Final Year Project Proposal

Mothers Days
Nat Urwin

The basic idea for my project is to make a short animated lm using real hand crafted stop-motion puppets, a few set pieces, and props with the majority of sets and scenery being CG. Using green screen techniques. Example:

Example :

I went for a walk on the beach one day in the rain First an inspiration: and saw elderly couple wrapped up in warm clothes and blankets, sitting on camping chairs in the sand, with wind-breaks and umbrellas up pouring a cup of tea from a ask with great smiles on their faces enjoying themselves. THIS is BRITISH I thought to myself. So from there I wanted to make a comedic short, nice and British for my nal project.

I went for a walk on the beach one day in the rain and saw an elderly couple wrapped up in warm clothes and blankets, sitting on camping chairs in the sand, with wind-breaks and umbrellas up pouring a cup of tea from a flask with great smiles on their faces enjoying themselves. THIS is BRITISH I thought to myself. So from there I wanted to make a comedic short, nice and British for my final project.

Under these umbrellas are the couple, unfortunately this is the only picture I managed to get of them.

Initial notes to include in the story:

Old people loving the beach in the

The son has drawn a bit of a short

cold wet weather but when it gets to be straw in life, lonely, balding (combsunny the words oooo its too hot for over), bad dress sense. me are the punchline. Going to the toilet sketch - toilet paper hanging out of skirt Seagull poohs on ice-cream Deck Chair sketch Nudity somewhere Stick of Rock Fish & Chips - Seagulls attack Sand castles / burying in the sand Penny Arcade/ Amusement Arcade Wheelchair stuck in the sand Bucket & Spade Ring toss Beach windmill Background animals - amusing things Coach-trip - if you dont watch carefully you might Wind-breakers, umbrellas, speedos miss something : Shark go past or y Flask with tea get stuck in a web

The story to this point is about a man taking his mum (or elderly relative) out for her day out and each time they visit the seaside, in whatever the weather, to the same place, they sit on the same bench, her favourite place. Not really his ideal place to visit unless its sunny which comes across subtly in his animation. We see them over autumn in the rain, winter in the snow and ice and spring in the wind, each time with something a little humorous between them, and the nale is in the summer. We see him sit alone, same place, same bench but this time people (sound effects) everywhere and he is so alone. When he gets up from the bench the audience is left with an In Memory plaque on the bench.

Ive always enjoyed crafting things with my hands, so I wanted to make this project the one where I get to incorporate that alongside the computer.

Inuences:

Oh Willy

Reasons for choosing which aspects to make CG or hand-made and why those particular methods.

The following picture is a great indication of why Ive decided to make the majority of sets CG.... As much as Id love to get stuck into building stuff like this, I dont think I have the time, the money and denitely not the space.

Stop-Motion Puppet research. Ive been researching how to make puppets and guring out the pros and cons of each of the different processes that could be relevant to my project. Here is a breakdown of why Ive decided to choose the particular type of armature I have, and why Silicon as the material to make the characters from.

First : Armatures

Wire Armatures Pros Cons

Cheap Light Good for hosepipe style

animation Easy to make Fast to make

Breaks Easily - best for

characters that dont move too much

Ball & Socket Armatures Pros Cons

Strong Long Lasting Good quality joint moves

during animation

More Pricey Heavier Slightly harder to make from

scratch More time consuming to make from scratch

Direct Painted Latex Puppets Pros Cons

Cheap Can look saggy Can be cut open and mended Looks cheaper
back up if there is a problem with the armature

Foam Latex Puppets Pros Cons

Light Flexible

More equipment needed Electric food mixer, Oven (cant use your cooking oven as it will not be usable for food) Takes a lot of practice to get the foam mix technique right

Claymation Puppets Pros Cons

Looks great Cheap

Hugely time consuming Harder to animate

Silicon Puppets Pros Cons

Looks great - can achieve a

Takes patience to make sure

high amount of detail there are no faults or bubbles Flexible - Deadener can be when casting the silicone. added to make it more esh-like (Not really a con as that is the case for the other types too) Looks like skin and esh

Some examples used in the lms that inspire me for this project Mainly research, but also because I love learning about all of these things Its the How its done bit thats really exciting for me.

Aardman & Laika facial armature, both use rapid prototyping with a 3D printer for these lms to replace all or some of the face for lip sync and animation purposes

Facial armatures of the Zombies in Paranorman Tiny ball & Socket paddles for eyebrows and lip movement

This is a page from The Making of : The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. Its a great example of some of the stages to create this monkey character. From sketchy expression drawings , then a tidy digital colour painting, a maquette followed by the armature process.

Whats What Hand-crafted CG

2 Characters :
- Ball & Socket Armatures - Silicone Bodies - Clothing (for each season) Wheelchair Seagull 2 Ice-creams 2 Fish & Chip portions Bench & Plaque Toilet Block? Stick of Rock Dentures Car front? Flask & Tea Carrier bag

Long shot of the coast Small CG car for the long shot View of the sea and beach Icy Shop with swinging shop sign Daffodils scene?

Reference Images:

Simple Scene Breakdown Autumn - Seagull poo on ice-cream Winter - Flask with tea (Calm content moments) - Toilet : Cold seat - Fish and Chips (Calm content moments) Spring - Stick of Rock : Dentures Summer - Son visits alone. Sits on the same bench thinking, remembering.... - When he gets up there is an In Memory Plaque [Sound effects of a lot of people around, yet this guy is so alone. These people dont know about all of the moments we have just seen.]

To document the process of this project, I will be lming the stages I go through. I will then be able to create a time-lapse lm to show how I did things. I also now need to graphically design templates specially for this project so things are professionally presented. Which will eventually be printed into a book. Where will I do that animating? : At home in my studio Safety precautions? : Use a certied electrician to help make sure the lighting is set up safely And YES - this one will be in colour! :)