Tuesday 2 June 2020

Main Project, Plan B, Week 5 and 6.5

Animating Last of Set 1

  • Clothes, helmet, torch for the puppet of Nina, definitely I am finding this a lot easier now that I had plenty of practice.
  • Sourcing rigging method for Set 2 - recently I was given about a  2xA3 size sheet of steel so I will be able to hold the puppet on the set by putting magnets in its shoes. 
  • Set 2 Animation will consist of patches of set, as there really is no need for full sets here. This will enhance the feel of a story within the story. 
  • That caver puppet has slightly had to change in the design to be able to carry the battery pack. I simply did not put harness on her as with the backpack it would be too much noise. 
  • Naomi Crame did my Title and End, I really like it, it took a few tries but now it fits the theme well. 
  • Matteo Falco did fantastic job with the music in the animated parts as well as the animatic parts of the film.
  • Tom Kavanagh, who did SFX for my Quickdraw challenge film did also fantastic job with SFX on the Set1 animation in fairly short time. I am honoured to be able to work with such talented people this year. 


Re-making the pendant that Petra made for me as the original is locked up at the University.


Preparation for making boots

Wrapping feet in plasticine then latex layers

Removing plasticine, putting the boots back on

Plasticine helmet mould

Making helmet out of Polymorph coloured with acrylic paint

Fully working helmet with mini LED torch

Plasticine mould for shoe soles. 

Same technique just different colour latex. Aluminium foil coated with latex and sprinkled with sugar for set 2

Making Fireflies out of epoxy putty

So many of them

Coating it with blue glow in dark paint

It is so pretty

Animating the silhouette for shadow play

Animating fireflies

Cave creation before dressing

Base for set 2 including steel base (covered with sugar) 

Tuesday 19 May 2020

Expanding Experience in Puppet Making

2 Day Workshop with Jennifer Kidd


 

Why? I cannot explain this but I better learn a new skill when I have the opportunity to do it under direct guidance and supervision. I think it helps me to put overthinking aside and so I learn the skill quicker. Which is difficult, considering how independent it is studying the undergraduate course. 

I still remember crystal clear the basic wire armature workshop from 1st Year. Except it did not work for me on many levels then: 
  • My character design was printed in what I thought would be large enough but turned out to be a way too hard to work with the scale vs. detail. 
  • I borrowed a leftover epoxy putty when I ran out and it probably was not mixed well enough because my puppet cracked in that spot (always check your Milliput).
  • The clay kept breaking at any simple movements, I guess if I had to work with it again, I would actually resculpt it frame by frame or where needed, but then I found it frustrating. Even now, I prefer a puppet with clothes or at least so that the joints are hidden and free to move. 
Therefore, when the opportunity to do an advanced puppet fabrication workshop raised, I chose to do it. https://www.control-art-delete.com The fact that I could do this during the Covid-19 lockdown via Zoom was a plus. Jennifer Kidd who ran the workshop is an Animation Director and Art Director with a wonderful portfolio

What went well?
  • opportunity to ask questions to a professional puppet maker
  • created a bond with epoxy glue, really, I have been avoiding it but now we are besties
  • created a functional, lightweight, posable puppet
  • confidence boost in puppet making, skill for future projects

I have been left with many tips on different glue applications (a topic I was getting anxious about, glue, same as Macs do not get along with me well) and places for sourcing some materials: 

What went wrong?
  •  Apart from the internet connection, occasional glue spill and a small cut, nothing.
When my financial situation allows, I will book myself onto a professional Malvern armature workshop. 


Sunday 17 May 2020

Main Project, Plan B, Week 4

Rest of the Props, Cat puppet and Animating

To make the puppet, I turned to one of my favourite techniques, that is painting sculpted plasticine. It is a fast technique to make. The puppet should last just fine for the amount of scenes it is used for. 


 I have limited the puppet so that it is recognisable but not over complicated.


Making the cat puppet. Balsawood inside the head to keep it lightweight. The puppet is larger than the first make. I do not think it matters too much and the first puppet fits well in the first set, but the big cat will be easier to animate.
The puppet is bulked out with two types of bandage and then felt is added on the whole body. The nose is made from coloured Polymorph and the legs and eyes are painted on. 


I could turn into a nocturnal person or try blacking out the room. I used some black bedsheets I bought for this purpose at the beginning of the lockdown. Unfortunately it is not thick enough, it does the job of stopping light reflection from wall space. 

I also got a blackout temporary foil for the windows, only to find out it is not supposed to be on the windows during the day despite it saying to be suitable for film makers - it is a risk of a thermal damage to the windows. So if I use it I need to put it up and take it down again in suitable times. 



 The props were missing something. On the set make 1 I did add texture to all furniture, this balsawood is too thin for that. Remembering a technique I did in A-level art, using bleach, I tested it on the back of the furniture. Happy with the result, I painted on these nature and Slovak folk inspired patterns.



 I also added green layer of paint on the lamp to make it more uniform and less bright when switched on.


Small chair prop, again, simplifying the design from previous set.  


 Box for the red puppet. 


Making buttons for dad's puppet dungarees. 



Set up for the first set, I have 3 light sources apart from the annoying daylight. One is a white LED bulb light dissolved by a piece of bed sheet above the set. Second one is a lamp sat on the table pointed at a was out of the scenes, covered with an A4 piece of paper to dissolve the light and avoid harsh shadows. The last one is the bulb made into a bedside lamp (remote control operated. 


I taped down props and puppets where possible and out of camera view to avoid unwanted movements. 


Happy to be finally able to start animation on this set, I did not resist taking a photo.


Really happy with how it looks even though I really miss the look of the first set, it feels more composed and detailed with all the materials and props thought through, whereas the remake is more of a result of what materials I could get hang of in the time being.  

Remake of Set 1

Set 1
Since I cannot print off the storyboard, I wrote down notes for each scene and the transitions, puppets movements at the beginning and end of each. 


This is an attempt in mapping out a panning scene guide, which I did not end up doing as it is an all day 12 seconds scene. Instead I focused on the puppet acting in this scene.  



Here is how the animating went this week:

#1 I have replaced two scenes (window still and pan from window to bed) with one still scene. By doing so I saved on making the wall with a window and I could focus on puppet animation instead.
Problem was the bedside lamp cable, Unfortunately, I had to lead it through the set and glue dots or black tack did not hold it down well enough. I did not want to damage the cable with a glue. This needs to be edited out in post production. Another issue was that it is a very long scene and so I animated some of it in natural light and some of it at night. Despite my efforts to blackout the room, there is slight change in light. Lastly, I do not own a rig and the cat puppet would benefit from one. I used dots of black tack and white tack to keep its feet down, the puppet fell over countless times and made the rug shift when walking over (despite it being black tacked down, maybe I should have glued down the whole rug, next time). Despite these cosmetic faults I am super pleased with the cat animation. Dad could have put Julka down slower but again, probably would need a different set up on the set to allow that. Reference videos I used for the cat movement:




#2 This was actually the first scene I animated, I struggled to keep the lamp in one place as my knuckles kept hitting it while animating Dad's hand. I may reshoot it if I have time, as the lamp looks gigantic compared to Dad. 


#3 I am not too happy with the puppets expressions, the scene makes more sense with sound. However, the main part, poking the nose, worked out very well, it has got the gentle feel to it that I was going for. 


#4 This scene, I was going to simply make Dad take the box. again, I do not have a rig for it so instead, he takes out the puppet. I added some lovely anticipation here. But cannot close an eye to the chair that keeps wobbling in the background. 




Sunday 10 May 2020

Main Project, Plan B, Week 3

Dressing 2nd Puppet and Props

Wrapping the puppet of Julka


Patching parts of cheeks around mouth with masking tape. Clothes made from old duvet sheet. Handstitched with some help from superglue on the detail

 Mixing paint for the skin

 Again using a see through pot to ensure all paint is mixed in well in latex


 Latexed puppet with added bits of blush on cheeks and lips.


 Latex covered hands and legs. The puppet does not have toes as it does not need it in the film.


Mixing yellow felting wool with coffee stained gardening rope to create a soft hair effect.





After having a few days to look at the bedsheet I hand painted, I decided that it looked dull and did not go with the theme well enough. So I tried dying piece of old white cotton duvet sheet with natural dye from turmeric, coffee, and paprika ingredients that do fantastic job colouring food.



This is the mix

After first dip of the fabric, it has got a lot of paprika residue on it. 

Water after rinsing the fabric off the residue

Fast drying in the sun

Taping down thin wire to ensure control over the miniature duvet movement

The supplier I got the first LED lights from was busy with increased amount of orders and with my LEDs and battery pack locked up in the University, I came up with a solution. To my luck, a bulb lamp fitted almost perfectly the lampshade I made earlier.

Carving a dent into a polystyrene block to be used as a bedside table, I used some insulating tape for added health and safety. 




What went well: 
  • Dying the fabric, fairly uniform colour with kitchen ingredients
  • Sorting out bedside lamp, the bulb is remote control operated so it can be switched on and off without moving the furniture and its intensity can be adjusted to fit each scene. So actually turned out slightly better than the first set. 


What went wrong: 


  • Really, the latex layer on the puppet should be added before putting on clothes. It was difficult to apply latex on the chest while on hands the sleeves got rolled up. Also, I had to do it section by section so that latex would not drip where it is not supposed to be. 
  • The dress and hair on puppet version number 1 are just more within the style of the story.