NEW ONTARIO-BASED ANIMATION HOUSE REVIVING STOP-MOTION MONSTERS Stop-motion puppet animation is almost as old
as filmmaking itself. The technique stretches back more than 100 years, predating the work of special effects pioneer Willis O’Brien (King Kong) and his protégé, Ray Harryhausen. Now, a new Ontario- based production company is breaking into the labour-intensive art form, which has brought so many movie monsters to life. Mad Lab Produc- tions’ real calling card, though, is the company’s signature style: an emphasis on horror and science fiction, with liberal doses of humour added to the mix. “When we formed Mad Lab, we knew we
needed to distinguish ourselves from other stu- dios,” says filmmaker and Mad Lab co-founder Christopher Walsh. “Rather than choosing stop- motion, we thought it made more sense to de- fine ourselves by our content – namely horror, science fiction and comedy. These genres are what we live for; our whole lives are consumed by them. Our specialty and main passion is and always will be stop-motion, but as long as the idea dwells within these genres, we’re up for it.” Mad Lab Productions is a collaboration be-
tween Walsh and animator Geri Bertolo. Be- tween them, the pair has an impressive resumé: Bertolo is a veteran of LucasArts, Walt Disney Productions and MTV, while Walsh’s stop-motion microshorts Rise of the Living Corpse and Fit- ness Class Zombie have built him an audience at film festivals and online. The two met while working on a stop-motion television show ten years ago, and formed Mad Lab in November of last year. The company’s first film, Springtime Zombie, was released in April, and they’re al- ready booked solid with work. “It’s getting pretty exciting for us, actually,”
Walsh says. “We’ve got a bunch of things cook- ing. We’ve just signed on with Neil Christopher and his company Inhabit Media to create a stop- motion version of an extremely compelling Inuit myth. It features cannibal ogre puppets – how could Mad Lab not get in on that? I read about Neil’s company in an issue of Rue Morgue [#119]. I was deeply impressed, reached out to Neil, and now here we are.” Walsh and Bertolo are also seeking funding
Some of the new company’s stop-motion figures from Fitness Class Zombie and Springtime Zombie.
for what Walsh describes as an ambitious, stop- motion short film that will appeal to fans of clas- sic monsters and spooky-fun television shows such as The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. “Geri and I both grew up on that show, and its
blend of scary and funny is at Mad Lab’s core,” Walsh points out. “So, this project is custom-de- signed for fans of this wonderful stuff, because that’s what Geri and I are: fans as well as fabri- cators.” Walsh says the company has spent the past
six months developing the film’s script and sto- ryboards and pulling together a crew. In addition to the aforementioned projects, Mad Lab has several online, animated miniseries in the works in both stop-motion and Flash formats. The
company intends to release the series via its YouTube channel once they’ve banked enough episodes to maintain a regular release schedule. And while animation will always be Mad Lab’s passion, Walsh and Bertolo would like to expand into live-action productions as well. To that end, they recently put out a call for an on-camera host. “Over time, we’d love to see Mad Lab be not
just an animation production company, but also a bit of an online destination in general, for genre fans,” Walsh explains. “They’d spend time on our site and social media pages because they dig sci-fi and horror, and the Mad Lab sense of humour that permeates everything.” APRIL SNELLINGS