Gire: How do the 'Boxtrolls' guys do it?

<b>Qs for 'Boxtrolls' guys</b>

Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable both directed the new stop-motion fantasy "The Boxtrolls" opening this weekend.

Stacchi previously directed the CGI comedy "Open Season" after working on "Antz," "Spirit," "James and the Giant Peach" and others.

Annable is making his directorial debut after being classically trained as an animator at Toronto's Sheridan College, then working at LucasArts for 10 years before making "Coraline" and "ParaNorman."

Here we go with questions for both directors.

<b>Q.</b> What qualities are necessary to direct a stop-motion movie?

<s<b>T.S.</b> Endurance. It's a marathon, not a sprint. When animators animate these puppets, they get one short rehearsal, then they animate the final shot. Even though you've been preparing for a year and a half on a single scene, you have to make room for improvisation when a performance happens.

<b>Q.</b> Is this more difficult?

<b>T.S.</b> In traditional animation, you can add drawings, you can take away drawings, go over drawings for weeks until you get what you want. Computer animation is the same. But in stop-motion animation, once the animators start walking that puppet across the stage, anything could happen.

<b>G.A.</b> We were very lucky that the crew at Laika studios has been together for three movies now. ("The Boxtrolls," "Coraline" and "ParaNorman") Your job as a director is to point the ship in the right direction, then get out of the way and let 350 people make you look good.

<b>Q.</b> Forgive my naive question, but how do you animate smoke in stop-motion?

<b>T.S.</b> From the outset, we wanted to make "Boxtrolls" much more of a hybrid production. That meant the computer department would be a lot more involved than in "ParaNorman" and "Coraline." We wanted to create a more realistic, visceral feeling for the movie. So the smoke and other elements were handled by our CG department.

At its core, it's a stop-motion movie. But we wanted to make it bigger and brighter than anything we had previously done. So we used CG for the dust, smoke and other elements to give it a little more of a realistic edge, and hopefully make you connect better with the film.

<b>G.A.</b> We definitely wanted to make an action/adventure/comedy. We didn't want there to be anything in the movie that took away from the feeling of real jeopardy. We treated our stop-motion footage as if it were live-action footage. Then we told our computer guys to make their effects as realistic as possible. Rain would be very cold. Fire would burn you.

<b>Q.</b> Every Laika studio movie comes with a theme or two. What were the ones that motivated you?

<b>T.S.</b> For us, the movie has always been about family. It's been inspired by Alan Snow's book "Here Be Monsters," and it's endlessly inventive. But it was apparent from the start that we had to whittle down this cast of a thousand characters to something that could be told in an 84-minute movie. That connection, the family dynamic of these creatures who had raised this orphan boy was the strongest element that survived every version (of the screenplay) we wrote.

<b>G.A.</b> Yeah, that theme of families coming in all shapes and sizes went along well with the individual story of Eggs: if you don't fit into the world the way you are, then maybe you have to change the world to fit you, which is what they do at the end. They transform the perception of boxtrolls in the town of Cheesebridge, and they win acceptance.

<b>Q.</b> It strikes me that in many segments of the movie, you're essentially directing a silent film, aren't you?

<b>G.A.</b> Well, we watched a lot of (Charlie) Chaplin to prepare for that. Plus, just for my own benefit, we watched a lot of Three Stooges. We watched them with the animators to inspire them to do these pantomimed performances.

<b>Film critics notebook</b>

It's October! Or at least it will be when Dann & Raymond's Movie Club presents "Universally Scary: The History of Horror Films, Part 1" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, at the Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg. Free admission! Film clips from such classics as "Nosferatu," "Frankenstein," "Dracula," "Cat People" and 10 more. "In the Library, No One Can Hear You Scream: History of Horror Films, Part 2" will be presented on Nov. 6. Go to schaumburglibrary.org or call (847) 985-4000.

The Sixth Annual Elgin Short Film Festival opens its doors at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Hemmens Cultural Center, Elgin. The final entries, none more than 20 minutes, start at 7 p.m. for both the public and judges with prizes announced at the end of the evening.

If you disagree with the judges, no worries. A People's Choice award will be given to a winner based solely on audience votes, no critics.

Mike Toomey, comedian and member of WGN TV's morning show, will return to host the festival. Admission costs $7. Go to cityofelgin.org/index for tickets and schedules.

It's not "The Midnight Snack Club," but John Hughes' teen classic "The Breakfast Club" will be shown at midnight Friday, Sept. 26, at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. Tickets cost a mere $5. classiccinemas.com.

<i> Dann Gire's Reel Life column runs Fridays in Time out! Follow Dann on Twitter at @DannGireDHFilm.</i>