The Tale of Edgar Hare by Abi Lindon, Hana Bhatti and Hannah Miller.

This is a bunch of test shots we have done, some just to see how well the characters animate and to test their mobility, and others to test out actual shots for the film. Also to test out camera angles and lighting tests.

We have completely finished our final puppets and set!

For the lighting we decided to have one large light covered with an orange and red gels covering it to give a low level dark orange wash to the scene. This gives the set a warm glow that emphasises the firelight. We also have two small spotlights that we can use to pick out the characters and counter the intensity of the orange on the characters, making them more visible. We also have a desk lamp that shines through the hole in the fireplace to give the illusion of flames. When filming we move the bendy wire of the desk lamp slightly to give the effect of a flickering fire.

This is the final look of our characters. We have kept the costumes quite minimalistic and simple, enough to give indication to their characters yet simple enough to give us the mobility needed to animate. The colours are kept to suit the aesthetics of the rest of the set, so kept as shades of brown earthy tones as to not clash too much with their background. We used an old shirt that had been tea dyed for the Hare’s gown and the Fox’s shirt. The trousers from an old pair of brown trousers tailored to the Fox and his tail. For the Fox’s braces we used seamed edges of a brown piece of cloth and sewed it to the trousers of the Fox to keep them in place. We also used pins for the buttons of the shirt to hold it all together, also to ensure that we can take it off easily in case the arms fall off again.

We have completely finished developing our sets and armatures and have started the production and filming of our film.

The set walls have been painted beige with streaks going down to fit into the rest of the set as our props are all dark furniture and we didn’t want them to blend in too much, and also to make sure they were given a run-down aesthetic.

The walls are removable, we have glued separate pieces of scrap woods to the edges and have then screwed (the walls) together. This will allow us to easily remove them as they are held together with some tie downs. We will then have better access to various camera angles and will give us an easier way to film around the set without any hassle.

We also have a tracking shot of the hallway which will be our opening scene and it has portraits of our characters growing old together to establish their relationship. These portraits have been painted by hand using gouache paints and framed using the foam boards which have been painted a dark brown to fit in with the rest of the furniture. We have also added a door which is only seen slightly in shot when the Fox walks through the door into the Hare’s bedroom.

The fire place has been put together using foam boards as the mantle; painted dark brown again to fit the rest of the furniture (and dry brushed with a lighter brown to make it stand out on camera. We have also used twisted wires to hold up the tea kettle that will be over the fire. We also carved firewood out of styrofoam and painted it brown and black to look slightly charred. To create the illusion of a fire, we have cut up pieces of coloured acetate; yellow, orange and red. We have also cut a small hole in the wall where the fireplace will be as we have a small desk lamp to shine some light on the “fire” and reflect off of the colours. The fire place is separate from the walls, as we want to have some shots from behind the fireplace.

The tea cups and kettle are made from milliput and the handle was made using wire. We then painted them.

The chairs have now been covered with a red velvet material, and to make sure that no light would reflect off of them we decided to make it appear more worn out and rustic by using pastels and watered down black and brown paint. We also did the same with the curtains that we then gathered and glued to the wall using a hot glue gun. We also decided to do the same with the tea cups and plate as they were too bright. As well as adding a book as a prop for the Fox to read while he is looking after the Hare.

In addition, we did the same with the bed, the pillows, the duvet, the blanket and the Hare’s gown. We had to “dirty” it and stain it a bit using tea to make sure the materials weren’t too bright and so that no light would reflect off of it.

We also added shading around the eyes of the hare to make them appear a lot older and to add more definition.

As well as finishing the Hare, we had made progress with completing the Fox as well. We used the same methods as the Hare in terms of “fur”, as we had to do separate colours for the Fox using white and orange. We had experimented with the colouring, using pastels and paint, we had decided to go for the pastels as it made the Fox look less menacing and added a much softer tone to his appearance, making him look more innocent so that it would become more of an unexpected shock to the audience when the Fox attacks the Hare towards the end of the film.

1- wool with paint
2- wool with pastels

For the hands we decided to use felt wrapped around wire. as for the feet we shaped them out of styrofoam and used milliput as a base underneath it to make sure the characters would hold up on their own as it also adds weight and stability. We painted them and also added “fur”. We also added magnets into the milliput so that the characters would stick to the magnetic table. However, this was unsuccessful as they aren’t that strong and don’t hold our characters up too well, therefore resulted in us using blue tack and masking tape to hold them in place instead. The Fox was slightly out of balance so we created a rig for it out of wire that would sit around his waist and the end would be blue tacked to the floor behind his leg or at least out of shot.

However, we have encountered some trouble with the armatures, especially with the Fox. One of the arms fell off from the shoulder and then snapped at the wire joint, however we were able to find a quick and reliable solution by using milliput to hold the arm in place a lot stronger.

We are about half way through with getting everything done and ready for production and filming. Our set, along with the characters armature and props are almost complete.

The floorboards are finally done and varnished. We used a mixture of brown and black paint and watered it down. We have also decided that the walls will be a cream colour, as the setting of our film is at night and will have fairly dim lighting. Therefore going for lighter walls will hopefully contrast everything else on the set and make our characters stand out a bit more as well. In addition, the walls will be removable so they will slot into each other. This will allow us to achieve a range of camera angles from all sides of the set whilst just removing the one(s) that are not shown in the shot.

Majority of the Props have been made; the bed, the bedside tables and the arm armchairs. We added ‘handles’ onto the bedside tables which are just needles and a bit of bent wire glued on. The tables and the arm chairs were made using foam boards and stuck together using a hot glue gun. The tables, including the little oval shaped coffee table we will place between the arm chairs and the fireplace, will be painted brown as to match the aesthetics and colour scheme of the rest of the furniture and set. For the arm chairs, we have ordered some green velvet material to cover it all. We have also used the same wooden legs for the bed to prop up the chairs as well, an will glue them on after putting on the material.

For the characters armatures, we have painted the Hares body and the Foxes in order to cover up anything that is not covered with fur, so this way if any of the clothing slides up if it is see through, the armature underneath, all the wires and styrofoam won’t be that visible. We have re done the hares legs also, because we are taking in to account how the characters will move and walk during the film. Even though they are living within a human environment and are supposedly ‘acting’ and replicating human behaviour, we still want them to keep their animal structure and movements etc………. We have added a tale for the Fox, using the same form of armature we used for the arms and legs (wires and biro pens), giving it enough mobility as a form of expression as well. we have covered it with cleaning sponges and will cover it better with “fur”- brushed out and painted wool. We are also hoping to use the tale as a form of rig to help support the character and hold him up right. The Hare is portraying the Old man in this adaptation of the film, therefore won’t be needing a rig as it will be held up with the support of the Foxes character or use the props on the set as support.

Here are the proportions of the characters and props look like together;

Showing how the character sits quite comfortably in the arm chair and how it is the right size for the set.

In addition, here is a birds eye view of everything on our set so far, to get an idea of how everything fits and looks together and where everything will be placed. This is also to get a feel of how much room we have for the characters to move around the set and most importantly, making sure we have enough room for the attack/ murder scene.

We have also managed to start on the clothing for the characters, using old materials such old pieces of clothing. The costume for the Hare is an old victorian night gown, that we are making out of an old white school shirt. As every other white cloth and material we have attempted so far has turned out to be too see through.

We have made a lot of progress with our characters/ puppets as well as our set for our adapted stop motion film.

We had some trouble with the first armature, which was that the bodies (made out of styrofoam) were too small and we hadn’t glued the limbs (which were made out of wires and the plastic casing of biro pens) properly as they broke off easily and were unstable. Therefore we remodelled the bodies and limbs using a much stronger glue and proper proportions that will grant us more stability as well as mobility. We’ve also We have began to add “fur” to the characters as well, doing this by gently brushing out wool and painting it to the characters designs. We have also added the eyes to the puppets, using beads and painting them black. For our character expressions, we will be using the characters ears as well as having decided to use felt as eyebrows as they are easy to move around and animate. Furthermore, following our plans for the end of our film, we are creating 2 more separate heads for the fox character. As this will allow us to be more flexible with our film. the first head is normal with an hinged jaw, the second head will be slightly bigger however we will be using more flexible materials; such as felt and latex to create the fox snarl for the end scenes. We have decided to use felt as it would be easier to scrunch up the felt on the face to reveal the teeth and gums for the snarl. We will also be using jell for the saliva, and have used toothpicks for the sharp teeth. The third head will be a mould of the most extreme version of the fox snarl, therefore it does not need to have that much mobility as the other two.

In addition, we have also begun sculpting the feet of both characters using styrofoam and wires to maintain their animalistic appearance and movement, because even though they act and dress as humans, we still want them to look as authentically animalistic as possible.

Furthermore, we have made great progress working on the set of the film as well. we have completed the base of our set which is the floor boards. This was made using lollypop sticks, we had cut the rounded ends off in order to fit them together perfectly. We’ve begun to sand them down a little bit to smooth out any rough surfaces and we plan then varnish it using watered down brown paint, in order to go along with our films rustic victorian aesthetics.

As well as set and armature, we’ve begun making the props to our film. Props such as the bed, which is made out of coffee stick stirrers and sponges glued together with white cloth covering it to make it look like a proper mattress. Also, the bedside tables, which have been made out of foam boards and have yet to be painted. We aim to have the arm chairs, coffee table and fireplace done by the end of the week. The arm chairs will be made using the foam boards as a base and sponges to create a more rounded and comfier look. After it has all been assembled we will be covering it with a green coloured velvet material inspired by some victorian furniture.

We also aim to have the walls built by the end of the week, using slots so that they are removable in order to have better access to a variety of camera angles. We will be covering the walls with simple wall paper as to not create such a busy background. The fireplace will be slightly raised out of the wall and will also be made out of foam boards. We will be using coloured acetate (red, orange and yellow) to create the illusion of fire within the fireplace and use wooden sticks as fire wood. We plan to have a hole cut out in the wall where we will place an LED lightbulb behind the fireplace to reflect the acetate and also produce another source of lighting within the set.

This is what our set looks like so far, with the props put together for comparison and size. We have a fair amount of space for the characters to move around, which is good as it wont be too crowded and difficult to make great gestures.

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: