Items Used

  • A pencil
  • Wooden Board Base
  • Foam (various sizes depending on how high you are making the mountain)
  • PVA Glue
  • Scissors 
  • News Paper
  • Modrock
  • A bowl of water
  • Synthetic grass
On the wooden board base I drew an outline of the shape I wanted the mountain to be. I took into consideration the placement of other things in the set, such as house, as to where the outline would go. After this I put a rectangular shaped area of foam on top of this and sketched the same outline onto this. The shape in the foam was then cut out using scissors and placed on top of the original outline on the wooden base. I repeated this step multiple times, however each time a new piece was cut it was made slightly smaller in width than the previous. This was so that when set on top of the previous piece the mountain would appear to go inwards, resembling mountain rings on a map. It also allowed the mountain to not be just a straight, vertical line, and gave some more definition - mountains are never perfectly smooth.




After I had made sure I was happy with the placement of the foam, I used PVA glue to stick each piece to the previous so it wouldn't fall out of place when moulding the mod rock over the top of it.



This was repeated until all pieces were secured down and the structure was more stable. 




After waiting an adequate time for the PVA to dry, it was time to begin using modrock to further stabilise the structure. In preparation for this newspaper was laid down to catch any mess that would most likely occur. 


Using scissors, I cut small - medium pieces of modrock from the roll, soaked it in water and then applied it along the outside of the foam of the mountain. The modrock requires to me sort of massaged into the exterior, forming a kind of clay like texture. 






I wanted to make sure the modrock went into the different crevasses that were created with the foam so I made an effort to push it inside and hold it in place to mould around these as desired. 


Finally the synthetic grass was applied over the top. I cut one large roll, big enough to cover the entire mountain and then painted on a lot of PVA glue on the back before placing it over the mountain. It was then pressed into the crevasses and held in place for several minutes until dry. I recommend having more hands available for this as well, as it makes life a lot easier!










I decided to research into characterisation and comedic timing for the project, to help us inject what we want into our own characters. This documentary, Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist, provided me with some very helpful information and advice on both and after watching it 3-4 times, I made some notes on some of the most important aspects I took from it. I really believe this will help us make more meaningful characters and environments. 

Chuck Jones puts an emphasis on the amount of time put into character development, mentioning how actors already come with an ability from other parts they've played, however if you bring in a drawing all you have is that drawing. You as the artist have to put in that character. This has put even more of an importance to me about character development - to really inject life into a character you have to give them your time. The least thing I want is to have characters that are less meaningful, less relatable and less full of life, so I will definitely be making sure character development is scheduled in properly and significantly. 

The character development is broken into two questions - what does the character want and as a result, how does the character move? Each character in a story has to have define wants that are easy for the audience to understand. How the individual then moves is dictated by what is going on inside, so to be able to understand the movement of the character you have to think like how they would think - their feelings, their goals, their wants. Jones gave a really helpful quote in saying, "If you can't tell what's happening by the way a character moves you're not animating."

The comedic side of the animation is broken down into assumption and reality - the gag is set up so the audience expects one thing to happen but then another does. This got me thinking about trying to think more outside of the box when it comes to jokes - don't go for the immediately obvious. The advice given from the documentary, and how Jones worked, to stop gags falling into the same routine is to set yourself disciplines and challenges. For example, in the documentary it shows characters that have no face or no mouth or are kept to one line of the same dialogue. The key is to have lots of rules about the world, character and their behaviour. 

I also learnt gags are also set up by human behaviour and logic - if it's not logic it's not going to be funny and if it's not human behaviour then how do people know it's meant to be funny? 

Jones' advice at the end of the documentary was to study a lot of art and to read a lot of books. He put an emphasis on studying the real world and putting it into your work, as how can you draw if you have nothing to draw.  It's not just about drawing a funny face, a lot of research and knowledge has to be done beforehand. 

This documentary helped me a lot with how to develop the characterisation of our story, as before it was an area I was aware needed to be approached but was unsure of where to begin and the right way to do it. Breaking it down into simpler steps has made the process a lot clearer and defined to me and it's definitely given me a starting point for discussion about the characters with my crew. 





Wreck It Ralph (2012)

Wreck it Ralph was one of my immediate thoughts when thinking about the landscape for the project. I like the use of vibrant colours and how various aspects are composed of sweets in relation to the title of the game "Sugar Rush" in the film. This got me thinking more stylistically about how it should look like and how creative we can be when designing the elements. 



It is also a good example of the exaggeration of characteristics in a game-like manner.  


The Incredibles (2004)

Mr. Incredible was also an immediate thought, as suggested by Tom, when thinking about the character for CGI. I particularly like how his strength has been emphasised through the muscles, but when you see him not in costume he also looks more relatable and "dad-like" through his stomach. 



Disney and Pixar (Eyes)

Personally, I really wanted the character to have the very smooth and somewhat cutesy style of eyes, as seen in a lot of Disney/ Pixar work. I want the character's style to not be an exact replica, but rather draw inspiration from and have a certain resemblance in some aspects. I want to maybe exaggerate the already exaggerated eyes that Disney/ Pixar have, as a reference back to the medium. 






Cartoon Network / Johnny Bravo

Growing up watching a lot of Cartoon Network shows has definitely been an influence in wanting to try animation. Johnny Bravo's character is a very good stylistic reference to the body shape we might be going for and his exaggerated movements and poses are also a good reference to what we want to do. 



Ratchet and Clank 

This trailer shows the characters, especially Qwark, interacting with the animator in a humorous way. The animator is shown to be the controller and dictator of what happens in their universe and they make a special reference to not anger the animators as a result! I think this is a similar concept idea to ours and a useful reference to how we should approach the comedy side of our film. 


Stopmotion

Creature Comforts (1989 + 2003)


Creature comforts is obviously a massive inspiration to me for this project, right through from the mockumentary style to the design of the characters and sets.  I remember watching the television series back in 2003, when I was 8 years old with my parents and just finding the whole concept and style really interesting and a  lot of fun. It's something that's stuck with me throughout the years and as I began to see myself wanting to make films it's always been a sort of dream to make a stop motion as a result. 

The original Creature Comforts short (1989), as seen below, shows animals living in a zoo commenting one what it's like to live there. I really love how non-actors were used as the voices, with the film makers taking the answers from the public and contextualising them into the animated zoo animals we see, based from their answers. It's amazing how changing the context a bit, such as turning a family into a bunch of polar bears through animation, can make such a difference. 





Aardman Animations

Aardman Animations is a household name when people think of stop motion animation and like Creature Comforts, Wallace and Gromit was a good part of my childhood television, created by the same people (Nick Park of Aardman Animations). I always loved the distinct style of Aardman, and how their work is automatically distinguishable as their own. 


Some of my favourites (other than Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts) are Chicken Run (2000) and Flushed Away (2006).  I'm aware that Flushed Away is not necessarily a stop motion film, and is rather computer animated, however as mentioned before that distinct Aardman style is kept nevertheless.




Tim Burton

 Tim Burton has done a fair amount of work in the stop motion area meaning he is also a great inspiration for the project.  One of my favourites is Frankenweenie (2012), adapted from his earlier live action film of the same name (1985), mainly because it's a stop motion about a dog - which is something I'd find very hard not to like! I really love the style, the cinematography, the story and each of the characters very unique and odd personalities. I think the stop motion style works very well with their strange mannerisms and adds even more to that oddball feel that Tim Burton often displays.



Vincent (1992) is another stop motion by Burton which I find very interesting. The short is about a young boy who is deprived of reality from his obsession with Edgar Allan Poe and pretends to be like the actor Vincent Price, who funnily enough is the narrator of the film. I really enjoy seeing an earlier work of stop motion and how it's developed over the years from Vincent to Frankenweenie. 



Here is a small mood board of Tim Burton related various Stop Motions for inspiration : 



Coraline (2009) and ParaNorman (2012)

Both films use stop motion as their animation throughout the film. I the characters and set design has been a helpful bit of inspiration as to where my own project should go with design. I have really enjoyed comparing the stop motion characters and sets throughout each film makers interpretation and maybe I'll be able to find my own style. 

Coraline

ParaNorman



The film begins roughly by one of the characters introducing themselves and their animation style, before going on to the next character in their separate environment. The film will flick back and forth between the characters in their respective environments where they make comments about various aspects of life 'on set' and give us film makers and film lovers / watchers an idea of what it's like behind the scenes from a unique perspective. 
Here are some possible ideas for scenarios that could happen:

Stopmotion
  • Talks about how he feels manipulated all the time (as film maker's hands position him constantly all day)
  • Complaining about having to maintain hard poses for extended periods of time while the film makers take each photo. He poses to demonstrate. A selection of photos could appear as a montage of him pulling various humorous poses on different projects. 
  • Talks about being there after film makers leave the set at the end of the day
  • Is aware of the outside human environment
  • Animation could cut to the film makers actually working on set. 
CGI 
  • Talks about how he only gets to hang out with friends when they are loaded in to the scene
  • When the computer is switched off nothing is there.
  • Talks about fears of being deleted 
  • Can interact with the mouse pointer 
  • World doesn't seem to exist outside of his boundaries - no knowledge of humans? 
  • Character looks out of screen boundaries and theres's just a black void of nothingness. 


Forming the Idea

Vicky's lectures last year got me thinking more about the medium and how to use it different, innovative ways. It crossed my mind, after watching many behind the scenes of various films and TV shows, what it might be like if the characters from the actual shows were interviewed rather than the actors themselves. What would they say in response to the questions? How would they act in our own world? Because after all in their own created worlds could they be argued to be somewhat real beings?  After all what is reality? It might not be what we call reality but don't they have their own reality? So what would it be like to merge our realities into one?
This was the scariest day for me in a long time! I know I said in my previous evaluation that no matter what happened, I (as I'm sure would be the rest of my group) would be proud of everything we learnt and ultimately accomplished in the end. However at the end of the day I only want the best for the film. I was restless the few days before, as everything became finalised to what we were going to present to everyone. Sitting watching the other groups present, I couldn't stop fidgeting and moving and I got several messages from friends in the class asking was I okay / nervous! I was looking at my group mates and everyone looked just as nervous as each other, so I sent a few messages being like 'We can do this guys!' to try and lift the atmosphere, despite being a bit uncertain myself. Watching the film I was holding on to Kat the entire time like 'AAAHHH!' It's meant so much to me for so long now that it's a daunting, but exciting process to show everyone the final result. I guess this is what it feels like professionally though! Even though I've cared a lot and tried my best on all my other projects, this has been the one that's threw me into a big learning curve and developed me the most, so I think I've been most anxious about showing it.

For the presentation, we wanted to talk about so much, as it's hard expressing the past semester's work into a powerpoint to show the hard work we've put in. It was nice to see after presenting, fellow classmates acknowledging our effort and complimenting us, and it really makes me appreciate our family atmosphere.

I also really appreciated the feedback from the tutors, and I think we were all expecting the worst, such as their reaction to our decision to remove the bubbles etc. However I did enjoy seeing their reactions to this and whether they thought it still worked or not. I think as a group we acknowledged our weaknesses pretty well, because we want to learn and grow from them instead of try and blame problems for getting in the way. Yes we had problems and yes they caused us setbacks, but I would never want those to prevent me / us from making the best film we could do anyways. I want to be able to say "Okay we had these problems this time, what can we do to prevent this in future?" kind of thing and get on with the work to the best of my ability.

I think one of things I'm proudest about is putting myself into new roles and situations. As a result I can now use After Effects to a decent standard in order to mask moving image, as well as other tasks. I think this is very helpful for next year, as it means I am able to do more of a variety of work with this new skill base. I hope making the effort to learn stuff like this in a short period of time shows my dedication to the film to some extent and how far I wanted to take myself in the making of it.

As said many a time previously, I am very proud of all of us for getting this far and I can only hope the others feel the same. Laura and I were discussing how much we've grown from the film and it's so exciting to be able to go through that process with your peers, and see how you develop individually and as a group. I feel like we're a lot wiser for future projects, but I know there's a long way still to go. I think as a filmmaker. or general artist, you're always constantly evolving and this project has reinforced this to me.

It's hard to thing that the majority of it is over now! It seems like a long time of work, but one that's gone pretty quickly at the same time. There were a lot of tough times at certain points but looking back on them I can say I did enjoy the challenge and it only motivated me more.

Normally I feel like I am pretty okay at evaluations - they're one of my few strengths (I think)! But I'm going to be honest, like I try to be with every evaluation, and say I don't even know where to begin with this one. I'm staring at this blogger page with a million and one things in my head in relation to Elysian, trying to fathom how I can do this evaluation the justice it deserves! I've decided that the entire journey needs to be split into several sections in order for me to do this the way it needs to be. So here it goes! I present to you my evaluation :

Part 1 - Pre - Production

My role in pre-production was co-producer alongside Katherine, which I found really exciting as this was a role I've never done before. Over the past few months, professional toolkit (in particular the disastrous 1st AD job) has made me question my place in dfsa, as I felt that I haven't fitted into any position that could lead me into a future job or one that I've been entirely comfortable and happy with. It wasn't so much a question of whether I wanted to be here (because I really do!) but whether I was worthy or good enough to be here, and I ended up feeling a bit down about this for quite a long time. So by the time pre-production for Elysian came around I was very determined that I needed to prove myself wrong and I was completely prepared to the throw myself whole-heartedly into the film. In my head this was my last chance, and I wanted to do everything in the world that I could to make this happen, with hopes that maybe I'd find myself along this journey. It really was a roller coaster ride, filled with extreme highs and some really bad lows. I remember the feeling of working so hard to make it happen, and then not being able to get a room and equipment. I remember the elaborate plans I came up with to sneakily book G27, as we were not allowed to use it because we 'were not doing photography in it' even though it was constantly free (we didn't use these plans in the end I promise, don't sue me, I was desperate!).  I remember seeing how low the rest of my group felt at times, after all their hard work seemed to be wasted.  I remember having the feeling that no one understood how much we'd actually done and worked towards, because of the room / equipment obstacles. My heart actually felt like it was breaking at times. I felt trapped in a loop of no matter what we do it seems to fail. And I was like no. No this is not going to happen. By this point I had become so passionate about making this film, that we were not gonna give up or lose the will to carry on with it. I remember spending longer than I probably should have, gathering all our information together and composing the project proposal / production book to best that I could. Because I really wanted to do the group justice and I didn't want to let them down any more than they had been. I think one of my proudest moments was when Rosie held up our production pack, along with Tom, Shahid and Lucy's, and said to the class how this was the standard to aim for. Silly, I know, but I remember after that getting little high fives from my group and being like, 'Oh my word, I did that!' It's the little things to be appreciative of! Every other task I carried out, before and after this, as a producer, I really tried to put my heart and soul into doing right from the synopsis and treatment, to the call sheets and production schedule. I tried really hard with communicating with our dancer, Emma, as she contacted from an Ad I posted. As stated in many an evaluation, I'm relatively shy when it comes to new people, but I really feel like I pushed myself, and after being the first person to greet Emma in person, to working on set, I feel my confidence has grown a lot compared to where I was when 1st AD-ing in studio shoot. This has been a major leap for me as being shy is a very hard cycle to break, and normally I end up very frustrated with myself. However this was not the case on this project, and I feel that's at least worth something. At times pre-production was very hard and we often joked that 'If there was a film god, he doesn't want us to make this film.' I'll admit there were days were I wanted to lock myself away in a dark room for a long, long time, but I didn't let that stop me and I'd always pick myself back up and say 'Lauren, it's not over yet' and I think that's a very good trait that I've learnt. No matter how bad things are, it's how you choose to deal with them that really matters and I think that's a valuable lesson, as without it, I don't think me and my group would have got to the stage we did in the end. And I admire them all for that. 

The women whom I love and admire for their strength and grace did not get that way because shit worked out. They got that way because shit went wrong and they handled it. They handled it in a thousand different ways on a thousand different days, but they handled it. Those women are my superheroes. - Elizabeth Gilbert 

Looking back on it I think I'm glad we have had all the obstacles we had, as I feel we are a lot stronger for it. It's remembering everything that makes me so appreciative of the good times, and even more appreciative for the bad times, because they open my eyes so much wider to better things, and ultimately allow me to accomplish more in a deeper way I think. I look back and think of how we all felt when we secured our dancers and they were both lovely, when we finally got a room and equipment. I felt and still feel so grateful, and a special thank you to anyone extra who helped us achieve these things. You'll never know how much it means to me. 


Part 2 - The Shoot

I was very pleased with the shoot, as after it appearing like it wasn't going to happen how we wanted, it felt like we had finally done it. We got there. Achievement unlocked! We had a black room, we had a male and female dancer, we had extra crew and appropriate equipment. I felt a mixture of calm and anxiousness - calm because of us actually getting to this stage, but anxious because I still wanted it to go extremely well! I think this might have been the most fun of the entire process. Harry and Emma are great performers and so much fun to be around, and this made set life a lot easier and we had so many laughs. I think I did an okay job of making sure the production was going smoothly and that we weren't running out of time, and it was so nice seeing it all come together, in the flesh. What we wanted was right in front of our faces! It was great. I think the one thing I would comment on is that it could have been more organised, as at the beginning we were set back over an hour for various reasons. I think in future we need to all work on a better shot list, as the one originally made had changed just before filming to suit the dance, so it was hard to come up with the most useful production schedule. However as I had scheduled the shoot to be over way before the time we had to leave, we got away with it this time! In future I'd like to be more prepared, however this was due to the problems with rooms etc. I think we got some nice camera shots however, my favourite being the pan shot in the final film. I regret not getting as many CUs of hands and feet etc as I feel these would have been very nice. 

Part 3 - Post Production

Getting the edit ready as the editor was something that was very exciting to me, as I felt like being heavily involved in Pre, made me so much closer to the film. I felt like I had been close to it every step of the way and it personally meant a lot to me to see it right through to the end, to keep constantly working on it. That might be why it seems so hard for me now to let it go, seeing as it's coming to an end. I'm constantly thinking what more I can do to make it better. I'm worried I haven't done enough to do it justice. However I am actually quite proud of myself for several reasons. I feel a lot more competent with Avid, after only learning it at the beginning of the year, and I find myself using it a lot more often, even for small, quick projects. I managed to learn how to mask objects in After Effects to create an all black room in a matter of days - masking is something I'd never done until then. This may be a bit more personal but I sometimes worry that people may think because I'm close to Thomas, that he may do things like this for me as everyone knows he's very good with vfx. I feel like have learnt a new skill and am now pretty confident to continue masking on future projects, which I am very happy. It fills me with so much joy to be able to be like 'I did that!' 

I think as for the final edit, there were quite a few problems that arose. Continuity wasn't the best in a lot of shots, which made my job a nightmare at times! It meant I faced a lot of difficult decisions as to whether the shots, the story or the continuity was more important. Once again I'm grateful for this - I think it's better having a harder task because you learn so much more about everything in general, whether about you or the process. It was a test for me to get things to work the best they could. However in future, no matter of what role I am, I am going to emphasise the importance of continuity to everyone! We also wish the floaty-ness of the piece would have been better, but that was entirely our fault for not using the fan due to being so busy with other areas of production. Bubbles were not added to the final piece as they were intended, due to them not really fitting in. However this is something we want to further look into after assessment, as to whether we could do anything to make that happen at some stage.  At first I was quite disappointed with the film, and it made me quite sad and stressed a lot of the time, because I was so desperate to do the best for it. However I am now relatively happy with the final edit, considering all the problems we have had. I think I've learnt it's not just about the final film, but the journey to get there and that can show a lot about you and the people you work with. A lot of the time outsiders when watching don't see the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. I've concluded that it doesn't matter. I know how hard I've worked, and how hard each of the other individuals have worked, no matter what anyone else thinks and I am so proud for that. I think that no matter how well the film does, it's what we've learnt from it that will stay with us forever. It's a gift that we can take on with us to every other future project we go on to do and that's something amazing, something worthwhile.

Group

 I feel we worked relatively well together as a group and it was interesting being part of an all girl group for once. However I feel like some of the work wasn't as balanced between us all as it should have been at times. But I had the best time going through all the fun and pain with everyone!

Overview

I've learnt so much from this project, not only about film making, but about myself as well. A lot of times I will write quite a bit of negative stuff about me and my weaknesses, because I know there's always room for improvement, but I finally feel like I've done something right (at least to a point). I think (and hope others can see) that my confidence has grown a lot since the beginning of this project - before I was very quiet in tutorials and in general, but this time I found myself speaking up quite a bit. I've learnt how motivated and dedicated a person I am, something I never thought I'd say out loud, I would have tried everything to get Elysian how we wanted it too. As mentioned previously I've learnt a lot of great, new skills - how to put a good production book together, using after effects to mask, make titles and credits. I've put myself in new, daunting positions and handled them relatively well. 


Yes it didn't go exactly as we planned. Yes there are things to improve on. Yes it may not be the best film ever. But I'm so happy for us and so proud. Even though I'm gong to find it relatively hard to let go of, because I've been so attached to it for so long now, I think it's been one of the best accomplishments for me and I'm so grateful to have been apart of it.

Summary of Strengths / Things I learnt
  • Willing to learn
  • Motivated 
  • Passionate
  • More confidence in general
  • Gaining experience
  • Learning how to deal with a variety of situations
  • Learning new skills - AE, Avid

Overall Improvements to be Made
  • Stress control at times 
  • Room for more confidence growth
  • Try experimenting with bubbles etc in future
  • Better organisation at times

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Lauren Fox
Third year at UCA studying Digital Film and Screen Arts
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