For my model I will be making a young female Australian Frilled-Neck Lizard motion capture capable puppet - the kind that wouldn't be out of place, for example, on a TV set such as the recent BBC's 'His Dark Materials'. In my essay I set out several benchmarks for how animals on film using puppetry should be made; I use the Frilled-Neck Lizard as an example there. I chose to make this animal for several reasons:
Initial Sketches
For the coming weeks I plan to book in silver soldering induction and time to practice doing this for the first time. I've also looked at supplies online for hinges and materials such as polymorph plastic and Worbla for parts of the body construction. Some factors for project timing that I need to consider are:
Some activities done along side other Level 5 students to prepare us for the essay and the model planning. Model research: to decide how I would focus my research for this was to also decide on the outcome of my essay, as the two are symbiotic. At this point I have decided my essay will outline what a puppet for a movie or tv set should be like, its 'benchmarks', if you will. Therefore the model I make will be made to these benchmarks. Firstly, here is an outline of my essay, it was created after the group activity and is the formation of how my argument will flow and link together: Model research: I first decided I am going to make a small animal as my example puppet for assisting with project management - the bigger the animal the more time may need to be spend. For reference, the Handspring Puppet Company made theatre puppets of the horses in War Horse which each took a long time (part of the reason for this is that they would be the final model seen by the audience, where as my puppet is only for the actors and film/tv crew to see).
Below is some screenshots to analyse the construction of Barnaby Dixon's puppets.
Handspring Puppet Company & His Dark MaterialsContinuing my research into the puppet company and how it connects with the TV show 'His Dark Materials'.
'BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE ON-SET STAND-INS IN ‘HIS DARK MATERIALS’' https://beforesandafters.com/2020/07/20/behind-the-scenes-with-the-on-set-stand-ins-in-his-dark-materials/ 'How the His Dark Materials Puppet Master Conjured Daemons On Set' https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/his-dark-materials-daemon-puppets-brian-fisher-ruth-wilson.html 'The Resurgence and Revitalization of Practical Effects': https://www.vfxvoice.com/the-resurgence-and-revitalization-of-practical-effects/ Looking more at the history of puppets and marionettes:
Looking more at puppeteer and maker Barnaby Dixon...
Link to my Miro projects planning board: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lXJKpzY=/
I love how creative his designs are to make the creatures movements believable, this kind of simple finish is appropriate for a creature that would have a CGI version overlaid. Of course if. this technique was used in the context I am looking at the animal has to be to scale for the motion capture to work.
More screenshots from my Miro board as I research:Link to my interactive Miro board: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lXJKpzY=/
Quotes about how the demand and expectations are changing I feel is highly relevant to the direction I want to focus my research.
Further Ideas - seeing where my research questions take meLink to my interactive Miro board: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lXJKpzY=/ I explored the ideas of monsters and their portrayal today... Also, I looked at other monsters that appear in cinema all sharing common themes, many looking sporting similarities to dear with antlers and skulls. This trend was started in 2001 by a movie called 'Wendigo' but the director did no research prior to the film, the idea was mostly groundless. In 2014 the film 'Hannibal' with the 'Stag Man' representation of a Windigo (below left) also used antler imergry, and 'Pet Sematary' (2019) also using a similar design. In fact the film 'Antlers' is also about a Windigo and is made by the same person as 'Hannibal'. To very my research I looked into another idea off of my brainstorm; visual effects, puppetry and animatronics. I chose to do this as it is an area I am greatly interested in, and the relationship between VFX and modelmaking is one I have considered for a long time. I was greatly interested to discover how the TV show 'His Dark Materials' uses puppetry to assist with production, giving the actors a physical character to work with as their 'dæmon' (their soul in animal form) and the post production team a reference for inputing the digital character model.
Jurassic World on the other hand uses animatronics heavily now when creating the dinosaurs, the changes from film to film is interesting, the debate on weather or not a full animatronic is better for actors or are puppets that are replaced with photo real digital models sufficient? Is that the goal? What true purposes does each technique have? And are their merits to both? Furthermore, are CGI models seen as legitimate forms of modelmaking? How are they perceived by different industries? Link to my interactive Miro board: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lXJKpzY=/ Initial ideasThoughts After Tutorial with Tutor: I am leaning towards the left two ideas,
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