Reflection Of The Module

Overall I have enjoyed this module, as stop motion is the subject I am most interested in. I think that given more time I would liked to have taken The Three Surgeons project into production, but unfortunately as we were such a small group we were unable to get the set completed.
I think that the tasks set were very helpful and gave an almost step by step format of how to complete the pre-production of a stop motion film.
This module has been the perfect module to set me up for my third year project, which will be a stop motion adaption of a children's book. As I now know how lengthly the process of stop motion pre-production is, I will be starting my third year project over the summer holidays, this way I will have more time for refining, problem solving and testing the rigs during the first semester.
As we only briefly looked into face replacements in the stop motion lectures, I am most looking forward to carrying on this research as an extension module next year.

3 Surgeons Props

As the deadline was approaching, we split all the props that needed making between the 3 of us.

I am making the chandelier, apothecary box, barbers pole and Lafont's bag.

Chandelier

Reference picture.

First I made the circle out of tin foil so it won't be too heavy and then coated it in Sculpey.

I then made the piece that comes away from the circle to hold up the candles out of a thin layer of Sculpey, and then did the same with the decorative part that attaches to the circle.

Next I made the candles by scrunching up tin foil and wrapping the Sculpey around it, and then putting a piece of wire in the top to be the wick.

I made the bases by rolling out the Sculpey and cutting around a candle so all the bases were the same shape.

After painted the parts I then glued them together to make the frame.

I then glued the candles on

I think that it looks better without the candles on, I might put smaller ones on if I get time.

Overall I think that the chandelier has worked well, for a stop motion animation prop it may be a bit too big, but the table it is going over is very big so for the purpose of this project it is ok.

After putting the chandelier over the table that has been made by another member of the group I noticed that it was far too big in comparison.

So I have made a smaller one.

This time I didn't need to put tin foil inside the Sculpey as it doesn't need as much support as the bigger one did.

I didn't add as much detail as the bigger one as they kept breaking off so I thought it was better to keep this one simple as it isn't a very big feature in the film.

Apothecary Box

Reference picture.

For this I made a cuboid and then carved the draws into it.
I think next time I have to make anything like this I will make it in separate parts, this way the draws will be raised rather than sunk in, making the model more realistic.

Barber's Pole

Reference picture.

Made out of Super Sculpey.

I didn't leave this in the oven for the full 15 minutes so that it has a slight bend like a wood stick would have.

3 Surgeons Armatures

As it was getting close to our deadline, our group were worried that the characters weren't going to be finished in time. 

I made the armatures in the lecture and I'm going to finish the hands and feet this week and also add Milliput for the bones of the legs.

The heads are going to be made by another member of the group who has designed the face replacements.

To strengthen the legs I put Miliput where the thighs and calf muscles would be, this way the knee would bend in the right place.

Out of Super Sculpey I have made the shoes for the surgeons.

I then began to make the hands, using the Super Sculpey to keep the twisted wire fingers in place.

These were slightly too big and quite heavy for the armatures I made, also the fingers were too hard to bend.

I had another go at making a hand.

This time I used a single piece of wire looped to make 2 fingers at a time, twisting the wire at the end to make the wrist.

Cutting the thumb wire in half and wrapping the other half around for more support.

Surrounding the base of the fingers in Miliput to keep them in place.

Finishing the hands by separating and straightening the fingers.

For next year I want to learn how to use latex to make the hands look more life like.

3 Surgeons Storyboard And Animatic

Storyboards

     

The animatic has been made from our storyboard to determine how long our animation is going to be. There isn't much movement from the characters which will make it much easier to animate with the models. As the movements can be shown with the camera angles.

Researching And Designing The Interior Of The Castle

In the script it only describes the grand hallway as being large enough to hold the three headed snake. It has a table in the centre, is dark, has a door at the end and has a chandelier above the table.
I have also researched for the castle doors, as in the script it mentions the surgeons walking up to the castle door.

Reference Images

Hallway

Chandelier

Castle Doors

Exterior Wall

Front Door