Project Brief
This module is designed to draw attention to your ability to take control of your creative thinking and processing. It gives you the opportunity to create a subject /s and activate ‘it’ to your specifications. This, in turn, will inform the autonomy that you will have over your work during level 6.
Brief:
For this module you must examine a scene from one of the following and respond using the broad platform of Puppetry to recreate a scene from:
Any current news, TV, film, media event eg.
BAFTA Awards
Current News Events
The Walking Dead
Game of Thrones
Period Drama - Downton Abbey / Selfridges / Call the Midwife
It is important that you spend time getting to know your media context and scene and research into the original text if appropriate, examine textures, language, sound, movement, film etc.
Pay close attention to the activity of the characters, the role of the surrounding scenery, interactions, external influences, mechanisms, animal / human mannerisms.
Following this research you must design and make a professionally constructed puppet, or a group of puppets that represent the text and/or scene.
Your puppet does not have to have human form. It could be animal or abstract. Your research could be about the structural mechanisms and alternative aspects as well as direct links to films / series.
Main Objectives:
1. Begin by understanding how broad the idea of Puppetry can be.
2. Respond to specified text/ scenes from specific programmes.
3. Establish a way forwards by loosely sketching the notion of what you might want to aim for.
4. Do not waste any time so start to construct early prototypes and use the workshops to perfect skills.
5. Create professionally finished puppet/s and consider the context of your work.
6. Activate Your Puppet -film/record/perform your outcome placing your puppet/s in context in relation to your research. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to work on this part.
Depending on how your work develops the aim here is to show how your puppet would come to life / interact/ perform etc. This could be through sketching and drawing.
More Module Details:
There is scope for collaboration but you are expected to each make one or more puppets and to clearly establish your roles within the collaboration.
It is important to evidence your work, the source of your idea and the eventual activation of your puppet via a BLOG or CAGD with emphasis on the relationship your piece has to the original programme choice.
You must aim to create a regular dialogue between your work and your Blog/ CAGD posts to keep the process fluid.
You are expected to independently research techniques on how to fabricate your puppet/s and you may not want to follow conventional routes.
There are many conventional puppet workshops on Utube.
You will address techniques as they relate to the specific form, function and context of your work. Workshops are integrated in the Module but also available for you throughout the project by negotiation with technicians.
You are encouraged to incorporate alternative materials, techniques and thinking.
Further Research:
Puppet Collection – V & A Museum London
Puppetry with the Xbox
Arduino Glove Puppets - digital Puppetry – [Gollum]
Language of Puppets - additional reading
Puppetry of the Penis
The Muppets….of course
Goodnight Mr Tom – current Theatre, London [puppet sheep dog]
John Blundall – Traditional Puppet Maker
Basil Twist – Puppets alive
Shugborough Hall – Puppet collection
Screwed up paper puppets – Utube
Initial Research
I chose to use a scene from Game of Thrones as it is something I have been watching lately and I feel its a really powerful TV series where every scene is full of a range of emotions. My favourite character has always been Khaleesi (Daenerys Targaryen), as I admire what she symbolises; hope. Therefore I am using her in my scene choice as I want to experiment how I can represent her with puppets.
First choices of which scenes to use
Clip 1- S1 E9 22:07 - 27:01
Tent Scene
Daenery's argues with a horseman as her husband Drogo is wounded and she is considering an extreme method to save him. Daenery asks Mirri to save Drogo with blood magic which is dangerous and will cost her the life of something else. Daenery collapses and Sir Jorah carries her into the tent in an attempt to save her.
Clip 2- S1 E10 22:21 - 23:59
Tent Scene
Daenery asks Sir Jorah what happened to her son, Sir Jorah and Mirri tell her he never survived and that he was lizard like and had wings. Daenery asks to see her husband.
Clip 3 - S1 E10 31:25 - 33:59
Tent Scene
Tent Scene
Daenery realizes what she has done and the her husband isn't really alive therefore she smoothers him.
Clip 4-S1 E10 45:19 - 51:19
Fire Scene
It is Drogo's funeral so his body is lying on a bed of wooden planks surrounded by his tribe and Daenery, it is their tradition to burn their dead. Daenery owns Dragon eggs and she asks to put these next to Drogo so they will burn, Sir Jorah realizes she is planning to go into the fire herself and tries to convince her not to go through with it, he says "I will not watch you burn" to which she replies "Is that what you fear?" making it obvious that it is not what she fears therefore it sounds like she is ready to die.
Fire Scene
It is Drogo's funeral so his body is lying on a bed of wooden planks surrounded by his tribe and Daenery, it is their tradition to burn their dead. Daenery owns Dragon eggs and she asks to put these next to Drogo so they will burn, Sir Jorah realizes she is planning to go into the fire herself and tries to convince her not to go through with it, he says "I will not watch you burn" to which she replies "Is that what you fear?" making it obvious that it is not what she fears therefore it sounds like she is ready to die.
Clip 4- S1 Ep10 48:57 - 51:17
Fire Scene
Fire is ablaze as Deanery slowly walks towards it, fire surrounds her as she walks into the middle of the flames. Time passes to morning when there is just ashes, Ser Jorah walks over and finds Deanery sitting in the middle, she looks up and there is a baby dragon cradled in her arms. When Deanery stands to more baby dragons appear from around her legs, her people bow to her.
Developed Research
Lior - I'll forget you
NBC Dracula Titles
Dracula is another TV series I have been watching lately so when I decided to make shadow puppets I automatically thought of the title sequence for it, mainly as it expresses the atmosphere of the show which is dark and dangerous. I want to be able to express the emotion of the scene through my
The Tale of The Three Brothers
The Tale of The Three Brothers
I've used The Tale of The Brothers as research as although they are more animation than shadow puppets they still have the look and feel of shadow puppets. There is a lot detail in this short scene and it runs really smoothly so I have used it as a basis for my own puppets. They also use a tinted background by changing the lighting in this scene, I want to use the same technique in my own video to get the effect I want.
Game Of Thrones Stills
My final scene choice is a mix of clip 3 and clip 4, it shows Deanery walking into the fire from different angles. Its a very dramatic scene as it looks like she is walking to her death. At the end she stands up from the ashes with 3 dragons, it is a symbol of power and hope.
Story Board
I have sketched out the different scenes so I could get more of an idea on how many layers I would need and how it would all work together.
Feed Back
- Section from 'Game of Thrones' with female character walking into flames.
- Shadow puppets
- To use instrumental score from series but not specifically to that clip.
- Looking at different tints for the backgrounds.
- The flames in colour and characters monochrome is effective.
- Think of how to represent the movement of the flames
- Perhaps projection onto the canvas?
- Maybe the flames could be coloured fabric that are blown using a fan or hairdryer.
- Consider whether lightbox or screen is the best approach.
- Carry out tests to see how to puppeteer the character's action of getting up. At the moment this is an uncertainty. Could thin rods be utilised?
Developed Story Board
I looked at each scene in more depth so I knew how much movement would be needed.
Feedback
- Maintain scenes that have visual impact and are able to carry the narrative without words.
- Create an initial storyboard which encapsulates the key scenes that you want to portray
- Consider what the visual elements you need: how many people, props, daylight/night time, tonal elements
- - Create a video no longer than 2 minutes
-Focus on producing a quality stop frame animation. Consider carefully the articulation, the scenery, the details (i.e. flames)
- - Flames - - - visually they have appear as deadly
- Key point in narrative is when the woman walks into the fire (consider posture of person – how they enter the fire) What is the relationship between the woman and the fire. Consider body language (how does someone appear ‘good’, ‘noble’, pure)
- - Research existing examples and techniques which portray the above
Setup a mini stop-frame studio which is safe and equipment stays static at all times
L
Lotte Reiginer
Documentry Of Lotte Reiginer
Cinderella
Charlotte 'Lotte' Reiniger was a German film director and a pioneer of silhouette animation, Reiniger made 40 films over the span of her career all using her invention. 1918 Reiniger animated wooden rats, the success of her work got her admitted into the Institute Institut für Kulturforschung (Institute for Cultural Research). She works with shadow puppets to create short stories and films, I have used Lotte Reiniger as inspiration for my puppets as I want to create a similar style video. Reiginer uses a stop frame animation technique to make her films which is the technique that I will be using.
Models
Baisc cut out model of Deanery
Slight Movement
Slight movement
Deanery in dress
Dress movement
Cut out model parts
Figure movement
Figure bending
Figure sitting
Figure moving
After making models of Khaleesi for my puppets I realized she looked to bulky so I used fashion model drawings as a basis for her shape so she would look more feminine. I think this works better but now she looks more model material, I need to find a way to adjust her a bit more so she is more recognizable as Khaleesi.
Slender Khaleesi
Slender Khaleesi
Slender Khaleesi
Making
I first made a light box so I could start making my stop frame animation.
Light low down in box
Light in middle of box
Light at top of box
Light in hair
Light in hair
I used a more yellow bulb to light my light box as it gave the effect of evening time and it also illuminated the flames more.
Movement Test
Dress test 1
Dress Test 2
Dress Test 3
Lots of tests were done with the movement of the dress and sometimes it could look very jumpy instead of smooth.
Fire Test 1
Fire Test 2
Fire Test 3
I had trouble getting the flames right as I felt they weren't looking very realistic and dangerous so I filmed in several times to see what more I could add each time.
Final Video
Overall, I am really pleased with the final outcome of the video, as never making a stop frame animation before I knew this would be a challenge for me but it was a challenge I really enjoyed. However, if I could re make the video I think I would focus more on the end scene with just the silhouette of her head in the flames, I would add lots more detail to the flames to make them look more dangerous. I would also use a different tripod as the one I was using meant I had to have the camera at a funny angle to get the perspective right, this also lead to the video being a bit jumpy as I had hoped it would look really smooth.
I feel this module has really developed my professional practice as I have never really been sure which area of Art and Design I really wanted to develop in. This module has allowed me to develop my creative side as well as work on my technical skills, which has allowed me to realize that I want to work more with creating and making videos. I have already started to have an idea of a cartoon that I want to create which I will be working on over the summer
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