Bringing To Life, Walk Cycle

This is some of the stop motion animation that has been by Dmitri Burilovs and Joe Wakerley for our group film.

Bringing to life, Photo Animatic

This is the second animatic we created, after some feedback Dmitri Burilovs and Joe Wakerley created the following animatic. at this point we have decided to remove the text aspect replaced it with leaves. This is the part that will be done using flash. We have all taken part in creating the soundtrack for the piece to try and create atmosphere.

Bringing to life, Intial Storyboard

As a group we created an intial storyboard for our film which at this point does not have a name so as a working title I am calling it "Krapp".

The main idea was to create an atmosphere of loneliness around the character, the opening few shots have a very shallow depth of focus meaning the character will be blurred we have done this so that the audience are distanced from him. To be reflective of the text the character moves slowly around the space until he suddenly has an idea and runs out of shot. This leaves a little time in which the audience actually sees the set before focusing back on the character more intently now. The character seems to be searching for something which then causes a voiceover to begin in which text and words begin to run over the character until they finally engulf him.

Bringing to Life, Character and Set Design

The following images are scans of a couple of pages in my sketch book showing the ideas I have for the set and the character design.

After the first tutorial, Lizzie commented upon the natural feel of the mock up set Dmitri created feeding into an idea that the character has been alone in this space for such a long time the objects and the room have become characters within themselves living things. As a group we have decided to add a piano to the objects within the room. From the idea that the objects have become living objects I thought maybe these objects could have taken root, I also thought about the idea that there are other living things in the space.

When considering the character there was in idea that the head would be covered in photos that depicted faces expressing different emotions. I have tried to test out this idea here. The group also decided the character hands would not be normal, with just a thumb and a forefinger and the other fingers cloved, the characters whole body is covered with photos depicting different points and situations in his life so I have tried to show this in these images also.

Stille Nacht, The Brothers Quay Personal Response

From the opening credits of this film you are intrigued and unnerved by the flickering of the title. A bold white serif font centered upon a black background this seems reflective of old style black and white movies, maybe to give the audience a sense of the past. The black frame is continued as the film begins, giving the impression that you are looking through someone’s eye and adding tension by not revealing the whole scene. This emphasized by the repetitive nature of this framing and the movement of the iron when the magnet moves across it arching backwards and forwards. The camera angles throughout the piece are high particularly effective when introducing the character of the doll, a damaged toy he appears to be the first shot a close up of the face framed by the window frame, giving you an immediate feeling of sympathy for this character.

Bringing to life, Concept

This is the written concept a short stop-motion animation I am currently working on within a group including Dmitri Burilovs, Robert Fyle and Joe Wakerley their blogs can be found in  the UCA animators links. The film will be based upon an excerpt from the play "Krapps Last Tape" by Samuel Beckett.

Upon reading the text our perception of it was that it reflects a the feelings and emotions of a an elderly character, a lonely depressed person who’s life has passed them by and now they are living in regret. The film we are going to make is going to reflect mainly upon this concentrating on portraying the emotion and the pain of the character. It is going to be based upon the whole excerpt of the text however there are moments in the text that are key to what we are trying to portray. “Staring vacuously before him” this sentence is very significant in portraying how the feeling emotionally the action of doing nothing staring like this gives the impression the character is in deep reflective thought. This moment will be reflected in some way during our film. “Remains a moment motionless, heaves a great sigh” This point is repeated in the text and again shows how the character is forcing himself through all the motions of actions and life. The repetition and patterns within the text is also something that will be reflected within our film.

The character is a plain figure a simplistic example of a male figure, covered in black and white photographs, these are to show a reflective character consumed by himself and his past. The photographs represent his life as though they are imprinted physically upon him, inescapable. At this point in the characters life we do not hear his voice and it is just the voice of his past that is used within the film. The character expresses his emotions and thoughts through his bodily movements.
The set was designed and constructed with the mood of the play in mind. Items of the interior as well as the inner shell look weathered to communicate the problems of the character. Age is getting to him, so subsequently his body becomes “broken up” and less responsive, this was reflected in the textures finish to the floor and walls. A slatted window was placed on the right side of the wall to make the lighting of the piece more intensive. Within the set we have included props and pieces to reflect the characters state of mind, including various boxes and bottles and rubbish to show the general break down of his life. We have decided to introduce a piano to the props to represent his loneliness, it has been left to go into disrepair like the characters life.

Bringing To Life, Lizzie Oxby

I am now commencing the second year of the Animation Arts Course; I am beginning a project entitled bringing to life which is being tutored by animator Lizzie Oxby. This film is Lizzie's film Extn. 21. As you can see in this film Lizzie uses stop motion and live action, and concentrates on creating a feeling and emotion from her films using atmospheric mis-en-scene and key cinematography.