Bringing Tim Burton’s cast members to life

Artists used injected foam latex to create the body contours of the puppets. This material is also referred to as a “skin”. This rubbery material, or skin, was then attached to the armature, or the metal frame, called an armature. The armature serves as sort of a bone structure, or skeleton to the bodies of Burton’s puppet characters. Each puppet was also equipped with moveable limbs.

Movement at the elbow, shoulder, waist, knees and ankles were enabled by the careful placement of ball-socket joints and tiny screws within the armatures (pliable metal frames) which provide the basis for the rest of the body. Essentially, the puppets' armatures, made by Three Mills Studios, in London, England, form a skeleton upon which the rest of the character is, literally, built. The armatures are designed and crafted to behave like real, moving, living creatures (even the corpses, in Corpse Bride). Animators and technicians on the movie set could then adjust the puppets' position; posing them ever so slightly, one frame at a time. They sometimes used small screwdrivers and specialized wrenches to make adjustments. The ability to move the armatures, just fractions of an inch, is extremely important to the stop-motion process, as each degree of movement, however small, is captured and isolated in a single frame. The technique requires an almost imperceptible degree of movement, per frame, so that, ultimately (in post-production editing, the frames could be joined or “cut” together, as one, continuous and seemingly "seamless" action shot or sequence. It is very much like creating a flip-page book animation, but in 3-D.

A silicone based material was also added to make the puppets' faces seem even more lifelike, and an acrylic based paint brought additional texture, color tone, and fine facial details.