Alien Xmas

At the height of production, the Chiodo brothers would have 104 people working at one time. By the time they were finishing production and post, they had employed almost 300 people. Artists and craftspeople, sculptors, set builders and painters, puppet builders and wardrobe fabricators; even in normal times it would be hard to assemble a team of such size. Stephen said, "We're experiencing a renaissance in stop motion right now." At the same time the Chiodos were making Alien Xmas, they say LAIKA (Missing Link) was making something, Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas) was making something, and Guillermo del Toro was doing something! When asked why this was so, Edward answers that digital effects permeate our entertainment and that, because of this saturation, "I think there's a burn-out on CG to some degree." Edward says because of this renaissance, "there were more people trained and more opportunities for people to learn the craft of stop motion." He specifically credits the stop motion course the brothers did with SWSCA as having trained people. "The talent pool is larger than ever before." Stephen worried there would be a dwindling number of stop motion animators as the brothers got older, but he says there is, "A new crop of animators that are extraordinary." He was, "Overwhelmed with the performances they were able to provide." Stephen feels that viewers are attracted to stop motion animation because of the physicality and textures of inanimate objects coming to life and emoting. "It's literally magic."

A shot of London shows big Ben and the London Eye on the same side of the river Thames, it also shows the London Eye next to Tower Bridge.

Referenced in Film Junk Podcast: Episode 776: Field of Dreams + My Psychedelic Love Story (2020)