Founded in 2005 in Oregon, the Oscar-nominated stop-motion studio Laika is the groundbreaking creative force behind films such as Coraline (2009), The Boxtrolls (2014) and Kubo and the Two Strings (2016). The studio’s latest film, Wildwood, is a darkly magical adventure story, based on the Wildwood Chronicles book series by Colin Meloy, and, to coincide with the film’s release in October, the Design Museum in London is staging a new exhibition.
In a world in which AI is rapidly infiltrating all elements of creative output, Laika’s command of stop-motion (the cinematic practice of photographing real, 3D objects in constructed environments, with puppets moved incrementally between frames) is a joy to behold, offering a celebration of the art of telling visually and emotionally rich stories using technically-precise physical craftsmanship.
The exhibition, created in collaboration with the Portland-based studio, traces the development of the film from early ideas and visual research through to character and environmental design, costumes, puppets, props and miniature sets. Meloy’s best-selling fantasy novel Wildwood tells the story of a precocious seventh grader and her mission to rescue her baby brother from an enchanted forest after he is kidnapped by a murder of crows. Laika first optioned the rights to the story shortly after it hit the shelves in 2011.
‘Wildwood represents everything Laika believes animation can be: emotionally resonant, visually ambitious, and made by artists, craftspeople and technical innovators working at the highest level,’ says Laika COO David Burke. ‘This exhibition gives audiences a rare opportunity to see the extraordinary artistry and ingenuity behind the film, from its puppets and costumes to its sets and environments, and to understand how thousands of individual creative decisions come together to build a cinematic world.’
Wildwood represents everything Laika believes animation can be: emotionally resonant, visually ambitious, and made by artists, craftspeople and technical innovators working at the highest level
David Burke
The exhibition will also offer visitors a wider behind-the-scenes look at the creative and technical processes involved in building Laika’s stop-motion worlds, both in Wildwood and the two decades it has spent film-making. This invaluable show brings together original creative material, production objects, costumes, film-making tools, audiovisual content and large-scale interactive installations, and will reveal the work of the visual development artists, model makers, scenic painters, and more.
‘Laika presents Wildwood’ will be on show at the Design Museum from 15 October-10 January, designmuseum.org
