNorman’s official site.