Dec 27, 2021

Create a zoo of monster dolls for the "Book of Ghosts of Frankelda"

Streaming platforms may be going all out to grow their share of the U.S. market, but some of their best shows aren't even available in the country. Exhibit A: Frankelda's Book of Spooks, a very charming kids' stop-motion series, which is now streaming on HBO Max - in Latin America.

The anthology series was directed and produced by brothers Roy and Arturo Ambriz at their Mexico City studio Cinema Fantasma (in collaboration with Darkframe Digital). Regular readers may remember their names from last year, when we premiered their striking short film Revoltoso.

There are five 13-minute episodes, which collectively amount to the longest stop-motion production in Mexican history, according to the directors. In each episode, children are spooked by a different set of monsters drawn from Mexican folklore: mermaids, gnomes, boogeymen, and the like. The stories are narrated by “ghost host” Frankelda; the tone is more comic than frightening.

The Ambriz brothers devised the idea for each monster themselves, then worked with a team of artists to develop the designs. This team was led by twins Diego and Sebastián Ramírez, also known as The Awesombrosos (We the People, Victor and Valentino). Roy Ambriz then finalized the designs by sculpting the characters. Around eight people worked on the puppets themselves.

Cartoon Network Latin America released a pilot episode on Youtube in November 2019 - watch it above. But for now, there's no word on whether Frankelda's Book of Spooks will make it to other territories. In the hope that it will, we spoke to the Ambriz and Ramírez brothers about the design process behind the menagerie of monsters …