Carrrsss

I've been working on getting the cars which will be in the background to move smooothly. I think it worked pretty well.

Improved Walk Cycle

Shooting

This week I have began to shoot my film. I have been concentrating on the first shot where Yuri walks into a park reading a book.

I have encountered a lot of problems! The biggest problem I've found out is that the base of the set is too hard, even with the holes I made. When I pin the feet down the pins bend and when I try unpin the feet I have to use too much force which usually end up in unwanted movement of the character or set. To fix this problem I pulled up the base of the set and put down a layer of foam board between the wood base and floor covering. The foam is strong enough to keep the characters stable but soft enough to push and pull out the pins!

Another problem I have had to sort out is getting lights!! Its been a pain in the arse and takes a lot of time. I managed to get some from the hatch but can only have then for 24hrs max so wont be able to shoot at weekends.

Although I have not shot any material which I feel is good enough to have in my final film, I have learnt lots that I will be able to remember next week when I start shooting again. forexample CHARGE my camera every night! (it ran out today)

Characters

Pitch

Yuri

Some mug shots of Yuri in his tree disguise

Pinning the characters

My original idea for fixing the characters was to use magnets, but after experimenting with a few different way I have concluded that the most effective and simplest way is to use pic holes.
I have been hammering thick and sturdy pins through the paper and into the wood of the paths in my sets. The characters will then be pinned down using thinner pins which are pushed through the character's feet and into the holes.

I have tried a few different materials to use for the feet but have discovered that cork is the best. It is easy to shape, light and can be pierced with the pins a large number of times befor it starts to disintergrate

Newest Animatic

This is the first animatic to include the sets I've been building.

The Characters

After taking photos of my sets I am really happy with the look at them. However, I have decided that for the characters to be in keeping with the style of the sets then they would look better as collage too. I think that 3D modelled characters wouldn't look as good. I am going to experiment with collage characters. I am going to try making a character from collage but with a wire frame and see how that looks.

New Improved Script

The last animatic and script I created had a few problems which I have since corrected.

1. People didn't understand the overhead shot where the 'wee'man walked into Yuri's tree so I cut that out as I decided it wasn't needed or important anyway.

2. The 2nd shot where Yuri is reading the book titled 'A Beginner's Guide to Attracting Nature' wasn't long enough for people to soak in, so I lengthened it.

YURI
By Amy Rumsey

TITLE SHOT
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
EXT. ENTRANCE OF PARK – SPRING MORNING
Yuri walks slowly up from the left bottom hand of the screen and into the entrance of the park.
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
EXT. PATH INSIDE PARK
YURI’S POINT OF VIEW
Footsteps can be heard. Yuri is walking along a path and looks down to a book he’s reading titled A Beginners Guide to Attracting Nature, he opens the book to a page saying ‘Be one with nature’.
FADE IN FROM BLACK:
EXT. PARK
ZOOM IN
A big tree standing in front of a hedgerow and houses. The camera focuses and zooms in on a hole in the tree. Once close Yuri’s head slowly emerges in the hole. Yuri looks content. A Small bird land on a branch by Yuri’s head. Yuri looks at it and smiles.
EXT. PARK:
CLOSE UP - Pathway
Footsteps on gravel. A young man’s feet and torso can be seen walking quickly towards the camera. The young man is clutching his crotch.
CLOSE UP – Young man’s face
Young man is frowning and looking uncomfortable.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP – Yuri inside tree
The young man can be seen walking up behind the tree Yuri is inside of. Yuri is still smiling and watching the big.
CLOSE UP – Young man’s face
A trickling water sound can be heard. The young man’s face turn from a frown into a big relieved smile.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP – Yuri
Yuri looks shocked. He then notices the bird has gone and looks sad. The camera then zooms out from his face.
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
MEDIUM CLOSE UP – A pathway
Yuri’s feet walk over the camera and the camera pans up as he’s still walking away revealing his is inside a bin outfit.
FADE TO BLACK.
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri has a serious expression on his face. The camera zooms out to reveal that Yuri is inside a bin. Yuri is sprinkling bird food on top of the bin.
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri still looks serious. Bird song and cheeps can be heard. Yuri smiles.
ABOVE - MEDIUM CLOSE UP – Top of bin
Pigeons and smaller birds can be seen hopping and pecking on top of the bin.
MEDIUM SHOT – Yuri inside bin
Yuri is smiling inside the bin while birds are hopping around on top. A football flies into the side of the bin. Yuri looks shocked and the birds fly away.
EXTREME CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri looks sad.
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
EXT. EDGE OF PARK
The camera pans a long a fence and row of hedges that have a line of benches in front of them. Yuri is on his hands and knees with a plank of wood on his back pretending to be a bench. The camera pans past him then stops and goes back. The camera zooms in on him. Yuri is smiling. Three birds land on him. Yuri’s smile widens
UNDERNEATH CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri is looking happy
CLOSE UP – Birds
The birds startle and fly away.
WIDESHOT
Yuri looks upset.
YURI’S POV:
A big bum is seen getting closer and closer.
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri screams and look shocked and scared
YURI’S POV:
The bum gets even closer and fills up the whole screen
FADE TO BLACK:
A loud crash can be heard.
FADE IN:
MEDIUM SHOT
Yuri is seen squished underneath a old lady. Yuri looks in pain. The old lady looks confused. The camera zooms in to a close up of Yuri. Yuri is struggling to get out from underneath the old lady.
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri looks shocked and looks straight at camera.
YURI’S POV
A beautiful tree
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri looks in adoration
YURI’S POV
Beautiful tree
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri still in adoration
YURI’S POV
Beautiful tree
CLOSE UP – Chainsaw
Loud chainsaw noise. Chainsaw with blades spinning.
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri screams and looks terrified
WIDE SHOT
A man holding a chainsaw is approaching the beautiful tree
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri looks terrified
MEDIUM CLOSE UP – Chainsaw
The chainsaw is seen getting closer to the bark or the beautiful tree
CLOSE UP – Yuri’s face
Yuri looks angry
MEDIUM CLOSE UP – Yuri
Yuri finds an amazing strength and pushes the old woman off of him and gets up. The old woman looks up at him.
CLOSE UP – Old woman
The old woman looks confused
MEDIUM SHOT
Yuri flies through the air from one side of the scene to the other towards the beautiful tree. Yuri looks determined.
CLOSE UP – Chainsaw man
The chainsaw man looks shocked to see Yuri flying towards him
MEDIUM SHOT
The chainsaw man steps back and is standing next to the beautiful tree with his arm stretched out giving up. Yuri hugs the tree.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP – Yuri and tree
Yuri is hugging the tree and is smiling. A female’s head pops up in a hole in the tree and looks at Yuri and smiles.
CLOSE UP – Yuri
Yuri looks up and looks shocked but then smiles towards the female in the tree
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
CLOSE UP
Yuri and the lady together in a tree smiling.
ZOOM OUT
The camera zooms out from Yuri and the lady through other trees and hedges and reveals they are both inside a big tree.
FADE TO BLACK.
Credits
END

Set Building

So here's the set building I've been doing over christmas, they're not quite finished yet.

To make everything solid I started by cutting shapes for the trees, hedges and houses out in thin mdf type wood. I Then layered paper on top to create the style I'm looking to achieve. I'm very happy with the way it all looks. Although I'm thinking about redesigning the style of the characters so they fit in better.

Everything apart from the ground is not glued down. This is so the trees, bushes, fences and houses can be moved around and placed in different posistions for different scenes. To do this put a ledge behind where the trees and hedge rows are so they can lean against it. When I am animating I will sucure them with bluetac or masking tape so they dont move and ruin the animation.


Below are the three main trees. left to right: the tree Yuri is hiding in, the tree he falls in love with, and the tree him and his new love are in in the end.


It was difficult to make the trees stand up and be solid. I did not want to have to glue anything down because some of the backgrounds are used in more than one scene. I also didnt want to make big supports because this would affect the lighting. So I decided to make small supports and then attach lead to it so it would weigh the trees down as they are very top heavy.

Arrrmatures

I've been creating the armatures for the characters in my film. I was lent a standard anamture kit from Adam but after experimenting with it I realised it wouldn't work for my characters. The main reason being it is too big, even if I constructed it as small as possible the joints would still be too large. Below is a photo of the constructed armature.



Here's the hands I built from the kit. They were hard to make without snapping the wire but after the 4th/5th attempt I got the hang of it and the design works well and is something I would like to use for Yuri and the Trevor in my film as they have a lot of hand movements.


I decided the best way to create armatures for my characters is to use a simple twisted wire method. To stop the limbs moving where they shouldn't I have covered all the armature (accept the joints) in fimo and baked it in the over.

Yuri's armature (below left) and the chainsaw man (right) have came out successfully and are flexible and light weight. So that's good.

Ooowee.

Tomorrow is armature making time. The first 2 characters I'm onna build are Yuri, the main man, and Trevor who's the lumberjack man who wants to cut down the beeeaaautifulest tree.

New Anamatic

Here's my updated anamatic including the backing track and some improved shots and sound effects. I'm currently working on my anamatic with the perspective cardboard mock scenes so that should be up soon.

Building design

This is my design for the style of buildings that will be visible outside the park through the trees.
This block of houses is coloured with watercolour and feltpen but I am also going to experiment with collage effects like I have with the trees.

Fat Bum Lady

Clay Model Yuri

This is a life size model of Yuri I did using modeling clay.
It is the same size he will be when he's made for the film. 140mm tall and his shoulders are 25mm wide.

I made this model to scale so I can scale the cardboard sets to the right size.

Rough Schedual

Cardboard Mock-up Sets done and put into anamatic by 11-12-09

Real sets built by 04-01-10
Set decoration and final touches all ready for filming 11-01-10

(To be continued)

Yuri's Head

Here's some photos of Yuri's head which I sculpted. Using modelling beeswax and Fimo.

1st bit of Set Building

This is Yuri's tree design placed in the beginning of the cardboard mock up set.

The Style

The main inspiration for the style in my film is collage like I discussed below. I would like to use a lot of mixed media.
The trees, benches, ben, fences, buildings.... All of the park scene will be flat cut-outs. Made from textiles, paper, card etc.
Yuri and the other human characters will be made in 3D from wire, clay, textiles etc.

This is the collage style that I am aiming to create...


This is an example of how I want the branches and leaves in the trees to look. I made this from a range of cardboard and papers.

First Anamatic

This is my first moving anamatic.



After showing a few people there are a few things I've noted from their response that I need to change.

1. People have said it'd a bit confusing at the start, some people think he comes across as a pevert hiding in a tree.
To clear the confusion I think I am going to experiment with a new opening sequence, of a book titled along the lines of 'A Beginners Guide to Attracting Nature' or 'How to Become One with Nature'... Doing this should make it clear that Yuri is not perving on things.

2. People are also confused by the bird's eye view shot of the man needing a wee when he's searching for somewhere to wee. I will most probably delete this shot all together. This will then give some time for the new opening shot.

3. I also feel that the very last shot of Yuri and his new tree friend could be better. Perhaps have the two trees holding hands.

Storyboards

Character Design

This is the main character in my film, Yuri.

Asthetic Inspiration.

The main inspiration for the asthetics and style I am interested in using is found in collage and cut-out animations.

For example....

'Crossword' (2009) by Mirjam Baker and Michael Kren

I love the bright colours and 'childlike' style of this animation and would like to achieve this kind of look in my film.

'Crossword' can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXXcLvmc-SQ

Other collage themed animations I've been inspired by are 'I Adore You' by Dominique Bloink.

'I Adore You' can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lChGJ9XrlHI

'Hello Antenna' by Veronika Samartseva and Anna Samo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmB_qX_MFJY

I like this kind of style because it is childlike and innocent looking. This is the kind of style I want my film to have.