Nelson Lowry, Deborah Cook and Brad Schiff are three of the key craft heads behind LAIKA’s distinctive stop-motion aesthetic, bringing together production design, costume design and animation. Lowry has been LAIKA’s production designer dating back to ParaNorman (2012), Cook, the studio’s costume designer has been using clothing to establish character identity and track emotional change on Barbie doll sized characters from The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and up until Missing Link, while Schiff, LAIKA’s Head of Animation, has been part of the studio’s stop-motion pipeline since Coraline (2009). Together, they represent three stages of LAIKA’s handmade process: Lowry builds the world, Cook defines the characters through what they wear, and Schiff brings those characters to life frame by frame.
I had the chance to ask them questions about their process on Travis Knight’s Wildwood – which will receive its world premiere on October 11th at the 70th BFI London Film Festival followed with the theatrical release on October 23rd via Fathom Entertainment in the U.S. I highly encourage to whet your tastebuds at LAIKA studios’ Youtube channel which offers a fascinating deep dive into the creative process.
