Animatronic wonders of John Nolan

John Nolan is a special effects roboticist who creates stunning animatronic effects for film and elsewhere. His showreel, above, is a mesmerizing tour of the uncanny valley where he dwells.

Amazing Animatronics by John Nolan (Thanks, Quinn!)

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: sfx

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pinehead

I would love to know how to make some hand extensions like those shown in the video. Surely some hardcore cosplayer or LARPer could point me in the right direction?
SamSam

How…. how do I get a job with this man?
CoquiELF

Squee and eeeew all in the same package.
Tim

When I saw some of those things, my first thought was “That would look awesome in Hellboy III”, then I looked at his IMDB page and saw he worked on Hellboy II, which makes perfect sense.

I hope he has more stuff he’s working on. I could see him and Weta Workshop doing amazing stuff with The Hobbit, but it doesn’t look like he’s working with that.

Very amazing stuff.
Kosmoid

That’s some banana.
nixiebunny

It’s all so mechanical! I like the way that a just a few actuators cause the entire facial expression to change.

Reminds me of the guts of a Selectric typewriter.
mbdrake

Ah, I wanted to be an animatronics specialist. Almost ended up on work experience at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop when I was at secondary school. Never happened due to work commitments.

Fast forward some fifteen years later and I started working for a Soho based visual effects in London which constantly replaces animatronic characters for all-singing, all-dancing CG characters. Around the same time Jim Henson’s Creature Shop closes in London – presumably because it couldn’t compete with the countless Soho VFX shops who can undercut the expense of animatronic characters.

Still think animatronics are a worthy combination of art and science – such a pity it’s not used so much these days :(
BikerRay

The cow at 1:52 had me Google “fringe cow” to see if the one used in Fringe was real. Apparently it is. Neat stuff.
simonbarsinister

I want to trick or treat at HIS house on Halloween!
lilomar

Lady Gaga is an automaton? This explains so much…
Lobster

Fact: John Nolan built Nolan North.
CaptObvious

awesome stuff, but this reel is like 4 minutes too long. You’d get the same idea with a shorter, punchier piece. and the music could be better…