Village Elder stop action figure from <i>Corpse Bride</i>
date: label: date made
content: 2005
name: label: Associated Name
content: Burton, Tim
notes: label: Description
content: This is one of the 30 puppets that was part of the 2005 stop motion animated film <i>Corpse Bride</i>, produced and directed by Tim Burton and animated by Mike Johnson. This macabre story is based on a 19th century Russian fairy tale, and stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Emily Watson. This phenomenal production required three groups of artists, including the story board (drawing) department, the animator fabrication workshop and the camera crew that filmed the movie.
label: Description
content: Twenty three animators worked on the film to create these marvelous puppets made of metal, silicone, foam, and fabric at the cost of $30,000 per puppet. A total of 300 puppets were made for the film.
label: Description
content: Tiny, intricate mechanical paddles and gears were attached at the ball joints and inside the head and were adjusted with Allen wrenches. The eyes are made of urethane and each side of the head is operated independently, including the eyebrows and lips. This ground breaking technology enabled the animators to achieve a greater range of movement and reduced the need to make replacement heads for each change in facial expression.
label: Description
content: In addition to the advancement in animation that contributed to the realism of the figures, the movie was photographed digitally and allowed for more flexible and tighter shots thereby adding a 3-D dimensional quality to the characters.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Puppetry
label: Subject
content: Movie
label: Subject
content: Entertainment, Film
label: Subject
content: Animation
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Movie Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift from Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2013.0001.09
label: accession number
content: 2013.0001
label: catalog number
content: 2013.0001.09
label: collector/donor number
content: 175844
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
label: Object Name
content: figure, animation
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: clay (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: foam latex (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24 in x 7 in x 7 in; 60.96 cm x 17.78 cm x 17.78 cm