Coraline box 42/50 -- treasure in the mail

Whoopee! Today's mail contained a much-forwarded, much delayed Coraline Box, one of the fifty handmade assemblage boxes containing carefully pinned-down puppetry artefacts from the production of Neil Gaiman's new movie Coraline (based on the sublimely creepy kids' book of the same name). My box contained puppet shoes -- four-and-a-half pairs, and a foot in flipflop ("Flip-Flop (Left) Father Size 12 1/2").

What a treasure.

(Tell you what, if you want to see how to intelligently market creative work online, go and follow Neil Gaiman around for a month or two.)

Coraline

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I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Art and Design • Book • Happy Mutants • Kids • movies

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IamInnocent

Poor panther…

Lucky Cory :)
Steve Stair

I’ve been wondering about the thought process behind the marketing campaign for the Coraline movie not mentioning Gaiman. Is he not as well known in the public mind as I thought?
harryhoody

You should auction this off for charity! Wonderful marketing.
Darren Garrison

Okay, who had 3 months in the pool?

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/18/viridianisms-last-no.html
5000!

I don’t want to take anything away from Neil but in this case Cory has misplaced the credit. The Coraline boxes were created by director Henry Selick’s team, the people who turned Neil’s novel into the film I hope we’re all going to see today.

And, not to take anything away from Selick either, but only fair to note that Laika’s marketing was developed in conjunction with mega-agency Wieden + Kennedy. Thus, the Coraline Nike Dunks.
grimshaw

That’s pretty cool, I’d love to have one (I have to admit though the dissembodied feet kind of reminded me of the itchy and scratchy film cell Bart got featuring an arm, and nothing but).
Anonymous

I wanted a Coraline box so much that I made my own.

It’s box 51 (of 50).

http://web.mac.com/bruce_wright/iWeb/Bruce%20Writes/Coraline%20Box%20Number%2051.html
monkey

another coraline box and other goodies from the film are available in a charity auction on e-bay today.
Clayton Hove

To heck with “want”.

COVET.
uberunit

@#33 – It pretty much makes me not want to see this movie.

Oh, go see the movie regardless of our feelings about Phil Knight! It’s wonderful and I’m not just saying that because I worked on it. It truly is a masterpiece on so many levels.
bobkat

Strangely, here’s a post that I actually have something to do with! A friend of mine works at Weiden + Kennedy and got me a gig making 15 wooden shoe boxes for the “ultra-elite” collector’s edition Coraline Dunks. The boxes are made from reclaimed antique barn wood and use antique hardware. Kind of a fun job, but they all had to be made in two weeks! That wouldn’t have been too bad, except of course I already have a day job.
There are several editions of the Dunks, but the wood box ones haven’t show up online yet… Keep your eyes peeled, sneaker freaks!

If any of you are really interested, I could probably make another box or two out of the materials I have left. There’s a link to my website on my profile page if you want to contact me…
uberunit

I worked for Laika, and I worked on this film before all of us were laid-off in October/November 2008 (about 250 of us). I can most definitely say that Weiden & Kennedy and the marketing team at Laika were 100% responsible for the development of these marketing gimmicks. Pretty cool if you ask me, but it would have been nice if some of the money they spent on the marketing could have helped us keep our jobs and the subsequent 75 they laid off unexpectedly in December. I loved working on Coraline and Laika was an extraordinary company to work for, but seeing this stuff being sold on E-Bay for thousands of dollars (as well as the Coraline Nikes being sold for $6,500) just sort-of drives the nail in to the coffin.

Thanks, Phil Knight. I’m happy your son still has a job. ::rolls eyes::
Darin

I don’t want to take anything away from Neil but in this case Cory has misplaced the credit. The Coraline boxes were created by director Henry Selick’s team, the people who turned Neil’s novel into the film I hope we’re all going to see today. Neil didn’t have anything to do with putting them together. I hope Henry Selick gets proper credit for his work on this film, unlike “Tim Burton’s” The Nightmare Before Christmas.
MatthewFabb

Yeah, it sucks that Laika fired almost all it’s staff. Phil Knight could certainly afford to keep the company going if he wanted to, but at the same time that would make it more of a vanity project than a real business. However, he should have been more upfront to the staff in what was planned for Laika.

Hopefully, Coraline makes a lot of money so that Laika can continue recoup it’s staff and continue making really cool stop-motion animation movies. I saw it Saturday night and thought it was a really incredible movie, so I hope they manage to succeed and continue forward making stop-motion movies.
Sekino

Dave Mckean’s art direction from the novel seems to have been passed over, even though he is an incredibly talented artist. His illustrations are what make the book. After seeing the trailer I thought “that doesn’t look creepy at all.”

My thoughts, exactly.

I was a bit turned off because the whole setting was way more ‘spunky’ than the book’s foggy, quiet, eerie atmosphere.

Then again, I grew up on european animation (Yuri Norshteyn, Paul Grimault…) which tends to be grittier. Some did scare me as a little kid, but it was also way more mysterious and engrossing.
Noelegy

I had the enormous privilege to meet Neil Gaiman several years ago at a comic con. I would give much of my life to be given the opportunity to do just that (if it doesn’t sound like a creepy fangirl thing to say): follow him around for a month or so. Unfortunately, people at my level of existence are very rarely given that sort of opportunity, no matter how creative we may be…I don’t even live in New York or L.A.
Anonymous

Nice fluxbox.

That’s what it is, isn’t it?
CoryOBrien

W+K just killed it with this campaign! Handmade Coraline boxes, custom Nikes, street art and all the small stuff in between; it was great advertising for a great concept, and the film itself didn’t disappoint either.

http://thefutureofads.com/2009/02/09/coraline-raises-the-bar-for-influencer-outreach/
Tenn

The movie was incredible.

I was enchanted.

More than one bumbling toddler whimpered “Mommy, I’m scared,” audibly.
Darren Garrison

Ah, I see these were given away, not bought. I withdraw my snark about the not buying of unneeded things.
Ben

Love it. Very Joseph Cornell.
Carl Rigney

@8 How often do authors get mentioned in movie marketing anyway? Anyway I’d figure that everyone who knows Gaiman knows he wrote Coraline, and everyone who doesn’t know Gaiman wouldn’t think anything of his name if it were attached to the posters. Although he has done a very creepy trailer about fear of buttons, and is doing hundreds if not thousands of interviews and appearances in support of the release, and twittering about it all the way.

Is it likely there’s someone who wasn’t going to go see it, but once they realize “Hey! It’s based on a book by a Newbery award winner; now I’ll go see it!” they will?

@12 I hope Henry Selick and the excellent folks at Laika are rolling in credit and profits from the film. I intend to do my bit by going to see it in 3-D this afternoon.
eustace

For those who feel Mr. Gaiman was slighted in the marketing effort, he features prominently in this piece; and watching it will probably increase your WANT level for a Coraline box (or fluxbox if you will :)
Anonymous

@26 – As a resident of Portland, a member of the “creative” community, and someone who was involved in the marketing for this movie, I can definitely empathize with you. I think that Phil Knight’s decision to lay off all those Laika employees REALLY SUCKS. It pretty much makes me not want to see this movie. Animators moved to Portland from around the world to work for Laika, because it was supposed to be this wonderful new powerhouse company, pioneering all sorts of new animation techniques, etc. Then he basically shits on all of them when the movie’s done. I guess there’s a lot of reasons why someone becomes a multi-billionaire, but being a good person isn’t one of them. How much would it really cost, ultimately, to keep those people employed? A drop in the bucket, for him.
Julierw

I am so jealous. I never thought of making my own- but it’s not the same. Do you think mine is arrived today? A girl can dream

We are seeing the movie tomorrow morning- can’t wait!
Kitteh

From coraline trailers I’ve seen, I’m not sure how close the relationship is between the movie and the brilliant book. I remember being very vexed that Gaimen wasn’t even mentioned in them. The line “Written for the screen and directed by Henry Selick” is very misleading. Also, Dave Mckean’s art direction from the novel seems to have been passed over, even though he is an incredibly talented artist. His illustrations are what make the book. After seeing the trailer I thought “that doesn’t look creepy at all.”
mdh

…and is doing hundreds if not thousands of interviews and appearances in support of the release….

And in recognition of his Newbury Medal this year for the Graveyard Book.

Give the man a little credit, he’s having a good year so far.
Bender

Mr. Gaiman is a very smart fella. Well, excepting the fact that he could have lived anywhere in the states and and I heard that he chose Minnesota. Someone please explain that one.
RER

WANT
Bonnie

Wow these are awesome. All kinds of jealous of the bloggers getting these!!!
7stargeneral

Yum Feet
Jeff

Bender, I don’t know where in Minnesota, but the twin cities are very nice. But yeah, I know what you mean. What we survive makes us stronger and all that.
Anonymous

How about a little credit to Henry Selick here, the visionary stop-motion director who adapted Coraline for the screen?
wobblesthegoose

A box full of disembodied feet, eh? And you didn’t even have to find them on a Canadian beach. Lucky.
thetoolbar

coraline vs pink panther 2 this weekend!

http://whichmoviewillamericachoosethisweekend.com/

hahahaha
coop

and 42/50, the best number of all!
KidDork

@21–On the Canada A.M. interview this week, McKean’s illustrations were set behind Neil as he spoke. He explained that Selick already had the Coraline screenplay (since Neil had sent it to him) long before McKean’s illustrations appeared.

What I took from that was that Selick had already begun thinking about his take on the story long before the illustrations appeared. Neil himself said Selick may have been influenced by them, had he seen them.