https://vimeo.com/119225647
The above link is for the updated version of my animatic, based on feedback I received recently that the set-up for the conflict wasn't strong enough.
I wanted the Gopher in the film to be a device, not a main character, so the film focuses more on the Golfer, his vanity and his eventual comeuppance. However, when I test screened the film for different audiences, it was felt that the ending was too random when a gopher appears out of nowhere. Then, when I included the Gopher in the first half of the film, it suddenly made the ending too predictable - which was something I really wanted to avoid.
The best way to compromise was to have the Gopher appear in the first half, then misdirect the audience - making them think one thing might happen, then something completely unexpected happens. I was reluctant to this as it made the Gopher more of a character than a plot device, but I can understand how it creates more interesting conflict between two characters - effectively like a Tom & Jerry or Looney Tunes short.
In this version, I've used a tutor's idea to have a house blown up by dynamite as the Golfer's comeuppance. This was originally to be the Golfer's own home, but this then leads to a massive plot hole - the Golfer has won enough money from the tournament to buy himself another house, so he doesn't get his comeuppance. I went around this error by having the Golfer spend his winnings on a new, improved house - in fact, a Californian mansion.
Whilst I still feel unsure about the ending, it definitely works better than previously - it works better for comedy, whilst still keeping the same moral values I've always wanted this film to have. The Gopher has become more of a character, but the story is still about the Golfer, his obsession with fame and fortune and the consequences it results in.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Gopher Golf: Building the Golfer Puppet - Part #3
The puppet for the character of the Golfer will now be built from an armature made using Meccano. Meccano produces reusable metal strips, so I used these for building the armature along with separate components for the head and feet.
I had originally planned to use a Ray Harryhausen Armacreature kit, although I couldn't obtain the correct glue and other materials to make it stand up well. Meccano stands up on its own very well and it is a very strong material, so it was the most convenient alternative.
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The feet will contain nuts/bolts to hold them down firmly during animating.
To get the main body to its correct shape, I used foam rubber which was sown on to the character.
The arms are made from wire, since these will need to be more flexible.
To get the arms and legs to the correct shape, a thinner type of duct tape was used.
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Gopher Golf: Building the Golfer Puppet - Part #2
The Golfer's hands both have the same design, i.e. both have three fingers and one thumb which are all the same shape - leaving it ambiguous which one is the thumb. As a result of this, I was able to duplicate one hand to create another.
As discussed in my last post on the Golfer puppet, the hands were done in a style which would make it easier for the Golfer to handle props on set.
Both hands were cast from the same mould. A mini-armature for each of the hands was made, using pieces from the Ray Harryhausen armature kit. Small pieces of Milliput were put on the end of each fingertip. Both hands were then covered in foam latex and cooked in a kiln for two and a half hours.
The main armature itself was covered in different materials to get the model to the right size for designing the Golfer's clothes. Otherwise, the clothes would be creased in different ways in every frame of the film. The materials were cut to fit around the model's armature.
The model is now ready for its final stages of production - to create the clothes and create a head. I already have the materials, research and design work required and aim to have a complete model shortly, so I can start filming.
As discussed in my last post on the Golfer puppet, the hands were done in a style which would make it easier for the Golfer to handle props on set.
Both hands were cast from the same mould. A mini-armature for each of the hands was made, using pieces from the Ray Harryhausen armature kit. Small pieces of Milliput were put on the end of each fingertip. Both hands were then covered in foam latex and cooked in a kiln for two and a half hours.
The main armature itself was covered in different materials to get the model to the right size for designing the Golfer's clothes. Otherwise, the clothes would be creased in different ways in every frame of the film. The materials were cut to fit around the model's armature.
The model is now ready for its final stages of production - to create the clothes and create a head. I already have the materials, research and design work required and aim to have a complete model shortly, so I can start filming.
Monday, 2 February 2015
AX3001: Creating a Style
In the making of my film 'Gopher Golf', I've always imagined the film would be shot in stop-motion animation - even though this would mean time management would be much stricter, if the film is to be completed for its deadline in May. This is because each element and effect seen in the film would require a different approach. These would all have to be worked out accordingly before they are filmed.
Effects required for the film include:
*Water = blue tissue paper and cling film (previously used in my earlier film 'Catch of the Day': https://vimeo.com/66972956)
*Rocks = pebbles/slate collected from Wales
*Grass = rolls of Hornby grass/turf grass
*Garden Gnome = photos / miniatures.
*Walls of house exterior/interior = drawn or constructed from wood
*Background crowd shots = animated in 2D in Flash.
*Backgrounds = drawn or animated in 2D in Flash.
The film's main character, the Golfer, is a puppet which is being constructed especially for the film. However, the construction of the puppet has proven more complex and is taking much longer than first expected - which, initially, created huge problems by delaying work on the film's sets. To conquer this problem, I have now decided, under the advice of my tutors, to revamp the style of the film in a mix of 3D stop-motion and 2D Flash animation.
I've always intended for the Golfer's performance in the film to be the focus of the animation, so I could improve my abilities in character animation especially. This has been key to the development of the film's style, since the main character has more focus than most background elements - such as the spectators at the golfing competition, who are only seen in shadows. This means they can be animated in 2D whilst the Golfer, the film's main focus, will remain animated in stop-motion as intended.
I was encouraged by my tutors to develop my drawing style before creating backgrounds and background props in the film. Particularly my style of line drawings has received comparisons to artists such as French painter and sculptor Jean DuBuffet, whose work I was encouraged to look at for research.
I have also looked at previous combinations of multiple art forms in animation. Before directing his own feature films, Terry Gilliam was well known for producing cutout animations for 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' (1969) and the feature films 'Holy Grail', 'Life of Brian' and 'The Meaning of Life'. These combined Gilliam's own drawings with photographs to create a bizarre, surrealist style which matched the Python's bizarre, surrealist comedy.
The popular 1965 TV series, 'The Magic Roundabout', uses 2D trees and backgrounds, with the characters and all other props being animated in stop-motion.
Another famous use of this technique came ten years later, in the TV adaptation of 'Paddington Bear' from 1975. Most famously, Paddington Bear himself is a stop-motion character, whilst all human characters, including the Brown family, are cutouts. The sets are also paper cutouts, although the sets and characters are distinguished through the use of colours - the human characters are in full colour, whereas the sets are only partially coloured or completely white.
Whenever a character interacts with a prop, the prop is also in colour most of the time and crafted as either a 3D model or a 2D cutout, depending on which character is using the prop. In one scene from an earlier episode, Paddington hands a 3D object to Mr Brown which turns 2D when he receives it. Below is another example where Paddington is stuck in strings of 3D film rolls, in front of a 2D background.
The only time all the sets are in colour is in the 1986 TV special, 'Paddington's Birthday Bonanza'. This is also the only time the mouths move on the human characters.
.jpg)
This is very similar to how I can imagine 'Gopher Golf' looking, once all the techniques as listed earlier are applied. By adapting a blend of visual styles, my aim is to still produce excellent quality in my animation in the very limited space of time that I have.
The backgrounds in my film will take inspiration from these styles, using hand-drawn images which will later be coloured in digitally in Photoshop.
This is the art style I adapted for my first designs of the Golfer himself back in September - although the initial drawings were very rough. The final backgrounds in the film will look more refined with darker lines easing the process of colouring in digitally.
Effects required for the film include:
*Water = blue tissue paper and cling film (previously used in my earlier film 'Catch of the Day': https://vimeo.com/66972956)
*Rocks = pebbles/slate collected from Wales
*Grass = rolls of Hornby grass/turf grass
*Garden Gnome = photos / miniatures.
*Walls of house exterior/interior = drawn or constructed from wood
*Background crowd shots = animated in 2D in Flash.
*Backgrounds = drawn or animated in 2D in Flash.
The film's main character, the Golfer, is a puppet which is being constructed especially for the film. However, the construction of the puppet has proven more complex and is taking much longer than first expected - which, initially, created huge problems by delaying work on the film's sets. To conquer this problem, I have now decided, under the advice of my tutors, to revamp the style of the film in a mix of 3D stop-motion and 2D Flash animation.
I've always intended for the Golfer's performance in the film to be the focus of the animation, so I could improve my abilities in character animation especially. This has been key to the development of the film's style, since the main character has more focus than most background elements - such as the spectators at the golfing competition, who are only seen in shadows. This means they can be animated in 2D whilst the Golfer, the film's main focus, will remain animated in stop-motion as intended.
I was encouraged by my tutors to develop my drawing style before creating backgrounds and background props in the film. Particularly my style of line drawings has received comparisons to artists such as French painter and sculptor Jean DuBuffet, whose work I was encouraged to look at for research.
I have also looked at previous combinations of multiple art forms in animation. Before directing his own feature films, Terry Gilliam was well known for producing cutout animations for 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' (1969) and the feature films 'Holy Grail', 'Life of Brian' and 'The Meaning of Life'. These combined Gilliam's own drawings with photographs to create a bizarre, surrealist style which matched the Python's bizarre, surrealist comedy.
The popular 1965 TV series, 'The Magic Roundabout', uses 2D trees and backgrounds, with the characters and all other props being animated in stop-motion.
Another famous use of this technique came ten years later, in the TV adaptation of 'Paddington Bear' from 1975. Most famously, Paddington Bear himself is a stop-motion character, whilst all human characters, including the Brown family, are cutouts. The sets are also paper cutouts, although the sets and characters are distinguished through the use of colours - the human characters are in full colour, whereas the sets are only partially coloured or completely white.
Whenever a character interacts with a prop, the prop is also in colour most of the time and crafted as either a 3D model or a 2D cutout, depending on which character is using the prop. In one scene from an earlier episode, Paddington hands a 3D object to Mr Brown which turns 2D when he receives it. Below is another example where Paddington is stuck in strings of 3D film rolls, in front of a 2D background.
The only time all the sets are in colour is in the 1986 TV special, 'Paddington's Birthday Bonanza'. This is also the only time the mouths move on the human characters.
This is very similar to how I can imagine 'Gopher Golf' looking, once all the techniques as listed earlier are applied. By adapting a blend of visual styles, my aim is to still produce excellent quality in my animation in the very limited space of time that I have.
The backgrounds in my film will take inspiration from these styles, using hand-drawn images which will later be coloured in digitally in Photoshop.
This is the art style I adapted for my first designs of the Golfer himself back in September - although the initial drawings were very rough. The final backgrounds in the film will look more refined with darker lines easing the process of colouring in digitally.
Thursday, 11 December 2014
Gopher Golf: Final Animatic
Here is the final animatic for my film "Gopher Golf".
Link: https://vimeo.com/114233419
The password to view the video is: uclan01.
Link: https://vimeo.com/114233419
The password to view the video is: uclan01.
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Gopher Golf: Building the Golfer Puppet - Part #1
The Golfer is the main character in my film "Gopher Golf" and the main puppet I am currently building for the film. I was aware from the beginning of the film's production I would be limited for time on pre-production, so I decided I would have an advantage only building one main character for the film. I would be able to spend more time focusing on the one character's performance - how he moves, his reactions to certain events and emotions, etc.
The character is currently being built using a Ray Harryhausen Armacreature Kit - a multi-purpose make of armature. His face, hands and shoes will use both plasticine and silicone rubber, whilst his clothes will be hand-knitted.
Some early animation tests were done earlier in the year, mainly to visualise how movements such as a golf swing would look on screen.
Some changes were made from the Golfer's original design to make the model's construction easier. The Golfer's shorts will be changed to trousers, since either can be worn in the golfing world. It will mean that I won't need to separately construct the Golfer's legs using plasticine or silicone rubber; the trousers, made with fabric, can cover the legs entirely and the two different materials (fabric and plasticine/silicone rubber) will not need to interact.
The other important change in the Golfer's final design is the hands. It was decided that the Golfer's hands should be larger and more exaggerated, since he will be handling some large and heavy props on set (i.e. golfing clubs, golf ball, newspaper, etc). This is a technique often used in children's animation such as Postman Pat and Bob the Builder - in both of these shows, a character's hand will also have four digits instead of five. Again, this is to make handling of props much easier for the stop-motion puppets. This technique is also used in the 2D animated The Simpsons for all characters besides God, although this is more due to Matt Groening's unique art style.
The character is currently being built using a Ray Harryhausen Armacreature Kit - a multi-purpose make of armature. His face, hands and shoes will use both plasticine and silicone rubber, whilst his clothes will be hand-knitted.
Some early animation tests were done earlier in the year, mainly to visualise how movements such as a golf swing would look on screen.
Some changes were made from the Golfer's original design to make the model's construction easier. The Golfer's shorts will be changed to trousers, since either can be worn in the golfing world. It will mean that I won't need to separately construct the Golfer's legs using plasticine or silicone rubber; the trousers, made with fabric, can cover the legs entirely and the two different materials (fabric and plasticine/silicone rubber) will not need to interact.
The other important change in the Golfer's final design is the hands. It was decided that the Golfer's hands should be larger and more exaggerated, since he will be handling some large and heavy props on set (i.e. golfing clubs, golf ball, newspaper, etc). This is a technique often used in children's animation such as Postman Pat and Bob the Builder - in both of these shows, a character's hand will also have four digits instead of five. Again, this is to make handling of props much easier for the stop-motion puppets. This technique is also used in the 2D animated The Simpsons for all characters besides God, although this is more due to Matt Groening's unique art style.
Gopher Golf: Third and Final Draft of Script
This is the final draft of the "Gopher Golf" screenplay before production is due to start in the New Year.
-----
-----
Sound of doorbell. Title card
against a blue sky. A newspaper flies through the air and straight through the
Golfer’s letterbox.
INT.
HALLWAY - DAY
A
newspaper falls through the letterbox on a front door. A man walks over and
picks it up. This man is the GOLFER, a tall man wearing a green golf shirt,
hat, shoes and trousers. The man sees a large headline on the newspaper and
gasps - it reads "$10,000,000 prize offered at Golfing Championship".
The Golfer clearly becomes excited and nods decisively.
EXT.
GARDEN – DAY
The
Golfer carefully places the golf ball on a tee in his back garden. The garden
is very large with flat, green, freshly-cut grass, a pond and a single tree at
the end and fencing all around the garden obscuring the view outside. At the
end of his garden, the Golfer has very badly dug a hole for the golf ball to
land into which is clearly too large.
We see shots of these in the
order as they are described above. Shot of the Golfer looking at where the
golf-hole is.
The
Golfer swings carefully then hits the golf ball. The ball misses the hole and
lands near the tree.
The
Golfer GROANS LOUDLY.
Match-on-action shots of each of
these.
We
cut to the Golfer trying again. This time he hits the golf ball into the pond.
The
Golfer then hits the ball again. It's clear in his aim that he is frustrated
and not putting much effort into it. The ball lands in the tree. The Golfer
gives a fed-up look and SIGHS LOUDLY.
Quickly-cut montage of all of the
Golfer’s attempts to hit the ball successfully.
Next
the Golfer hits the ball over the fence and we hear the ball hitting an old
lady, who falls over with her bags of groceries.
Only hear the sound effects;
possibly hear a car alarm.
The
golfer growls angrily. The Golfer then calms down and looks at the golf hole
again. He sighs then proceeds to try one more time. This time he aims much more
carefully with greater precision. He hits the ball and it finally goes into the
golf hole. The Golfer cheers and shouts excitedly, then looks at his newspaper
again feeling much happier.
EXT.
PLAYING FIELD - DAY
The
big day has arrived. Another GOLFER has just taken a shot but the ball lands
too far from the hole. The other golfer cries loudly in anger and hurries off.
Our Golfer simply laughs as he starts taking his place in preparation for his
perfect shot. A large crowd is seen behind him sitting in stadium seating.
The other golfer has different
clothing to our golfer. We see the other golfer hitting the ball from a far
distance from where our golfer is.
The
whole time the Commentator is heard talking, the Golfer is looking very nervous
as he prepares his perfect shot. He keeps moving hesitantly as if he is unsure
at what moment to hit the ball.
A series of close-up and extreme
close-up shots follow of the Golfer, the golf ball, the golf club and the
target.
The
Golfer finally hits the ball. There is complete silence.
The
ball hits the ground after a prolonged silence. It moves its way around the
golf hole. Everyone is watching. Finally the golf ball lands in the hole. The
crowd cheers and the Golfer cheers loudest of all.
Suddenly,
the sounds of cheering start to fade. Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss
plays.
Sound effects go quiet; the music
is the only thing we hear now. The lighting also darkens.
The
Golfer looks in disbelief as the golf ball emerges out of the golf hole again,
moving very, very slowly. The Golfer gasps in horror as he sees the golf ball
is riding on a GOPHER.
The
Gopher brings the ball back up to the surface again in a shot referencing the
opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The Gopher’s face is first
revealed on the first “dun-dun’ cue. Shorten the 2001 music for the film’s shorter
running time.
The
Golfer slams his golf club to the ground in a similar way to how the apes in
2001: A Space Odyssey slam bones to the ground. He is clearly angry and
frustrated. It is very clear now that the Golfer has lost the tournament.
Clouds appear behind the Golfer;
before he lost the game the sky was pure blue.
The
Gopher throws the golf ball off his head, which hits and smashes the camera.
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