The production of Coraline lasted one year and six months, following two years of preproduction. Principal photography alone took 18 months. In total, more than 500 people worked on the film over four years. Coraline is a 2009 stop-motion animated dark fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and based on Neil Gaiman's novella of the same name.

The movie was produced by Laika, a renowned animation studio, and features the voice talents of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., and Ian McShane.

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Coraline is a 2009 family/fantasy film that is 1 hour and 55 minutes long.

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1 hour 55 minutes

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How Long Is The Movie Coraline?

As a huge fan of Coraline's creepy magical world, I was curious how long it took animators to craft the movie's unique stop-motion visuals meticulously. It turns out the whole process spanned multiple years from early development through post-production polish. In this FAQ, I'll break down the major milestones that comprised Coraline's lengthy creation.

When did production start on Coraline?

Coraline was based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novella. Work on the film adaptation started in earnest in 2004 when Henry Selick signed on to direct the stop-motion project.

How long was the actual filming process?

The hands-on shooting of the stop-motion animation lasted an intensive 18 months. Animators worked non-stop through 56 individual shooting stages to bring the characters to life.

When did filming wrap?

After over a year and a half of exhausting scene production, the Coraline team finished principal photography on the sets and puppets in September 2006.

What was the total time spent creating the puppets?

The meticulous puppet fabrication and detailing took a full two years from concept to final product. The characters had large sets of interchangeable faces and physical parts.

How long did it take to build and dress the sets?

The large, intricate sets also took 2-3 years to fully design, construct, and decorate. Gardening and landscaping effects alone spanned 18 months for the realistic plant details.

What was the overall production timeline?

Pre-production started in early 2004. The sets were completed by late 2005, puppets finished in 2006. Shooting wrapped in late 2006 after 18 months. Additional post-production polish then lasted about a year before the 2009 release.

How many years did the whole process take from start to finish?

Adding up planning, design, fabrication, shooting, and post-production, the total timeframe to make Coraline was around 5 years spanning from 2004 to 2009.

Why did Coraline take so much longer than CGI animated films?

The specialized stop-motion techniques required vastly more labor and time manipulating real objects than faster digital CGI workflows offer in computer-animated films.

How many animators worked on Coraline?

Due to the workload, the production employed over 30 individual animators plus a huge support crew. Animators were divided across multiple sets shooting scenes simultaneously.

How many shots were there in total?

Spanning the lengthy production, the team delivered over 110,000 individual shot frames to comprise the full movie runtime of nearly two hours.

Did director Henry Selick work concurrently on other projects?

Yes, Selick focused on other productions like The Nightmare Before Christmas musical in between ramping up early work on Coraline before his full attention turned to shooting in 2005-2006.

Conclusion

In the end, despite requiring nearly half a decade from early concept to final edit, the ambitious vision and technical complexity of Coraline's stop-motion was well worth the immense time and effort. Every meticulously crafted frame helped realize Selick's eerie yet whimsical alternate reality that dazzled critics and audiences alike when finally unveiled in 2009. The years invested show in every visually stunning, hand-crafted detail.