This week only you can get double the Disney Rewards Points on your purchase of Frankenweenie. I love Disney Rewards Points and we’ve received some really cool prizes by redeeming our points. Did you know that Frankenweenie was released today on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray HD, DVD and Digital Platforms?
Did you know that with 24 frames per second in a stop-motion movie like Frankenweenie, animators had to stop and position each puppets 24 times in order to create one second of filmed action? Or that Sparky was the most complicated puppet in the film with more than 300 joints in his body?
Number crunch with Frankenweenie as we bring together a host of fun facts on the making of the mega movie! How many months did it take to create the film? How many puppets were made for the stop-motion movie? How long were the voice sessions with the talented cast? And how many animators worked on the black and white adventure? Here are a few Number Crunch triva answers.
25
“Frankenweenie is based on a short-live action film that director Tim Burton made more than 25 years ago,” reveals Frankenweenie producer, Allison Abbate. “It’s an homage to the classic horror movies that inspired Tim when he was a child.”
80
“The process of stop-motion animation hasn’t changed too much in the last 80 years,” adds Allison Abbate. “Animators still need to manipulate the puppets one frame at a time and literally reanimate the characters right before your eyes!”
24
There are 24 frames per second in a stop-motion movie like Frankenweenie. This means that the animator must stop and position the puppet 24 times in order to create one second of filmed action!
5
“Stop-motion is a very time consuming process,” admits Frankenweenie executive producer, Don Hahn. “In a good week, each animator produced about five seconds of finished film!”
10
The main character in Frankenweenie is a 10-year-old boy named Victor. He’s clever and industrious – and he’s very inspired by science.
35
At any given time there were up to 35 sets being used on a soundstage at 3 Mills Studios in East London. The film was produced near London’s Olympic Stadium. You could spot the studio in many of the helicopter shots at the Olympics.
500
“Around 500 people worked on the movie,” explains Allison Abbate. That’s everyone from voice artists to animators and producers to set builders!
1970
“The action of the movie is set in a town called New Holland in the 1970s,” reveals Allison Abbate. “It’s a suburban community where nothing crazy usually happens – until now!”
200
More than 200 puppets were created for Frankenweenie!
3
The puppets in the movie are all various sizes, but the largest used in the film was the Turtle Monster which stood at about 3-feet tall.
12
“As soon as we had a completed script, it took one year – or 12 months – to prep the stages and create the puppets,” says Allison Abbate.
18
There were 18 Victor puppets created for the movie, as well as 15 Sparky puppets. Why so many? Well, each of the animators worked independently on different scenes – and backups were also needed in case a puppet required repair!
7
“We had about seven recording sessions with Charlie Tahan, who provides the voice of Victor,” reveals Allison Abbate. “Victor has the most lines in the movie, so he had more sessions than anyone else.”
120
“The average voice session lasted two hours – or 120 minutes,” continues Allison Abbate. “In the beginning, the sessions were longer – but in the end, they were often much shorter than that.”
4
The talented voice cast includes four actors who worked with Tim Burton on previous movies: Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands), Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas), Martin Short (Mars Attacks) and Martin Landau (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow).
27
“In total, there were about 27 animators who worked on the movie,” reveals Allison Abbate. “That includes assistants and animators who came in for short periods of time.”
5
There were five sets of Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein puppets created for the movie!
300
Sparky was the most complicated puppet in Frankenweenie. There are more than 300 joints in his body!
Frankenweenie is now available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray HD, DVD and Digital Platforms
This is a great movie. I didn’t realize how much hard work went into making it. Thanks for the post.
I wanted to take my grandson to see this movie but didn’t make it to the theater.
This movie looked super cute I haven’t seen it yet but I think I will need to now.
I heard this is the same dog from the corpses bride or another one of his movies…..?