The Making of Fantastic Mr Fox: The Making of the Motion Picture

Hands up if you have not read any of Ronald Dahl's books, alright, those of you who have your hands up, you seriously need to press the "BUY" button when you see any on Amazon, like in the upcoming link. Fantastic Mr. Fox was published in 1970, written by Ronald Dahl. The Making of Fantastic Mr. Fox is for the visual companion for the stop motion animated movie based on that book, directed by Wes Anderson. This is a 192-page hardcover book with an excellent dust jacket. The low gloss pages are filled with character sketches from the conceptualisation to the making of the models for the animated film. A short introduction to the Dahl estate starts the book, which is then divided into several chapters which focus on the various characters of the film. Alongside the sketches and art, there are little notes that explain the consideration taken when designing the models, how each part is to be handled and the significance in the final film. This book a treasure trove of knowledge on stop motion animation. It shows much of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the final film, how each and every character is modeled, the making of the sets - the farmhouse, the foxes' tree burrow, the town square, how the fire in the street scene is done and many more. There are plenty of detailed photos of the models of the buildings, like how each chicken should look down to the bread in the bakery etc. Alongside these photos are notes by the artists talking about the scenes where the models are used. Each character has its own chapter. You can see how the director's interpretation the characters' look, traits and behaviours, are all reflected in the creation of the models. There are concept art from the initial character design to the final selected design, and the different expressions, their clothings, textures -- hair, fur, wrinkly skin, etc. In the later parts of the book, alongside the pictures of the models for the settings and locations, there are interviews with Wes Anderson, Liccy Dahl (Roald Dahl's wife) and various production staff. Fans of stop motion animation would enjoy this book and through it, appreciate this way of movie making. (There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

When I ordered this back in 2017, there had already been many glossy Disney ‘The Art of…’ books, I’m sure you’re all aware of, and I was expecting something similar. However… ‘The Making of Fantastic Mr. Fox’ turned out to be much more intimate, reflecting the handcrafted nature of stop-motion animation. The book is more compact than Disney’s oversized volumes, but the attention to detail is beautiful. It rests nicely between the grandiose of Disney’s offerings and the equally compact ‘The Illustrators Series’. Some photos help highlight the different scales used for the models, while others like the characters' eyes on sticks, and the fabric swatches, helping you appreciate how carefully the film was put together, and how the color palette and textures were crafted. Just like the film, one of my favorite sections is the ‘whack-bat’ scene. The pages devoted to this sequence show how much went into creating the scene for a sport that doesn’t even exist, but you’d think it does, however chaotic the rules! There is an inclusion of email exchanges between the team revealing how ideas evolve, highlighting the close collaboration that shaped the film. The book also features interviews with Liccy Dahl, Roald Dahl’s widow, and Wes Anderson’s brother, Eric, giving insights into both the story and the creative process. Eric’s own web site is worth a graze too. I love to dip into this book every so often, not just to reminisce about the film, but also the process they took, and the overall design of the book, the layout and format makes it one of my favourite books.

Wonderful book! A must have for any traditional animator or enthusiast. The package arrived on time.

Full of great information and images

Great book, awesome photography and great detail about the stop motion process. Highly recommend it for animation, stop-frame and general film fans.

I bought this book for my sister's birthday, as we both love Fantastic Mr Fox [DVD] [2009 ]. The colour scheme, page texture, and size are all wonderful, and the book has many little treasures that you only notice when you pick it up for the third or fourth time. As a lover of production design, I especially enjoyed the images that show the designers' desks, the methods of choosing colour to enhance narrative and visually describe each character. This is doubly interesting as everything is done on such a small scale! Intricate and wonderful. My favourite part of the film is near the end, where an explosion is created using cotton wool as smoke. It's wonderful to see exactly how the filmmakers did this. Look out for the smallest images - the miniature red-coloured post office, complete with autumn maple leaves and detailed window display, is a delight.

An informative, creative and fun look at the processes, research, and skilled work behind the making of Wez Anderson's interpretation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I cannot recommend highly enough, a gem of a book.

Incredible little book. Came in fantastic condition! Bought as a recommendation from my senior lecturer, will come in very handy for my stop-motion thesis film. Thank you!

El libro es increíble, la calidad de imagen y diseño magnífico

Livre très détaillé, et richement illustré. Bonne qualité du papier. Et pas cher! Infos sur la création du film et aussi sur Roald Dahl. Par contre tout le livre est en anglais, non anglophones s'abstenir... ou s'y mettre!

Wirklich absolut empfehlenswertes Buch. Wer den Film liebt wird auf dieses Buch lieben. Man erfährt sehr sehr viel darüber wie an einer Stopmotion Animation gearbeitet wird. Es sind wirklich sehr viele Bilder, hinter den Kulissen, wie diese gebaut werden, wie die Puppen entstehen, Scripte, Beleuchtung usw. also eigentlich alles was interessant ist für jemanden, der sich für das Making of dieses Filmgenres interessiert. Den preis von 28€ fand ich absolut gerechtfertigt. Mein Buch kam per Express aus Großbritannien und war am nächsten Tag schon bei mir. Eingepackt war es ausreichend normal, wie immer. Ich kann dieses Buch jedem ans Herz legen der mehr über diesen Film oder darüber wie man einen Stop Motion Film dreht erfahren möchte.

もっとめずらしい内容が欲しかった。 映画を見たときのようなどきどき感がない。

Hands up if you have not read any of Ronald Dahl's books, alright, those of you who have your hands up, you seriously need to press the "BUY" button when you see any on Amazon, like in the upcoming link. Fantastic Mr. Fox was published in 1970, written by Ronald Dahl. The Making of Fantastic Mr. Fox is for the visual companion for the stop motion animated movie based on that book, directed by Wes Anderson. This is a 192-page hardcover book with a nice dust jacket. The low gloss pages are filled with character sketches from the conceptualisation to the making of the models for the animated film. A short introduction to the Dahl estate starts the book, which is then divided into several chapters which focus on the various characters of the film. Alongside the sketches and art, there are little notes that explain the consideration taken when designing the models, how each part is to be handled and the significance in the final film. This book a treasure trove of knowledge on stop motion animation. It shows much of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the final film, how each and every character is modeled, the making of the sets - the farmhouse, the foxes' tree burrow, the town square, how the fire in the street scene is done and many more. There are plenty of detailed photos of the models of the buildings, like how each chicken should look down to the bread in the bakery etc. Alongside these photos are notes by the artists talking about the scenes where the models are used. Each character has its own chapter. You can see how the director's interpretation the characters' look, traits and behaviours, are all reflected in the creation of the models. There are concept art from the initial character design to the final selected design, and the different expressions, their clothings, textures ' hair, fur, wrinkly skin, etc. In the later parts of the book, alongside the pictures of the models for the settings and locations, there are interviews with Wes Anderson, Liccy Dahl (Roald Dahl's wife) and various production staff. Fans of stop motion animation would enjoy this book and through it, appreciate this way of movie making. (There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)