God Bless the TEAM!

Si, myself and the producers David and Peter have had a difficult week.

We all worked incredibly hard to get the animatic sent off and we were all feeling pretty positive about what we had put together. Sadly, we found that we had still not nailed the story after receiving some mixed feedback. Both Si and my self were gutted and our spirits were as low as could be. We were very concerned about how we might solve the issues in our story without changing the story completely. One thing that Si and I were determined to do was make sure that the story we ended up telling is still the same story we pitched at the beginning. We were starting to feel that this was no longer the story we wanted to tell. Its hard to fix something that you don't think it is broken. Clearly though our story was broken in some respects and we had to come up with something.

Then, like a glowing light in the darkness came our producers David and Peter. These guys just don't panic and they take everything in their stride. Peter being away on holiday in Philadelphia worked from over there and conversed with David whilst David worked with us. Their support really picked Si and I up out of this negative spiral we had started to sink into and helped us focus again. David arranged a meeting almost everyday last week and was keen to keep the positive energy flowing. We bashed our heads together and finally came up with something.

Si and I have honestly been through every which way to tell this story. We found it the most difficult and exhausting process. We were thinking to fix the problem we might have to take out one of the key characters (the father) We did not really mind losing him at this point as he was causing so much confusion. However, after discussing this with David we realised the importance of keeping him in. We didn't want to lose the heart and both Si and I never really looked at the father as being the heart of our story. So, upon realising this we were able to look at the story in a different way.

I think we have solved the problems but we will just have to see what the guys on top say...

This post is dedicated to all the hard work our Producers have put in! David thank you for all your help and for your time and hard work. Peter thank you for taking time out of your holiday to help get us back on track. You guys are the BEST!!

Back Painting Henry's face and arms

As Si mentioned before, we are making Henry out of liquid latex and expandable foam. I have been testing all kinds of ways of making him look sick. A cool technique is back painting. This is where you paint the inside of the latex instead of the outside skin so you see the colour through a few layers of latex. This creates an awesome realistic effect but is a ball ache to get right. I'm still working on it. Check out the images to see what I mean...

Testing Lighting

Si spent a good hour or so playing around with lighting and how we might cast Henry’s shadow onto the wall. All this hard work testing and sadly we will no longer be using the scene he was testing this for. I thought however he created some cool effects and it was worth slapping on the blog.

Preparing the Studio

We are SO lucky to have parents who are so keen to help Si and I in everyway and are supporting us to know end. Si’s parents have taken me on as a new addition to the family and have allowed us to use their potting shed as our workshop and studio. First job was to clear out the exercise equipment. I enjoyed standing eating my special K bar whilst watching strong men move heavy equipment. Thanks to Si’s older brother Ed who helped clear out his gym stuff and who made no fuss about us taking over his exercise shed. After all the shifting of gear etc Ed even offered to help Hoover the dead and alive spiders from the walls ceiling and floor for us.

Si and his Dad then spent the weekend painting the entire room black from walls to ceiling. It now looks like a real animation studio and we can't wait totest it out and see what the set will look like under some moody lights etc!

Plastering and sealing the set

Sadly I have no pics of the set as Si and I spent around 5 hours plastering into the night and early hours of the morning. This was a funny story as I assured Si we would get the job done in 20 mins…clearly I was talking out of my ass! I had no idea it would take so long. Si ended up sitting on the sidelines and eating digestive biscuits whilst watching stupid me trying to give the walls a smooth finish. We did it in the end but it took around 3 days to dry!!!

Painting the Walls

Getting the walls to look old and crusty was good fun. Whilst Si worked with our composer Pete (who might I add is fantastically talented and a brilliant guy to have on board our film!)

I started treating the walls to make them look as though years of damp and mold had been growing on the observatory walls. I simply sponged the walls down with a base of yellow ochre, green and brown watered down acrylic paint, and then ran a wet sponge across the top of the walls to creating a dripping effect. It worked so well! I then took a hammer and screw driver the walls and carved out the brick effect.

How Big...?

Heres me in the set...

Building the Set

Our film is set in an Observatory...oh dear I think I accidentally told Barry Purves it was set in an Orrery...what an idiot. Both Si and I didn't really think about the problems a circular set might cause. I'm sure Si realised as his degree film was set in a lighthouse...he just chose not to tell me until it was too late. The construction on the walls caused great concern amongst our fathers who scratch their heads and rubbed there chins whilst Si and I argued over how might be the best way of building firm circular walls. Me being the only one who has built a stop motion set before, stamped my feet and shook my fist at Si's plans on how we might go about erecting the walls. I ended up throwing in the towel and leaving Mr 2D to figure it out. He rose to the challenge beautifully and erected 6 perfectly circular walls. They all came together and stood strong and tall and as I looked at them it was immediately clear to me Si's determination and male ego payed off . I didn't want to admit it to him at the time but he did an incredible job and it reminded me what an awesome partner I have...and he lost 4 pounds in the process. It was pretty strenuous work and he got it all done in a couple of days!

The set is so big it makes me look like a hamster in a wheel!

The Goggles

Si was really chuffed to have received some fashionable safety goggles thanks to his Girlfriend Caz and her Dad, so he decided he would show his appreciation by modelling them for us on the blog. He did the goggle justice!

Si was complaining how he didn't seem to be in any of the pics so far...I'm about to change that... keep checking!

First Blood!!!

Despite showing Jess the correct way to carve wood (eg with the knife going AWAY from you) she still managed to cut herself and this film claimed its first blood! She also insisted I take photos so everyone would know what happened that fateful day and children might one day tell tales of her heroism around the camp fire....

We had differing opinions as to the severity of the wound, I said "it's just a scratch", she claimed "it's down to the bone!"

I bandaged her up and gave her some wine on a drip and she was fine.....for now....

Pouring out, mixing, relaxin all cool and shooting some b-ball outside of the school...

Here are some images of Jess making the cast:

Building Henry

Here are some shots of Henry being made. Jess has done as phenomenal job sculpting and casting him. It's a blast to see the characters we've been working on for so long coming into the 3rd dimension! It's also been plenty of fun experimenting with different methods of constructing the body so far. Looks like we're going with expandable foam and liquid latex, stay tuned for some shots of that.


































Next the body was sculpted. Jess decided to give him a slightly larger package than I had put in the designs.....she's a pervert.













In case you're wondering he doesn't have any arms it's because he's built to have replaceable arms rather than the usual replaceable hands. This is so Henry can have his sleeves rolled up without the joint being visible. Jess told me it couldn't be done, it's impossible she said, but I'm a visionary.

Character Designs

Here are a few images we did along the way of Henry and Teddy. Henry hasn't changed much since the start, even his costume has remained similar to these early sketches. Teddy on the other hand didn't come as easily but we're very pleased with how the both of them developed.

Henry:



Teddy:

Mackinnon and Saunders!!!

Way back in January we were put in touch with a lady called Sara Mullock who works for the model making company Mackinnon and Saunders. Have a look at the huge amount they've done at - http://www.mackinnonandsaunders.com/

Sarah invited Jess and myself to Altricham to visit the studios so in March we made the trip. Sara showed us around the workshops and introduced us to all the lovely folk who work there. After the tour, Sara, along with Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders very kindly took time out to to discuss with us what we needed from the puppets and offered their help in making them. We couldn't believe it, sat in a room surrounded by puppets from the Corpse Bride, Mars Attacks and the upcoming Fantastic Mr Fox!! We nearly bit their hands off when they offered their help!

It was amazing to see the puppets in person, the level of craftsmenship is unbelievable and we even got to see some top secret u and coming projects....shhhh



We refined the designs and Jess went back for a few days to build the armature...

Here is the rough layout for the armature, as done by Jess's Dad, John. Cheers John!

The pictures below show Jess working at Mackinnon and Saunders and the armature coming together.











































We returned the next week for a day with our friend Alison Cross who's helping create all the wonderful little things for the set. Ally and I even got to help by putting the fingers on the hands!

Jess really did an amazing job as you can see from the pictures and got loads of help from the guys there. A MASSIVE thanks to them for taking the time to help us out.