Key Points:
- The stop-motion animation company, Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, are exploring Halloween with Disney’s beloved characters in ‘Mickey and Friends Trick or Treats’ due to air on October 1 on Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD and the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
- The program is set on Halloween night with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck knocking on the doors of Witch Hazel’s spooky mansion and consequently transforming into the creatures depicted by their costumes.
- Each puppet is painstakingly crafted, from painting to wardrobe designs, with intricate detail towards portraying emotions through ‘face kits’.
- Jenny Hogan, the lead supervisor of the puppet department whose room is called ‘Puppet Hospital’, is in charge of puppet maintenance and repairs.
- The creation of each scene in Mickey and Friends Trick or Treats involves complex technique such as ‘Ghost Goofy’ which required duplicate images of each frame in which Goofy appears, one with regular lighting and one lit with UV light.
- The work of animation is time-consuming and challenging, but director and producer David Brooks emphasizes the rewarding nature of the process, stating that it’s the best way to tell stories with the talents possessed by their team.
The Realist’s Take:
Who says you need real actors to create a Halloween spectacle? Certainly not the master puppeteers at Stoopid Buddy Stoodios who are throwing Mickey and friends into a fun-filled, spooky adventure and transforming them into Halloween critters because, well, why not? It’s a reminder how incredibly patient you have to be to do stop-motion animation – we’re talking two to three days of painstaking work for a 6-7 second shot. Maybe they should replace the ‘Stoodios’ sign with ‘Stoopidly Patient Stoodios’! A commendable shoutout to their Puppet Hospital for quality puppet healthcare, definitely the unsung heroes keeping our beloved Disney characters alive – even if they are just a fraction of their size. So, prepare for some spooktacular adventure and tune in to watch mini Mickey turn into a three-eyed, blue-furred monster. And remember kiddos, don’t knock on spooky mansions on Halloween night unless you fancy turning into an arachnid or a frog prince!
https://d23.com/meet-the-puppets-and-animators-on-the-set-of-mickey-and-friends-trick-or-treats/
