 |
The hit Netflix series Stranger Things is steeped in 1980s nostalgia, from the retro-synth soundtrack and garish yellow wall telephones to kids on bikes. But it took a decidedly contemporary technology—3D printing—to bring to life the Demogorgon monster.
Series creators Matt and Ross Duffer, who go by the Duffer Brothers monicker professionally, specifically wanted the Demogorgon to project a 1980s vibe, in keeping with the show’s overall aesthetic. They approached Aaron Sims, founder of visual effects company Aaron Sims Creative (ASC; Burbank, CA) and longtime visual effects artist who studied under the legendary Stan Winston, to create the monster. As Sims recounts in a blog post on the website of 3D-printing technology company Formlabs, the brothers wanted to use practical effects. “They really wanted it to feel like that old-school, '80s-mentality, guy-in-a-suit kind of thing,” said Sims. This is a fairly unusual request nowadays, given that computer-generated effects have become the norm. Sims lobbied for a hybrid approach that blended practical and digital effects, and the result was a stunning success, as the series’ legions of fans—myself included—attest.
 |
| Visual effects company Aaron Sims Creative used Formlabs 3D printing systems during the iterative design process for the Demogorgon creature in the Stranger Things series. |
ASC’s Creative Director Steffan Reichstadt elaborated on the process in the interview published on the Formlabs website. “The fire, we shot real fire. The slime in the mouth on the creature, we digitally simulated slime,” said Reichstadt. And, there are some things that a person in a suit can’t do. “He’s not going to move fast. He’s not going to run after people in a forest. It’s just not going to work. So you have to be clever with the way that you shoot. You have to be clever with the way you build the suit, so that you can add CG enhancements later on. I think that the real success story here was how the two techniques complemented each other,” said Reichstadt.
Designing the Demogorgon was one of the first projects in which Sims used in-house Formlabs 3D printers. Previously, his effects studio would do the designs and outsource the printing. “To be able to grow [the creature] in-house, and see a design that we helped create from the very beginning printed right in front of us, was kind of an amazing thing. It was like going back to the days of when we used to sculpt with clay,” said Sims.
You might say it feels like going back to the future.
I encourage you to read the full article, which is both engaging and informative, on the Formlabs website. It also includes a brief behind-the-scenes video that is well worth your time.
Formlabs develops and markets professional-grade 3D printers and associated software and materials. Spun out of MIT in 2011, the company now employs more than 250 people across offices in Germany, Japan and China and is headquartered in Somerville, MA.
