The Stop Motion of Henry Selick - Doodley

Stop motion as an art form is highly respected yet somehow always overlooked in cinema – but one director has always tried to keep it alive, despite everything. With Henry Selick recently releasing his first film in 13 years, let’s take a deep dive into all his previous films and analyze not only how they’re made, but also the motivation and struggles that went into making them.

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Check out Supervoid Cinema’s video on The Shadow King:

Animation by David Oneacre

Music and Voice Over Processing by Jayfoo

Voice Over Editing, Concept Art, and Assistance by Melanie Tan

Gimberly uses kamone416's toon shader, which you can find here:
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Sources and Further Reading:
[2]: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, The Art, The Vision, Pages 150-151

Additional Audio and Visuals:
Nurse Piper - Silent Hill 2
Better Call Saul Main Title Theme
Saul goodman 3d by Itsnickford
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:26 The Nightmare Before Christmas
3:01 James and the Giant Peach
4:19 Monkeybone
7:13 Coraline
9:02 The Shadow King
12:37 Outro

[Zicolie]

I’m not an animator but it’s always so cool to see how animators think during an animation process :D

[gulfgiggleanimations]

“Every animator has that one work that makes them realize, ‘Oh yeah, people made that” I think for me it wasn’t any kind of film or show at all, but simply the nickelodeon bumper of Butch Hartman showing how to animate a bouncing ball on sticky notes. I remember looking all over the house just to find a pack of sticky notes to try it out. It felt so amazing looking at it and thinking, “I did that” and I still get that feeling when I make an animation. It’s just so cool that I’m able to give drawing and such the illusion of life.

[juneru]

Animation is a medium that many people don't functionally understand, and I don't blame them. There isn't much accessible information out there that dives into the pure passion and effort that goes into even the worst critically reviewed animated films. So thanks for making these type of videos alongside your tutorials, they're all great!

[SlichRich_]

Holy Shit... Your Character rig and animations are SUBLIME, as well as the expressions, backgrounds, colors, small details, and just everything is so FLUID... I applaud you, Good sir.

[emctwoo]

I really got that sense of animation from Wallace and Gromit, particularly seeing the finger prints left on the clay. It had that effect of making me suddenly realize just how much care and attention was put into meticulously moving the characters and how you could literally see the mark it left on them.

[Maxler]

I think that watching claus in 2019 when it launched changed me. It made me realize how much i love animation. And i love the film to death and back.

[Tyrone]

Stop motion was my very first attempt at animation and if I never tried it out when I was 12 I doubt I’d be where I am today so seeing someone else appreciate this form as much as I do is inspiring. I can’t wait to see what else you make in the future!

[tedioustotoro]

It’s good that Henry Selick has apparently gotten the rights to The Shadow King so that’ll hopefully one of his next projects

[ninjoewd]

oh no. you've made the exact video to pander to my latest obsession. im gonna be rewatching this video like a million times aren't i

As always, absolutely stellar video. I learned a bunch about movies I either already knew too much about, knew nothing about, or was trying to heavily repress until now. We absolutely always geek out about Coraline (and I wonder what you thought about Paranorman, what it always gets compared to).
Every single thing in this video is so fun to notice, and its kind of amazing to see how much you're able to achieve in these videos. Both avatars ALREADY have a new model, and you started animating in a bunch of props and general video flair throughout the video. The facial expressions and exaggerated body movements on the main avatar have gotten noticeably better, and this is with a relatively new model. With certain angles you animate Mr Doodley in, its fun to notice that he's really just a wiggly fridge magnet.
I can't wait to see more from you, so don't stop unless you're suffering from burnout!! just stay the coolest
you too jayfoo

[Mx.muffin]

3:06 FINALLY!! Someone mentions James and the Giant Peach when talking about stop motion!

[FuromeNavi]

Stop motions are the peek of creativity, it brings out all the ideas within someone. You have one attempt in comparison to animation in which you have options for adaptation.

Stop motion is something I enjoy, even short animations are really impressive. If there’s a problem like how to replicate a river or sea, they’d use like a transparent fluid or foil. Even the popcorn as leaves made me appreciate the work of Coraline.

[SeventyCoins]

I remember before getting into 3d animation, I wanted to do stop motion because "The Nightmare Before Christmas" was a family favorite within the house. At the time though, I gave up because I realized how tedious and long everything took and taking shortcuts definitely didn't help so I just swapped mediums. Everything said in the video kind of revived that old memory of me fiddling with glitter-clay and a camera in the corner of my room. I'm glad this video made me openly appreciate stop motion again.

[Theneongreninja]

Stop-motion is a medium of animation that I respect immensely, even moreso than 2D and 3D. So much effort and dedication has to go into a stop-motion film, and when you take all of that into consideration you see just how artistic stop-motion in general is. That isn’t to say other types of filmmaking are not artistic, they 100% are, but stop-motion particularly stands out from the crowd.

[Jake.Miller]

Wtf I was just casually watching and enjoying this video and then my video popped up at 9:57 that’s insane

[frebothegreat]

Monkeybone and Ralph Bakshi’s film Cool World are some of my favorite films based purely on their visuals. As actual movies they are a huge mess but their surreal cartoony and unnerving styled worlds are amazing

[Matoloko]

"I hope inbetween tutorials and learning I hope you don't mind me talking about things like this"
I appreciate your concern, but not only I learned things about things I like, BUT ALSO your audience is also the target audience for these kinds of "video essays" (at the end of the day, if this was a course, this would def be a necessary subject)
AND I'm really glad YT recommended me your tutorial last month, I fell in love with everything about it!
Thanks for the video!

[NicAllerby]

As someone who's just about to graduate uni with a bachelor in animation - this video is so good! I've always loved Selick and his work in Nightmare before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Coraline, but had absolutely no idea Monkeybone even existed, I'll be sure to check it out! I love how you not only described these films but also went into how he made them, and I'm so glad you covered the Shadow King - apparently Selick's now bought back the rights from Disney, so I'm crossing my fingers we'll be able to see it someday!

Also, just one last thing I wanted to add (and the whole point of my comment if Im being honest) is when you talked about how you feel about Coraline, about how its the film that made you realise that animation is a thing people make and create - I know that exact feeling! Its the reason why I wanted to pursue animation, and I personally experienced it for the first time when I watched Gravity Falls (cringe, I know, but I also feel it when I watch Coraline and Over the Garden Wall, so hopefully that makes up for it haha).

ANYWAY this is so long winded lol but thank you for making this video! Its the first of yours I've come across, but I'm now subscribed and happy to wait for more <3

[mckay]

I find it very important to have a passion. I'm quite interested in tech, so I know that feeling of wanting to share and teach people about these things. It makes me, honestly a bit happier than it should, to see your love for animation shine through like this. Wonderful video, Doodley, and I wish you all the best in your future.

[PTvdeos]

Just gotta comment on how awesome the outfits are for you and Gimberly!

[nuclearpancake]

i was washing the dishes while watching this and when i see klaus on screen i was lik “yeeeessss i was so happy i was jumping up and down and i love that movie