Article Response: "Anomalisa", Stop-Motion Animation and How 3D Printers are Changing Filmmaking

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    With the creation of 3D printers, people have found new and creative ways to make their ideas come to life. It's a process of turning digital files into plastic items that you can actually hold, and many people have taken advantage of this new technology by printing out things needed for engineering and designing, things that can be used to help people (for example, someone accidentally breaks a part in their wheelchair, it could cost a ton of money to be repaired, but with 3D printing, you could easily recreate that part and replace it for less money), or even just for random things around the house.

    Though, Charlie Kaufman used 3D printing to his advantage by utilizing it to create a stop-motion film. This film, titled Anomalisa, is about a man crippled by the mundanity of his life, experiences something out of the ordinary. With 3D printing, Kaufman was able to create his characters and the world around them. However, he's not the only filmmaker to utilize the 3D printer for stop-motion. 

    The animation studio, LAIKA, is responsible for the making of Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012), and The Boxtrolls (2014), all created with the use of 3D printing. They were able to swap out limbs and facial expressions on a base structure to create a character's motion. This didn't make the process any easier though, as the motions of the characters had to be perfected just so that it would match with the correct motion they were trying to achieve. Basically, the entire process had to go through both digital and physical "realms multiple times before the final image is achieved." It's a very time-consuming and difficult process.

    With Anomalisa, Kaufman didn't mind leaving in evidence to the films 3D printed origins, and you can easily see the aforementioned striations, the color deviations, and the seams between the eyes and lower face. This is what makes the film more interesting and different from other films that used 3D printing as their medium. After reading this article, I'm not sure if stop-motion is the right line of work for me, personally, as it seems a bit too time-consuming and a ton of work. Though, editing it together might be much more interesting.