Kubo and the Two Stings
Kubo and The Two Strings (2016)
"You are my quest."
- Beetle
Stop Motion Animation: Is a filmmaking technique in which a stop motion technician manipulates objects (ranging from anything such as a wooden square to things like clay figurines) into different positions. He/she then photographs the object after each small adjustment, and when the film is played back, the object will appear to move in a continuous & fluid motion.
-This technique is similar to the concept of flip books.
Summer VFX History Class
As a future filmmaker I feel that it’s paramount to learn as much as I can about the history of all the different crafts that make up a film. Thus, this summer I took a VFX History class in order to better understand the range of possibility in techniques like stop motion, prosthetics make up, miniatures & bigatures, and modern day motion picture compositing.
Two of the classes this summer focused on the art of stop motion filmmaking. We studied famous stop motion artists such as Willis O’Brien & Ray Harryhausen. Now that I know about the origins of this craft by watching clips of early films such as Willis’ The Lost World (1925) and Harryhausen’s Clash of the Titans (1981), these films allowed me to see the massive improvement that artists have made in the stop motion industry.
Here are two videos on the art of stop motion animation.
Kubo and The Two Strings
More than anything, I was incredibly impressed with the overall quality of stop motion in this film. From a photographer’s point of view, the continuity in motion was close to seamless. The mother’s hair movement, facial expressions, fabric movement, and even the materials that were used to make the figures made the film believable. I loved that the materials (figures wardrobe) appeared and reacted appropriately to whatever quality of light that was being used in a scene. Composition, color, lighting, all of those elements really stood out as something magical, dreamlike, and again believable.
In many ways it was difficult for me to watch the film from a technical point of view. All of the stylistic elements were so engaging that it became easy to lose myself in the experience.
Some of my favorite visuals from Kubo and the Two Strings.
Story wise I felt that the film was more for adults. The film is a tragic yet triumphant story about a young boy who discovers that he has a dark past, thanks to even darker family relatives. Luckily in the end our hero partakes in a battle and wins over his oppressors.
The film was surprisingly less “Disney” than I originally expected. I’ve always felt that Disney has a tendency to sugar coat things, making their films more kid friendly, which in turn make things entirely unrealistic and unattainable.
The film seemed more realistic to our everyday lives, commenting on how we deal with things like pain and forgiveness. What I enjoyed was that I left the theater with a positive message, for me that message was that wisdom and maturity are not selective qualities of the old, but of someone who knows that there is something bigger than themselves, and that sometimes it takes one good action to create a chain of good deeds.
In my opinion, Kubo and The Two Strings was an excellent showmanship of stop motion filmmaking and storytelling, and I look forward to more of these films.
Here are two behind the scenes clips of the making of Kubo and The Two Strings.
Watching these videos quickly made me realize the giant animal that is stop motion, and how these artists were able to create such seamless movement.
Creators Commentary
Director: Travis Knight
Cinematography: Frank Passingham
Music: Dario Marianelli
Costume Designer: Deborah Cook
Kubo: Art Parkinson
And countless other talented artists whose names would take me all day to write in. Never the less, to those not listed here, your work is a masterpiece.
Alicia M. Blair