Animatronics
www.parkworld-online.com
Below: A character GHP created for Efteling’s Symbolica has a magical sceptre with a built-in multi-color controlled lighting effect to simulate casting a magical spell.
Lines Blurred
Living Faces of History
This recently introduced series of highly-expressive animatronic human faces marks a major leap forward in animatronics technology. The characters have more than forty individual electric motors in their faces alone, allowing for a wide array of complex expressions and emotions and what Bill believes is the most sophisticated animatronic human faces ever created. “The main challenges were packaging all those motors into a space as small as a human head, getting the skin to move and behave realistically and without tearing, and programming the show to perform in a lifelike manner.”
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Inspired by a childhood visit to Disneyland, Garner Holt Productions, Inc. (GHP) was founded by Garner Holt in July, 1977, when Garner was just 16 years old. Now arguably the most well known animatronics producer in the world, GHP offers complete creative design for attractions both in theme parks and across other markets, continually striving to blur the lines between what’s mechanical and what’s real.
How the magic happens Animatronics has changed significantly in the 40 years since GHP was founded. “With newer and less expensive and cumbersome control equipment and better, faster, and more reliable actuation, animatronics can move more realistically than ever. New materials—like GHP’s custom-formulated silicones—make skins more lifelike and durable,” Bill explains. “The creative process changes depending on the type and
complexity of a character, but it generally follows a path from initial concept, then goes to sculpture and engineering, and to plastics tooling and fabrication while a mechanical system is built. At the same time, we are writing scripts and recording audio for the figure to perform, and beginning to create costumes, silicone masks, fur suits, or other figure finishing details. Concurrently, our controls team designs and builds a system to facilitate movement, audio playback, and other performance for the character once complete and ready to program. “When the mechanical system is finished, the electronics team installs motor controls and wiring, and hooks up the
Spectacular, spectacular
GHP created the 45 foot-tall animatronic Maleficent Dragon for Disneyland’s Fantasmic! nighttime spectacular show. “The figure has a wide range of motion and on-board special effects like lights, fog, and a flame system capable of shooting 30 foot-streams of fire. It also telescopes into itself to stow underground when not in use—an incredible engineering feat that is entirely invisible to guests watching the show.”
figure to control systems for testing. At the same time, the costume or other figure finishing items are installed and tested, and painted items are installed. With the figure mechanically and aesthetically complete, it can be programmed.”
Viva la video? “There’s a myth floating around that video is used because it’s much cheaper than dimensional animatronics. In fact, the production of quality film elements can absolutely outpace the cost of animatronics,” says Bill. “We suspect that attractions will tend to rely less on video in the coming years since the novelty of its effects has worn off and the immediacy of dimensional animatronics remains compelling. Obviously, some things just can’t be done with animatronics, just like video falls flat in some uses. GHP has incorporated video effects into many of our attractions and figures. We tend to use it when there is no better, more realistic mechanical alternative, or when there is enough stylization in an effect to require it.”
Bill Butler of Garner Holt Productions spoke to Bryony Andrews, Park World editor. GHP remains hard at work on new breakthroughs for its expressive animatronic figures, as well as new projects for clients in the US and all over the world – creating ever more new and astonishing feats of magic.
MARCH 2018
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