They Shoot Oscar Prognosticators, Don't They?
Exclusive Interview with Kubo Costume Designer
By J. Don Birnam
January 13, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
In the meantime, we sat down for a conversation with Ms. Cook herself, who was positively radiant at the honor her fellow costume designers had bestowed upon her.
Box Office Prophets: Ms. Cook, first of all, congratulations on this historic honor. How did you find out and how are you feeling?
Deborah Cook:Thank you, thank you very much. It’s very exciting, it’s very amazing. I can’t believe it’s happening, and I could not be more happy. It’s really super cool, and I could not be more honored to be in that category with such talented and amazing people. I don’t know if you know but we are buried in snow in Portland and I got a call from Arianne [Suter, the producer of Kubo] very early morning with the news, with congratulations, and I could not believe it, it’s very surreal.
BOP:That’s awesome, congrats again. Tell us a bit more of what the process is like. For the uninitiated, how does one go about designing costumes for an animated film? And, also, do the animals, the beetle and the monkey also have costumes, or is it just the other characters?
Deborah Cook: No, the animals do not have costumes, but they have the same color palettes and textures as all the other characters, so their color and textures of the costumes are designed taking the animals into account and the animals are drawn and animated keeping those in mind as well.
What is important to understand is that the animators are in charge of moving the drawings or pictures throughout the reel, and to do this they have to take twenty-four shots per second of the characters. So the characters have to be dressed up in real costumes and we design real life costumes for them. But unlike live action where you have a body or a form that they fit into, here you don’t have that so you have to construct or engineer something to hold the costumes, and you have to design them and construct them so that they don’t move while the pictures are being taken. It’s a challenging but very cool process.
The actual costumes end up being nine, 11, and 15 inches in real size. They are very real and full of detail because you’re going to see them in very large screens.
BOP:Tell us a bit about your background and how you go about preparing for this kind of project. We also are familiar with your work in Fantastic Mr. Fox and Corpse Bride , which is great too.
Deborah Cook: Oh, thank you. Well, I went to Art School in Saint Martins [in London] and I had experience there with 3D stuff. I studied sculpting there, so I had experience with different scales and different materials. It also made me have a fascination with detail. That helped because when you are constructing these costumes, you have to get creative and understand the different properties of the many fabrics you may use. We design the costumes from scratch, they come from my imagination and we have to get creative with the materials we may use. Sculpting made me very aware that there are other materials that can be used for costumes.
BOP:That’s very interesting. So what kind of research or preparation did you do for this particular film?
Deborah Cook: Well, as I said, the costumes are all directly from my imagination, but we did an in-depth study of Japan, from the Jomon Period in 300 B.C. to modern day Japan. We studied high artists, fashion, vintage clothing, and how they were manufactured and engineered. We learned a lot about Japanese design and manufacturing, up to contemporary designers. Every one at Laika is just incredibly supportive of these projects, and it’s always a team effort. All the costumes each harness a whole new life for each new film that we take on, and this was no different.
From our research, we learned techniques about how to build the strong integral part of the development of the suit, and it essentially spilled into the development of the characters. It’s a collaborative process.
But the challenge here was that because we can’t rely on the bigger size of life action, we had to do this at a different level of engineering. For example for kimonos, these are flowing garments normally but we needed them to stay still, to not move between photos. So we looked at techniques in folding fabric and in origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, to make 3D forms. We look to Issey Miyake. It was a lot of fun actually, I love what I do, it’s so exciting.
And then the research bled into the artwork and the art design of the film as well.
BOP:It feels very cutting edge. So taking a step back into the broader meaning of this historic nomination, people talk a lot in the industry about how people don’t get recognized for work in animation, for example there’s never been an acting nomination for this kind of work. Do you think this could be the first domino to fall that will lead to that and what are your hopes or thoughts for an Oscar nomination?
Deborah Cook: Well, we absolutely believe we are at the forefront of technology here, and we are forging ahead with really cool stuff. We are developing newer and newer technologies but really we are a hybrid of pure animation and use of live action designs, so we are really at the vanguard, the bridge between the two worlds, and we are going to continue doing what we are doing. We love it, and we are a very supportive team at Laika.
We are very excited for the potential for it and to build off of the success we have had. All the departments at Laika are incredibly supportive, the Silicon department, the Props department, etc. They all play a part. It’s a collaboration. It’s a technological achievement, and we are continually trying to push the envelope to the next level. Hopefully this will be the first of many recognitions and an Oscar nomination would be just insane.
BOP:Speaking of which, who are some of your admired designers?
Deborah Cook: Well, to be in a category with Colleen Atwood, it’s just mind blowing [Atwood was nominated by the CDG for her work on Fantastic Beasts and Miss Peregrine]. Sandy Powell. I love Milena Canonero who did The Grand Budapest Hotel.
BOP:Yes, they’re all great. We love their work here, and hopefully you’ll be taking to us again in two weeks after you make it into costumes. Before we go tell us of the upcoming projects you have at Laika.
Deborah Cook:Well they haven’t been announced yet but we are working on three projects. The first will be released in 2018, and I can tell you it’s going to be very unique and if you liked Kubo you’re going to like these. They’re going to be amazing and revolutionary.
BOP:Thank you again, Ms. Cook, and congratulations. Good luck at the CDG and with the Academy Awards later this month!
Deborah Cook: Thank you, pleasure talking to you.
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