Key Grip Jonathan Woolf Secures the Gear for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

The Challenge of Stop Motion Production

When it comes to working with small sets and stop motion, stability and precision is imperative for this type of production. Pre-production on Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio began in late 2019. It had always been expected to be a long-running production, but when COVID-19 hit only a few months later, Pinocchio, like many other films and television shows, was thrown off schedule.

Massive Equipment Requirements

"Because of the length of the project, it was decided to purchase all the equipment rather than rent it for obvious reasons," Woolf relates, regarding Pinocchio's extensive grip requirements. "Due to supply chain issues, people were struggling to buy six, let alone hundreds of C-stands at that time."

To support their award-winning production, the studio used over 500 Matthews stands, including:

• C-Stands
• Hi Rollers
• HiHi Rollers
• Mombo Combos
• Grip heads, apple boxes, flags, scrims, arms, clamps and other hardware

Why Matthews Studio Equipment

"A substantial reason I went with Matthews was that they could deliver the highest quality equipment at the quantity we needed. Precision is such a critical thing. Far more so with stop motion animation and motion control than it is for live action. I don't know if that many manufacturers realize how a flag can't afford to drift even a 16th of an inch."

Motion Control Technology

The film relied on motion control technology to create its cinematic camera movement. "People who haven't been around grips in general, and specifically grips working with motion control, don't realize how creative you have to be to support things and keep them rigid," relates Woolf. "When you're compositing shots, the camera moves are precise, computer-controlled, and exactly the same. Anything within the line of sight of that camera also has to be absolutely rigid and can't flutter around when somebody walks by."

Creative Problem Solving

The camera moves, lighting adjustments, and even grip maneuvers were orchestrated using special motion control technology to keep every filmmaking aspect in sync. For example, on a set of a great big field, there should be cloud shadows crossing. Obviously, you can't walk into the set with a cloud. That movement has to be synced so that it can be re-shot over and over again.

"The 'cloud' movement gets hooked into the computer that's driving the other motion control equipment. Then the cloud can move across in front of a light at a known, adjustable speed. Working with something that size requires a very intricate rig, because the motion control computer can only drive a motor that's so big. Consequently, I had to rig it with counterweights because the cloud was 20 feet by 20 feet on a frame."

Extreme Stability Requirements

The need for stability extends to the very stages that house the production. "Sets sometimes have to be bolted to concrete and even have to account for temperature control in the room because if you build a wooden stage, and you have a hot day, suddenly you don't have characters lining up."

The Pinocchio grip team went to additional lengths to ensure their equipment wasn't going to move accidentally. "The C-Stands were hot glued to the concrete in the stages," describes Woolf. "That's great until you spend 20 minutes setting up an intricate array of four C-Stands, and then it's like, 'Well, actually we're going to have to move it over an inch.' Then you have to un-glue everything."

Working with Miniatures

"Playing with little stuff is harder than playing with real-size stuff," says the key grip. "There's a number of animators who become almost a crossover between part of the crew and part of the cast. They move the models an iota at a time and need to get into the set to manipulate them. Getting stable access for them is critical."

Take the church set which was built on a steel scaffold platform because there was so much activity around it. Access becomes a very important part when you have set decorators and animators and puppeteers needing to walk onto the set. That could lead to things getting bumped and moved. "We rigged catwalks so that crew could get out onto the set to maybe touch up a little paint or move things around prior to a shot without disturbing the whole rigidity of the thing."

Professional Tips: The C-Stand Camera Mount

A camera tripod is a very nice piece of equipment, and it's generally stable enough when you're hand-operating a camera to shoot live action, but it's not rigid enough to support a camera that's making minute movements which have to be repeatable.

"This is a little-known secret, known only to the brotherhood of grip, but if you take three C-stands, with three suitable clamps on the tops, you don't open the C-stands but instead leave the legs folded, like you're building a tent. Then you take multiple sandbags, bag the bases of the C-Stands, attached the three clamps, which have baby pins on them, to the base of the camera head, and you attach the C-stand heads, one to each of those three clamps. You've now got to triangulate it, but you can grab that camera and it will be almost impossible to shake it."

Equipment Quality Makes the Difference

"I think my main contribution to the film was connecting production with Matthews and getting first-rate equipment that did the job. I don't think anything got sent back because it was faulty. I don't remember anything breaking. I don't remember any complaints about anything, and I didn't see anything waggling in any of the shots. The ultimate test. So it's not just a case of the people who are operating the equipment, it's the quality of the equipment. Everybody worked so hard and with so much heart."

With 55 years of filmmaking behind him, the veteran key grip concludes, "I can only say good things, apart from the fact that my wife won't let me go back and work again anymore, because as she puts it, 'You've retired three times. That's enough. You're done.' So now I am looking forward to staying home and playing with my vintage cameras."

Award-Winning Success

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was awarded an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 2023 Oscars to add to its many other honors, including Golden Globe and Annie Awards. The movie is available to watch online through Netflix.