Even before Nike founder Phil Knight acquired the studio that would be renamed Laika in 2002, it was already a staple of the Oregon filmmaking landscape. Will Vinton Studios spent 30 years creating stop-motion animation staples such as the California Raisins, and that history and legacy permeates both Laika’s work and that of the other studios that make Oregon the stop-motion capital of the U.S.
Since its rechristening in 2005, Laika has become one of the prominent stop-motion studios in the world, earning several Oscar nominations starting with the studio’s debut film, “Coraline.” As Dave Burke, COO and CMO of Laika, tells Variety, “The films we’re making are getting more and more complex in terms of the number of characters, shots and sets built.”
Even two decades later, the spirit and history of Will Vinton Studios’ Oregonian roots live on in Laika. The company’s next feature, “Wildwood,” is an adaptation of the novel by the Decemberists’ Colin Meloy and a love letter to Portland, Ore., where director Travis Knight re-creates in miniature many of the city’s recognizable landmarks. The production is Laika’s largest to date, with the studio employing 500 people to bring it to life. But this is only the beginning; Burke says Laika plans to have “multiple productions running concurrently, so we can roll people off one project onto another.”
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It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation whether it was the prevalence of animation studios in Oregon that attracted animators and other stop-motion crew members, or the other way around. “It’s a community here,” explains Kirk Kelley, chief creative officer of studio HouseSpecial and animation director for the upcoming short “Brim Broome Boulevard.” “People come to work on a project or two and just stay here.”
Multiple studios have followed Laika’s example in Oregon in recent years to great success, helping to lure talent. ShadowMachine, which just won the animated feature Oscar for “Pinocchio,” is one such studio. It is the second-ever stop-motion film to win the award. Co-founders Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico have been friends since the first grade, and since 1999 they’ve worked in the animation field, starting with producing the stop-motion animation of the earliest seasons of the award-winning “Robot Chicken.”
Stop-motion has more than just animators and storytellers as part of the talent pool, but also sculptors, mold makers, costume designers and other artisans who benefit from the state’s artist-friendly environment. “When there isn’t a stop-motion project happening, there is still a very artistic community in Portland to support that talent pool,” says Campodonico, who compares the animation done in Oregon to sourdough baking in San Francisco — it can be replicated elsewhere, but it won’t be the same.
“The state and local government have implemented policies that have encouraged growth in the local film industry, and incentives to hire local talent,” Burke adds, praising the Oregon Media Production Association.
As for the future of Laika, the company recently announced plans to build a stop-motion animation studio in Maryland at the historically Black university Bowie State, and hopes to establish an animation and motion graphics program more locally at Portland Community College. “We’ve been looking at making the entry barrier lower for a career in stop-motion animation, working with underrepresented groups to get a foothold in the industry,” says Burke.
