Mackinnon and Saunders

After touching on the subject of fantastical puppet making in my previous blog post, and introducing one of the world’s leading puppet making companies, Mackinnon and Saunders, I felt the need to learn more about the vast world of puppet making and looking in particular into the talented team at Mackinnon and Saunders.

Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders

The founders of the company Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders, teamed up over 30 years ago on a stop-motion version of The Wind in the Willows and since then they have collaborated together on countless creative and inspiring television commercials and on some of the most successful stop-motion feature films. Based in Greater Manchester, the company was founded after the pair established their puppet making team at Cosgrove Hall, an organisation that shaped the British animation industry. Cosgrove Hall films was a British animation studio and was once a major producer of children’s television and animated programmes. There are best known as the creators of such creative productions such as Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, The BFG and The Wind in the Williows as well as making a handful of episodes for the BBC including Noddy, Bill and Ben and Andy Pandy. Both Mackinnon and Saunders learned their creative trade at the famous Cosgrove Hall studios and also recruited many of the company’s former employees after its closure. Describing the region as the heart of creative talent, the pair were keen on keeping this visionary talent in one place, particularly for their thriving business. In addition, the company still receive fantastic opportunities for collaboration and also have expanding networks, proving that they can still continue to run a prosperous global business. What is more Mackinnon and Saunders have set an example for the animation industry not just in Manchester, but also in the UK.

Danger Mouse produced by Cosgrove Hall Films

Despite having over 30 years of experience, the creative pair found one particular collaboration daunting. Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animation version of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, challenged the duo, their team and their preconceptions about what stop-motion puppets are. What is more with Anderson not haven’t worked a great deal in stop- motion, accelerated the creative team to try new ideas, new techniques and new materials.  In addition, the director insisted that he didn’t want the film to look sleek and polished, which can sometimes resemble computer-animation, but instead versioned for the viewers to respect and embrace the medium of stop-motion itself.  Furthermore, the puppet makers rediscovered and adapted techniques dating back to ‘King Kong’, which was to cover most of the cast in fur, this was insisted by Anderson whom was infatuated with the tangibility of real fur and the effect it gave on camera. When using real fur meant that the hair would appear to ripple unnaturally, this was due to handling the models between frames. However, it give the feeling and effect that there’s a soft breeze blowing on the character, which resulted in quite beautiful qualities. In addition, the animals’ fur was a combination of real goat’s hair, which was dyed using supermarket everyday hair dye and artificial fur, plucked off plush toys. The characters hair colour required specific, individual dying times in order to get the colouring right. In addition, the human characters hair was taken from studio employees, who had matching colour hair to the character. Mackinnon and Saunders produced over 500 puppets for the entire film and every last detail was made by hand. Mr. Fox had 17 different styles and each of these styles had to be done in six different sizes, resulting in the character having over 100 puppets alone.

Applying the fur - image taken from Mackinnon and Saunders' website

Puppets varying in size

Overall, this one collaboration out of many that Mackinnon and Saunders have experienced, proved a challenging yet learning curve experience. Pushing the boundaries, exploring new techniques and materials and re-discovering the old ones, allowed for the pair and their team to expose themselves to something new and re-invent the old. Furthermore, it also shows that even with having 30 years of experience, there is always a new challenge and a new way of thinking just around the corner.

Sources:

http://www.mackinnonandsaunders.com/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432283/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosgrove_Hall_Films

Stop-motion Animation: Frame by Frame Film-making with Puppets and Models, Barry Purves

Corpse Bride

The Corpse Bride is a film created using stop motion animation, a technique to make a physically manipulated object or persona appear to move on its own. This is done using small individual movements, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.

Victor Van Dort(Johnny Depp) & Corpse Bride(Helena Bonham Carter)

The stunningly crafted puppets were created by one of the world’s leading puppet making companies, Mackinnon & Sanders. With over 30 years of experience Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders’ talented team have been privileged to bringing to life some of the best known animated characters, from Bob the Builder to Fantastic Mr Fox. The talented team ensure that any character produced is created to the highest of quality and to establish maximum impact on screen. From concept maquettes, mould making and armatures to costume, hair and paint, each piece is created with precision and attention to detail.

The puppets are made from stainless steel armatures covered with silicone skin and are around 25-28cm in height.  Were fitted with heads that contained special gearing that allowed the animators to manage individual parts of the puppets’ faces. The three primary characters, Victor, Victoria and Emily, the Corpse Bride had multiple identical puppets created, fourteen of Victor and Emily and thirteen of Victoria, this allowed for the production went faster. In addition, the sets for the film were built three to four feet off the ground, which included trap doors that allowed the animators to access the sets’ surfaces to manage the puppets.

Overall, the production is a visually exquisite animation adorned with dismal dark tones in the above-living world, which greatly contrasts with the uplifted colourful filled underworld. What is more the intricately crafted puppets create visually interesting characters and attract the eyes of the audience, but more importantly keeps puppet animation alive.

Sources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121164/trivia

http://www.mackinnonandsaunders.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2005/10/12/121005_corpse_bride_feature.shtml

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

This re-designed, re-invented production of Sweeney Todd centres around Toby, after he kills Sweeney, and takes place in an insane asylum, where Toby recounts the story, using his fellow inmates and other members of the asylum to re-tell his history.

Sixteen inmates at a Victorian Mental Asylum act out the 
act out the story of Sweeney Todd

This re-invented story also brings along a re-invented design, with a simple, minimalistic set design. A dirty washed, white brick wall and white tiled flooring is what makes up the entire set. This simple layout relates to the Insane Asylum setting, but also allows for the many scenes to be depicted, in a past and present setting.  In addition, in the opening shows, there was an up-close viewing of Toby in the lobby of the theatre; where the audience were held until right before the curtain goes up, this allows them to experience the character being led to the stage in a straight jacket.

Every character is mental in some way
and this is what drives the story forward

This kind of reinvention exposes the audience to something new and a risky artistic move that was never thought possible. It allows the audience to be intrigued and curious and to experience true theatrical artistry. What is more is that it asks the question – what if you strip back the fancy chair and gore and bring to light the psychological drama ? 

Simplistic props used to depict certain scenes