Before filming could begin, I needed to get the sets fully complete, for this, I needed the leaves added to set 1. For this I needed the help of the team, as they were helping to collect the crisp packets needed for when the leaves turn into logos. So for this day, we were all cutting out leaves of different mediums. These were two types of card, tissue paper, felt fabric and paper. Here you can see the leaves of fabric on the left and the appropriate size of the nest to the baby. When bringing the set into uni, this was the first time we could see the sizes together so it was a relief that the puppets as well as the diggers in the other scene both fit very well.
Here are the leaves below, on the right, you can see the offcuts from the fabric, but instead of throwing them away, I found they add to the nest. They help create the base and fill out the scene. The leaves then can all be different sizes to add depth, as well as any spare, can be within the nest.
Here I began to make a start. Adding in leaves helps to give shape to the set and make it look more like the inside of a tree. This is why I made sure to curve them slightly so the set wasn't in anyway square or flat. After gluing them, I realised I had used all of the same colour, so this is something I tried to stay away from in the future to add more of the abstract and collage look.
Here I have been making more of a start and have been adding the leaves, mostly around the base going up, this can be so I can add in as many as I can where the camera can see and not waste any leaves.
To add more shape and realism, I am not gluing all of the leaves straight up, I am letting them hang. This is becuase leaves go in all directions so adding some 3D elements to the set will add interesting shapes and shadows that the camera can pick up.
I have also been going up the sides so the set can be as covered as possible, as this was a worry when I started, as it is a lot to cover and I didn't think I had enough. It also looks nice having all of the different colours together.
This is after I have individually glued each leave into place, which was a very tedious task overall, one that took many hours to complete because of UHU glue not sticking so I had to hold them in place or balance them, as well as the glue going through the wire so not having enough for them to stick. So this was a task I would not wish to do again.
This is the final set with the nest within it and in place. I still need to add leaves and more depth to the set but it is starting to look like a nest, and fits with what we are doing by doing an abstract animation and of mixed media. I am also happy with how the set still looks large enough to house both of the puppets so there is still enough room for animators to get in and move them.
This is the overall finished set, where we were testing the puppets and how they looked together and in their habitat. Overall I am not over the moon about this set, I dont do abstract animations so this was a ground I had not covered before so things looked more childish and not to second year standard, yet the people I was working with loved how it looked and the aesthetic so this is ok and must be my personal style wanting to be different. If I had enough money, I would have done the whole set in felt, as it would have made the whole set fuzzy like the characters and really connect them together. It would have been something I would have loved to do and achieve. All in all, I am glad they like the direction we have taken this documentary on, but for me, it wasn't something I would have gone for but it is all about testing out and experimenting so this is what I have been able to do so I have still learned.
As we needed to film the outside end scene first, this caused some difficulty for me as I couldn't finish the trees with foliage, because we wanted them to be dead and on fire by the end so the foliage couldn't be present. One thing I did add was the vine going around the base as this was something that was a small detail but was one of the few living things left after the fire from the forest so this was something we needed to add. For this I had a spool of fabric that I spun together to create a small rope, that I tied around the tree to connect it. Then glued the top and bottom to the tree base.
You can also see the background that one of the members of our team did, as she likes abstract designs this was right up her street, as I would have gone down the route of an actual forest, and the tops of trees in silhouettes. Yet part of working within a team, is compromise. Here you can also see the size comparison of the diggers to the trees and how they are a good size to them. I wouldn't have wanted them any smaller or the camera wouldn't be able to fit the whole set in, as well as the diggers being too small to move properly.
Lighting is always a struggle when starting out, so this is why we started bright with a few lights, and then adjusted to what we saw on the dragonframe screen. The set up is the camera at the front, two lights either side to create natural light and the set in between.
The first scene is from when the trees are smoking and setting on fire. For this we found cotton wool, what they use in Aardman for smoke, and brought pieces in slowly to show how smoke bellows down and up objects before disappearing and going thinner. This was incredibly difficult to do, as I was animating one side and one of the members of the team animating the other, as well as moving the diggers. So we had to remember the trees, as well as the diggers for each motion. We kept pressing play to make sure what we were doing was effective or not, and we really thought it looked like smoke. It looks like cobwebs when still, like the image below, but when they are moving, it really looks like a smoke effect.
This is the end scene and what we were able to create, this made me very proud because in the first year, I wasn't able to take time to animate properly as I spent too much time doing the preproduction and didn't allow enough time. So this time it was good to be able to have help and take more care with the scenes.
No comments:
Post a Comment