During the run of the show, which opened on November 22th, 2009, and closed on Monday, 810,500 visitors came to see an enormous range of artifacts, from movie props and conceptual illustrations to paintings and sculptures from the filmmaker's personal archives to rare films that Burton made as a teenager.
Burton's retrospective was the third most successful of its kind in the history of the MoMA. Pablo Picasso, whose 1980 retrospective at MoMA remains the museum's most popular to this day(with 976,800 visitors), and Henri Matisse, whose 1992 retrospective is still the runner-up (with 940,000).
For those of you who missed it in the United States, the Tim Burton exhibition will be at the Australian Center for the Moving Image in Melbourne from June 24th through October 10th, and at the Bell Lightbox in Toronto from November 26th through April 17th, 2011.
GK: “Alice in Wonderland” was your first experience working on a film. How did you fall into the world of Wonderland and Tim Burton?
MK: It was a huge leap for me because I’m from Germany. I’ve been a pretty successful illustrator but not in the field of movies, and I was doing illustrations for games -- like the packaging. Two years ago I put all the work that I did online [because] I never really took good care about making myself public. When you’re working full-time you’re not really thinking about other jobs. One day I was working in my studio in Berlin and I got this e-mail from Sony Imageworks that was like we have this movie project and we found your portfolio would you like to work on a movie? This was a big deal for me.
GK: But you didn’t know you were “auditioning” to work on Alice in Wonderland?
MK: They said there were a couple of illustrators -- kinda like a competition -- so would you please draw a caterpillar. Like think of “Pan's Labyrinth,” real actors with animated features. I did that in one day … I tried to do the best that I could. I got the job and finally met the vice president of Sony Imageworks [Debbie Denise]. She said what movie I’d be working on. She said it was Tim Burton and “Alice in Wonderland.” I was totally like fainting.
GK: What type of creative freedom did you have in your work? Burton has a very unique style. How did you adapt to that?
MK: I worked with visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston – this is the guy who did “Star Wars”! He said we were very early on in the production, we don’t have much direction, take some characters, get some ideas for it and go crazy. That’s what I did. In the beginning, I was a little over the top with it. A little too frightening.
GK:In your early sketches, the Cheshire Cat is more human-like and is slight and slinky, with hot pink stripes and an unsettling, toothy grin, and your Mad Hatter wore industrial goggles and had less whimsy...
MK: Because it’s a Disney production [some of that] didn’t really have that mass appeal. It would have shocked the kids. Tim Burton is a big fan of that book, and the original illustrator. Tim had his own drawings in his London office, so he wanted to have a little bit of a classic feel, so that the animals were more like animals with a twist instead of having a far-off fantasy. Sometimes he gave like a very quick sketch that was really helpful. I would take that and make it really detailed. GK: With this being a reimagining, as opposed to a remake, how much of the original did you have in your mind as you did your designs?
MK: I was looking at the original drawings from John Tenniel and Arthur Rackham and I also looked at the clothing from that time to have the feel for this period so that it's rooted in some sort of reality. We gave those characters clothing from that time. GK: Everyone, of course, is focused on the 3-D element of the film. Did knowing that it would be seen in 3-D have any influence on your designs?
MK: Not for this one. I would doubt, maybe in terms of environment. In terms of design itself, even if you look at it in 3-D the brain kinda recognizes it. It's more about the shape and the perspective.
GK: When did you first get into illustrating?
MK: I was always drawing, from kindergarten age. I didn’t really go to art school, I just self trained. At that time I always felt self-conscious that I don’t know too much, now I kinda find that’s what makes it a little more special. It’s not the taste of the professors or one of my [peers].
GK: You’re from Germany and a lot of the work on “Alice” was done in London. How did that work for you?
MK: I worked from home on “Alice” for half a year. I asked if it was a good idea to come to London. They put me on a plane, and took me to Tim’s office. They took me to the set so I could get a feel for the movie, and the production so that the characters aren’t disconnected. After awhile in Plymouth [where large portions of the film were shot] and in London, when the production moved to Culver City they moved me into a little trailer. They asked if I wanted to sit in the Sony building but I wanted to be as close to the set as possible. Of course I wanted to get a peek at what they were doing, so I had this little trailer in the backyard.
GK: People never see the step-by-step process of creative work, the process that went into it.
MK: Of course I read the script in the beginning, then they would send me an e-mail about a character that they needed urgently. I would start doing some sketches, scanning them and putting them in the computer and then making the color refinement. But I would also add some fur textures, little things so in the end it didn’t look like a painting on the computer. It had a more realistic feeling. When they decided on Alan Rickman to be the caterpillar I looked at photos of his face. It wasn’t Photoshopping photos of his face that wouldn’t work. So it had to be a design of its own, it kinda has the character of his eyes and the cheeks. Even if they didn’t cast characters, I always try to imagine who could it be, to try and get as much personality as possible. I think it’s crucial.
GK: You worked on a number of characters, also including the Red Queen and Knave of Hearts. Is there one that sticks out as your favorite? MK: I think the caterpillar. But I also like the twins in a way, which that’s a design that Bobby Chiu did. As crazy as they are they kinda work together really well. I also think that because usually you have a big group of artists working on one character, because we only had like three people designing them (Kutsche, Chiu and Kei Acedera), they were really distinct. They didn’t get watered down. Like too many cooks [in the kitchen]. I think he was careful not to work with too many people.
Up next for the 32-year-old who said he didn’t “expect to stay in America this long” is character work on “Thor” and “John Carter of Mars,” slated for release in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Third Times Online Sneak Peek of "Alice in Wonderland"
The third and final exclusive sneak peek of Alice in Wonderland has made its debut on Times Online.
Click here for the video. This short clip includes words from Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, and Mia Wasikowska.
Some of the images featured in the slideshow. (Captions from the website, which contains SPOILERS.):
Bandersnatch illustration by Bobby Chiu.
Bayard illustration by Bobby Chiu.
Baynard the Bloodhound is voiced by Timothy Spall.
The Tweedles sketch by Tim Burton.
"I imagine them as naughty Victorian children, with their hand in the honey jar," says Matt Lucas, the British comedian and actor who plays them both. "And so I have made them quite child-like, which does come naturally to me, because I’m a big kid anyway."
More Alice in Wonderland art, images, and information on the technology of the film in high resolution detail, courtesy of animatie.blog.nl. Click on the images below to enlarge them:
Click here to see a short video with footage from the movie and input from Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, producer Suzanne Todd and senior visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston.
Also from Times Online are these images that demonstrate the evolution of a few of the many wild characters of Underland, from sketches and illustrations by Tim Burton and Michael Kutsche to their final rendered, costumed, and realized forms. (Captions in quotes are directly from the Times Online galleries. Potential spoilers have been omitted in this article. Go to the original galleries to learn more about the characters, their relationships, and the storyline of the film.):
"The first animated character Alice encounters is the White Rabbit. Here, a storyboard sketch is done as the first step in creating the scene in the film."
"The artists at Imageworks create a low-resolution version of the CG character and place it in the CG environment - low-res allows the animators speed and flexibility while working on the scene."
"Once the character animation is completed, a high-res version of White Rabbit’s performance is checked on a more detailed model called a pit render."
"The performance approved, the Rabbit gets his fur and clothing. There are complex programs designed to make hair, fur and fabric move and behave as realistically as possible."
"This scene shot shows the final product, with all of the high-resolution elements including a furry and clothed Rabbit, his computer-generated surroundings, the matte painting background, the effects of moving leaves - all lit and textured. Elements are combined by a compositor."
"Here is the White Rabbit as illustrated by Michael Kutsche."
"Knave of Hearts sketch by Tim Burton."
"Knave of Hearts illustration by Michael Kutsche."
"The final product: Ilosovic Stayne, The Knave of Hearts, in the film," played by Crispin Glover.
"Red Queen sketch by Tim Burton."
"The final product: Helena Bonham Carter is the tyrannical monarch of Underland. With her oversized head, fiery temper and propensity to scream for people’s heads to be chopped off, she rules her subjects through fear."
"The iconic shot of Alice’s first meeting with the Cheshire Cat, who’s grinning at her from his tree limb, begins with what’s similar to a storyboard sketch, using an assemblage of low-resolution character stills."
"The scene moves to animation, where the character is dropped into a low-resolution environment: the images are kept low-res to allow Imageworks’ animators to create the Cat’s performance without having a lot of data to manipulate."
"The biggest challenge is to create a realistic cat that can generate the trademark exaggerated grin. Here, the all-important hair has been added, ensuring it behaves as it should, where it should be, with the Cat now curled on his limb."
"Here, final lighting is added, along with a full-resolution environment behind the Cat, including the flora and atmosphere added for visual effect."
In case you missed it, here is the superb interview with Tim Burton on The Charlie Rose Show, which premiered on Thursday, November 26th, 2009. This is most of the episode. It begins with the three curators from the Museum of Modern Art discussing Burton's art, then goes to the man of the hour himself. Rose describes Burton as the "perfect guest", as they enthusiastically talk about a plethora of topics including his most personal films, being a parent, children's artwork, his creative process, and much more:
An interview with Tim Burton from Wired, in which the filmmaker discusses the new generation of 3D cinema, original ideas vs. remakes, his creative process in creating characters, and anthropomorphic objects, among other topics:
Wired: How did you find a life’s worth of work to give to the MoMA?
Tim Burton: I’m not a very organized person. Luckily I had a bunch of stuff that had just been moved to England from a warehouse in America. I don’t really go through things very much, so it was interesting for me to go back through it all.
It was an interesting process. It helps ground you and gets you to remember what interested you to begin with. It’s you, but a different you. You can look at yourself objectively. Wired: Not many directors have retrospectives of their artwork and illustrations. How did having a fine arts background influence your directorial visions?
Burton: The films I grew up loving were very visual. They were the kinds of things that get etched in your memory. To me, film is a very visual thing, so I’m very grateful for my animation background. It’s kind of everything. It’s art, it’s design, it’s film. At that time all I wanted to be was an animator, but through the backdoor you learn how to do everything else. When you make an animated film you have to act it out, design the layouts, shoot it, and edit it. It was a great overall experience.
Wired: What’s your creative process? Do you find yourself doodling and suddenly you’ve got a character for a movie?
Burton: The whole sketching and drawing process to me is the equivalent to how some people write notes. I’ve never really felt like a writer. It was always a visual thing for me. With Jack Skellington, for example, that was just a doodle I kept drawing over and over and over for no apparent reason.
Things can grow from an image that keeps coming up, like the Scissorhands image. They just come as ideas or thoughts, and sometimes they go on to something.
Edward Scissorhands came from a feeling that became a sketch of different forms over the years. It was an idea from when I was a teenager, so it had been in my mind for a long time.
Wired: A lot of your films are original ideas, but you have dabbled with remakes, such as Planet of the Apes and now Alice. Is it easier to get support from Hollywood to remake a film than to start something from scratch?
Burton: There’s a trend right now, where every TV show is remade, and there’s a certain idea of safety in certain properties. At the same time, they can be equally as dangerous. Something like Alice in Wonderland, with the opportunity to do it in 3-D and to experiment, it actually feels like a completely new property.
Wired: Is it more intimidating to take a story people are familiar with and make it your own?
Burton: The reason Alice in Wonderland isn’t as daunting as past productions is that every version I ever saw of Alice in Wonderland was of a girl walking around passively with a bunch of weird characters. It never really had any feeling or grounding to it. It felt like a new challenge to me. There isn’t a great version that I have to live up to.
Wired: Did you feel like Alice was the perfect story for you to debut a live-action movie in 3-D?
Burton: The element that intrigued me was Alice in Wonderland in 3-D. Nightmare Before Christmas was converted to 3-D, and it was really good. I was really amazed. It showed me that this was exactly the way Nightmare was meant to be seen. Now, 3-D just seems to really lend itself to the Alice story. The thing about Alice for me was not so much the literalness of the story, but the trippy nature of it and still trying to make that compelling.
Wired: How hard is it to continue working in more traditional special effects, like stop motion animation, when the rest of Hollywood is drinking the CG Kool-Aid?
Burton: I think stop motion has proven itself as a valuable art form, as has animation. A few years ago it was a dead medium, and while there’s still a lot of uncertainty, there’s enough diversity now. If people like the movie, it doesn’t matter what medium it’s in. It’s actually better now than it was a few years ago, when CG was really kicking in.
Wired: You love stop motion. What’s your fear of CG?
Burton: Take Nightmare Before Christmas, for example. I was offered to do it in drawing animation and I held out for stop motion, because that was the right medium for that project. It’s up to each project and what you’re technically trying to achieve that decides what medium should be used, whether it’s stop motion, animation, or CG. Wired: From Pee-wee’s Big Adventure to Beetlejuice, furniture, inanimate objects tend to come to life in your films. Do you anthropomorphize objects on a daily basis?
Burton: Well, I’m lying in bed here with my coffee pot… That’s where you need free time to space out. People don’t do that enough in life. Those are the moments where a tree turns into a little character.
Wired: Are you excited about the retrospective?
Burton: It’s such a strange and surreal event to me. I haven’t quite grasped it. I might as well put my dirty laundry basket in there as well.
The Art of Tim Burton is now available to purchase directly from SteelesPublishing.com -- and ONLY from SteelesPublishing.com in the U.S. This book is not available in bookstores, Amazon.com, or any other online shops.
Quantities of this lavish, comprehensive book are limited. So order it soon!
Good news for Tim Burton fans in Canada: Forbes has stated that the Tim Burton MoMA exhibition will be coming to the Bell Lightbox in Toronto, Canada, from November 22nd, 2010 to April 27th, 2011.
To help promote MoMA’s Tim Burton retrospective, we asked Burton himself to animate the MoMA logo for a thirty-second video that would be used to promote the exhibition on television, at the Museum, and online. Tim quickly came up with a concept utilizing stop-motion animation, and he asked Allison Abbate, his producer on Corpse Bride (2005) and the upcoming full-length version of Frankenweenie, if she could help pull things together.
Tim Burton's original robot design
Abbate turned to Mackinnon & Saunders, a U.K. firm that designs and builds animation puppets, models, and maquettes and produces TV commercials and entertainment programs for children’s TV, because they had worked on past Burton projects, including Corpse Bride. Company heads Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders pick up the story: “For the promo, Tim had designed a cute and quirky little robot character whose job was to inflate four typically Burton-esque balloons spelling out the MoMA logo. The whole premise sounded very simple, until we found out the timescale. We had just three weeks to create the character, the balloons, animate them, and get the footage out to Los Angeles for post production.”
The robot model and storyboards
Mackinnon continues, “Tim was very keen for the whole piece to be rendered in stop motion. For the robot character this wasn’t so much of a problem, Joe Holman, one of our lead sculptor/designers, broke all records to get the character fully sculpted and broken down into his constituent elements, head, body, arms, legs ready for moulding.”
Sculptor/designer Jo Holman renders the Robot in modeling clay
At the same time the problems of creating the illusion of four balloons being inflated in stop motion was being addressed. “The first thing we did was buy some large foil balloons and blow them up just to see what dynamics we were dealing with. We considered creating actual rubber balloons and inflating them with helium and shooting them time lapse but in such a short time if we hadn’t got it right the first time we would miss the deadline,” says Mackinnon. The team also considered replacement animation, a technique whereby each stage of a balloon’s inflation would be rendered as a separate model. “Again time was against us and there was no way we could produce the literally dozens of stages we’d need in time.” adds Saunders, “For all these reasons we decided to go with CG for the balloons and called our friends at Flix Facilities to create a test shot of the 3-D balloons for us.”
Lead CG artist Simon Partington took up the challenge. Within a day he had a beautiful bobbing balloon for us to see. “It was gorgeous,” says Mackinnon. “A bit too gorgeous. It didn’t have that quirky stop-motion feel that Tim was looking for so we asked Simon to try again.” Sculptor/designer Noel Baker quickly produced plastercine sculpts of the balloons and painted them to match Burton’s designs. These were then photographed and shipped over to the Flix team. “We reproduced the shape of Noel’s fantastic sculpts as closely as possible in CG.” explains Partington, “We then took Tim’s actual drawings and textured them onto the balloons before adding some of the same imperfections such as fingerprint detail that Noel had deliberately left on his sculpt. This all helped to recreate the sense of realism that stop motion provides.”
John Whittington maps the Burton design onto the 'M' balloon
Over the course of two days Partington and his team nailed down a technique that not only gave the light, fluffy feel of big rubber balloons but also had the slightly staccato feel of stop motion. The tests were rushed over to Burton, who was deep into post-production on Alice in Wonderland. “There was a huge sigh of relief when Tim gave the thumbs up. In all honesty I don’t know how we’d have got this done in time without the Flix team’s work,” MacKinnon smiles.
The Flix CGI team: Simon Partington, Neil Sanderson, John Whittington, and Mike Whipp
Meanwhile, head puppetmakers Caroline Wallace and Richard Pickersgill completed mold-making and cast out body parts for the robot character in fiberglass, rubber, and silicone, while at the same time constructing the intricate metal skeleton, which fits inside the puppet and enables it to hold any pose during the animation process.
Richard Pickersgill adding the finishing touches to the robot
“Typically a puppet character can take anywhere between twelve to eighteen weeks to produce,” says Pickersgill, “But Tim’s design lent itself to a very economical build and we put the puppet together in just ten days, probably something of a record!”
Pickersgill completed the final paint job a mere twenty-four hours before photography was due to begin. “As he was a bit of a beat-up looking little fellow, I decided to add streaks of rust around joints and arms. We sent pictures off to Tim and the only change he made was to remove the rust—so there was an eleventh hour (literally!) repaint.” Pickersgill chuckles, “I think the paint was possibly still tacky when we put him on the set!”
An arm is released from the mold
With the delivery deadline only four days away, lighting cameraman Martin Kelly and animator Chris Tichborne took over. “Our set was very simple,” says Kelly, “Tim wanted the robot and the balloon against a flat grey background. It was great because it further emulated the look of his original pen-and-ink drawings on a plain sheet of paper. We had three days to shoot the whole piece and my first take had to be right. I’d spent a day the previous week videoing myself performing the robot part. You feel a bit silly but Neil Sutcliffe, who edited the footage into his animatic, was very kind. He didn’t laugh too much!” Even for such a short piece, Tichborne tried to cram in as much in as he could. “Richard and Caroline had included a hinge top to the robot’s head which bobs open and closed as he walks. I also had in my mind Charlie Chaplin when the robot walked—not directly copying him but more just how he would create an idiosyncratic walk.”
DOP Martin Kelly slates a shot
CG lead Simon Partington was on set the whole time doing test composites of the balloons and the animation, just to make sure everything was lining up in terms of lighting and the timing of the dynamics. “The CG and stop-motion animation had to be delivered simultaneously; there would be no time to fix things later so we were literally doing the CG renders and the animation at the same time. Seeing it come together shot by shot was fantastic!”
Although the shoot took three long days over a weekend, the team’s experience and preparation paid off and the shoot went off without a hitch. The precious footage was beamed off via a high-speed data link for Tim Burton to oversee the final post-production in Los Angeles.
Chris Tichborne helps the robot pump it up
“Tim and the folks at MoMA seemed very pleased with the results,” says Ian Mackinnon, “It was a great little project to have been involved with and we hope the audiences at MoMA like it too!”
