The creature known as Wink from Hellboy II: The Golden Army, designed by Spectral Motion, including a shot of the mechanical understructure used inside Wink's left hand.

He's the first one to say, 'I'm not an artist!' But he really is.

Lots of times, he'll even show us an illustration he's done. He's completely savvy about what we do because he used to own a creature shop of his own, so working with someone like him is much more collaborative he comes to us with a much more clear idea of what he wants to see in his films. Other times, we'll be working with a director who's very involved and who maybe even has some technical knowledge of what we do-especially someone like Guillermo del Toro. It really is about which robot will emerge as the victorious contender. Nicola Twilley: Are the robot battles choreographed, or do you genuinely not know which robot will win?Įlizalde: Oh, no, absolutely-it's a contest. It's pretty astounding what these machines can do, including what they can do to each other.īattling it out in Robot Combat League with two robots-'eight-feet tall, state-of-the-art humanoid robots controlled by human 'robo-jockeys,'' in the words of Syfy-designed by Mark Setrakian of Spectral Motion.

Most recently, for example, in partnership with one of my long-time colleagues, Mark Setrakian, we built anthropomorphic bipedal hydraulic robots that engage in battle, for a reality show for Syfy. Mike Elizalde: We are principally a prosthetics, animatronics, and special effects creature studio, but we are also a multifaceted design studio. Geoff Manaugh: I'd love to start with the most basic question of all: how would you describe Spectral Motion and what the company does?

Creature movies