stop-motion - Frenetic Arts

Walking With Animators

Documentary

Walking With Animators

2025 – 1h45

Started in 2018, shot in several countries and supported by many major studios, this documentary offers an unprecedented immersion in the world of animators. Focusing as much on drawing as on stop-motion, on paper cut-outs as on computer-generated images, the film captures the magic of an art of shadows, more than ever threatened by the democratization of artificial intelligence tools. The cast includes several icons of the 7th Art: Joe Dante (Gremlins), John Landis (The Blues Brothers), Phil Tippett (Mad God), Floyd Norman (Sleeping Beauty from Disney Studios), Doug Chiang (The Legend of Beowulf), David Silverman (Monsters, Inc.), Paul Wee (The Simpsons), Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man New Generation) and Jay Oliva (The Dark Knight Returns).

Written and Directed by: Gilles Penso & Alexandre Poncet

Starring:
Joe Dante, Floyd Norman, Joe Johnston, Jay Oliva, David Silverman, Paul Wee,
Michael Polcino, The Chiodo Brothers…

Music: Alexandre Poncet

Editing: Gilles Penso

Visual & Credits Effects: Tippett Studio, Mystery Meat Media LLC

Mixing: Vega Prod

Festival_international_du_film_d'animation_d'Annecy

DISCOVER

« Biafine » : the Dédo show recording

Gremlins special effects and puppets workshop

Frenetic Arts in the media

Gremlins special effects and puppets workshop

Mediation

Gremlins special effects and puppets workshop

January 2019 – 3h

In 2019, at the request of the Cinéma de Massy (91), Frenetic Arts invites Sacha Feiner for a practical special effects and puppetry workshop devoted to Gremlins. In collaboration with Cinémassy, an art house cinema located in Essonne, Frenetic Arts invited spectators to create a brief special effects sequence inspired by the Gremlins saga, in the company of Alexandre Poncet and Sacha Feiner, director of the Gremlins Fan film. Gremlins Fan film. Totaling almost 900,000 views on Youtube, this tribute film has become a real reference for fans of Joe Dante’s films and the director himself.

Sacha Feiner came specially with several puppets. Workshop participants learned how to handle these creatures and film them effectively.

The footage shot during the workshop was screened that evening in Cinémassy’s main hall, as a prelude to a screening of the first Gremlins.Director Joe Dante, author of the original feature film, filmed and sent an introduction especially for the event.

Workshop for all
Duration : 3h

Massy Ma Ville

LEARN MORE

Find out more about Sacha Feiner’s work on our website!

DISCOVER

« Biafine » : the Dédo show recording

Walking With Animators

Frenetic Arts in the media

Joe Dante stop-motion

Mad God by Phil Tippett

Bonus

Mad God by Phil Tippett

2023

An experimental animated film inspired by Jerome Bosch, Mad God took almost thirty years to complete for its creator Phil Tippett, responsible for the revolutionary visual effects of Robocop, Jurassic Park, Starship Troopers and the original Star Wars trilogy.
Having followed and documented the creation of Mad God for almost ten years, the Frenetic Arts team produced a detailed making of in 2023 for the Collector’s Edition published by Carlotta Films.

Writing, Directing and Editing: Gilles Penso & Alexandre Poncet

Starring: Phil Tippett, Dan Wool, David Lauer, Chuck Duke et Tom Gibbons

Music: Dan Wool

LEARN MORE

The documentary Phil Tippett : Mad Dreams and Monsters
The book Mad Dreams and Monsters : The Art of Phil Tippett and Tippett Studio

DISCOVER

« Biafine » : the Dédo show recording

Walking With Animators

Gremlins special effects and puppets workshop

phil tippett stop-motion

Ray Harryhausen’s Wonderful Tales

Bonus

Ray Harryhausen’s Wonderful Tales

2020

« If Harryhausen was told to me »

In this interview directed by Alexandre Poncet, filmaker Gilles Penso retraces the first steps of the future master of animation throught the evolution of his style and his technique.

Director : Alexandre Poncet
With : Gilles Penso

About the film :
Les contes intemporels de notre enfance revisités par Ray Harryhausen, le maître des effets spéciaux : Le Petit Chaperon rouge, Hansel et Gretel, Raiponce, Le Roi Midas et Le Lièvre et la tortue.
C’est au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale que Ray Harryhausen pose les fondements esthétiques de ses œuvres à venir qui inspireront, entre autres, l’univers de Star Wars. Optant pour une narration en voix off, le créateur des effets spéciaux légendaires de Jason et les Argonautes réalise ces cinq « contes merveilleux » à l’aide de marionnettes articulées selon les principes de la stop-motion, dont l’Américain va devenir le maître absolu.

PRESS

« Enfin, outre la bande-annonce 2018, Carlotta Films donne la parole à Gilles Penso,
réalisateur de trois films devenus des références dans le domaine de l’animation et des effets spéciaux
au cinéma, Ray Harryhausen, le titan des effets spéciaux (2011), Le Complexe de Frankenstein (2015)
et Phil Tippett : Des Rêves et des Monstres (2019), les deux derniers ayant été coréalisés avec Alexandre Poncet
et longuement chroniqué […] dans nos colonnes. Durant près de 20 minutes, l’expert, passionné et passionnant
Gilles Penso propose un retour complet sur les débuts de Ray Harryhausen au cinéma, tout en replaçant les films présentés dans ce programme dans leur contexte, ainsi que dans la carrière du maître de l’animation.
Blindé d’informations et magnifiquement illustré, ce module complète et clôt magistralement cette interactivité.»
(homepopcorn.fr)

LEARN MORE

Ray Harryhausen, Special Effects Titan

DISCOVER

« Biafine » : the Dédo show recording

Walking With Animators

Gremlins special effects and puppets workshop

Ray Harryhausen stop-motion

Ray Harryhausen : Special Effects Titan

Documentary

Ray Harryhausen : Special Effects Titan

2012 – 1h33

This exceptional documentary, which required more than 4 years of work, pays tribute to this giant of the 7th art, a specialist in special effects. It brings together extremely rare archival footage, interviews with Ray Harryhausen as well as the biggest names in contemporary cinema: Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, Terry Guilliam, Guillermo Del Toro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and many others.

Directed by: Gilles Penso

Producer: Alexandre Poncet

Starring: Ray Harryhausen, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Guillermo Del Toro, Henry Selick, Vincenzo Natali, Joe Dante, John Landis, Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett, Randall William Cook, Vanessa Harryhausen, Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick, Tony Dalton, Jean-Pierre Jeunet…

Music: Alexandre Poncet

Editing: Gilles Penso

Mixing: Vega Prod

Festivals

Sitges / PIFFF / Gérardmer / FEFFS / PIDS

Cinema release

In England : 9 november 2012

The world premiere took place at Notting Hill Gate
in the presence of Ray Harryhausen.