Sunday 5 May 2013

Dance Workshop

Sunday 17th March
Today I went along to a vintage chorus line workshop to learn a routine inspired by Busby Berkeley. I thought as well as being fun, it might inspire me with my project for the dance sequences. It was a really great workshop and we had flowery headscarves and giant swirly lollipops as props, which we used to make the kaleidoscope shapes that Berkeley is famous for. It definitely inspired me and gave me a few more ideas!







There were mirrors in the studio so we could see the lovely shapes we were making. Berkeley was famous for the surreal and huge dance sequences he choreographed for films such as Gold Diggers of 1935 and 42nd Street involving hundreds of dancing girls and giant props which he filmed from above to make kaleidoscope images.

(image from http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdreviews20/busby_berkeley_collection_dvd_review.htm)

Beside The Sea

A lot has happened since I posted my creative writing exercise. I have started turning it into an animation! The story has changed slightly from the written piece, but not drastically. I am supposed to be documenting my progress on this blog as I go, but anyone who has taken on an animation - especially a stop-motion animation, will understand why I haven't been very good at this! I have however been keeping a production journal and taking fuzzy phone snaps of my work, so I will post chunks of my back-dated entries on here!

Saturday 16th March
I have been working on my puppet maquette today. It is taking a while because the plastiline that I am working with is really hard and therefore difficult to mould. I have been leaving it on the heater to soften before I use it, then letting it harden to carve into it. It has become quite a long process!






My character designs have been inspired my 1920s boudoir dolls which were fashion accessories of the period. They characteristically have pale faces with large dark rimmed eyes and small mouths and noses. In plastiline they look a little creepy, but once they are cast in silicone and have hair and eyes, they will hopefully look a little doll-like and pleasant! My animation is about swimming attire through the ages, so I felt that a dress-up doll style would be appropriate.
  




Today I also ordered materials from Tiranti, which is where my producer for Shoes!, Jen ordered many of our materials last year. As I am making so many more puppets this time, I altered my original budget and ordered the 5kg T20 silicone and catalyst as it worked out a bit better. I also decided I did not need any more plastiline, so I took that off of the budget. It was all quite expensive though! I have not been given an estimated time of arrival for the materials, but hopefully it will be this week so I can begin the molds.

Sunday 24 March 2013

1927: The Animals and Children Took to the Streets

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from The Old Market Theatre in Brighton, in which was a short article about the 1927 production of The Animals and Children Took to the Streets. I have only recently heard about this company and their dark production that integrated animation projected on stage. I read that they had sell-out shows around the world and hoped I would be able to see them someday. Then this email was advertising their show in Brighton and advising we get in quick before they sold out, so I quickly bought a pair and went to the theatre that Friday.


It was pouring it down with icy rain and despite leaving on time, we still managed to be late and were stuck with seats behind people with large heads that blocked my view, but I was not disappointed. It was an amazing show. So convincing was the acting that my guest did not realise that the person playing the male caretaker was in fact a woman.

The stage was bare but for three white screens on which the animations were projected. These animations were simple and dark, beautifully transporting me to the dreary dank world that the dubious characters inhabited. The movements of the animated characters were limited, not unlike the Flintstones cartoons and other animations from that era where animations were made more economical and less complicated. This only added to the charm and surreal feeling of the whole show.


The actors faces were painted white, much like mimes. This made it easy for them to become new characters at a moment's notice and helped to make their world seem darker and sinister, where everyone's faces lack colour and life.  


My favourite character has to be the caretaker (played by a woman) who falls for the ever optimistic Agnes Eves. His is the only character who does not speak on stage, but instead has a voice-over to let the audience into his gloomy thoughts. He spends his life sweeping the dusty floors and spraying at bugs - all achieved with the seamless animation creating the dust clouds and jets of bug spray.

It really is a must-see show. Does it have a happy ending? Well, I suggest you go and see for yourself! 

(all pictures are from Google Images!)

Tuesday 12 March 2013

In my second year at university, each student in my class had to pitch an idea for an animation and a few were selected to go into production. I was lucky enough to be picked and I directed 'Shoes!'. You can have a look at the animation blog for behind the scenes material: http://shoesanimation.blogspot.co.uk/

The film could be interpreted in many ways but essentially it is about an old man who finds a new lease of life in a pair of shoes. It is a stop-motion animation, heavily influenced by 1950s design and old MGM musicals. Here are some stills from the film:







You can also watch the trailer for the animation here:

 

Or for a better full screen quality, visit our Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/48040025

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Illustrations: Edgar Allen Poe


This was an animation project at Brighton City College that I so enjoyed making and have always planned on taking further. We had to make characters out of broken toys and then design a story around them. I found a poem by Edgar Allen Poe for my two monsters to become characters in. Below are two concept drawings, influenced by Tim Burton's 'Vincent', which coincidentally was also inspired my Edgar Allen Poe! And below those are two images of how I planned on animating the film; paper cut-out seas with the only light coming from the moon, which was actually a torch! I plan on returning to this project in the future.






Illustrations: Help I've Got Hair Monsters!

 A collaboration between myself and author Liesel Bernardo. 'Help! I've Got Hair Monsters' is a children's story explaining what head-lice are and how to deal with them, using fuzzy circus characters. Here are a few illustrations from the story.

These images are a mixture of my own pen drawings and found objects and textures collaged together in Photoshop. 



Illustrations: Little Things That Make Me Happy

In much of my work I like to use as much texture as possible. Whether it is animation or illustration, I love to use lots of crumpled paper, ribbons, buttons and anything that makes you want to touch the work!

Below are illustrations based on little things that make me happy, such as sitting with a cat on my lap or funny memories of my mother spilling pumpkins all over the floor of a supermarket.

To make these images, I cut out images from books and magazines and my own drawings and set them up in a dolls house along with doll furniture. I lit the scenes through the little windows of the house and photographed them.








Saturday 16 February 2013

I am now setting out on the adventure that is the Final Major Project, the last film I will make as a student! I have written up my idea in a story format as an exercise at uni which I found really helpful and a fun way to get the story out of my head and onto paper.
 

Beside the sea

A wide stretch of yellow sand, speckled with grey pebbles clustered like sprinkles on a cake. Empty but for the shrieking seagulls, crashing waves… and a small hut on giant wheels with its door locked shut.

The sea laps at the bottom of the neat steps that lead up to the locked door. Fresh sea breezes nudge the little shack, but it stays put, silent and still as if it grew on that very spot. Chalk white with handsome red stripes running down vertically, as if strawberry ice cream is dripping from the roof, the hut brings a splash of colour to the watery scene. 

(Image from: http://www.farringtonsforge.co.uk/signs_bathing/index.htm)

With a click that rings out like pebbles colliding under the force of the waves, the door is unlocked and snaps open. A figure emerges from the gloom of the hut, tentatively tackling the little steps one by one with her delicately slippered feet. A stout woman draped in swathes of voluminous fabric that billows in the breeze like sails on a boat. Atop her head is perched a large bonnet trimmed with a blue bow and strapped firmly around her chin to save it from blowing out to sea and to protect the expertly curled hair beneath. The face that peeks out from the brim is pale, almost blending in with the frilly lace collar round her neck. She sports a fine navy dress-coat that hugs her waist and flairs out in a full skirt. Intricate white anchors are embroidered on her lapels and the hem, so fine and dainty that mice could have stitched them. Her short legs are hidden beneath capacious bloomers that taper in to her little ankles and best show off her dainty blue slippers, now disappearing beneath the foamy water. 

As Victoria bravely submerges herself into the sea, her skirts balloon about her so that she momentarily resembles a buoy bobbing on the waves. Her skirts sink down due to the weights sewn into the hem. Her sight no longer obscured by her apparel, she can now see a gentleman reclining in a deckchair right beside her bathing machine. Victoria is startled by his sudden appearance for he certainly was nowhere to be seen but mere moments ago.  The gentleman is suitably dressed in a black and white striped bathing suit, although, Victoria thinks, rather too much chest is peeking out and perhaps less leg on display would be preferable. His face is mostly hidden behind a bushy black moustache and he possesses a healthy mop of black hair on his head. He smiles and waves and continues to soak up the rays of warm sunshine. Though surprised at this man’s appearance, Victoria resumes her bathing, enjoying the cool water.

Another quick glance in the gentleman’s direction and Victoria is shocked to see a small tent has been erected a short way away behind her bathing machine and the deckchair. Incredibly perplexed, she squints at the tent and sees that it is in fact a Punch and Judy theatre with a small gathering of children at its base, gazing up enraptured by the puppets. Still confused by the miraculous puppet theatre, Victoria cannot help but smile at the cheerful show and the sweet children sitting so nicely. Mr Punch is making the children laugh and the policeman puppet appears.

(Image from: http://virtualvictorian.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/virtual-punch-and-judy-show.html)

Victoria is suddenly thrown backwards in the water by something monstrous before her in the shallows. In an eruption of salty droplets a figure emerges, all shiny black material and flesh and water. It is a woman. Feeling faint with shock, Victoria regards this woman with growing disgust. This woman is practically naked. An obscene spectacle. Muscular and tall, this woman is wearing nothing but a tight little black bathing suit, her arms and legs on display for all to see! The gentleman on the deckchair has seen her too, but the expression upon his face is quite different to that on Victoria’s. He seems to be torn between dismay and wonder at the scantily clad figure before them. The puppet policeman is in a frenzy. Right on cue, a real policeman races into view and right up to the lady. Whipping out a measuring tape from his pocket he measures the distance from the lady’s knee to the edge of her suit then furiously shakes his head. She is dragged away and out of sight, much to Victoria’s relief.

Just as Victoria begins to overcome her horror at the flesh that was exposed, three women – or are they boys? – appear along the beach. Their hair is short and so are their swimsuits! They are long and lean and elegantly prance in the sand as if they had the beach to themselves. Victoria wades out of the sea so that she may better observe the scene, for yet another woman has appeared. This woman has had quite an effect on the gentleman in the deckchair: his mouth is hanging open and he is leaning so far forward in his seat that there is a good chance he will fall face-first into the sand. It is almost too much for Victoria to bear; the new woman appears to have been poured into her clingy polka-dot bathing suit with her voluptuous curves. Her hair at least is covered, but in a strange tight cap, brightly coloured with large flowers flopping about as she struts towards the sea.

(Image from: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/creative/retro-styled-stock-photos)

Victoria has to lean upon the wheel of her bathing machine to support herself as she tries to understand how her private beach has suddenly become filled with unwelcome, underdressed strangers. The lady in the flowery cap is paddling and chatting to one of the androgynous women not far away. One had wondered over to look at the puppet show, whilst the other was admiring the bathing machine. Victoria scowls under the brim of her bonnet.

Her thoughts are interrupted by sudden laughter along the beach where a young family are playing in the sand. A small boy and girl, dressed in noticeably brighter garments than those around them, are having fun burying their giggling mother in the sand, carving the golden grains into a beautiful mermaid’s tail. Only the mother’s head and shoulders are left uncovered and she tosses her long hair about her, pretending to swim for her children’s delight. Batting away the androgynous woman now by her side marvelling at her full skirt and bloomers, Victoria smiles at the family playing in the sand. The mother gets up out of her golden mermaid’s tail, brushes herself clean of sand and reveals –

Victoria gasps and falls backwards into the arms of the lady behind her. She had just seen… the mermaid woman… the shock of it! The sand had brushed away to expose brightly coloured, minute garments that only just covered the women’s essentials! Her legs and midriff were completely out in the open for the world to see! Woozy with shock and still being steadied by the boyish woman, Victoria watches as the practically naked woman walks towards her. The man in the deckchair is beside himself and does not know where to look as she approaches. One of her children is paddling in the sea, one playing in the remains of the mermaid’s tail. Everyone on the now rather busy beach is chatting and admiring each other’s attire, comparing hairstyles and materials. The sound of chatter mingles with the crashing of the sea and the squawking gulls and Victoria can hardly bear it any longer.

In all the din, another bathing machine has appeared on the beach. This hut seems to be without wheels however. Victoria wonders how on earth it has arrived there without the aid of wheels – it looks as though a giant hand has just popped it down from the sky. More and more people are noticing it now. Curiously circling it, trying to work out who might lurk inside, the people gather around the hut excitedly. Just as Victoria begins to tire of looking at the strange hut, the door swings open. The others on the beach lean in expectantly, trying to glimpse the newcomer. A gentleman’s head emerges from behind the door (the man in the deckchair looks disappointed) and he beams confidently at the assortment of faces staring at him. In one large stride, he crosses the threshold, out of the shadows into the bright sunlight. For a second there is stunned silence whilst every eye roams the man’s broad grin, strange dark glasses, muscular physique… and the alarmingly thin, bright green material stretched in a Y shape from his shoulders to his…

In unison the whole crowd gasps in horror. The beach swims in front of Victoria’s eyes. Women, men and children swoon all around her as everything goes dark. 

(Image from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-19755686)
  

Monday 21 January 2013

I haven't been able to post anything for ages! Operation Dissertation has taken over my life. It is nearly over however, so to celebrate I have been tempted by this competition: Darling has teamed up with Diego Dalla Palma UK and are giving away prizes! I have entered and I suggest you do too at http://on.fb.me/VaPrad or at the mobile friendly page: http://bit.ly/WpacOO

I have always been a fan of Darling clothes so fingers crossed I win something fabulous!