Making Pip

Pip finished, mid animation.

I've made three replacement heads for pip using the press mould and sculpy. I've used fine copper wire for the hair, twigs for branches and black glass headed pins for eyes. I also used a felt tip to add subtle detail of rosy cheeks and lips once the heads had been baked. 

Head no.1
with copper wire.

Head no.2
with wire and twigs.

Head no.3
with twigs

The body is made from sculpy and wire, with a flat back and once its cooked I drilled three holes in the lower body to act as pin downs. 

Checking the proportions. (obviously there will be a neck!)

I wrapped the neck in masking tape when i cooked it
then attached K&S to the neck and head.

Pip's night gown.

I made her night gown from and old under skirt I found in a charity shop. Her bed is a block of neoprene foam that i covered with calico fabric and wire to attach it to the floor from under neath.

Monkey testing

As my original idea for the monkey was for him to be the barker and introduce the acts changed as my project developed I've been trying to work out what he can do instead. I know I wanted him to do a repetitive act, stuck on a loop or a circus trick. 

Playing around with him, I realised he's got quite an inquisitive face so interaction with the camera would be a good start. I like the idea of him being curious and I was performing him to interact with objects to get a feel of what he can do.

The concept behind my film is developing more as I go along and now I feel more definite that it is like an early children's TV programme, spooky little characters that are only on screen for a short while doing something that captures the child's attention. These sorts of programmes are quite repetitive in their nature so I want to take advantage of that and show the darker side of these characters being stuck in an endless cycle.

I thought about an object 'appearing' in his space and him lifting it up to find another object underneath, he looks at the camera, places the bigger object over the smaller and lift it back up to find the smaller object has magically changing into a different one. This action of the monkey revealing different objects would be repeated a few times.

  

                                 

                                

But then I realised that I wasn't sure exactly how to do this in the time I have left. I don't have time to make more stuff as I only have a week left in the booth and still have to animate Pip and film the monkey. I thought I could use photographs of found objects (having a rather large collection of antique toys I'd have plenty to choose from) and I could either pixelate the 2D upright photos or composite them digitally in After Effects. But that's when I had to drop that idea, as my knowledge of After Effects was quite minimal and I didn't want to waste time doing something that I may not be able to get right. 

Another thing I noticed was that he took to hats quite well. I played about with bottle caps and things to act as hats and thought that he could try hats on using the camera as a mirror, so interacting with the audience that way. 

Here's one of the little video tests I did...

Animating The Crows (Gorran and Bran)

Now this is a big test for me... animating to music. Something I have never done before. I didn't have a dope sheet or infact any musical experience. I had to listen to the tune over and over again, act out the movement and just know that it was in 4.4. So I knew that the concertina would go out for 2 beats and in for 2. Beats into seconds was just under. I nearly gave up at one point but seeing them come to life spurred me on.

My parent's friend Paul Spooner, who makes wooden automaton,
made me the paper part of the concertina. I tried and failed.
He's fab.
I made the rest out of foam and wire and painted it up.

Patiently waiting for me to finish their squeezebox.

Ready to go!

The music was performed by my friend Seamus. He did his own version of Frère Jaques on the accordion, a wonderfully dark sultry version. I had to edit it down from 2 minutes to 20 seconds but it worked a treat. It has a slow intro, almost like the tuning of instruments, double bass , this inspired me to have the birds on a turn table. I thought it would great if the lights came up slowly and then once the full tune kicked they would start to rotate round to meet the camera/ audience. 

Luckily for me, there was a turntable already made left over from a previous student.

So I turned the turn table round 1 cm per frame. Shot in twos. Nearly cried once.

Animating the mermaid.

I've been animating the mermaid for the last couple of days. The first day I spent getting to grips with her movement again as I hadn't animated her since last year. I made a new rig for her. One i made lie last years from a lighting arm and thick wire attached to it but it was very wobbly and she bounced too much. I then made another from a block of wood with the wire coming out if the middle so it supported her from underneath. This still wasn't ideal but it did the job.

I haven't enjoyed animating her to be honest. I've struggled with timing and giving her that weightless, floating in water look. At this stage I need to get the others animated too and if I have time, go back and re- animate the mermaid but it is passable for now and with her and the box I'm over the 30 second pass mark.

The first rig I made using the lighting arm. Last year it worked so much better.

The rig I made in the end using a solid base and a branch
style rig.

Playing around with lighting. She looks very effective
when lit from behind- haunting, other worldly.

I shot her from behind a pain of glass as I want her to come up to the
doorway of her tank and didn't want to use too many
digital effects. It meant that I had something
physical for the to press her hand up against.

Me animating.

Set up. 

I used tacky wax to keep her hand in place on the glass during a test but this
left a sticky mess so I had to just use patience
in the end!

Eyes

Been trying some options for eyes for the mermaid and Pip...

I really liked these aesthetically, but I felt that she needed bigger
eyes, being a fishy and all...

Sea-glass beads

Too flowery, metal, no no...

Now these I liked! They are mottled pale green and gold.
Treasures of the deep. The fact that they are flatter meant they
sat better in the sockets.

Snug fit.

I thought that flowery eyes might look good as she's plant related,
I do quite like them but couldn't find enough pairs. They
do look a little too 'cutsie'...

Quite liked the haunting pale look but it didn't seem quite right. 

Black glass headed beads. Perfect.

All the casts with their eyes.

Press Moulds and Monkey Paws

I've made a press mould for Pip as I will need to have some replacement heads to animate the tree growth. When mould making goes well I really love the process.

Initial sculpt and mould

Plaster Mould

Sculpy casts- pre baked.

While Pip's heads were in the oven I started to make the monkey's hands... I made them the same way as I made the feet: Wire armature, sculpted foam and retro fitting the suedette fabric.

 

Wire armature.

I decided to have rods that operate from the elbow so that his hands are
clear of rods when they are resting. The rod goes through the forearm into the
hand.
The stitching you see in this photo I actually got rid of as it restricted the
wrist action.