Blossom

After having had some helpful feedback on the film from master animator Tim Allen (see my post about his visit on my main blog) I did some tweaking once more with the animatic. It's always useful to be able to take some time away from the story side of things and come back to the animatic with fresh eyes and consolidate it. Kit Wilson, the films composer is working on some new ideas for the music whilst myself and the model making team are cracking on with all the sets and props for the film.

Left: the storyboard for the film up on the wall of the workshop for reference
Right: Another wall covered with reference imagery and down the left, my colour studies for each act

Emma-Rose Dade and Sinead Oram making flowers for the film's climax

Some of the flowers made by Emma-Rose and Sinead

Handy

A collection of Ivor's small replacement hands made by model maker extraordinaire Emma-Rose Dade

I should have shot these by a coin or something but they measure about 5cm heigh and 1.5 across. Emma worked from my designs of the puppet and used various techniques to create the hands; they're made mostly of latex. The puppet is almost finished... he's just waiting a head. He also has tiny shoes with tiny laces.

Having done a presentation of the film to 2nd years and MA post graduates at Newport Film School I have gathered quite a team to help with model making and other aspects of the film as we push into production now. Sinead Oram, a 2nd year student at Newport, has agreed to help with model making which is fantastic and Mr Lewys Hobden will join us around Easter to support with compositing and navigating those dreadful things called computers...

  

Emma-Rose working on the hands and the development of the latex tests to finished product

Some rough set designs scrawled on the inside of an envelope

Foam, fabrics and fun

The new storyboard has just been printed from the new animatic, tiny hands scatter the table-tops, and Ivor has a hunch. James Hadrill has joined us and is busy making the costme for the puppet. We sourced various fabrics with small weaves from calico to cashmere. Ivor's clothes are quite dull in tone to help convey his faded spirit in the film and to contrast the scenery as it changes around him.
Next up the hands are to be painted with latex, the shoes are to be made (out of some old tights!) and I'm working on Ivor's head which will be made out of various materials including papier mache.

Emma-Rose in the studio putting the new storyboard together and James Hadrill in the workshop trying out costume tests on the puppet

Story

The past couple of months has been spent developing and refining the story along with research, various visualisation tests and making full-designs. What is perhaps the sixth version of the animatic has just been finished and model making is under way. The puppet, standing at around 24 centimetres, is made from brass tubing, aluminium wire, foam and fabric.

Kit Wilson, the film's composer, has sketched out some brilliant music over the animatic which acts as dialogue throughout the film, tying the various visual elements together and drawing the audience through the emotions of Ivor, the film's protagonist.

James Hadrill, a fashion designer from London, is coming over soon to make the costume for the puppet as myself as model maker Emma-Rose create tiny picture frames, paper trees, cardboard plant pots and more to populate the world of the film.

Visulisation

Three-dimensional painting: pre-vis of the world

A great deal of time has been spent testing out various techniques, approaches and methodologies in order to bring the story to life. The challenges I set myself with making this film were to tell a cinematic story and engage an audience on an emotional level through very humble materials such as cardboard, fabric and paper. These concerns follow on from a film I worked on last year, We Weren't The First Ones Here, where this idea was pushed to a potential limit in terms of using paper to tell the story and utilising the white sheet as a blank canvas.

Character Designs

The character, Ivor, appears in the film as a fragile old man but there is a moment at the beginning where we see him in a photograph as a young man with his bike which plays an important part in the film’s climax. This design looks at Ivor in both these stages – very much opposite ends of the spectrum. The fact he is more active and physically engaged as a young man further emphasizes his fragility when we meet him, he has lost touch with his bodily presence and his paranoia for his own safety is what drives the films narrative.

A productive day in...

I’ve been strapped to my desks today collating research, bashing out concept art, planning puppets etc ready for a pre-vis presentation at uni. I will post some of this soon.

The equation for the studio set-up works something like this:

Analogue/transition/digital
Paint & drawing/scanner/computer