These are some of my initial designs for my main character. 

I have been working more on the style of my film this week and making the furniture and colours more styalised. I think this will help give the film more atmosphere. 

Iniatial Cat ideas

Research into Hoarding:

Why do people hoard?
Sometimes after an early trauma in their lives, they start surrounding themselves with objects to create an artificial sense of safety. And, ironically, they end up putting themselves into a threatened condition.

Knolle. S. 2009 'Hoarders' Psychologist Suzanne Chabaud on Why People Hoard and How to Spot the Disorder. www.tvsqaud.com

Lighting and the set

Here are some tests in lighting for my film. I am aware that the lighting is going to be really important and found that just using lamps to flood the area doesn't give the effect that I am looking for, so I am looking into filtering, using boards to narrow the lighting, and also making lamps with LEDs in them, for smaller areas of light. I was also aware that I would need to know where my windows etc would be so I drew up a map of the house:

Concept art

Developing concept, I really like the idea of the boxes towering up through the room, and becoming part of the furniture and even like shelves where things have been crammed in, and plonked on top of.

Building the set - 1st room test

Below: Making the set in The Little Oak Frame Company workshop.

Over the summer I had been thinking about what I wanted to do with my film. My cousin Malcom Hyde, has a company designing and building dolls houses in Worcester, called

'The Little Oak Frame Company'

www.thelittleoakframecompany.co.uk

I went and stayed with him for a few days and he let me use his workshop and helped me out in terms of design and which tools to use for certain jobs. I had decided I really wanted to make something to do with an old ladies house, so we sketched out a rough idea of a living room. (The idea has changed since but I think what I have will make a really good starting point for my set). We decided to do a small coal mining house, so we worked out that 1/6th scale would be best. Twice the size of what he usually uses for the dolls houses. I wanted my young girl character to be lanky, about 6 foot tall in real terms, so there fore about a 12 inch armature, so this made it much easier to work out the scale.

I explained all the logistics of what I would need to make my film. I wanted three walls, and a long narrow room, but needed to be able to get in to animate. I didn't want a ceiling because of lighting restraints etc, and I wanted a window that I could place a light behind. I also explained that I would probably need to use magnets too, so the floor would need to be strong but thin.

We worked out the size of the room, then what furniture and features I would want to put in it. We cut the boards for the walls and floor to size and then I started work on the floorboards. We decided dark wood would be best, and then I could put lots of rugs on top of it later.

First Malcom cut up some strips of oak for me using a ban saw, and then I sanded them down, and cut them to size using a Proxxon circular saw. This made life much easier to have the right tools! I then stuck them all down using wood glue and when they were dry, sanded them down to be flat and level and then varnished them. I was really pleased with how they came out.

Next we fitted the walls into place and Malcom designed the nifty little corner pieces that can be seen in the 10th, 11th and 12th picture to go on the corners of the walls to keep them tight fitting, but this means I can also take the set walls apart to animate and transport very easily without upsetting any of the frame work.

We also cut a hole in the far wall for the window and cut out an acrylic window and several strips of wood for the frame. I can glue these in after the wallpaper had been applied. We also made a box to go behind the open window that I can either light or place a photograph of an outside scene in. We also made skirting boards out of strips of wood that all-ready had grooves in it, however Malcom showed me how I could make my own using small tools attached to a ban saw.

Next Malcom thinned out the floor (the other side to the strips that I lay down) with the yellow power tool shown, so I can use magnets under the flooring.We also made the small square prop- ups to make the floor sit a couple of inches above the table (or whatever its sat on) for easy access to magnets and tie downs etc. This also means I could run wires through the floor for lamps etc without big wires being seen.

The final few pictures (and the first) show the furniture in production. Malcom showed me how to make opening miniature drawers, the book case, and also the chair. We glued all these pieces together and sanded and varnished them appropriately. We used bees wax on the shelves which gave them a really nice tatty feel. I wanted the furniture to be all miss match with a mixture of antique pieces from different eras. We also made a couple of picture frames using the same method as the skirting board.

I am really happy with how the set came out. I think it will look really effective when fully furnished and dressed. I am undecided on wether this will be the main room that I will film in for my final film but I am sure I will use it at some point, and am glad we made it because it really gave me an insight into scaling and the best way to put things together. I learnt allot in the workshop, and it was really interesting learning how he goes about making dolls houses and how this can work into my sets, and finding ways of making these ideas work for a stop-motion film.

More clutter tests....

Just a rough idea of how my set will look. I like the idea of busy wallpaper and lots of stuff in front of it all, but keeping a similar colour pallet, so its not too much to look at. I want it busy but aesthetically pleasing as a film.

Wendy Tilby

I have been struggling with developing a story. My original idea was just a very atmospheric character piece, which I then tried to develop into a story, without much success! I believe my original idea is much better, in having a scene play out, without much of a story. In my first seminar Leonie suggested I watch "When the day breaks" by Wendy Tilby. I really like how the film is paced and think that this could really help influence my style. Watching this also helped me to see how a film can move without dialogue, something I have been concerned with using.

I really wanted to make a piece that relies on character performance to communicate what's going on instead of words. In todays seminar we watched 'Strings' also by Wendy Tilby. I loved this films pace and limited colour pallet, and that even though nothing is said between the characters and they don't have allot going on in terms of expression and body language, the pace, the silence and the rhythm of the film really communicate what is going on between these two characters.

Again Leonie pointed out that the mes-en-scene in this film is very important and tells allot about the character and her personality. This is definitely relevant to my film. I really want the house to be a reflection of the mind set my character is in, and the girl coming in to clean it be a very obvious metaphor for this. However I will need to think more on how this will effect my characters within the story.

I really want to get the lighting and colours right in my film.

The clutter:

These are some of my ideas for all of the clutter. I want to have lots of found objects and ornaments so I have been trying to work out what materials work best for each item. For example the orange flower was made out of card, and the same method used but, tissue paper for the petals on the white, and you get completely different effects.

I am also going to have lots of lamps and pots and mugs and ornaments and just stuff! I need to suss out what kind of stuff my character would be hoarding from his life. However I want his wife to be very evident in the object choices.

Original concept art:

Colour and fabric designs:

These are my original colour designs. I want to use a range of fabrics and colours that keep the house feeling warm and homely. As if the place is comforting to my main-hoarding character. The first image is of some of the fabrics I will use for the curtains and scatter cussions etc. The house will have allot of soft furnishings and I want the house to appear as if their was once a woman living their too, hence the tight floral patterns. The wall-paper will probably also be in a similar style but very miss-matched.

The bottom squares will be for a patchwork throw, that will be on my characters lap at some point. It is made from the threads shown in the second picture and was knitted on cocktail sticks. Each square is about the size of a 10 pence piece.

Original Main Character Designs:

These are some rough ideas that I came up with for my main character. I was originally going to use plasticine to make the head but am looking into using Balsa wood and latex because the balsa wood will be lighter and the latex seems to be more durable and have a smoother finish. I will have to test this! The same is true for the basic wire armature and the clothing. All will have to be tested under the camera to see how they move.