Stop motion puppet making really appeals to me. I don't know about making the wire armatures, though. I have a background in ceramic figurative sculpture, puppetry, and costume/mascot making so this takes all of my skills and bundles them together. The wire armatures make me nervous because what if they're not strong enough and they break during filming? What if I over-strengthen them and they're too stiff to be operated properly? Its a worry.
https://www.mackinnonandsaunders.com/ They made Rilakkuma and Kaoru! I love this show, I love these puppets.
M&S don't hire a lot of outside character designers. They say they already have them or the design comes from the client. Instead, they bring in teams of people with special skills like sculpting, mould making, fine metalwork/jewellery making, foam latex/silicone casting, costume design/needlework and general model making.
I already have costume design/making skills, some mould making and silicone casting but I've never tried foam latex. If I wanted to be really competitive, I should find out more about this part of the process.
Director/story writer. Mark Simon Hewis and Will Becher of Aardman Animation have been really interesting to learn from in the Aardman Academy classes. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mshewis/?originalSubdomain=uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-fOdYNpqd0
After we talked about the power of reaction shots/close ups, I watched Will Becher's Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon and better understood what he was talking about. I've never thought about myself as a director, just a project manager. But I HAVE been directing this whole time because I make decisions about tone, mood, story, editing, everything. Mark Simon Hewis talked to us about how important emotion is to the story and the director is responsible for communicating this to the animators who are responsible for making the little movement decisions.
3D modelling is how replacement heads get made by companies like Laika. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhTVkxi_36I They print out hundreds of heads per character per production. I need lots more practice doing 3D modelling because I can really see the value of being able to 3D print multiples. Otherwise, its lots and lots of casting and molding which is messy. The molds break down in time, anyway, whereas a good diigtal model lasts and can be scaled up and down with a few clicks of the mouse and reprinted. 
No comments:
Post a Comment