Screen Novelties

Screen Novelties is a collective of film directors, specializing in stop motion animation. It was formed in 2003 by Mark Caballero, Seamus Walsh, and Chris Finnegan.

Their work fuses classic cartoon sensibilities with mixed-media elements such as puppetry and miniature model photography. They were among the first stop motion artists to adopt an entirely digital capture system and workflow, beginning in 1999 with the pilot films that would eventually become "Robot Chicken". Screen Novelties was integral in the launch of both Robot Chicken and Moral Orel for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block.

Notable past work includes:

• Creating a stop motion animation version of the Flintstones for a dream sequence in The Flintstones: On the Rocks.
• Working with Ray Harryhausen, helping him complete his film The Tortoise & the Hare.
• Contributing whimsical puppet and special effects sequences for Cartoon Network shows Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
• Performing the restoration of the original Rudolph & Santa Puppets from the 1964 classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Their offbeat short films enjoy a small cult following, especially "Mysterious Mose” which was made in their garage in 1997-98, using a hand-wound bolex camera and an old 78rpm record as the soundtrack. The film mixes rod puppetry, stop motion animation, and silhouette animation.