Week 8

(potentially) ONE OF THE FOUR 

https://vimeo.com/375295804

Feeling rather out of creative spirit in the past few weeks, I knew I had to do something about it. Especially with approaching CoP deadline and Christmas time when I need to finish my animatic for the main EP project. Struggling to even approach materials and just play around posed a huge barrier, however remembering the lesson learnt at the Twilight Cafe workshop a few weeks back when I made the pom poms - even 15 minutes of something creative can lift your spirit. I decided to put aside all the Uni work and play with cardboard and masking tape instead (materials I need to experiment with for my CoP final, I just did not have any energy to do so). I have also invited over a few friends, to create a positive working environment for getting our hands on different materials and bouncing ideas off each other, or just getting on with Uni work. 

Saturday: I made this cat from brown paper and masking tape

Sunday:
Tried Polymorph for the first time - Georgia helped, she has used it before. I want to see how I can use it for Puppets for my main project.
















In return, I helped Georgia to make a moving armature for a butterfly, showed her how to use the software, etc..

I asked Petra if she would collab with me for LoopdeLoop with only 7.5 hours to go until the deadline, one cat puppet, and a vague story idea available. Few hours is surely enough to create backgrounds and refine narrative, add sound, and submit. :D

We made it! I have refined the cat puppet, Petra made the background and then we set lights with what was available. 1 lamp that can be set to any light colour + intensity and one desk lamp (which we did not use in the end as it would show shadows of the animator on the set unless the animator walked across the room before every new frame being taken to get out of the way. Petra ended up animating while I was handing her replacement blue blobs of plasticine supported with kitchen foil and pressing the capture button.

Then we did the looping edit after Petra's reminder that we can just reverse the animation.

Thanks to my boyfriend who did several versions of the sound on an electronic piano. Sadly there was no time to get rid of the clicking noise of the keys. :(

P.S. still waiting to see whether we got in.
EDIT: we got successfully accepted https://www.loopdeloop.org/post/189370841344/cat-called-maria-having-a-chill-evening-by-the

Week7

MAF week

Characters in the story: Father, Small Child, Cat

Characters in the story within the story: Mother, Baby, Mother transformed into a big cat

After communication with my character designer, there was a missing link connecting materials I provided and him starting with the character design; it was concluded that some more concept art for the project is necessary first. At MAF I met Li Marrable, LAU alumni. Li presented me with her art style of hand made and drawn techniques, which I liked a lot, and had a good understanding of the project when we talked about it. So much so, we have agreed that Li will do character concept art for my final film before passing it to my character designer. Hi has agreed to do these on a paper to preserve the hand made feel within the production.

Discussing the project with Li at a meal. 

At Manchester Animation Festival, I got refreshed with many new tips and information about puppet making and sets through  the making-of presentation of A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon 2019 and meeting the puppets from this film allowed me to ask questions about materials they used for specific parts.

Learning more about Lula and her friends

MAF Market - I had a good conversation with Mike Tharme, about using ball-joint armatures and its sections in the required parts of the puppet only, specific for the characters in my project. Something that means the technique is not completely ruled out for this project and it can still be on budget. I ended up getting a creature kit myself if not for this project, then to learn more about working with such armature. These armatures are expensive, however, saving money by using Too Good To Go app for food and attending the event by myself has saved me a considerable amount that I could then spend on developing my skills. I will be putting up a post about the armature I have borrowed from the University and why I felt the need to get my own.

Trip to Brimham Rocks - primarily a CoP research trip into landscapes, but also valuable for observing rocks where daylight and camera can get more easily than in a cave.

A badge/business card I made for MAF event, I made about 9 and one to wear, so time consuming, next time I will try to have a printed one! 

LAUAN603 Major Project – Statement of Intent

 

 The Spirit of a Silver Cavern

By Katarina Sucikova

‘A story about a father and his son, whose wife and mother is no longer around but the father is teaching the child about keeping her spirit alive.’ 

This project consists of producing a stop-motion short fantasy film focusing on bereavement in a single-parent family via a storytelling medium within the film. Finding inspiration in Fluke (1995), A Dog’s Purpose (2017) and Coco (2017). This project will result in building a portfolio as a set designer, stop-motion animator and will challenge project management skills of the director alongside camera framing and lights set up. 

It is employing collaboration with B. Gardener for character design, L. Marrable for concept art development, J. Leece for script development (specifically the dialogue). A production assistant will be essential to assist in the stop-motion studio and set dressers to be time-efficient. 

Collaboration with a sound designer is necessary and to be concluded in pre-production stages. C. Jeal is working on VFX in postproduction. The director will do storyboards, animatics and final film edit. 

Stop-motion studio space will be required for building and testing the set at pre-production stages and for production of the film. Number of lights and foils to be concluded further on in pre-production, two cameras with tripods will be ideal, and a personal device to keep time-lapse of the production. The puppets will consist of armatures suited for their movement, but some tie-down boxes will be necessary. Clamps to attach walls and to join the boxes for a bigger set are also required.

Week6

Staying Well and Thinking of Schedule

I feel as though I need to justify why is my story going to be made in stop-motion and why I am such a perfectionist/overthinker  when it comes to choosing the materials and techniques.

My notes on a theory justifying why animation for young children should be stop-motion animation.  

Making Pom Poms at a Twillight Cafe workshop - taking care of mental health:

I have been struggling to get started making art. I would not do what I normally enjoy - painting as I felt like I should be doing work on the project. This workshop made me realise that I really should take at least 15 minutes in a day to do something fun and let my mind free of worry to be able to evaluate my work with a fresh pair of eyes.

I needed a new wardrobe:

A lot of the materials I own are from when I was drawing and much younger and I have not updated my collection to be more specific for stop-motion just yet.

I felt very stuck as 3D stop motion demands a good knowledge of materials in order to make puppets and set. But after my negative and pretty much the only experience of puppet making ( I do not count the caver puppet from 2nd year, it went wrong in many levels too) in the 1st Year, I was not sure where to start. I knew that I did not want plasticine puppets for my project so this was a new territory.

To learn more about ball and joint armature I borrowed an Armature from the University in the hope that I will be able to build a fully functional puppet with this. Obviously, the armature is not a cheap thing and must return back in the same condition.

I am worried about this because the chosen technique and whether I have done it before or not is going to affect the pre-production schedule.

Trip to Long Churn Cave,  why not Alum Pot?

This weekend I went away on another caving trip, mainly because it would allow me to go to the Alum Pot ( an inspiration for my story) adjoining Long Churn. On Saturday I was feeling a bit ill and so I stayed away from cold, wet caves and missed my chance to go down Alum Pot and Long Churn exchange trip. The next day we did not have time for a long trip and so could only do Long Churn. However, the water levels were so low, I could have brought my phone if I knew. All of a sudden I was able to see the detailed surface of the rock that is normally covered with rushing stream. Amazing!

Week5

Exploring tradition

What a better way to connect with traditions than through a meal made by Grandma, the more pickles the merrier. 

This church looks like a cake in a fairytale. Hanzel and Greta? 

National Theatre at night-time

This week I have focused mainly on CoP research. Then over the weekend I went to Bratislava, this gave me an opportunity to emotionally re-connect with the feeling of Slovak traditions. This was good for the development of the film's story as it is carrying the storytelling feel that I have always connected with fairytales, folktales and traditions.

My friend who does tour guides around the capital city took me on a little evening tour so I could learn some more detail about Bratislava that I did not pay so much attention to before. 

I wish I had more time and could re-visit some of the museums I went to when I was little:

 - about puppetry - this would be great research for the theme of the film and the puppet's appearance
https://www.snm.sk/?muzeum-babkarskych-kultur-a-hraciek-stale-expozicie

- about Slovak villages - this would be valuable for set design and making.
https://www.snm.sk/?muzeum-slovenskej-dediny-stale-expozicie

Continued development of the script, including visual and written ideas for the set and characters: