Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

And with those words, the folks at Weiden + Kennedy went right to work, creating a very curious marketing campaign for Coraline, the stop-motion animated, Henry Selick-directed film produced by Laika and distributed by Focus Features. They certainly had their work cut out for them. I’m thinking that this ugly poster (along with the ABC series of one-sheets featured below it) certainly couldn’t have been anything that W+K concocted. When you compare that garish poster with the one featured above, one has to wonder what’s going on. It looks like to me that W+K took over the campaign from a clueless film promotion team at Focus and then went a more subversive route by sending ‘mystery boxes’ to various bloggers (mentioned previously):

Of course, I’m speculating here. I really don’t know what happened. All I know is that the ad campaign took a decidedly different turn once I learned of those mystery boxes. And the official movie site, too. That was done by W+K as well. Be sure to check this post out, as there’s lots of talented people who worked on the campaign. With a $16.8M (USD) take for the first weekend, I think they succeeded (it wasn’t expected to do more than $10M for a movie like it). See video clips, too.

Also on W+K Portland’s blog: Coraline Premiere. (Look for a shot of the Joe Ranft puppet that has a cameo in the beginning of the film.)

One more thing: Cartoon Brew on the Ranft Bros. in Coraline.

Coraline.com has been up and running for some time now, but with nothing worth noting. Until now. And it looks good. So far, I’m very impressed with the PR campaign for Henry Selick’s up-coming stop-motion feature produced entirely at LAIKA. First of all, check out the mystery packages they sent out to various members of the press. You’ll notice from that post a password to enter once you’re on the film’s site. Enter it (buttoneyes) and you’ll be treated to a vignette on the various characters in the film. There’s more. I’ve been able to scrounge around other passwords (thank you, internets), if you’re curious:

stopmotion
moustachio
puppetlove
armpithair
sweaterxxs
UPDATE: otherworld

Enjoy! (Oh, and Focus Features? We here at Drawn! are still waiting for our ‘mystery boxes’. Just so you know.)

Hey, even though I’m not working there anymore doesn’t mean I won’t promote the good people who’ve been working hard for several years on Henry Selick’s upcoming Coraline. LA Times has a nice showcase of on-set photos of the production. Worth a look.

Also:
Huge artistic stakes are riding on Henry Selick’s “Coraline” – Oregonlive.com article about how Selick, Phil Knight & Co. are not expecting success in the conventional sense. From the article:

Selick has a more old-fashioned notion, aspiring to find an audience over time that will revisit Laika’s movies for years to come.

Says the director: “Making films that will hold up forever is our greatest hope.”

Here’s the teaser trailer for Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. This is the trailer that was shown before fellow 3D flicks Beowulf and Hannah Montana, so if your movie-going habits are anything like mine, you haven’t seen this yet!

Neil Gaiman has Quicktime and DivX formats for the Flash-weary.

Previously: Coraline Teaser

Here’s a nice Christmas present thanks to Neil, Henry, & Co.: A quick sneaky peek at Coraline, the stop-motion animated feature that’s currently in production at LAIKA Entertainment. (And, for the record, I work at LAIKA/house, the commerical division of the same company. In no way does this affect my writing for this post [insert wink here].) Written and directed by Henry Selick, based on the book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline will be the very first stop-motion feature to be shot stereoscopically with a dual digital camera rig for digital 3-D exhibition.

It’s not much, but there’s enough in the clip to get an idea of how intricate the animation is on Coraline herself. Oh, how I wish I could say more about this film (but can’t) — obviously, a short clip doesn’t do this film any justice — but soon they’ll have an official full trailer out sometime before next summer. (There was a 3-D teaser trailer that was shown only in front of 3-D showings of Beowulf.) The film’s slated to open in Feb. of 2009.

Start saving your pennies, kids. It was reported today in the Publishers Weekly’s Children’s Bookshelf Newsletter that next month Candlewick Press will release Henry Selick’s Moongirl as a children’s book. Included with the book will be a DVD featuring the short film (previously blogged about here) which was directed by Selick and produced by Laika. According to PW Children’s Bookshelf, this book/DVD combo marks the first time a short film has been distributed through the book industry.

Just to let you all know I will be attending this year’s Ottawa International Animation Festival, and I can hardly wait. I went last year and came back on such an animation high that my co-workers had to pry me off the ceiling. So what is it? To quote OIAF’s press release, it’s “the largest festival of its kind in North America and one of the most respected animation festivals in the world.” And I second that.

This year will feature the premiere of Henry Selick’s Moongirl (he’ll be attending, also), which we mentioned in an earlier post, John Canemaker’s The Moon and the Son, Igor Kovalyov’s Milch, among many others — 109 films from 64 countries were chosen for Official Competition. Some special screenings at Ottawa will include: a Pink Panther retrospective and “The Worst Cartoons Ever,” both presented by Cartoon Brew’s Jerry Beck, a Paul Bush retrospective, as well as Prudence Fenton showcasing a nice compliation of animated segments from Pee Wee’s Playhouse. That’ll be fun.

Speaking of Pee Wee, Gary Panter designed OIAF’s poster this year (shown at left). Gary was the award-winning set designer for Pee Wee’s Playhouse — he’s still doing his thang, illustrating and painting. Check out his site here.

So there ya go. The festival will be held September 21-25 in Ottawa. For further info, check out the festival’s site, or call 613-232-8769. Boy, do I sound so official. If you’re curious as to what I look like, click here. Hope to see you there.

What’s this? A work-in-progress clip of Henry Selick’s newest short film Moongirl? Well sure, I’ll take a gander. Hey, wait a sec — that’s not stop-motion, that’s CG! Yes, it’s true, Selick’s upcoming short is, indeed, animated by computer, not by hand with puppets. But I don’t have any fear, as Selick is one of the best animation directors out there, so I’m sure the project is in good hands. The look and style of this clip is pretty nifty, but I’m not completely digging the shape of the boy’s head when he turns. However, I’m forgiving, with it being a work-in-progress. Based on this clip, the animation looks very nice, and the story is bound to be interesting.

And if you’re wondering just what the heck is Laika, that’s Vinton Studios’ new name.

By the way, Jared sent this link to me, suggesting that it needed “the Ward touch,” but I know better. He got distracted by something shiny. Again.