10 Weird Secrets Behind Tim Burton Movies

8. Master Puppeteer

Puppetry and Stop-Motion have been present from the very beginning of Burton’s creations.

The company used to create these incredibly detailed puppets seen in the likes of The Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie, is called Mackinnon & Saunders. They have said that it can take up to three whole weeks to create one character.

Peter Saunders, a puppet maker on the set of the Corpse Bride said that the puppets are “about 50% artistry and 50% technicality and hard work”. Even after the puppets are created, they then have to give them behaviours and idiosyncrasies per puppet in each frame, even having to replace their eyelids after every blink. So not only are these artists incredibly talented, but they are also unimaginably patient.

Producer of Frankenweenie, Allison Abbate, admits “If you want to change the expression on a puppet’s face, you use an Allen key in the puppet’s ear [...] There is a system of pulleys inside each puppet’s head and you twist the Allen key to make it smile or frown. Mr. Rzykruski is a little different. He has replacement mouths when he speaks. The bottom half of his face comes off from the nose downwards”.

So, they literally have to tear some of the puppets apart just to help them talk and move. The end result was definitely worth the time and patience, and their hard work will continue to be honoured in these timeless, magical movies.