Nearly a decade ago, game developer Scott Cawthon found himself at a crossroads.
Cawthon’s previous gaming projects had not been financially successful, and he found
himself in a crisis of faith, questioning whether he should give up game development
entirely and find a different path. Then, late one night, Cawthon came across a review of
what he had imagined might be his final gaming effort, Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. A user
had written that the animatronic characters in the family-friendly game were
“unintentionally terrifying.” In that moment Cawthon had an epiphany: What if he were to
make something intentionally terrifying? and Five Nights at Freddy’s was born. Now made into a movie we take a look at those Five Nights in Freddy’s robots. Here’s a few fascinating facts about them…
- Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the world’s premiere creature effects house, created
the animatronic and puppet effects for the film, with Robert Bennett acting as Senior
Designer and Wrangling Supervisor. PETE BROOKE served as Creative Supervisor
and JOHN CRISWELL as Animatronics Supervisor for the Creature Shop build - Before production commenced, director Emma Tammi and stunt coordinator ANDY
DYLAN (X-Men: Days of Future Past, San Andreas) oversaw a full month of
rehearsals with the puppeteers, animatronics performers and creature-effects
wranglers, to get a feel for the animatronics and ensure the safety of everyone on
set.
• Scott Cawthon was on set regularly, acting both as an encyclopedia for the Five
Nights universe’s deep lore, and to ensure that the animatronic creations remained
Five Nights at Freddy’s Production Information in line with his original vision.
• The most complex animatronic, Foxy, took six puppeteers to operate, with different
human operators for Foxy’s face, head, body, arms and feet.
• During dress rehearsals, it took about an hour for performers KEVIN FOSTER, playing Freddy, JESS WEISS, playing Chica,
and JADE KINDAR-MARTIN, playing Bonnie,
to don their animatronic suits. Once filming began, it took about fifteen minutes to
dress them, and by the end of the shoot, the team was able to get all three
performers dressed in less than five minutes.
• There were multiple iterations of each animatronic, with some intended specifically
for stunt work, and others meticulously designed for detailed expression.
• Puppet captain ARTIE ESPOSITO asked his 10-year-old son, a fan of the Five Nights game series, for advice on how one of the animatronics, Golden Freddy, should move. The boy’s suggestions were confirmed by game creator Scott Cawthon on set the following day.
…….and that’s those Five Nights in Freddy’s robots!
related feature : Five Nights at Freddy review
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