Stop-Motion Animation Archives

Mother of Dawn: An Unforgettable Journey Through Creation and Cosmic Wonder in Clara Trevisan’s Surreal Short

Clara Trevisan’s Mother of Dawn is a haunting stop-motion short that explores cosmic creation and transformation—without a single word of dialogue.

Mother of Dawn Movie Poster — **This work is part of the Circo Animato 2025 Short Film Program that played at Fantasia Film Festival 2025**

Clara Trevisan’s Mother of Dawn is a mesmerizing stop-motion short that lands somewhere between a cosmic fairytale and a handcrafted fever dream. Running just under eight minutes, the film doesn’t rely on dialogue, exposition, or conventional storytelling—and that’s precisely why it resonates. It invites you to feel, not just watch.

What immediately stands out is the animation style. As someone used to the dark whimsy of Tim Burton or the polished fantasy of Studio Laika, I wasn’t expecting something so raw, textured, and unapologetically surreal. If I had to compare it to anything, it would be Phil Tippett’s Mad God (which also screened at Fantasia Film Festival), though this leans less into chaos and more into cosmic poetry. The design is otherworldly—vivid and dreamlike one moment, then barren and eerie the next. It feels pulled from some subconscious mythos, and it’s unlike anything else on the festival circuit right now.

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Going Behind the Scenes. Secrets From The Inventor as Revealed by Jim Capobianco

In order to make sure The Inventor would appeal to all ages, writer-director-producer Jim Capobianco spent more than a decade fiddling with getting all the details right, like the Maestro would do too!

For our readers unfamiliar with your work, can you please introduce yourself.

I’m Jim Capobianco and have worked in animation for something like 35 years and my latest film is The Inventor, which I wrote and directed. I got my start at Walt Disney Studios working in their story department, and my first work was with The Lion King–I stayed there for five years. Afterwards, I moved to the Bay Area to work at PIXAR (for 19) and have credits on many films, from Bugs Life to Coco.

One movie I’m particularly proud of was Ratatouille, where I wrote the first draft of it with Jan Pinkava, the director, and we were honoured with an Academy nomination. I left PIXAR in 2016, and then it’s proven pretty good. I worked on Mary Poppins Returns and directed the 2D animation segments, and then followed that up with a project called Philharmonia Fantastique–which was kind of a Fantasia piece, and directed the animation for that. And that plays with a live symphony orchestra.

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How The Inventor (2023) Seeks to Change the World, A Movie Review

Leonardo da Vinci’s life has been retold countless times from various perspectives, and not all of them are as charming and magical as this take, simply titled The Inventor!

The Inventor (2023) Movie Poster Sherry Media Group
Now on VOD (Amazon Prime link) and DVD

Nearly everything you want to know but were afraid to ask about the last decades of Leonardo da Vinci’s life is charmingly examined in the stop-motion masterpiece, The Inventor. I couldn’t spot anything that’s worth critiquing on since it’s so perfect in keeping me entertained. Not only does it have an internal rhythm like a nursery rhyme to entertain kids, but also just most of his diagrams and art gets blended in are very dreamlike.

Its whimsical style is as eye-catching as a Cartoon Saloon movie, and without Stephen Fry, I’d probably pass on viewing it. He knows how to keep an audience engaged and is no stranger to providing character voices. When considering his huge resume (which includes The Canterville Ghost), he’s just everywhere, delighting audiences with his performances. The plot, if there is one, really concerns how The Maestro managed to stay out of trouble. Although this movie doesn’t recount his early life, just where it comes in is at the height of his desire to reform Western Civilization.

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Fantasia’s All Abuzz with David Allen’s The Primevals, A Love Letter to More Than The Land of the Lost

The love for all those classic adventure films and the passion put behind bringing The Primevals to life is the only reason why you should go see this film!

The Primevals is more than a love letter to the pulps of yesteryears. Here, the long production history must be noted before I can go into the review. Back in the late 60s, David Allen (who did the animation in Young Sherlock Holmes and Ghostbusters II) came up with the idea, and this stop-motion animator turned filmmaker had a lot of wonderful ideas which were ahead of its time. It’s tough to say if he knew of Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods and the theories he posed as it was published in 68, with translations not necessarily emerging until a year or two later.

It probably doesn’t matter. Sadly, to get this movie made back then was tough. That was partially due to how the studio system worked and other politics that held this project back.

While much of this story was filmed back in the late 80s, the project was shelved and this individual’s untimely passing meant it’d never get finished. Thankfully, his work with Chris Endicott, Charles Band and Full Moon Studios meant that everything that was done got carefully warehoused. It wasn’t until 2018 that the team sought crowdfunding in order to finish this project. Other talents volunteered their time as this idea shouldn’t be lost to history too.

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Experience Hidden Worlds, The Films of LAIKA in 2023 at MoPOP and More!

My love for this medium has only grown since looking at the objects displayed at Hidden Worlds, The Films of Studio Laika. Maybe 1/5th of their collection is proudly shown and I’m sure there’ll be more put on display throughout the year.

Runs till Summer 2024

MoPOP‘s Hidden Worlds, The Films of LAIKA exhibit is all kinds of wonderful, and there’s lots of time to plan a trip Seattle, WA to go see it!

Once I stepped onto the third floor, there were a few stations to learn about the art of making cinema through stop-motion. The best part is to see the sets and puppets from this studio’s movies up close. After seeing this exhibit, I was ready to rewatch all the movies and the making of featurettes again! But this time, I’ll have to wait for my 4K steelbook order of the set to arrive. That’s because I want the extra resolution to see if I can spot where the mould lines are from the bits that help make these models come alive.

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Studio Laika’s Coraline and Paranorman are Back in Glorious 4K Steelbook Editions! And Future Release News

These collectable Steelbook releases of Coraline and Paranorman are certainly worth the upgrade from a display standpoint.

Studio Laika's Coraline Steelbook Inside Cover Anyone wanting to ditch their Studio Laika Blu-ray collection will find the collectable Steelbook releases of Coraline and Paranorman worth the upgrade. This ultra high-definition release by Shout! Factory have a lot of fantastic artwork to admire. Not only do fans have a beautiful display piece which César Moreno and Kevin Tong crafted that honours the spirit of each film, but also love the expanded Dolby ATMOS soundscape.

In this remastered edition, Dolby Vision is used to enhance the detail. For example, Coraline’s hair is even more defined than I remember, and the colour palette is exquisite. When examining this work up close, all those textures are even more realistic. That’s moreso because of the sets than the characters. In Paranorman, the transparency effects used on the ghosts are more pronounced. Also, I wanted to see if I can notice where the digital effects overlaps with the stop-motion. It’s tough to spot!

In this package, the mini-essay that’s included reminds fans why the movies from this Portland, Oregon studio are special. The talents behind each work put their heart and soul to these animatronics, and to spend years animating a few minutes per day is better explained with the bonus material that’s on the included Blu-ray disc, which is basically the past release. I’m glad that two versions are offered since I can trade in my old discs for some other titles, and I’ll be upgrading my collection for sure!

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