13 Killer Stop-Mo Flicks - Part 13: Is Stop-Motion Dead? Conclusion

Will stop-motion survive in the age of AI? Will the creative industries simply fold into wide spread automation to cater for audiences with a singular taste for AI generated content or could a different picture emerge? In the run up to Halloween 2024, I found myself not only celebrating some great stop-motion features in the horror genre and their impact over the last 20+ years, but reflecting on several tectonic shifts in the wider film industry through the lens of stop-motion. Halloween is now over and the darkness has receded into the cold light of day.? Yet one killer question remains... Will stop-motion soon become redundant? Will AI deliver the final blow to this more traditional art form? Or - like the archetypal killer in a slasher flick - will stop motion rise again to entertain us all?

The 1980s are often considered as a golden age for stop-motion in horror film production. Special effects were achieved practically, and human hands conjured up unbelievable spectacles in horror via puppetry, prosthetics, animatronics and of course stop-motion.? However by the mid 1990s a new technology, CGI, has begun to bite, crashing into theatres with the landmark film 'Jurassic Park' in 1993. On hearing that Jurassic's monsters would now be computer-generated, FX maestro Phil Tippett famously exclaimed "I think I'm extinct!" He was both right and also very wrong.

Interestingly, 1993 also saw the release of one of the most enduring stop-motion films of the last 30 years, 'Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas' - a sleeper hit that would reap billions in downstream revenue over the forthcoming decades and which, instead of becoming a swan song for the artform, conversely lit the way for stop-motion over the forthcoming decades.

By the mid 2000s CG was ubiquitous in FX production and considerable in animation. There's no doubt that digital had become predominant and practical had taken a back seat. Stop-motion was now a filmmaking niche and has remained so ever since.? However, several other highly influential stop-motion films were released in that time including Aardman's 'Chicken Run' (2000) and 'Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' (2005), the former becoming the highest grossing stop-motion film of all time.? Stop-motion had transitioned from VFX to narrative animation, and although now competing with 2D/3D CG, still found a place in the pack.

It's probably around this time that the first great myth regarding stop-motion emerged, that stop-motion production was inherently far more expensive than CG.? Whilst it is true that artists do need to be compensated fairly for their time, analysis of the films reviewed during that period reveals that stop-motion budgets were often smaller than CG equivalents as 'Frankenweenie' producer, Allison Abbate, noted in 2012:

"In CG there are so many hands that touch the same shot that it takes just a lot of people a lot of steps to get a finished frame up on screen. In stop-motion, you are preparing the same way as any other film but once you’ve given those materials to the animator and you’ve set up the cameras and the lights, it really is that one person who brings the film to fruition. I think we can do it faster – so it’s faster and a smaller group – that’s what helps keep the price down."

[Alison Abbate interview with Brendan Swift, 'Frankenweenie: Stop-motion Revival', 2012]

Whilst it is true that some leaders in the animation industry do seem to consider the benefits of AI purely in terms of taking an axe to labour costs, this is surely not reflective of all studios, nor the only influence on filmmaking. Key directors and creative producers have had a critical role in the survival of stop-motion, choosing to fiercely align their vision with the art form. Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Wes Anderson and now Guillermo del Toro have all spotlit the artform for its beauty and relevance on a global stage. In fact, Guillermo del Toro is not just a champion for stop-motion but a benefactor to other stop-motion artists, backing and mentoring Cinema Fantasma in Mexico for example, and contributing to cultivating a new generation of stop-motion filmmakers alongside other studios.

This leads to the second great myth, that new technologies inevitably lead to the end of former means of production.? Looking more broadly at the story of practical FX in the age of CG, the story hasn't simply ended with the decline and demise of practical.? On the contrary, practical continued to be used and has seen a popular resurgence over the last decade in big budget film production such as the Star Wars sequels (2015-2019) and Oppenheimer (2023), in which practical FX were lavishly used and celebrated.?

Whilst stop-motion did concentrate on?narrative animation and lost its place as a tool for VFX in the era of CG realism, it continued to be viable in live-action, albeit at a much reduced scale, to describe stylised sequences often relating to states of mind. For example, the dream sequence directed by the Quays in 'Frida' (2002) or similar sequences in Robert Morgan's 'Stopmotion' (2024), where reality and illusion have become blurred for the main protagonist.? Most surprising was the use of stop-motion in the recent addition to the Alien franchise, 'Alien: Romulus' (2024) where stop-motion was used as a realistic effect in the production:

"With the goal of tactility in mind, Alvarez was given license to fulfil other dream partnerships. For a scene in which a lab rat dies and then reanimates, Alvarez enlisted Tippett Studio, the outfit run by legendary effects master Phil Tippett, to make a model rodent move through stop-motion animation."

[Carlos Aguilar, 'Meet Fede Alvarez, the Uruguayan director whom Hollywood trusts with its horror babies', Los Angeles Times, 2024]

Technically, there was no need to use stop-motion for this sequence.? The facility for CG to reproduce highly realistic and compelling imagery has been clearly demonstrated for some time.? Although this is a very rare example, it does indicate that the value of stop-motion transcends the technical and financial.? The argument that we're only a heartbeat away from CG efficiently replicating stop-motion, reducing it to a mere aesthetic in a digital palette seems to be missing some crucial points, namely that it already can and it hasn't.

Far from superseding practical FX, it seems that CG has become another tool in the toolbox for filmmakers. Similarly, stop-motion hasn't stood still in terms of its production workflows, carefully adopting new technologies such as 3D printing in production and CG/digital VFX in post, in films such as LAIKA's 'Coraline' (2009). It seems that new technologies are more likely to be integrated and applied on their merits by skilled filmmakers, than just adopted wholesale.? News on Phil Tippett's latest production in progress 'Sentinel' would also seem to support this:

"Where 'Mad God' started as a way for Tippett to ruminate on dreams and the roots of storytelling, “Sentinel” is being developed to “make something that has the whole history of VFX in it, from stop-motion to digital and now AI,” Tippett explained. “There is some AI stuff we’ve done in a little piece during development, which is great because that’s just a bigger palette for me. I can mix and match all these techniques.”

[Jamie Lang, VFX Legend Phil Tippett Unveils His Next Stop-Motion Project, ‘Sentinel,’ Pitching at Cannes’ Frontières, Variety 2024]

Back to costs/returns... It might feel that I've skirted this issue, choosing to shift focus from investment, and instead focus on artists such as directors and creative producers.? However, it is clear that, unlike CG, the primary benefit of AI is 'behind the scenes' in terms of its time/cost saving benefits. Unlike CG, AI generated imagery has no immediate wow factor on screen, it doesn't represent a tech advancement unlike anything you've ever seen before, rather it's plenty of what we've all seen before and absolutely expect to see. Currently, it feels unlikely that audiences will flock to watch a GenAI film purely for the spectacle.

So, assuming that GenAI does translate as 'faster turnaround, same net result', how could that impact on stop-motion? In terms of post production, AI will no doubt be applied to reduce overheads in laborious areas such as rig removal thus further reducing costs in medium that can be highly competitive in comparison to current CG production. However its application other areas just seems to undermine the essential value of stop-motion.

As outlined above, practical persists in the digital age of filmmaking for reasons that often transcend cost and/or tech. It's used for reasons of connection, whether that's a connection between actors and a physical prop or puppet, or audiences with a more tangible, reliable or emotional experience.

Whilst stop-motion features typically yield good to moderate returns on their original release, 'The Nightmare before Christmas' demonstrated that the potential return could be enormous as a stop-motion IP matured, if it could tap into 'generational nostalgia.'

Aardman have several IPs that have demonstrated similar longevity and growth (Morph, Creature Comforts, Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run.) And in August this year, LAIKA's Coraline re-release grossed $12.5 million domestic on it's opening weekend, prompting journalist Scott Mendleson to ask "Is LAIKA about to become a 'generational nostalgia' brand for the cool kids who grew up with 'ParaNorman' and 'Kubo and the Two Strings'?"

Generational nostalgia brands rely on an authentic sense of the past, shared with young, new audiences who are introduced to the brand by their parents and grandparents. As an artform with its roots still deep in analogue production, in which imagery is lovingly and explicitly crafted by human hands, stop-motion in children's/family media is very well placed to capitalise on this phenomena. Whilst franchises produced in other media have successfully tapped into generational nostalgia, notably the Star Wars sequels, it is perhaps unsurprising that the use of practical FX embodying the look and feel of the original trilogy, were heavily woven throughout the production. (The trilogy grossed over $4.4 billion at the box office worldwide, with each film surpassing $1 billion worldwide.)

But could not AI simply replicate this? Maybe, but I don't think it would work out, as it simply wouldn't be authentic. It is this authenticity that cultivates connection with audiences over generations, translating into decades of potential ROI.

A final thought on the potential risks of AI filmmaking... Of course, no serious business would entertain the direct use of GenAI for creative ideation where the original source assets are 'publicly available' as no intellectual property rights can be applied.? However, there could be other risks in terms of current audience perceptions of AI technology. In their?2023 global study on the shifting public perceptions of AI, research company KPMG found that 67 percent of people surveyed report low to moderate acceptance of AI, with AI use in human resources the least trusted and accepted.? Therefore, perceptions regarding how film is made and how ethical a studio's use of AI is deemed to be will no doubt affect how receptive audiences are to any film produced by those studios.? In a world where images are readily manipulated with deep fake and other AI tech for nefarious purposes, the use of AI in any image production clearly requires considerable care.

Stop-motion is a niche yet highly resilient sub-sector within the wider animation industry. Over the decades, it has witnessed huge changes in the animation industry, from production technologies to models of distribution, bringing many threats and opportunities along the way. This year celebrates the release of several new, wonderful stop-motion features including Adam Elliot's 'Memoir of a Snail' Aardman's 'Vengeance Most Fowl', Cinema Fantasma's 'Frankelda and the Prince of Spooks' and Claude Barras' 'Sauvages', (the former delivering the second highest per-theatre average at the weekend box office a couple of weeks ago.) Next year looks set to witness further stop-motion wonderment with LAIKA's 'Wildwood', whilst Del Toro's 'The Buried Giant' continues in development with Netflix.

Whilst it is impossible to say with certainty how the latest shifts in the film industry landscape will impact on stop-motion production, what is clear is that stop-motion has survived and adapted despite the odds, that the industry is filled with passionate, truly dedicated and highly talented professional artists, and that if history is any indication of its future, stop-motion will be with us for many more years to come. I certainly hope so.

"13 Killer Stop-Mo Flicks" was a series of short articles published around Halloween 2024 that looked at selected stop-motion feature-length films made in the 21st century that sit in the horror genre, and the wider changes in the landscape for film production that may indicate the future of this beautiful artform.

??

?