Oregon film company gets Oscar nod with 'ParaNorman'
HILLSBORO, Ore. – Early Thursday morning, as the Oscar nominations were being announced live, Nelson Lowry was eagerly watching.
Lowry was the production designer on the movie “ParaNorman,” which was produced by Oregon film studio Laika.
Then the good news came – the movie earned an Oscar nod in the “Animated Feature Film” category. Lowry let out a howl in celebration.
“It was a yelp,” he said. “I won’t do it now, but it was something like a ‘yo!’”
Walt Disney predictably dominated the animated-feature category with three of the five nominees: "Brave," ''Frankenweenie" and "Wreck-It Ralph." "The Pirates! Band of Misfits” also snagged a nomination, in addition to ParaNorman.
We talked Thursday with some of the folks behind the movie at Laika, who said they weren’t expecting a nomination, especially considering how many quality animated films came out in 2012.
“Two other stop-motion films, Pirates and Frankenweenie, I thought ‘no, they’re not going to have a third stop-motion film,’” said animation specialist Brad Schiff. “But they did. Yes!”
Lowry explained how an animated fantasy like ParaNorman takes shape.
“We have to create a whole world,” he said. “We’re starting from scratch.”
He starts with a simple sketch that eventually turns into a complete world. No detail is too small, even a freckle on a face.
The artists at Laika used puppets to create Norman and his friends.
“Pretty much everything that a human body can do (the puppet) can do,” Schiff said.
Laika was also nominated for an Oscar in 2009 with Coraline, although they lost out to “Wall-E.”
Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane will host the 85th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 24. You can catch the show live on KATU.
We enjoyed ParaNorman and I'm sure the work to create it was mind boggling.  I hope they do well, although, I have to admit, they've got some stiff competition.Â
Frankenweenie was wonderful (felt like an old 50's horror movie), and Brave was great too.  But, I think Laika might just have a good fighting chance this time.Â
Good work!   Looking forward to the next amazing work they come out with.
I'm impressed when anyone can put together a film like this. There is some talent out there that few possess.Â
Haven't seen this one, but "Coraline" is marvelous. These folks are most talented and skilled !
 @xilef regnuÂ
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It's pretty unnerving. It has a "Tim Burton" feel.
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And the work SUCKS. I briefly worked as data wrangler for Coralline and the shooting schedule was murder. I spent nights on the couch in my office waiting for calls from California that all the dailies got there. By the time it was done, the director was ready to start shooting again. It went 12 hours shooting, me compiling data (while the builders set up for other shots), more shooting while I sent the mornings, then saves here and there for data that gets corrupted, then more compiling and sending (while the performers again set up) then the morning shoot.
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After getting yelled and cursed at for 2 weeks the producer and I had decided it was not the kind of job for me. Not that I wasn't good (the capture system was a sketchy blend of Linux, Windows and UNIX systems patched in terrible ways. I saved numerous shots from the ether), but that I don't take being yelled at well (I tend to yell back).
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If my experience is anything like the usual Hollywood experience, man what a suck job.
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 @Repoman  So Pinnacle wasn't available to you to do Coralline? Can't even imagine putting it all together without incredible software. Glad you figured out where you needed to be.Â