Moongirl | |
---|---|
Directed by | Henry Selick |
Written by | Henry Selick |
Produced by | Helen Kalafatic |
Starring |
|
Edited by | Christopher Murrie-Green |
Music by | They Might Be Giants |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 8 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Moongirl is an animated short produced in 2005 by Laika. It was written and directed by Henry Selick and features a score by They Might Be Giants. It is the first film, and currently the only short film, as well as the only non-stop-motion film, produced by the company.
Leon, a youthful boy is out fishing at night when the Moon goes dark. He is magically transported to the Moon, where he meets Moongirl, whom he helps try to fix the Moon.
The film came about after Laika held a contest for a short film idea. CG modeler Michael Berger's idea of a girl who controls the moon was chosen, and Selick was hired to develop the short. [1] Selick brought on They Might Be Giants to do the score after connecting with them through Courtney Booker, who worked on the music video for "Bastard Wants to Hit Me". [2]
In May 2004, Laika president Travis Knight's brother, Matthew, died suddenly, and the film was dedicated to his memory.
The film premiered at the Ottawa International Film Festival on September 24, 2005. [3] [4] The film was also shown with October 2005 screenings of Selick's previous work The Nightmare Before Christmas at El Capitan Theatre. [5]
The film was adapted into a picture book which was written by Selick and illustrated by Peter Chan and Courtney Booker. The book, which was released on September 12, 2006, included a DVD copy of the film. [1]
The film has won awards at multiple film festivals, including the Short Film Special Jury Prize at the Ottawa International Film Festival, the Grand Owl Award, Best Animation at the Fantasy Worldwide International Film Festival, Best Animated Short at the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival, Best Animated Film at Memphis International Film Festival and Best Animated Film at San Fernando Valley International Film Festival. [6]
Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. Any kind of object can thus be animated, but puppets with movable joints or plasticine figures are most commonly used. Puppets, models or clay figures built around an armature are used in model animation. Stop motion with live actors is often referred to as pixilation. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is usually called cutout animation.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his feature directorial debut and produced and conceived by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of "Halloween Town", who stumbles upon "Christmas Town" and schemes to take over the holiday. Danny Elfman wrote the songs and score and provided the singing voice of Jack. The principal voice cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix and Ed Ivory.
Charles Henry Selick Jr. is an American filmmaker and animator, best known for directing the stop-motion animated films The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Monkeybone (2001), Coraline (2009), and Wendell & Wild (2022). Selick is also known for his collaborations with the late voice actor and artist Joe Ranft.
Ryan is a 2004 short animated documentary film created and directed by Chris Landreth about Canadian animator Ryan Larkin, who had lived on skid row in Montreal as a result of drug and alcohol abuse. Landreth's chance meeting with Larkin in 2000 inspired him to develop the film, which took 18 months to complete. It was co-produced by Copper Heart Entertainment and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and its creation and development is the subject of the NFB documentary Alter Egos. The film incorporated material from archive sources, particularly Larkin's works at the NFB.
Laika, LLC is an American production company specializing in stop-motion animation and forthcoming live-action feature films, commercial content for all media, music videos, and short films. The studio is best known for its stop-motion feature films Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. It is owned by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and is located in Hillsboro, Oregon, part of the Portland metropolitan area. Knight's son, Travis Knight, acts as Laika's president and CEO.
Coraline is a 2009 American stop-motion animated dark fantasy horror film written for the screen and directed by Henry Selick. It is based on the 2002 novella of the same name by Neil Gaiman. Produced by Laika, as the studio's first feature film, it features the voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., and Ian McShane. The film tells the story of its eponymous character discovering an idealized alternate universe behind a secret door in her new home, unaware that it contains something dark and sinister.
Anthony Stacchi is an American animator, effects animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, and film director.
Michael Victor Sporn was an American animator who founded his New York City-based company, Michael Sporn Animation, in 1980, and produced and directed numerous animated TV specials and short spots.
Animation Nation is an annual film festival in Singapore featuring animation feature films, short films, seminars and workshops. The festival was created by the Singapore Film Society in 2004 and took place every year until 2011. The latest edition was held from 21 to 22 November 2022.
World Festival of Animated Film Zagreb, best known as Animafest Zagreb, is a film festival entirely dedicated to animated film held annually in Zagreb, Croatia. Initiated by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA), the event was established in 1972. Animafest is the second oldest animation festival in the World, after the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Skellington Productions was an American animation studio and production company that was a joint venture between Walt Disney Feature Animation and directors Henry Selick and Tim Burton. The company specialized in stop motion animation and made use of the art in its two films. The studio's last work was season one of KaBlam!, after which it was closed by Disney.
Chel White is an American film director, composer, screenwriter and visual effects artist. In his independent films and music videos, White is known for his stylized, often experimental use of images, unusual animation and narratives depicting an outsider's perspective. He often adopts darkly humorous and poetic sensibilities to explore topics of love, obsession and alienation; with dreams and the subconscious being his greatest influences. He describes his own work as “stories and images that reside on the brink of dreams, or linger on the periphery of distorted memories.” A Rockefeller Fellow, Chel White has made three films based on the work of Peabody Award-winning writer and radio personality Joe Frank.
Kubo and the Two Strings is a 2016 American animated action fantasy film produced by Laika. It is directed by Travis Knight with a screenplay by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler from a story by Shannon Tindle and Marc Haimes, and it stars the voice roles of Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Brenda Vaccaro, Rooney Mara, and Matthew McConaughey. Set in feudal Japan, the film revolves around Kubo, a young boy who wields a magical shamisen and whose left eye was stolen during infancy. Accompanied by an anthropomorphic snow monkey and a human - stag beetle hybrid, he must embark on a quest to defeat his mother's evil twin sisters, Washi and Karasu, and his power-hungry grandfather, the Moon King, who is responsible for stealing his left eye.
Wendell & Wild is a 2022 American stop motion-animated horror comedy film directed by Henry Selick from a screenplay written by Selick and Jordan Peele, based on Selick's and Clay McLeod Chapman's unpublished book of the same name. It stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele as the titular characters with Angela Bassett, Lyric Ross, James Hong, and Ving Rhames in supporting roles. This was Selick's first feature film since Coraline (2009).
Short Circuit is a series of American independent animated short films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Similar to the SparkShorts program launched at sister animation studio Pixar, the series is a program in which the employees pitch their ideas for a short and work with fellow employees to create the short if selected, and is meant to take risks in both visual styles and storytelling.
José "Quique" Rivera is a contemporary photographer, sculptor, self-taught stop-motion animator, and award-winning filmmaker born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1986. He is currently based in Glendale, California and is the CEO and founder of Acho Studio, an animation studio in Los Angeles that focuses on stop-motion animation.
A Tale Dark & Grimm is an animated television series based on the children's book of the same name by Adam Gidwitz. Developed for Netflix by Doug Langdale and Simon Otto, the series premiered on October 8, 2021. Netflix did not renew the show for a second season.