The Making of Kubo and the Two Strings with director Travis Knight

14 Sep 2016

4 mins
The Making of Kubo and the Two Strings with director Travis Knight

To mark the release of LAIKA's sublime new stop-motion animation Kubo and the Two Strings, we sent five young people on an incredible animation masterclass with the film's director, Travis Knight.

Our reporters Billy and Anisha were joined by Jude, the winner of our Into Film - Into Space competition, and Ana and Anna, two young animators who have previously submitted films to us.

Heading down the BFI Southbank in London, director Travis Knight led the aspiring animators on an incredible journey behind the scenes of Kubo and the Two Strings, revealing the secrets behind several of the characters in the film - the actual puppets of which were flown in from Universal in L.A. specially for this event.

In the video above, Travis offered up an exclusive directors commentary on several time-lapse videos from behind the scenes on LAIKA's set of the film, presenting an exclusive insight into the mind-blowing processes behind creating a stop-motion film of this complexity.

Film industry advice

As well as taking us through Kubo and the Two Strings, Travis also offered up his own top tips and filmmaking advice for young people looking to break into the film industry, discussing the importance of film festivals, the value of film in education, and what aspiring filmmakers can do to help get their work noticed.

Travis Knight - Roundtable with young animators

After offering his own advice, Travis then went on to answer specific questions from the group in a roundtable interview, covering everything from the puppet-creation process, to which animation tools and software to use on their own films.

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