Cottage Exterior Complete...

A huge milestone was reached today, for Fidget The Witch. Barry came over and helped me make the final push to complete the Cottage Exterior set. We had to lay down the soil and grass, which was done in a similar way to the previous grass tests.





We also made some flagstones to place on the grass.



...And here are some shots of the finished set!













We are even planning to actually film the shots that feature the set tomorrow. It's a good feeling to get to this major milestone. I'm really happy with how it's looking. A job well done (thanks Barry!)...

NYC 2008...

Today I want to do a little look back at my trip over to New York City to visit Ron S. Cole for the Big Screen Premiere of his incredible short film "In The Fall Of Gravity". In the film Ron uses his pioneering Cable-Control system to bring his characters to magical life.



It can be kind of wierd meeting someone in person for the first time, having first met them online. Got to say though, the moment Ron met me off the plane I knew we'd have no trouble getting along, even though I'd be staying with his family for nine days.

He, his wife Elise and his son Devan, were enormously welcoming and made me feel very comfortable and glad that I'd made the choice to fly out there.

They even took the time to take me out and about in New York City. This was only my second time in the States, and my first time in NYC (last time I visited San Francisco). So it was nice to have someone to show me some cool sights and sounds.

Central Park was something else. Huge - Much bigger than I expected. When you are in walking through it you barely see any of those massive buildings, so it's quite easy to believe you aren't in a City at all!





We also visited the Museum of Natural History. I watch a lot of the BBC's Natural History programming, so this was a great place to visit. They have an amazing collection of beautifully crafted taxidermy...



... and, of course, the greatest Fossil collection I've ever seen. We saw and did a lot in there in the space of a day, and there was still a tonne left to see. Plenty left over for my next trip to NYC!





Also, rather than going up the King Kong Building itself (The Empire State Building), Elise had the genius brainwave of going up The Rockerfeller Centre instead... That way I could actually SEE the King Kong Building!

The views were spectacular. The glow from Time Square was something to behold. And the view of the King Kong building was really special - I'll never forget that. I couldn't get a decent photograph of that as I never had my SLR with me (the handy little snapshot camera I had couldn't quite get the shot in those conditions). However, here is the Rockerfeller Centre...



There were a few reasons for my visit (such as discussing future projects). However, by far the most important reason for flying over was Ron's Premiere for "In The Fall of Gravity".

The film was to show at the NYIIFVF and part of this involved an opening night event for the film-makers to give each other (and the public) a preview of what was to come at their screenings.

Ron was on top form, describing his process for making "In the Fall of Gravity" andhis passion for stop-motion-animation and visual effects in general...





His charming wife, Elise, was there, and it was also my great pleasure to meet Richard Brooner, the man who gave an excellent musical score to Ron's film. Richard is a cool guy and a very talented one too. Richard actually flew out to NYC twice that week (once for the opening evening, and again for the Premiere)!



Isomer (one of the character's in Ron's film) was the consumate professional throughout proceedings. He showed poise and was very respectful to all of the punters who came by to find out more about him. Though, in the following shot he does have a strange, almost dismayed, look on his face...



...But, when you actually see what he had to look at the whole night, the reasons become apparant. As well as film-makers there were Artists showing their paintings and prints, and one of these "artists" was set up directly across from Ron's stall (I use the term "artist" very loosely in this case)... Suffice to say, I don't think you would want me to show you a close up of this photograph of the guy's work ;) ...


Nope - That's not hair... It's blood. :P

That evening I got to meet some people Ron is working with - Absolutely great guys. Later in the week I had the chance to go see the studio where they are shooting their short film (which Ron is animating on) - That was a great experience. If you are both reading, I just want to say Thanks for showing me round. It was cool to meet you guys!



... I even met some fellow Scots! These guys were out representing an Indie Feature made in Scotland (must dig out the name). The guy on the left (in the Kilt) is actually from Greenock - The town where I live! Small world.



Anyway, the evening was a great success. I think everyone had a great time (I know I did). I definately think it raised the profile of "In the Fall of Gravity" within the minds of the other film-makers, as many of them ended up turning up to the screening.



For me, one of the major highlights of the trip was getting to meet Ron's puppets for Trevor and Isomer, and hearing about the process he went through in getting this film made... The guy could write a book about the experience. His process in making this film was totally unique and absolutely of it's time; The cross-over from analog formats to digital formats was taking place while Ron was making the film, and he eventually migrated from one to the other. But the manner of that migration is entirely his story to tell - But I just want to say that it left me speechless...

Ron's determination to make this film (along with the support of Elise) is absolutely what made it possible. He fought serious technical and logistical difficulties and won out in the end. Truly inspiring.





A few days later the Screening was held. Ron gave a modest speech before the screening, which I am kicking myself for not filming on my camera. The Screening went brilliantly. His film was very well received by the audience and resulted in some pretty rapturous applause! Unsurprisingly "In the Fall of Gravity" went on to win the Festival's "Best short Animated Film" award.

Here is Ron and Devan being interviewed by Shorty Brown (she is nuts) after the Screening. Got to say young Devan stole the show here. I really hope the festival put this video up on their site soon as Devan is absolutely brilliant! You could really see how proud he was of his Dad, and he also took to being Interviewed like a duck to water!



Now, Ron's film was paired up with another film. A Feature. Or, what we thought was going to be a Feature. As it turned out the film, entitled "Alien Gray : Zone X" (Awesome right!?), was actually only half complete!

We couldn't believe it - Ron's film finishes and then we are told we are to sit down and watch half a movie! I was shocked and appauled I tell ya! And then the film started... It was really funny (I mean gut achingly funny) and had some pretty good effects mixed with some not so good effects (all CG).

The story was not very interesting and it was VERY badly shot and edited (They could have shaved a good twenty minutes from the forty-odd minutes we saw just with a decent Editor on board), and some of the acting was pretty poor... But I found it hugely entertaining. As I say, it was all in good fun - And it had the place in fits of laughter (particularly the sign outside the secret base saying "DANGER - NO ENTRY - ALIEN TECHNOLOGY WITHIN!" (paraphrasing).

Here is a shot of Ron with the film's Director. The guy is really into special effects, and more power to him for getting out there and shooting something ambitious. I hope the crew get the chance to finish the film some time soon.



We did a lot more while I was over, but this post is getting more than long enough. I should put a shout out to Mike, who spent a good deal of time with Ron and I at various interesting seminars and talks. Good luck with your film Mike! It sounds just up my street!

The trip as a whole was a fantastic experience. Ron, Elise and Devan, THANKYOU for having me over there. It was very generous of you to invite me into your home and make me feel so welcome. I should warn you, that won't be the last you'll see from me! ;)

Devan - You are a Rubik's Cube Demon! :D

On the last day, we went out for Lobster - Here is me with my Dinner and my obligatory "NEW YORK CITY" T-shirt...



...And then it was time to come home. The trip really gave me a huge surge of inspiration which I'm still reeling from today. The moment I got back I started back working on Fidget the Witch in earnest.

Speaking of which, I had better get back to that now! My new order of Seafoam arrived yesterday, so I can finally get those trees built.

Here is a sci-fi like shot from the plane on the way home! New York is an amazing place, and this trip was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life!

Cottage Ivy...

The initial sketch of the Cottage Exterior featured a little shading to suggest that there was Ivy growing over the side wall and creeping round to the front of the cottage. I had a spare couple of hours last night, so I decided to get that done.



I had a whole load of Seafoam off-cuts from making the bushes. These offcuts weren't going to be of much use in making trees as they were odd shapes, too small or broken in important places. But I realised that I could certainly use them to make the Ivy.



The first thing I did was strip a load of the off-cuts down, removing their little branches and the tiny twigs which make up it's branching form. This left me with a lot of stalks.



I then set about gluing these to the cottage wall in branching formations, as if the Ivy was climbing up the side wall and around to the front. I used the thicker pieces near the bottom and thinned them out as they got to the distance I wanted them. I also tried to make sure they branches in a fairly believeable way.



So, then I had a bunch of fluffy remains. This was made up of all the little twigs I'd removed from the main stalks. These still had tiny branching forms on them, and would work perfectly for giving the Ivy the body required.



So, I teased out small pieces, flattened them down, and proceeded to glue them onto the main stalks on the cottage wall. I'm really happy with how this turned out. I should point out that I couldn't simply flatten a full piece of Seafoam and attach it directly to the wall; The result would have been too haphazard and unrealistic, because Ivy behaves in a certain way. Doing it this way, adding the elements seperately gives me far more control over the structure of the plant.



The last thing needed to complete the effect would be the leaves. I picked up this amazing product called Ivy Leaf Scatter. It is amazing as the tiny leaves actually look like Ivy leaves. It's hard for me to tell what they are made of, but Kjestine reckons they are some kind of seed! Anyway, this works much the same as the bush/tree building; You put on some tacky scatter glue in patches...



...And then drop on the leaf scatter. The leaves stick to the glue and nothing else, giving a realistic effect (leaves don't grow on branches, only on extremities - This process mimics that really well). You then tap off the excess leaf scatter. I repeated this process (dropping leaf scatter on, and tapping off the excess) about three times for each patch of scatter glue, to ensure the glue was fully covered with leaves.



So, here is the Ivy crawling up the side and round to the front of the cottage...

Cottage Interior Build...

I've not had a chance to write much in the last few days. So I thought I'd take a moment now to give an update on what I've been up to.

I started building the three large trees for the Cottage Exterior set. These, along with some rocks and long grass, will be the final elements of the Cottage Exterior set. As I was building the first of the big trees it became apparant that I never had enough Seafoam to finish even one tree. So I had to stop that whilst I await a new order of Seafoam (3 boxes!) and scatter glue.

Here is the first tree "in progress"...



So, in the meantime, I decided I should crack on with building the Cottage Interior Set. The inside of Figet's Cottage is one large room with a big fireplace and an an Oven at one end. My aim is to make it cozy looking and at the same time a bit creepy.

When I first started building the Cottage Exteior Set, I actually built a large platform for it to sit on. This was made from timber and featured a gap big enough for me to gain access to the underside of the set so that I could use Tiedowns o attach puppets to the set floor. I had considered using this same platform for the interior set, but as the area of space the interior will take up is considerably smaller than the exterior set (which has a large expanse of grass and stones) I thought it would be worthwhile building a dedicated platform for it. Also it allows me to write a bit about how I make these platforms... Which are actually pretty simple timber frames.

First I had to cut the various pieces of timber to length using a standard saw. I premeasured the sizes I would need and then cut the lengths to size.



At this stage I also cut the blue-styrofoam into shape for the three walls that will feature in this set (left, right and back walls). You can see the various timbers and the styrofoam walls in the following picture.



The next step was to cut the joint shapes out of the various pieces of timber, using a hammer and chisels. Now - I'm not actually supposed to use a steel hammer with chisels (it's actually supposed to be a wooden or rubber one), but the steel one is all I had to hand, so I used that.

At this point I just want to say that if you want to use chisels PLEASE be careful. I actually gave myself a nasty cut when the chisel slipped. I cut my thumb right down to the bone when I was doing this build today! OUCH! I got quite nauseous. Luckily the nausea passed and there was next to no blood. I still have feeling in my thumb as well. So all is actually okay. I've cleaned up the wound and bound it to let it heal. Not the best thing to happen when you have a day of chiselling ahead of you. So, please remember these are dangerous tools - Treat them with respect.

You can bet I held them correctly for the rest of the day!

You can see in this image where I've marked off the part I want to remove (the idea is to remove a piece of WOOD... NOT YOUR THUMB!).



Some of the joint-ends required were more complicated than others...



Eventually I managed to get all of the pieces cut to the correct shape.



And it then came time to assemble them. To do this I used a drill to make pilot holes. And then a screwdriver to put screws into the pilot holes. I used two screws at each joint.



Thanks to the pilot holes, assembly of the frame never actually took very long to achieve.



A few more screws later and the animation platform (and floor of the cottage - which will be decorated with timbers) was attached to the frame. You can see that there is plenty of room underneath to give me access to the puppet Tiedowns.



And to give some idea of how the set will be laid out on top, I placed the walls in for this last photo...



I just want to finish by stressing once more the importance of being careful with your tools. I bet you're glad I never included a picture of my cut! It's not all that bad really... But it could have been a LOT worse! ;o)

Grass Test...

The time's near when all the parts of the Cottage Exterior are to be put together and finished off. This is very exciting for me. I'm thinking I could have this set completed by Friday evening (Halloween!)

An important aspect of this will be the ground cover. So, I thought I'd better do a test run. To do this, I took a small piece of cardboard, some spray glue, rough earth scatter and grass flock.



The first thing I did was spray the cardboard with the glue. I'm just using the cardboard in this test. The floor of the actual set will be wood.



Then I sprinkled the rough earth scatter over it liberally. I put on way more than was required. But that is okay, because you need to make sure you cover the whole glued area.



And then I tapped off the unstuck remaining scatter. I was able to collect this up and put it back in the bag, so no waste there.



The scatter does look a lot like miniature soil. The one thing I will definately do differently in the set itself will be to paint the ground a dark brown prior to applying the scatter or grass. That will ensure any gaps are filed with colour.



Next, I sprayed the soil with spray glue. The spray glue is transparent, so it won't affect the overall look.



When I came to adding the grass flock I found that it was clumped together in the bag, so I mixed it around and broke up the clumps a bit and then sprinkled it over the glued area liberally. Again I used way more than needed.



And then I tapped away the unstuck remainder. This was collected up and put back in the bag.



And that was that!

The result certainly looks like grass. I reckon that mixing it with some longer clumps around rocks and the edge of the cottage will result in pretty convincing ground cover.

Bushes...

What a busy day!

I've been really looking forward to this part of the build. The cottage-exterior set will have three bushes around the walls of the cottage itself. So, today we decided to get that done.

To make these bushes we are using a great material called "Seafoam". This is a real plant material. I believe it grows underwater. It has a great miniaturised branching form. It works great for minature trees and shrubs. I think Wargamers use it a lot for detailing their terrain.



The idea is that you select several pieces for each tree or bush. I am making bushes and for one of them I needed three pieces of Seafoam.



The Seafoam has large leaves which totally destroy the illusion of scale. So, Kjestine used tweezers to remove those leaves from all the pieces of Seafoam.





I then used a very thin wire to tie the various pieces of Seafoam into the form I wanted for each of the bushes. Following is a photo of the three pieces of Seafoam attached together to form one of the bushes. The branching form that results is very believable as a bush or tree form.



However, the branches are obviously completely bare. So, what is needed at this stage is to adorn them with leaves. For this job we used a tacky scatter-glue and two colours of leaf scatter. The scatter can be made from a range of materials. It's sometimes hard to tell what the companies use to make it. But they make excellent tiny leaves. I decided to make two of the bushes have a dark green coloured leaf, and the other bush would have a light green leaf.



The way to apply the scatter to the Seafoam bush forms is to apply some of the scatter-glue to the ends of the branch formations and then drop the scatter on from above. You then give the bush a tap to remove excess scatter and repeat a few times until the glue is covered with scatter.

It is best to do this in small patches so that the glue doesn't dry too quickly. This was a really fun part of the process as we got to see the bushes really taking shape!



The results really are great! I think these are going to really help the cottage fit into the landscape. The little "leaves" made up by the scatter look just the correct scale. What's more, the process of making these bushes was great fun. Kjestine and I had trouble getting the pieces of Seafoam to stick together. But, once we tried the very thin wire we managed to get them made pretty easily. I'd advise anyone making miniature trees to look at using Seafoam.



Oh - And I just want to add that the Cottage Exterior has two very large trees settled behind the cottage and that I will definately be using this technique and these materials to build those trees. Seafoam is such a great material!

Hinge Pins...

Today I made the hinge pins to hold the door onto the frame. I decided that toothpicks, having used them previously to test the hinges on, would be the best material to use. So, I used a craft knife to cut them to the right length. I made sure they were slightly longer than the hinge itself so that I could affix them to a "shoulder" which would hold the hinge-pin in place.



For the shoulders I used good old balsa wood. I cut two, roughly square shaped, tabs of 1.5mm thick balsa wood.



Next, I had to cut holes in these tabs to allow me to insert the hinge-pins themselves into. For this, I used a small sharp nail. I had to be very careful when pushing through, as too much pressure would snap the shoulder.



I actually broke three trying this. However, I managed to get two good ones eventually. With the holes in place, I then inserted the hinge-pins.





Of course, I had to test them in the actual hinges. They fitted well but they still looked pretty terrible at this stage. The shoulders were very boxy and blocky.



So, I used my craft knife to cut away parts of the shoulders so that they would have a domed top. They were still a bit rough around the edges though.



To smooth them out I used some fine-graded sand-paper. Happy with the results, I then glued the hinge-pins into their domed shoulders. I then tested them in place in the door hinges. I reckon they are going to work a charm.





The final step was to paint them black so that they matched well with the hinges themselves. I used a black acrylic paint for this.



Now, they are in place holding the door to it's frame. I've tried opening and closing it a few times and the hinges work really well. They hold their position well, so will work very well in stop-motion.

Cottage Pre-Vis...

Today I took a photograph of the cottage in order to mock-up a quick pre-visualisation to see how it might fit into the scenery. I just made digital versions of everything. Roughed in some grass, bushes and background trees. In the final scenery, the cottage will actually be on real model ground with rocks, soil, grass, bushes and a couple of nearby trees. The background bushes and trees will be actually photographed models, but will be replicated digitally to save time. The sky will be entirely digital.


PLEASE CLICK IMAGE FOR STANDARD DEFINITION VERSION
In the image you can see I've played around with including some fog. I'd like to have fog moving around in the finished film. I also included some low light behind the trees to signify that perhaps it is very early morning and the sun is creeping back into the world again.