Production update

I am now well into filming, so there is not much to blog.

Here is a picture of the set up at the studio:

Today I finished filming the bedroom scenes (scenes 1 & 4). I am happy with them but I am also a perfectionist so I want to re-do some of them. But I will focus of getting everything filmed first, and if I have time I can go back and re-film the shots I don't like. This way if I run out of time at least I'll have it finished.

I have also updated my shotlist:

Anything coloured in blue is what I have done. So I have filmed all of scene 1 and scene 4. I have also edited these shots, they have been put onto the timeline with the animatic. Most of them are composited (mainly because they don't need compositing). I have yet to add the shadows to shot 35 and shot 10 is filmed with a green screen which will need compositing.

I am considering asking a second year to help with the shadow animation, as it will be 2D digital.

Final look

Final look
Everything in place ready to film.

So from now until the end of April, I will be completely focused on filming.

Animation tests
Before starting to film, I did a couple of quick tests. Firstly I wanted to try a blink, as I haven't used replaceable eyes like these ones before. Also, since I added light coming through a window, I thought about what I could do with that. After writing my dissertation on Aardmans animated documentaries and talking about 'Going Equipped' I thought about how Peter Lord animated car lights going past a window. So I attempted something similar.

I don't think any of these will make it into the final film. The puppet moves too much with the blink, so I'll either have to tighten up her joints or be a lot more careful when replacing the eyes. The car lights were interesting but I don't think they are successful enough to pass as car lights and to look good in the final film.

Catch up - making everything

For the last few weeks I have been focused on making everything ready to start filming. Unfortunately things got delayed due to dissertation.

Larger trees
I bought a load of wire to make much bigger trees, but I realised I would need a lot more to get the thickness of the trunk that I want. And that would cost an awful lot. So I found a way around this: using cardboard tubes in the centre, I could use less wire.

Silicone

After the mould making workshop with Martin, I attempted to make hands for my model. I started by making a hand shape out of milliput:

Then claying up:

Making a wall out of corex:

Poured in plaster, and waited for it to set:

Flipped it over and repeated. I then took out the milliput hand:

Next I mixed the silicone and put into the mould with the armature hand:

I left it overnight but  it didn't set. I tried again - with less paint and more catalyst. But it still didn't work.

Having little time left I decided to go back to the idea of using latex.

Face
I made replaceable eyes and mouth shapes out of milliput and sculpey. I realised that her face doesn't need to made out of silicone or latex, so i made it out of sculpey, so it was solid.

The replaceable eyes and mouth shapes originally fitted into the head using KNS but once the sculpey was baked, the eyes and mouth didn't quite fit. Luckily, the eye socket holds the eyes in place.

Bear and Doll
I already had a toy bear the perfect size (from a dolls house) so I just needed to make a doll. I had a go, making a wire frame and adding foam. But it was so small that adding fabric was difficult and didn't look good.

So I bought a doll online instead. Its slightly different to what I designed, but it is still a good sized doll, and the shape of the feet will make the giant feet interesting.

Puppet
I have now finished the puppet. I bought more fabric from the market and made her clothes.

I had a little problem with a knee joint, it kept coming loose, even if I tightened it, after a couple of minutes of moving it, it came loose again. Luckily, I managed to fix it by wrapping a bit of newspaper around the ball joint.
For the slippers I just covered the feet in fabric, they look more like socks but it still works.

Hair is cotton glued and hair sprayed in place.

I dipped the hands in latex and left to dry, and repeated until I felt the hands were the right size.

Set
I painted the walls of the set and made the bedding.

I got second years to help make the furniture, the clock and the paintings on the wall. However I also added some of my own painting - Easter Eggs of the rest of the classes films.
I had been trying to find a small working lamp for a while and then Deb said she had a battery powered book lamp that I could take apart. I made a base out of sculpey and a wire frame for the lamp shade. I then hand sewed fabric to finish the lampshade.