Animation Tests

Here is a show reel of animation tests for the set, and prototype puppets of the bird twins and the mermaid.... I only had 1 hour to animate as the testing booths were heavily sought after so the tests are not as good as I'd like them to be. But it gives an idea of what they move like...

After showing the tests and story board in my presentation, people said I should cut the hand opening the door. 

Set Ideas

For the set I originally wanted a thrust stage with red curtains but that was too generic.

Initial sketch

It also meant I would have to make a few versions of the set in different sizes to look in proportion with the various characters as the puppets won't all be the same size.

Sketch of how I'd operate the rod puppets on stage

After my tutorial I began thinking of other alternatives. As I'm interested in childhood and fears and some of the characters resemble them I thought I could house them in a toy box of sorts with a little door to each of their acts. The box would spin round and stop on a door painted with a character and open to reveal that character.

Sketch for toy box set.

Coloured in photoshop. Antique colour palette.

Next I made a cardboard maquette that i could do a quick animation test with. Using the magic of animation i can make the box spin with out actually having to worry about making a fully working axis (I hope).

It was harder than I thought to make the pyramid roof. I need to make a really good template for the real thing.

Finished Bird Twin Prototype

I finished off the puppet. The second head, I made form Miliput as I wanted to see which was better to sculpt in. I think I prefer Sculpy for sculpting in as it is easier to manage and I'm not having to race against the clock as it doesn't air dry. It is also cheaper. However, Miliput has a better finish which i can sand, drill, paint etc. Sculpting the bird heads is only a back up as I'm still hoping I can get some skulls.

I have brought 3 crow heads off ebay (oh, the stuff you can get on there...!) and I'm planning on taking them back to my parents in Cornwall so I can boil them up in the yard without offending anyone. Last year I pissed off all my housemates by boiling up fish heads to try and gets the bones. To be fair it wasn't that bad.... but then I do work in a sea food restaurant...

To get the skulls I need to macerate them (boil them slowly) and then make a rot box with soil and live maggots to eat the remaining flesh and get the brain out. Yum.

Any way, I also had a tutorial with Mary about my project and thank god I did. She helped me think about the overall feel of the piece, that its not a show reel but more a short film of vignettes. She also made me scrap my idea of the theatre stage as it was too generic. Will post the set stuff later....
She looked at my designs and said that the accordion I'd drawn was too 70's looking and if I want my film to have that Victorian toy-box creepy feel I should opt for something more like a squeeze box. This would be easier to make and easier to animate being played.

The squeeze box is made form neoprene and aluminium wire.

Black and Whit cos I'm hip...

Its hard to get the heads the same.

Making Prototype Bird Puppet

During workshops with Mary Murphy, I began to make a prototype puppet of the Bird Twins. We had to make a scale drawing and work from that. I didn't think I'd like to work from a scale drawing but actually it was really helpful and i want to make some some really well drawn scale drawings to display as part of my degree show. I think I need to improve on my technical drawing.

And (as luck would have it, not....) I can't find my scale drawing to put on here. But its all ok as I will be re-drawing it for the final puppet any way.

Referring back to the scale drawing

I made a wire armature using the scale drawing as a size guide. Then I made the 'bones' with polymorph. 

Polymorph strip cut to 3x width of wire

The chest is made from neoprene foam (yoga blocks) that I cut to shape. I glued this in two halves over a miliput core. The foam is very dense so it means there is a hard surface to hold whilst animating, meaning there will be no 'travelling' of skin, clothing etc.

To make the flexible form for the body I used wadding that I pulled into strips and wrapped around the armature. Using spray mount to glue it down and stitching to create shape. I prefer carving in foam, although this method is quicker. But foam carving gives more detail, in my opinion.

The head needs to be as light weight as possible. I used Lightweight Sculpy for the core and then made the rest of the head in normal Sculpy over the cooked core. K & S is used for easy attachment of heads, hands etc. This is inserted into the raw core before it is cooked and the head built around it. To make a moveable jaw wire is also inserted into the lightweight core as are eyes (if they don't need to move).

Diagram form my notebook on how to make the lightweight core.

I used miliput to make the feet and a tie-down in the bum of my puppet as I want it to be able to sit. To make the tie-downs in the feet i simply made several holes with a pin and stretched them out as miliput shrinks as it dries. The tie-down in the bum was made with a screw so it is more sturdy.

The orange chest is the neoprene foam, cut to shape.

Tie-down in bum.

After much wrapping of wadding. The tie-down is just visible, nicely hidden!

Prototype head made from Lightweight Sculpy, Sculpy and K&S

Prototype head no1.

Once the flexible body had been made I then added clothing. This was done by retro-fitting fabric to the puppet. I used old tights as the weave is small enough not to look out of proportion and the nylon stretches two ways and sticks well to copydex (used in very small amounts to make hems). I had to sew very carefully to make neat seams that were the right proportion and that weren't too visible.

I used real feathers as a ruff.

Need to make the second head before doing animation tests....