The second company to be detailed are LAIKA. Based in Hillsboro, Oregon in the United States, LAIKA was founded in 2005 as a successor to Will Vinton Studios. Whilst LAIKA is a relatively new company in the filed of stop-motion animation, it is one that is certainly making big waves and superb progress across the industry. Will approximately 400 employees on their book as their celebrated a decade in the industry, LAIKA have now established themselves in this sector.
LAIKA has the feel of a very independent yet close knit community; one which everybody from animator to viewer are a part of. The mission statement of the company is "to bring to the screen the kinds of emotional, innovative, and exhilarating stories we as filmmakers loved growing up". This very much sums up the aims and objectives that LAIKA are trying to establish.
LAIKA played a part in Tim Burton's 2005 stop-motion feature "A Corpse Bride", propelling them into the public psyche. The studios fist feature length film was Coraline (2009), which was highly lauded and earned the company an Oscar nomination for their debut production. LAIKA appears to take meticulous care on their project in order to maximise it's impact, as their second and third features, Paranorman (2012) and The Boxtrolls (2014) also garnered credit from the critics and accrued Oscar nominations from The Academy. It will be interesting to see whether the studio's fourth production, Kubo and the Two Strings will make it a quartet of nominated animated pictures when it is released in Summer 2016, continued the high standard of LAIKA's work thus far.
LAIKA identify themselves as a community team. There is a great sense of pride in the work they produce, and the community they reside in. It also has a very unique style, where the focus is placed upon fantasy and elements of mild horror. This type of animation allows are company to be very creative when it comes to fantasy character and set design, and this is something I believe would lend itself well to my creativity and imagination. LAIKA are an expanding company, and with the high level of critical acclaim it has attained thus far, it could continue to grow into a major employer in the stop-motion field.
The stylised element of all of LAIKA's productions amaze me. Where Aardman attracted me to Stop-Motion in the very beginning and that has it's own style and beauty, I think it's LAIKA's productions that have kept me hooked on Stop-Motion animation. Following where the new technologies will take them next. I would love to be involved in the art department at LAIKA because watching YouTube videos of miniature knitting and sculpting keep me inspired and keep me working to a new level of standard and finish all the time. I think making miniature cakes and trying to replicate them in so much detail would fit well into what the model makers have to achieve at LAIKA, because the food and props are realistic but hold their own stylistic elements. It is something that I am working on for my final major project, working in a similar style to the sets and props in The Boxtrolls. So researching into more into the goings on at LAIKA benefited two projects! Working alongside the production crew that have made some of my favourite Stop-Motion feature films like The Boxtrolls would be brilliant and I know I would work to my full potential with the never-ending amounts of inspiration at LAIKA.
The stylised element of all of LAIKA's productions amaze me. Where Aardman attracted me to Stop-Motion in the very beginning and that has it's own style and beauty, I think it's LAIKA's productions that have kept me hooked on Stop-Motion animation. Following where the new technologies will take them next. I would love to be involved in the art department at LAIKA because watching YouTube videos of miniature knitting and sculpting keep me inspired and keep me working to a new level of standard and finish all the time. I think making miniature cakes and trying to replicate them in so much detail would fit well into what the model makers have to achieve at LAIKA, because the food and props are realistic but hold their own stylistic elements. It is something that I am working on for my final major project, working in a similar style to the sets and props in The Boxtrolls. So researching into more into the goings on at LAIKA benefited two projects! Working alongside the production crew that have made some of my favourite Stop-Motion feature films like The Boxtrolls would be brilliant and I know I would work to my full potential with the never-ending amounts of inspiration at LAIKA.
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