Five Nights at Freddy’s movie viewers are wondering if the animatronics are real or faked using CGI. Here’s all you need to know about the creation of the animatronics in FNAF.
Are the animatronics real or CGI in the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie?
The animatronics in the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie are 100% real. They have not been created using CGI, but with practical puppeteering effects.
As per NBC Insider, one of the first decisions taken by director Emma Tammi was to create the likes of Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and others practically. It not only allowed the budget to be minimal (a reported $20 million), but the film also felt authentic to its setting.
Similar to the game, the FNAF movie is also set in the 2000s. So, these human-hunting robots needed to feel practical. Tammi was convinced that CGI wouldn’t work and consulted with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in Burbank, California to bring the video game animatronics to life.
Speaking to NBC Insider, Tammi said:
“For all of the characters, there were multiple puppeteers operating at all times on them. It was this huge team collaboration alongside me as I was directing actors in the scenes if they were in the same scenes as the animatronics. So that was like a whole other muscle to start flexing.“
The lead supervisor at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Robert Bennett also spoke to NBC Insider. He revealed how Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy’s puppets were brought to life for Tammi and co to film. Bennett said:
“We had to make multiples of each character so that when we’re on-site, on the day, if Chica needs to be in this shot, but then the next shot is doing something completely different, we can build another one before that shot. Or we can take this one apart, and reassess it to get it to do what we need it to do.
Needless to say, the practical effects of puppeteering were apparent and totally worked for the film.
For more FNAF updates, check out if there are any FNAF popcorn buckets to buy. Also, here’s how the movie performed during its opening weekend.
