Friday 15 March 2013

A Jumper for Violet




The first of what I plan to be two jumpers for Violet arrived today and it fits like a, well, jumper is rather apt really, made by the wonderfully talented Brenna Eaves 

www.etsy.com/shop/nutsaboutcrochet13 
(Again, Brenna offers ONLY Patterns on her site.) 

Yes, I've smiled a lot today.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Framing the Concept


Some Concept Frames for the project.




My "vision", if I may use such a grand word, is to keep close focus on Violet and work with the depth of field within the shot.
Creating a claustrophobic and incredibly personal atmosphere, something stark, cold and close.


Moodboarding


A selection of "exciting" moodboards.



Above: Inspirations and references for Violet


Above: Influences on costume

                                         
                                              Above: Influences on atmosphere and style


Above: Set Design and set influences


Above: A very early sketch of a key scene from the story in its infancy.


Above: Another early sketch of a mental image I had. Forms the basis of how I shall realise the creature. A mere suggestion of a Human form


Friday 8 March 2013

Violet's New Do



           Above: Violet before her fringe alteration. A tad too much forehead for my liking.


Above: Violet's taste in sneakers. Pentagram Traverses. No relation to All Star Converses.

Witty little Knitter

Violet's costume is an important part of her character.
When designing her, I make a conscious effort to give her a "wardrobe" of clothes that were believable, functional and understated, over-designed costumes always feel cumbersome and impractical in my opinion, especially when it comes to female characters.
I also kept in mind that Violet was moving in to her new home, and so would be dressed practically, in a warm jumper and scuffed jeans.
A key influence for Violet's outfit is Sarah Lund from The Killing who famously wears a fantastic jumper whilst solving horrible murders in Scandinavia. 

The knitted portion of Violet's costume, or rather crocheted, is being produced by the massively talented Brenna Eaves whose site is 
www.etsy.com/shop/nutsaboutcrochet13 (Crochet patterns, not fully finished figures)

These are a couple pictures of the Test items Brenna sent me a while ago using measurements I took from the puppet.





Unfortunately, the test jumper Brenna sent me was a tad small for the puppet, the measurements being slightly out. As a result I had to cut a nasty split up the back just to be able to slip it onto the puppet.
I nearly cried whilst doing it.

Violet shall wear a couple variations of the jumper throughout the film to indicate the passing of time. The colours shall be primarily dark rich colours, deep reds and green for instance.
She will also wear the jumpers with the sleeves rolled up, hence the short length of the sleeves in the photos below.

 And so onto the next batch of jumpers, with new more accurate measurements.



A while ago Brenna mentioned the idea of a simple design on the jumper which I rather liked, or I might have mentioned it to her, it's hazy, but either way, Brenna produced this terribly nice jumper with a wonderfully simple design on it almost reminiscent of Space Invaders.


Above: Turtle-neck unrolled

                                                                             


Above: Turtle-neck rolled


Above: Back-split on the new version of the jumper to allow it to be slipped on like a jacket and sewn up after.


Above: Brenna's basic designs for other jumper graphics which are under consideration, we are erring away from the more "pointy" designs, as we don't want them to point towards a particular area of her anatomy.

Incredibly pleased with the standard of work Brenna has provided and shall bring you more news as things develop.

Sunday 3 March 2013

Violet, Born of Winter.

And so onto something new.

As I reach the end of my BA year studying Animation, it comes again to the time for making another film, another Final Major Project in fact.

After the reasonable success of Prigley, I wanted to push my stop motion techniques further and intend to do something a little different this year.

Where Prigley was charming, quaint and verging on twee, telling an emotional and hopefully evocative story, my next project shall be cold, sparse and spooky.

For my next project, I shall be telling a Ghost Story.

It's working title at this stage is "These Four Walls" and follows a young woman called Violet Winterborne who moves into a crumbling and intriguing house by the coast.
She is disturbed by what appears on a canvas she is painting.
I want to create a cold, misty and stark atmosphere. One of breath vapour and creaking floorboards.

This project is incredibly exciting for me as it, personally, symbolises a new work ethic, to really cut away superfluous information and plot strands to make the story tighter and more affective.

The main "embodiment" of this as it were, is Violet, my first leading lady.
I was working on a male character initially and was getting nowhere, he wasn't interesting me in the slightest, then suddenly, in the grips of frustration, I though "Why not...." and so Violet was born. Winterborne in fact.

I started writing the story roughly a year ago as the production of Prigley began to reach it's end.
The story went through several forms, originally it was going to be a comical interview piece, which just wasn't working, in fact it was verging on painful at times, so I stopped that.
Then whilst at Broadstairs at the Kent coast, I began writing what would become the basis for this story, as a ghost story.
Finally when it came to seriously thinking about Final Major Project work, the ghost story proved to be an enticing prospect to bring to life.
After a short process of trimming and adapting what I'd originally written, I felt I had a strong story and still continue to prune and pare back the story to keep it simple and chilling.

It is already at the storyboarding stage and I have produced a proxy Animatic which I have showed to my reliable sound student who seems rather taken by it, a man who's personal musical and soundscape tastes err more on the darker side instead of the more charming cheerful stuff I've made him do (brilliantly) in the past.
Indeed he told me once I pitched the idea to him that he was, by chance, doing some recordings of the sea in a couple weeks time, which seems incredibly fortuitous I think.

Anyway, still very much a work in progress, and I shall endeavour to show more stuff on this blog as it carries on.

In the mean time, here is Violet, in a very very rough Concept Frame.





"One day, I shall come back..."

Right.
So.
I've been away.

(Poster by the lovely Lydia Butz http://lydiabutz.tumblr.com)

I've been busy, as I'm sure you'd understand. We're all busy these days, stuff to do, people to meet, projects to get underway.
You put something off for a day, say you'll do it tomorrow, and before you know it a whole week of tomorrows has gone by.

Shame really, but that's life for you.

Anyway, back to business.

Going back in time slightly, My dear group and I finally finished "The Reflection of Mr. Prigley" and I'm jolly proud of it.

It seems to hit a nice note with people, told by people, friends and so forth that they were moved by it, that it made their dad cry and such like, which is marvellous. Not that I take personal pleasure from making people's dads cry of course, but it's nice to know the one's work operates on an emotional level.

Here is the finished piece.
For full viewing experience, watch in 1080HD

The Blog: http://mrprigley.tumblr.com

The Crew:
Directed by James O’Neill
Producer - Hon-Choung Hou
Designer - Sebastian Leon Silva
Assistant Modelmaker - Rachael Lloyd
Sound Design and Music - Paul Freeman

I am indebted to the wonderful people who helped so brilliantly, worked so diligently  and did their best work to make the project happen.
What more could a Director want.