Considering saturday was the last of filming in the woodland setting, I needed to make amendments to the costume and mask. Seeing as I have only previously shown the finished result of my experiments, I thought I would show some of my working progress, photographed on the friday.
The Mask:
Some of the 3D paper elements were coming away from the base of the mask therefore, I had to re-stick them down. I have been using double sided tape to secure these aspects of the mask. In the future when I make masks, I think i will use a different method of attaching the paper together.
Fixing the ears back onto the mask. The ears are were constructed by cutting an oval shape with a straight edge and enough room for tabs to stick to the base of the mask. Then I cut from the edge to the centre of the oval. Next, I constructed a short cone by moving the right side of the cut over to the left. The ears I used on the final mask were much smaller than the ones I constructed for earlier masks. This is as I found they were too noisy and distracting. These are definitely more in proportion to the rest of the face when looking back at observations i did bears in the initial stages of the project.
As you can see all the 3D elements of the mask have been secured at the back of the mask to prevent noise and make the front of the mask more sophisticated. However, due to previous wear in the shooting of the film, the tabs connected to the cheeks of the bear started to come off. This was easily fixed with tape for tomorrow.
(you can see how I originally put the mask together from the shapes i cut into the mask to enable me to push through the 3D elements and secure with tape.)
Re-making an ankle bracelet
As I cut away at one of the ankle bracelets during the making of the leg transformation animation, a replacement needed to be made. This is the Here's the process...
The last of the animations
Unfortunately in the last shoot, the actress previously playing Callisto wasn't able to make it due to uni work commitments. Therefore after attempts to find a replacement, I decided to step in as a substitute. This decision seemed legitimate as both Camilla and I have blonde hair and a slim frame, and the factor of the human face not being viewed in these shots meant I could easily pass as Camilla. Although, at first this seemed like a set back, I really enjoyed taking up more of a performing role in the animation as well as photographer and costume maker. Similarly to directing Camilla, I tried to adopt some of techniques Ellie Nixon taught me about how to use the body as means of expression when wearing a mask. Obviously, I am not an actor but I hope that my movement was fairly convincing as a transformed creature.
As I took the role of the actor, I required an assistant to help photograph the shots needed. My friend, Hannah Coombe presumed this role. Even though, I wasn't actually behind the camera, I was in control of what was being photographed, before each shot I explained to Hannah what I did and didn't want shown in each shot and where to stand ect.
New animations include:
- Waking up shot
- Bear exploration in the woods
-Bear Collapse
- Full bear face reveal
- Empty chair and leaves animation.
The empty chair and leaves animation was a new addition to the storyboard as I identified last week that there was evident gap between the pre-transformation and transformation sections of the animation. Seemingly there was no clear connection between the two sections except for the face transformation at the end of the middle section. The empty chair (where Callisto was previously seated) suggests that something bad has happened following the antagonist creeping up on her and gives a pause for the audience to be intrigued before revealing the transformation animations.
Waking up shots: Again I needed a clear indication of a new scene and an a suggestion of the character gaining consciousness in her new form. This shot was created by lying on the floor as the character would and photographing upwards at the sky, moving the camera as the hear would to look around.
1. Too quick. Its doesn't give the audience time to register the surroundings the character is in and generally feels a little rushed and unrealistic to how someone who'd just woken up would move.
2. This test has much better pacing than the previous. However, I do have concerns about the repetition of side to side panning. I think it would be better just to look slightly to one side then the other then slowly pan downwards as if the character was sitting up. I will ask my peers what they think of view given in this animation.
Bear Exploration:
This shot follows on from the previous photographed and animated when shooting with Camilla.
1. In this first test, the bear walk is photographed in a long shot to give a voyeuristic view. This wasn't as successful as thought, and I found that the foliage blocked a lot of view, making it very difficult to make out the actor. This, of course, defeated the point of the shot altogether. As you can see also the lack of consideration to the composition made the shot look scruffy.
2. This time, the viewpoint has changed. Hannah moved to a position that meant that the character approached and went past the camera, allowing the camera to capture three different views of the costume. I was careful to direct Hannah not to include the head in the shot focusing more on the torso to knee area of the body. I felt that too much exposure to the head would spoil the climax of the short storyline. There are some faults in this test though, as the actress (myself) walked too fast not allowing hannah to catch many frames.
3 & 4: Using the same viewpoint as before, I was able to make two successful animations. In the final animation, I will use the 3rd test as it is longer in length giving me leverage for making transitions between this shot and the next.
5. This is an extra test that I undertook, trying to illustrate the same shot but from over the shoulder of the main character. I wanted it also show the character looking down at their hands. It didn't work as the camera isn't at the same eye-level as the character. Instead it looked like there was someone following behind.
Bear collapse:
As I had positioned the mirror fairly low on the tree, it wouldn't make sense for the character to walk straight up to the mirror and look at her reflection. Also, for poetic reasons i wanted to make the big reveal of the face far more dramatic. I envisioned, the character being so overwhelmed by this strange event that she collapses with shock and then uses the tree to pull herself up, only to be faced with this devastating new appearance. I filmed this from a couple of different viewpoints.
1. This test didn't work because the character's collapses too early, meaning they have to crawl to the tree. I think this looks clumsy but also quite forced when she crawls to the tree.
2. Close up and a different angle to the previous animation. This works well as a follow on from the collapse. To make this work, I'd have to use the next animation as they end/start with the same position. Generally this animation works well as a transition between the collapse and the full reveal.
3. This is much more successful than the initial long shot test, mainly due to the fall being much smoother.
Bear reveal:
These shots are probably some of the most important in the animation. I needed to make this clear as a dramatic moment in the storyline as well as illustrate the horror the character feels as she realises her new form.
1. OTS (over the shoulder) shot. This makes use of the mirror as a source of a multiple view of the character's reaction. I think I will use this shot in the final animation. But as a penultimate shot rather than the last, it seems more transitional than a dramatic and memorable image.
2. This shot is too far away from the camera as well as being too short in length.
3. This highlights the issues I had with lighting around the eyes. It was important to make the eyes visible as they were the acting tools in this shot.Without showing the panic and upset in the eyes, the reveal wouldn't be as effective.
4. Only the second half, specifically the character using her hands to confirm what she was seeing is real, is useable in the final animation. I don't like how the camera looks down onto the hairline. Personally, I don't think its a very attractive visual.
5. This test was much more successful in terms of animation length and pacing. Although, I will have to make alterations to the lighting though as it changes throughout the sequence. It could possible just to cut out some frames and overlap this animation with test 4.
Empty chair and moving leaves animation:
The animation uses leaves to suggest the literal disappearance of Callisto as well as a metaphor for her physical removal of beauty.
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