Animation is a medium that conjures up several different images and characters in our minds. Whether those are classic cartoons like Mickey Mouse and Popeye or modern feature like Wallace and Gromit. One of the oldest forms of animation in film however was not done with a pencil and eraser, but rather with a model figures and a camera. The art of stop motion in cinema can be traced back to the 1800s and todays subject uses that time tested technique and made it look and feel better than ever. A film about a young boy and his journey to save his town from an age old curse.
So if you’re like me and you enjoy film and the impact and emotions they convey then grab a glass of your preferred liquid and join me for the next little while. For me that’s a glass of almond milk from our friends at Almond Breeze. So sit back, relax and let’s talk about the love of film. Welcome to Glazed Cinema.
Our subject today follows a young boy named Norman who sees and talks to dead people. Misunderstood by most including his family. Norman is a sort of loner who gets looked at and bullied by other kids at school. His family loves him, but none of them understand his gift. His father in particular doesn’t like it when Norman tells them that he speaks to his grandma. It’s not that they have a bad relationship or anything, but rather that she is deceased. Norman likes to talk to her as she sits on the Livingroom couch while enjoying her family’s company and knitting. Despite all of this however Norman does have a good friend named Neal. Neal is also a loner who gets picked on as well and they enjoy hanging around with each other. Neal is the little brother of the high school quarterback Mitch, who Norman’s sister Courtney has a crush on.
Paranorman takes place in a village named Blithe Hollow, which is a fictional town in New England. The town itself is almost as if you mixed Salem and Sleepy Hollow together with all the New England charm, architecture, and tourism. Early in the film there's this great track shot that shows Norman walking through town to get to school. We see the townspeople talking and the tourist shops selling a variety of witch themed merchandise. It's a great shot that shows off the town, the animation style. The style seen throughout the film is unique and wonderfully off kilter. I'm not sure if there are any straight lines seen in the entire movie, but I feel that just adds to the character and the charm. Akin to Salem, Mass long ago a witch was executed in the town and before her dying breath she placed a curse on her accusers. On the anniversary of that fateful day the witch’s curse comes to pass. As the only one in town who can talk to the witch Norman must try to put an end to the curse before it’s too late.
One scene in the film details the history and sets up the plot quite well. It occurs when Norman, Alvin, Neal, and the other kids are rehearsing a play. The play is about the witch trials in the town's history. Norman is playing a townsperson, Alvin is playing the judge, and Neal is playing a tree. While rehearsing his lines Norman reads them quite dryly as most kids do during an elementary school play. It isn't until their drama teacher Mrs. Henscher stops him to recommend he act with more gusto. I won't try to mimic the tone or voice because it's pretty great, but the words give us a great backdrop of what happened long ago.
"They put her on trial and hanged her...but the vengeful with cursed her accusers, seven of them in all to die a horrible and gruesome death and rise from their graves as the living dead. Their souls...their souls doomed to an eternity of damnation."
After the scene Norman starts to see images of the past bleed through the walls until they engulf him and place him for a moment back in time until being jostled back to reality on stage. The entire sequence is great and the voice acting of Alex Borstein who plays Mrs. Henscher is fantastic and I love how the animators were able to blend past and present, it's an awesome scene.
Paranorman includes an impressive cast of voice actors who help bring the characters to life. The impressive list of vocalists includes Anna Kendrick who voices Courtney, Norman's sister, Christopher Mintz-Plasse who voices Alvin, Jeff Garlin who voices Norman's dad, Leslie Mann, who voices Norman's mom, and John Goodman who voices Mr. Prenderghast.
Paranorman is a stop motion animation film was written by Chris Butler who also directed the film alongside Sam Fell. Released by Laika in 2012, it joined the ranks of some of the other titles under the animation house like Corpse Bride, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Coraline. I remember seeing Paranorman in the movie theatre when it came out. As a college student I went during the day after classes and recall feeling out of place as I was the only one there without children. When the film actually began however I got swept up in the experience.
It’s a movie with a different tone than its predecessors and it matches the aesthetic perfectly. It’s a great mashup of eighties horror, coming of age, and children’s movie that will provide something for all ages. Some of the scenes might be a little scary for younger children, but all in all Paranorman brings a lot of fun, wisdom, and warm-heartedness with its PG rating that you should enjoy.
Laika has made stop motion animation looked better than it ever has before. Some might say that they have put a shiny new look on the art form. Stop motion animation is far from new however. In fact the first documented commercial release using the technique was The Humpty Dumpty Circus, which showed moving figures in a toy circus. It was a big crowd pleaser when it was released back in 1889.
Arguably the most famous piece of stop motion however is King Kong, which used the technique to bring Kong and dinosaurs on the island to life. The animation was done by Willis O'Brien who also used stop framing on The Lost World in 1925. O'Brien's work inspired one of the biggest names of the movement Ray Harryhausen. Other than having a great sounding name Harryhausen is responsible for some of the most legendary films utilizing stop framing. He was able to bring many characters and creatures to life, but personally I'm partial to his work involving Greek epics. My favorite being Jason and the Argonauts from 1963 involving legends of Greek myth. Though still loved and revered to this day the technology has come a long way since then as today whole films are shot using nothing but stop motion whereas in Harryhausen's day only a portion of the film used the technique with live action filing in the rest.
Fast forward many years and the technology and skill used today has advanced leaps and bounds. Though the technology has been updated, the process of shooting is roughly the same and thus takes a lot of time. After all you're essentially moving something frame by frame, which is a rather tedious process. Paranorman took three years to complete from set and character design to post production.
The art style in this film is terrific and quite unique. In doing research for how this film was made I learned some pretty interesting things about how the world within Paranorman came together. One of the most interesting things I found was how the character expressions were shot frame by frame. Traditionally with stop framing the animators maneuver the face around frame by frame, however Laika took a different approach. Instead they replaced the face with a different expression mold with each frame. This allowed for the animators to simply replace the forehead to move eyebrow positions or the lower facial region to replace mouth positions. This technique allowed for much more complex emotive animation.
This same technique was used on Coraline as well and for that film there were 250,000 different facial models created between all characters. What’s more ambitious is each one had to be hand painted after the 3D printing process. For Paranorman Laika used a color 3D printer and this allowed for things like freckles, blush, and blemishes all to be in the same place each time. It’s pretty impressive to see how much thought, time, and energy goes into one small aspect of this film. There are other crazy factoids I learned…for instance Norman’s hair is made of dyed goat hair and one Norman wig consisted of 250 hand placed spears of hair.
One of my favorite scenes occurs when Norman is riding his bike, on his way to try and break the witch's curse. We hear a man say "Oi" followed by a pretty fantastic beat. Alvin is standing outside under a street light. Under his feet is a slab of cardboard with a boombox blasting sick beats next to him. Behind him is one of his friends as two two girls stand across from him, watching. Waving his arms with the beat he begins dancing, which soon sees him break dancing. Between the music, the dance moves, and the stoic expressions of the girls I always giggle when I see this scene. It's really quick, but I find it quite funny.
There's another scene like this that is quick, but funny. It takes place when the zombies are making their way through town. As they stumble and shuffle down an alley we see a man putting coins into a vending machine hoping to get a bag of chips. The bag is on the back reel of the machine and as he hits the number combo he spots the oncoming group of undead. Nervous he glances at the bag of chips slowly making their way toward the glass and back at the oncoming threat getting closer and closer. I find it funny because man that guy is determined to get his chips. I'll leave the ending of that scene for you to find out.
Paranorman is a great movie whether you watch it as an adult or you watch it with your kids. The artistry from the sets, characters, and voice acting is top notch and the story provides a lot of fun and touching moments too. I loved this film after seeing it in theatres and come back to it every now and again. I introduced it to my wife last year and she too enjoyed it very much. There are a lot of great messages in the film too and I love the way in which Paranorman weaves them seamlessly through the narrative and draws parallels to Norman in present day and the accused witch Agatha in the Puritan age. There are themes ranging from anti-bullying, the steep price of fear, and the danger of ignorance that despite their age are unfortunately still around today and whether you’re a child or a child at heart we can all learn something from them. I recommend Paranorman for anyone and believe it's a great add on to your list of films this Halloween season, if nothing else for some brevity after all those scary movies you'll be watching.
If you’d like to watch Paranorman for yourself you can find it on a variety of streaming services. At the time of this recording you can watch Paranorman on Netflix if you subscribe to their service. Netflix has a few different pricing options ranging from $8.99 to $17.99 a month.
You can also find Paranoman on Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu for either $2.99 or $3.99 to rent.
If you’d like to learn more about the podcast please feel free to visit our website at glazedcinema.com. There you’ll find some background on the show and also a place to submit ideas for future episodes. For film fans who are hearing impaired the blog page on our website features each episode in written form as well. If you like this podcast tell your friends or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Each week there will be new content including hints about episodes before they air. As always, thanks for listening and I hope to see you next time, with a beverage and another fine film.
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