Animating this miniature world without CGI took 35 people over 5 weeks, plus 85 single-shot takes to get it perfect:
As always, I find the behind-the-scenes story fascinating:
The film was shot through a small camera mounted on the model train in a single, 60-second take. All external movements are mechanical, not animated or done in post-production. All the different transitions that were hand operated had to be incredibly coordinated. It was a well-orchestrated effort to ensure that the 9 people who did several jobs at once were able to either fold things up before, or tilt things over and rotate things to ensure the one perfect take.
Great piece.. I wonder of those 85 takes how many times did the train derail! I remember playing with my Dad’s model rail road (HO scale) when I was a kid and even the slightest glitch between track sections would cause derailments. Of course, as a kid I found that to be great fun and looked forward to them!! haha.
Fantastic!! John, you have found the best pieces I have seen in our field. Merry Christmas to all of the Nacks!!