Exploring how digital technology expands Wildwood’s world while preserving its handmade stop-motion aesthetic.

Ref:

• LAIKA (n.d.) The Boxtrolls. Available at: https://www.laika.com/our-films/boxtrolls (Accessed: 7 October 2026).

• Reed, C. (2026) ‘Wildwood Really Is Laika’s Most Ambitious Project Yet’, Portland Monthly, 15 September. Available at: https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2026/09/laika-film-wildwood/ (Accessed: 7 October 2026).

• Seastrom, L.O. (2025) ‘Lucasfilm and Tippett Studio: A 10-Year Collaboration Built on Legacy’, Lucasfilm, 10 December. Available at: Lucasfilm article (Accessed: 7 October 2026)

• Soward, A. (2026) ‘Behind the scenes of Laika’s forthcoming film Wildwood’, Wallpaper*, 8 September. Available at: article link (Accessed: 7 October 2026)

My research begins with Wildwood, exploring how LAIKA combines handmade sets with digital extensions and what this could offer my own stop-motion practice.

From a young age, I have been fascinated by stop motion. My earliest memories are of Bagpuss, with its warm, handmade charm, and my favourite, The Wombles. These programmes introduced me to miniature worlds long before I knew anything about CGI.

Watching Star Wars at the cinema in 1977 was another defining moment. I was eight, and the Imperial Star Destroyer passing overhead seemed never-ending. As the trilogy continued, I became obsessed with the behind-the-scenes footage, particularly the model making. I was fascinated by what I now know as greeblies: parts from model kits and scraps used to give miniature surfaces detail.

I wanted to be one of those people building models and animating the AT-AT walkers. The stop-motion creatures in the Dejarik, or holochess, sequence also stayed with me.

My interest in LAIKA began with Coraline. Its smooth animation drew me in, but watching the making-of footage deepened my fascination. Seeing handmade models combined with technologies such as 3D-printed replacement faces and digital set extensions opened up new possibilities for my own work.

The Boxtrolls was particularly influential, with its wonky buildings and eccentric characters. Its production footage helped steer me towards set design, miniature construction and making my own armatures during my second year at university.

This year, I want to explore how digital techniques can expand a handmade world while preserving the textures and imperfections that give it character. Wildwood provides my main case study for investigating this relationship. Through analysing its production techniques and carrying out my own practical tests, I hope to understand how digital extensions can support the tactile qualities and emotional atmosphere of my stop-motion environments.

Header image: AI-assisted montage of Wildwood imagery. Sources: LAIKA Studios, FandomWire, Portland Monthly (image courtesy of LAIKA Studio), and LAIKA’s YouTube trailer (01:24).

Fig 1: The game Dejarik in Star Wars. Source: Lucasfilm, reproduced in Seastrom (2025)

Fig 2: Phil Tippett with an AT-AT puppet during production of The Empire Strikes Back. Source: Lucasfilm, reproduced in Seastrom (2025)

Fig 3: Box Trolls behind the scenes. Monster Machine (LAIKA, n.d.)

Fig 4: Wildwood production image. Credit: LAIKA, reproduced in Soward (2026).