All I have to do is paint the figures and make the clothes. For me that is the easy part. After today this is the only final I have to work on, so this project will have my full attention for the next week. I have left the figures disconnected at the joints, so they are moveable. I am very proud of what I have accomplished so far and I am not worried at all about the deadline.

This is the beginning of Everton, the main character. I plan on having him finished by the weekend.

It’s a little difficult to see in the photos, but this fabric will be used for part of Lenoard’s suit, the zombie. Its more tattered then the material that I am using for Everton’s suit. 

This is the material for Everton. 

This is the material I will use for their shirts, but Leonard’s will be tattered and a lot more dirty.

Judging on how how my work sessions have gone since last week, I am not worried at all about finishing the figures and having them look presentable and very well done.

1. Does my story make sense/ is it easy to understand?

2. Do my character designs go with the motif of the story?

3. Does this sound like a film you would like to watch?

Feedback:

Overall the feedback I received was positive. Everyone seemed to understand my story and said that it was easy to follow once I told them about it. They story is longer so it takes a bit to explain, but it was meant to be made into a stop motion film. So it will take a bit more to understand than an animates short. A lot of people said that my story was grim, so the character designs and palette and overall feel I described to them went with the story perfectly. Everyone I asked seemed to like the ideas I have for my story and are excited to see my final piece. 

Schedule:

Week 1- Have both Leonard and Everton sculptures finished and ready to casted and molded. 

Week 2- Have molds done and have foam latex figures made. 

Week 3- Have figures completely painted and clothed. (I have to make the clothes for the dolls) Begin working on stop motion scene. 

Week 4- Continue to work on stop motion clip. 

Week 5- Have clip edited and ready to present.

The story is set in 1888 in England. The main characters name is Everton and he is a failed musician turned hat maker. His dreams were always to play the violin for all to hear and compose beautiful music that everyone would love. The problem wasnt his talent, because he played with excellence, it was the notes. He never was able to think of anything new and creative that no one had ever heard before. So one day he finally had to give up and follow in the family business and become a hat maker because that’s all he knew. On a particularly depressing day he goes for a stroll and decides to go into a shop owned by an eccentric married couple who sell used items, kind of like a pawn shop or resale shop. Everton comes across a violin that they are selling at a very good price. He had to sell his in earlier years because he needed the money. He also comes across an old pocket watch and he has been meaning to buy a new one, so those are his purchases for the day.  Everton is all excited about his new violin so he goes to the park to play on a bench, in hopes that someone, anyone will notice his music. He begins to play the same old things he use and no one pays any attention to him. Hours and hours go by and still no one has even given him a second look. It is getting later and Everton finally stops and almost begins weeping. After a few minutes of this, his pocket watch strikes midnight and he hears the first couple notes of a dark, almost morbid tune, and it gives him inspiration and he begins playing. It’s bleak and emotional and Everton looks angry as he begins to play faster and with more confidence. Then all of the sudden there’s a shot of a hand reaching out of the grave from the cemetery across the street. the camera switches back and forth between Everton and these rising bodies from the grave. Finally the camera begins to show these bodies pulling things out of their bodies and playing the same tune as Everton. They walk closer to Everton and he squints and sees coming out of the darkness these zombies walking towards him, playing the same beautiful music that he was. Everton is terrified and begins to run but then trips and falls and the orchestra is right behind him they walk up close he is crawling backwards in terror and they all stop playing and stare at him. Confused and scared, Everton stands up, then out of instinct continues playing. For hours they play in the park and then the sun begins to rise and they disperse and Everton goes home. All day he is waiting to go back at night and begin playing. He can’t sit still at work, or focus and then he finally returns and plays with them that night, then the next night and so on. Then one night there is a disruption. Another man rises from his grave and walks over to the park in rage and pushes all of the members of the orchestra out of the way and stares at Everton. He is breathing heavily and with every breath the spaces between his ribs open up and his body makes the sounds of a pipe organ. He is angry and looks at Leonard, who is the main violinist and the most talented, then back at Everton and takes the violin from Everton and smashes. Everton is upset scurry to put the pieces back together, but the sun starts to rise and they all go back to their graves. Everton is a mess the next day. He thought he will never be able to see or play with his new friends again. Everton is too scared to go back to the park that night because the angry man (I havent figured out an appropriate name yet) was so terrifying. After weeks of not going to the park, Everton finally returns at night. Leonard is the only one there. The sit down and Leonard explains what happened in the past to the whole orchestra to cause them to play so beautifully and why they are all dead. The whole orchestra was famous and known for playing beautiful music. Leonard was the most talented of all and the angry man envied all them, especially Leonard. The night of one of the biggest performances the orchestra has ever done, the angry man decides to sabotage them and burns the whole opera house down, however the angry man didn’t get out in time and died with them. They rise every time they hear that tune, but you find it out it wasnt the violin. Leonard take the pocket watch from Everton’s pocket and opens the back and there is an inscription that says to my love Leonard, congratulations on a great performance, Love Sylvia. You learn that Leonard’s wife was going to give him the pocket watch after his performance that night, but they both died in the fire, and the pocket watch ended up being sold to the resale store that was shown in the beginning. Then the pocket watch strikes midnight and plays the tune. The same tune the Everton first played, and the whole orchestra rises and plays. Everton is so happy, but then the angry man comes out again and goes after Everton. Leonard stands in his way and says to him You will silence us no more, and the whole orchestra rips the man apart, and harsh notes are played on an organ to show him being ripped apart. The ending of the movie shows Everton playing in front of a crowd in an opera house, playing same tune he first played with the orchestra, and the orchestra is outside playing right along with him. 

There are still some things that need work, but that is the basic idea of the story. For the final I will turn in for this class, I wanted to do a scene with Everton and Leonard playing together, because they are the two main characters, and it will show the style of the zombies and the style of all the human characters in the movie along with the lighting and colors as well. I will draw out everything for the next designer step, and I have already begun producing the puppets for the stop motion film.

I know they are goofy but whatever helps you right? I did a couple quick sketches before this but I am working on the final drawings and should have them done before next week and hopefully I can go purchase the materials and begin building my armatures. I have also been looking at this great series of comic books called the dead walking and the illustrations of zombis are incredible. Here are the sketches and one of the illustrations from The Dead Walking. 

I have rented and borrowed a lot of zombie movies that are old and new and cheap budgeted and expensive, so I have a wide range and I have begun watching them and plan to watch them as I work. So basically through this project I am dealing with a lot of gore. I started working on the story board as well and fixing up loose ends that I have run into in the past when presenting this idea. So hopefully I can have both the final sketches and story board completed by next week.

Vincent

Madame Tutli-Putli

My biggest issue with this project will be my limited funds. So most of my research that I have been doing is finding the cheapest ways to do. What you need first is the armature. In the size I want, purchasing this item would cost around $150. Luckily I found a website with the heading poor man’s armature and It showed me step by step and to make a moveable one that will be perfect. 

I found an easy way to do the armature, but I am having a hard time finding a cheaper way of making the actual puppet. I want to be able to paint on it and have it be mveable at the same time and sculpey can on;y be painted on if its baked and then you cant move it. I am going to ask around to see if there is any cheaper way to do it, other than making a mold of the figure and casting it in foam latex. If i did that I may only be able to make on of the figures in the orchestra. I have done the mold and casting process before so that wont be difficult for. But if anyone knows a cheaper, possibly a more simple way to do this let me know. I found a step by step process that shows molding and casting with foam latex.

Demo.

I would like the overall color scheme to be very low key. I want a lot of greys and blues and blacks. Really the only chroma will be red and I feel that will be a great accent for the piece. Each figure, if I get to do more than one, will be very long and slender but they will each have a distinct characteristic about them. For example, the conductor will be tall and skinny, but he will be an old man with slicked back greasy grey hair, and his outfit will stand out against the rest of the orchestra. Each instrument will be pulled or torn out of the zombie figure’s body. The violinist will tear his tendons out of his throat and use those as the violin. The cello player will pull tendons out of his knee and the upright bass player will pull them out of his foot. But that is just the strings. The percussion will play on the rib cages and skulls etc. It sounds gruesome, I know, but it won’t be too disturbing. However, I do not want it too look cartoon, like a Tim Burton movie, I would like it be pretty erie.

For a photography series I posted earlier that I would like to do something like Sally Mann’s work. As I was researching today, I saw alot of old images of famous actors and I absolutely loved the lighting. So I was thinking about doing a series of portraits that have that old, soft Hollywood lighting, but also have sort of a timeless feel. Like Sally Mann. One of the photographers I looked at today that inspired me was George Hurrell.

I looked at several photo magazines today such as B & W, Photo Review, and PDN. I also looked at L’oeil for more artistic inspiration.

The stop motion animation project I would like to do is a zombie orchestra. Last year for my 3D final I made one of the figures out of sculpy and I had so much fun doing it. In time based media design last semester I developed a short story for this piece and came up with a story board. So it is very apparent to me that when ever I get the chance, I work on this little side project as much as possible. The short story I developed still needs a lot of work, but I can work on that during my research. If I chose  this for my final project, I would make each figure, and I would have to figure out the best way to do that so they are movable and then I would create the stop motion film. This would be a monumental project and I know it will not be completed fully the way I picture it, however I will have a sample of it done by the end of the semester and that would help me finish it in the future. I have loads of research on this at home such as sketches and pictures, etc. and I will post them next week if I do decide to go this route.