Firstly, we had to decide which materials would work best for our characters/ puppets, which ones would not only look good but also give us the most mobility or whatever for each of our character performances.

Sculpting the head of each of the characters using styrofoam, carefully creating the head of the fox and the hare using a crafting knife and by using pictures as reference to get an accurate depiction for our film. We have also used styrofoam for the body parts, carving them to fit the characters human/ animal form and best suiting it to their age and their mobility. E.g. the hare is old therefore will be presented as much shorter and with a thicker body that will be hunched over and crippled, for the fox, as he is a very young and healthy character will be tall and have proper posture. We have also made the jaws separate, unhinged jaws, which we decided would be more efficient considering the materials we are using.

In addition to this, we have used thin wires and carved out sponge to create the ears for the Hare, so that they have enough mobility and stability to be used as a form of expression for the Hare. Whilst also attaching extra wires to the head to make expressive eyebrows as to not rely too much on the ears for the characters performance.

We have also began to experiment with using wool as the “fur” coating for our characters. by simply unreeling the wool and cutting it to a short enough length and then proceed to stick it around the visible parts of the characters (their head, feet, hands, paws, legs and neck) using super glue. To tame the “fur” slightly we will be using hairspray, although not too much as allowing it boil throughout takes will bring a more lively performance.

Furthermore, we have begun to work on some props for our film, such as the Hare’s bed. We have assembled this by using cleaning sponges which have been glued together using a hot glue gun, and also glued some coffee stick stirrers to the bottom in order to make the bed more stable.

As well as props we have begun thinking about making our actual set. For the floor, we will be using lollypop sticks glued together to mimic wooden floorboards. Here is a sample we did: