Frankenweenie
Short description
Frankenweenie centres on Victor, a boy in a small American town whose dog Sparky is killed by a car. Unable to accept the loss, Victor draws on what he has learned in science class about electricity and animals, digs his pet up and brings him back to life. The revived Sparky is patched together but still affectionate, and Victor tries to keep him hidden. When the dog gets loose, neighbours, classmates and teachers react with fear, and Victor must show them that his friend has not really changed.
Tim Burton directed, from a screenplay by John August. The film was released in October 2012, between Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows, as the seventeenth of the twenty-two features he has directed. It is animated, with a voice cast that includes Charlie Tahan as Victor, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer and Winona Ryder.
The film had a budget of 39 million US dollars and took around 81 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.9/10 from roughly 126,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7/10 from a much smaller vote count. Critics' reviews, numbering 222, give it 7.5/10, a slightly warmer response than that of the wider audience. Around ninety crew members are credited.
What's left behind the scenes
- The short film "Frankenweenie" (1984), which served as the basis for the animated film, was deemed unsuitable for children by Disney Studios at the time and shelved. The director was fired from the studio after filming due to cost overruns. In 2007, the studio itself approached Burton with a request to remake the film.
- The animated film was shot at 24 frames per second. Animators had to change the position of dolls and objects in the frame 24 times to shoot just one second of film. On average, one animator can only shoot 5 seconds of footage per week. Creating multiple identical dolls of the same character allows for a significant increase in shooting speed – animators can film multiple scenes with that character at the same time. Up to 18 animators worked on the film simultaneously and independently.
- All the characters were created based on sketches by Tim Burton himself. He made some sketches in 1984 during the filming of the live-action short film "Frankenweenie", while other drawings appeared during the work on the new, animated version.
- The characters are voiced by the same actors who dubbed the characters in the 1984 short film.
- The main characters are named after characters from popular horror films of the 1930s – Frankenstein and Dracula: Victor Frankenstein, Elsa Van Helsing, Edgar E. Gore, and Mr. Burgermeister.
- Over 200 different dolls and set pieces were created for the filming. 17 identical copies of Victor Frankenstein and 12 copies of the dog Sparky were made. Thanks to the dolls having “doubles,” animators were able to film various scenes with the characters independently of each other. Furthermore, a certain number of doll copies were created anticipating that the “characters” might be damaged during filming.
- The doll of the dog Sparky was created first. It served as the benchmark for the scale of all subsequent dolls and sets. Tim Burton wanted Sparky to be very mobile, just like a real dog. Accordingly, the doll’s frame had to consist of many joints. A size of 10 centimeters proved to be the smallest possible size for creating the Sparky doll—given that it had to clearly demonstrate the habits and mimicry of a dog. Once the size of the first doll was approved, the artists calculated the proportions for all other characters and sets.
- The film takes place in the fictional town of New Holland, which largely resembles the Californian city of Burbank from the 1970s. This is the city where Tim Burton grew up. And a windmill really did stand on a hill near Burton’s home. The structure played an important role in the annual celebration of Dutch Days.
- The sets for the film were built on tables. Most of the miniature props were made and painted by hand.
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