Skwigly Podcast: An interview with the stop-motion talents of ‘The Little Prince’
In the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we meet the team behind the stunning stop-motion sequences of Mark Osborne’s recent animated adaptation The Little Prince. The film, which landed on Netflix last week, effectively updates the classic tale through a mix of CG and traditional stop-motion approaches, the latter being responsible for the more direct adaptations of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s original story.
Anthony Scott (Lead Animator)
Anthony’s tremendous stop-motion credits include The Nightmare Before Christmas, and subsequent Henry Selick-directed features Monkeybone, James and the Giant Peach and Coraline, not to mention Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and LAIKA’s ParaNorman. As well as his various stop-motion roles he has also worked as a CG character animator for films such as Toy Story 2 and A Bug’s Life.
Corinne Merrell (Art Director)
With a background in architecture and stage design for theatre, Corinne has gradually made the move to Art Direction and Production/Set Design for animation, music videos and documentaries.
Jamie Caliri (Creative Director)
Jamie’s animated titles sequence for the 2004 film Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events kick-started a tremendous career that has since seen him work on award-winning projects and campaigns, frequently working alongside fellow Little Prince talent Anthony Scott and Alexander Juhasz. Notable projects include the title sequence for United States of Tara and the music video The Rifle’s Spiral (The Shins).
Alexander Juhasz (Character Designer/Production Designer)
Coming from a background in illustration, Alexander has continued to work alongside Jamie Caliri on numerous animation projects since 2007. He was also responsible for the design of the titular book in the multi-award-winning 2014 Australian horror film The Babadook, directed by Jennifer Kent.
See below for a selection of behind-the-scenes images of the production of The Little Prince (courtesy of Corinne Merrell).
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- The tiny rose being animated on stage by animator Dale Hayward
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- Nancy Belzile, head set dresser, painting tiny leaves for the rose garden
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- Joe Gagné, set builder, working on grass rigs. Different types of rigs were used to help the animators depending on what the grass needed to do. Studio kitchen is in the bg.
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- The cloud tunnel on a stage
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- Flat desert on a stage, lots of c-stands, and a layer of paper in the fg on a vertical slider, to give a blowing sand effect. We were able to use our paper on a transparency exposure for some of the effects.
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- Art department working in the studio
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- Flat desert dunes in the studio, Faustine Berthet, puppet costume construction, working in the bg
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- Nancy Belzile, head set dresser, working on dunes for the flat desert (from the flat paper sequences)
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- Nancy Belzile, head set dresser, spraying paper with a dye/paint process
Also discussed in this episode – Ben and Steve’s atypical remembrances of reading The Little Prince, less enticing animated Netflix offerings, My Life as a Courgette’s Oscar potential in the Foreign Language category, how The Simpsons lambasting Donald Trump only serves his purposes and Guillermo del Toro’s glorious penchant for death. Stream below, subscribe or direct download: