This is pretty cool. For Where The Wild Things Are Spike Jonze used a combination of real life-sized puppets with CGI faces that allowed them to show emotions, etc. Read more from Wired.com on how it was accomplished:
Building a lifelike monster is hard enough. But director Spike Jonze needed 14 of them, each with its own unique look and personality, for his film version of Maurice Sendak’s beloved Where the Wild Things Are. “When I read the book as a kid, I wanted to hug them, and I was scared of them at the same time,” Jonze says. To create fearsome physicality with approachable cuddliness, Jonze turned to the Muppet-masters at the Jim Henson Creature Shop, then used CG to make the beasts talk and emote. Sound complicated? That’s probably why the movie took half a decade to make. Here’s a look at the mechanics.
Heads: The heads were heavy and all-encompassing—performers could see, barely, through the creatures’ mouths. To make up for the lack of visibility, a small wireless video monitor mounted just above the performer’s eye level showed the view from Jonze’s camera. Head-mounted speakers played back the scripted dialogue.
Bodies: Some characters (like the horned Carol) had arms that were short enough for the puppet fingers to be slaved to simple tube controllers wrapped around the actor’s hands. Longer-armed monsters had mechanical hands made of a lightweight polymer called Plastazote, covered with carbon fiber for strength. Performers wore a backpack that supported a sort of rib cage and pelvis, over which hung a Lycra and foam “muscle suit” and a flexible fur skin made of custom four-way stretch fabric. “The suits had to be very lightweight, so as not to inhibit the characters, but they also had to look real,” says Peter Brooke, creative supervisor at the Creature Shop. That said, the Carol suit is 9 feet tall and weighs about 60 pounds.
Faces: “Initially I was thinking we would do animatronics in the faces,” Jonze says. “But then David Fincher,” who directed the facial-f/x-heavy Curious Case of Benjamin Button, “told me that was the stupidest thing we could ever do—go hours into the wilderness with a bunch of suits and all these servo motors and remote controls. We were working out of his office in Hollywood and he would leave notes on our door with a little drawing of a wild thing and an arrow that said ’suit’ and another arrow pointing at the face that said ‘CG.’” Heeding Fincher’s advice, animators created CG models of the creatures’ faces in postproduction and tracked them over what Jonze had shot on location. Using videos of the voice actors and of Jonze himself performing every scene, the animators added expressions. One tricky part was calibrating nonhuman mouth movements: Carol has a Kermit the Frog-like line that all but bisects his face; large movements would look cartoony and small movements would be too Muppety. (Turns out there is a such a thing!)
This show is an absolute classic, but man did it ever freak me out as a little kid… something about odd looking little monsters living under the floorboards of a house really gave me the creeps…
This Complete Series Collection features over 47 hours of content on an impressive 20 discs, including over two hours of never-before-seen bonus features and an original Fraggle Rock illustration poster - all presented together in custom premium, collectible 3D rock packaging! The collection also includes never-before released episodes from Season 4. With more than 1.3 million DVD’s sold to date and five international Emmy awards, the Fraggle Rock series is adored by millions of fans worldwide.
From a fun-loving group of furry subterranean creatures came millions of fans, 100 original songs, 96 total episodes, four seasons… and one Fraggle Rock Complete Series Collection! Dance your cares away with the all-new, fully loaded collectible set of the entire award-winning series, including Season 4 available for the first-time ever on DVD! The Complete Series Collection is sure to be a fan favorite with over 47 hours of content on an impressive 20 discs, including over two hours of never-before-seen bonus features and an original Fraggle Rock illustration poster - all presented together in custom premium, collectible rock packaging!
With more than 1.3 million DVD’s sold to date and five international Emmy awards, the Fraggle Rock series is adored by millions of fans worldwide. Fun-loving Fraggles – Gobo, Mokey, Red, Wembley and Boober - are joined by tiny diligent Doozers and giant Gorgs, in one fantastical, musical world. Share in the music and memories that have kept fans rockin’ for 25 years in the ultimate Fraggle Rock Complete Series Collection!
DVD SYNOPSIS:
The Jim Henson Company’s beloved children’s television series, Fraggle Rock, ran four seasons (96 episodes) from 1983 to 1987 on HBO. Starring a diverse and quirky group of cave-dwelling creatures, the world of Fraggle Rock is a unique place where three different, yet surprisingly similar communities learn to live and work in harmony.
The Fraggles love to sing and dance, work just thirty minutes a week and spend most of their days dancing their cares away. They are joined by their industrious neighbors, the Doozers, tiny green workers that build elaborate structures the Fraggles find irresistibly tasty; and the Gorgs, giant creatures who live in the garden above Fraggle Rock guarding their cherished radish patch.
Through the fun of the Fraggle five - level-headed, practical Gobo; spiritual, artistic Mokey; exuberant, athletic Red; nervous, indecisive Wembley; worrisome Boober - and the unique mix of music, from folk, blues and gospel to country and rock, the series entertains and encourages an understanding and embracing of diversity.
Never-before released episodes from season four included in the Fraggle Rock Complete Series Collection are “Sprocket’s Big Adventure,” “Wembley’s Wonderful Whoopie Water,” “Sidebottom Blues,” “Uncle Matt’s Discovery,” “Junior Faces the Music,” “A Tune For Two,” The Perfect Blue Rollie,” “A Brush With Jealousy,” “Wembley’s Flight,” “Red’s Blue Dragon,” “Wonder Mountain,” “Space Frog Follies” and “Boober Gorg.”
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
• “Let the Music Play” featurette
• “Directing the Fraggles” featurette
• “The Inner Gorg”: Interviews with performers inside the costumes
• “Designing the Puppets”: Interviews with puppetmakers
• You Cannot Leave the Magic: Last day of Shooting
• Celebrating Fraggle Rock: Excerpts from wrap party, featuring Jim Henson
• Dance Your Cares Away: Evolution of Fraggle Rock Theme Song
• Original Fraggle Rock illustration poster
Here’s the intro the show for old times sake:
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