Tina T. Hsu: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Between April 2021 to July 2022 I worked as a stop motion animator on Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

Where do I even start? It is the longest project I have been to date. It was very demanding and I had the worst burnout I have experienced after finishing the project. But am I grateful I got to work on it? Absolutely. It is the project with the most reach/impact I have worked on in my career so far.

Here is a compilation of some shots/raw footages I animated for the project.

Tina T. Hsu Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Reel from Tina T. Hsu on Vimeo.

For the first 8 months or so most of my work was on Wood Spirit, the blue fairy that gave Pinocchio life. I did the bulk of her shots in the 400 and 3500 sequences. Where she gave Pinocchio life and when she grants cricket's one wish and exits. I loved her design and am grateful I got to do the majority of her sequences, but animating her was not easy. Her wings especially. One of my fellow animator described her as two characters stuck together. Since her wings did not have the anatomy of bird wings, it took me a while to figure out how to animate them so they looked organic. Since all her movements were supposed to be gentle and graceful, there were a lot of tiny increments in the animation. However, Since the puppet and the wings are quite heavy the joint tensioning couldn't be too loose it no longer supported the weight. So I had to put a lot of force on her while trying to be accurate as slow movements are not very forgiving. The wings were also very long but the root is a small ballpoint, which makes positioning the wing tips very difficult. Tensioning and fighting with the leverage/length of her wings was something I struggled through out working with her. One thing that came rather naturally was her acting. I sort of knew what she needed to feel like or at least had a vision that was close enough to what the directors wanted

By 2022, I requested to animate some shots other than wood spirit for new challenges. I have always been interested in dance sequences as I had studied many different styles of dance growing up, and it is a fundamental part of my understanding of movement. Wanting a gear shift from the gentle and graceful shots wood spirit embodies, I asked for the poop dance sequence. I did not end up getting it, but was given Pinocchio's puppet show debut dance sequence. I was responsible for most of the stage side of the performance, while other animators did the audience side and Volpe's closeups. It was very challenging/complicated and rewarding at the same time. As it was the second half of the production, pressure for speed became a lot more apparent, which was not easy to juggle when dealing with complex multi character dance sequences. One other thing worth mentioning is that the choreography from this sequence was actually not outsourced to professional dancers/choreographers, but a combination of me and fellow animators coming up with fitting dance moves, and the directors also pulled dance moves from old movies that we fitted into Pinocchio's performance.

I worked in person closely with the onsite director Mark and the rest of the crew, and had briefs over the internet with Guillermo Del Toro. As an animator I tend to look at the board and shot length and offer the most direct path I think solves the problem, and the director either lets me do it or have a different path in mind. One thing I really appreciated working with GDT was that he always had an answer when it comes to what he wanted. Whether the direction was "go for it" or "no I want that instead", I rarely disagreed with his vision. It is hard to explain, but I feel he had this very accurate sense of balance when it comes to not shying away from what he wanted while making things assessable to the audience.

The experience watching the film after its release was an odd one for me. The first view at the staff screening I was unable to watch it as a movie. I was reliving the production as I watched each shots go by than enjoying it as a movie. A couple weeks later I went to see it in the theater with the general audience, and that was when I was able to enjoy the movie more. Watching a good chunk of my life flash past the screen is definitely an experience that is hard to describe. The fact that there is footage of me animating on Netflix and at the MOMA in New York is also mind boggling.

It was over all a very intense yet rewarding experience to work on this project. I hope you enjoyed it if you have seen it and give it a chance if you haven't. Congratulations to all involved making it and I hope the film continues to excel during award seasons and continue to captivate audience.

I will update BTS as I sort through them.

BTS footage of me animating the close up of Wood sprite poking cricket (animated separately in large scale)

Tina T. Hsu Pinocchio 0400-0760 BTS by Jason Ptaszek from Tina T. Hsu on Vimeo.

BTS footage of me animating Pinocchio's Dance

Tina T. Hsu Pinocchio 1400-0260 BTS by Jason Ptaszek from Tina T. Hsu on Vimeo.
This was also featured on MOMA Instagram

Crew Photo

Animation Team

Wood Spirit Stage

UV pass

Puppet Show Stage

Children head rack for back of audience head

Other random BTS Photos I took while on production
Maquettes (character sculpts)

The Puppets features in the infamous poop dance sequence

Head Mechanism for facial animation

Stand-ins. Basically mock ups or broken puppets, or anything that can be used to help with planning/camera/lighting setup when full puppets are busy in shots.