Em New

Nov 4, 2022

Research and Preproduction - Weeks 6 & 7

These last two weeks have been a little slow in preproduction- I have mainly been sketching and watching things, plus working on my dissertation formative.

At the beginning of the two weeks I started another puppet test, adding a moveable mouth and changing the fabrication method. I didn't end up finishing it because I realised pretty early on that I preferred the other fabrication method, using wool in strips is nice but it made this puppet look pretty goofy rather than giving them a face that could be sinister in one scene and then approachable in the next, as I need it to be. Making the test mouth was useful though, as I know now that I shouldn't add epoxy putty too far up the jar or it will open a little, as it does in this puppet. The ears were successful in this puppet though, they're quite a bit more expressive than the last one's ears.

I've been playing about with what I want the film to be about, right now I still think that death should be involved in there as my research began looking into folklores very tied into death, but it is about how I approach that. I've been drawing some characters out as you can see below. I've been partially inspired by the concept art for Rise of the Guardians' character, Pitch and have since seen Mad God since on the Wednesday screenings, too, and I really liked the design of the plague doctor/ghost/giant character. I don't really know how to describe him as I can't find a solid descriptor of him online and have only found one clip of him under the label of 'plague doctor' so that will have to do. I really like the tassels attached to both of these characters, the slow-motion effect on Mad God's character create a really brilliantly ethereal effect. The design of pitch is foreboding but in a way that doesn't look like it's a choice- he is sinister by nature, which I think works well for a death-like character, he can't help what he has to do. My idea for this death-like character is that they would be the owner of the church grim that collects the souls, or he could potentially be a ferryman like Charon in Greek mythology.

[inspirations- RotG Concept art of Pitch and the Plague Doctor from Mad God]

[my sketches]

I have also been considering having two characters, one a wolf, one a woman, being tied together through their souls somehow, inspired by films like Wolfwalkers, and again by Angela Carter's work, as well as some songs by Laura Marling about not forgetting you were once wild.

[inspiration]

[sketches]

From the sketch on the far left of the woman and wolf I decided it could be good to translate the shapes into a sort of print-like medium. I used Photoshop to work into it with ink brushes from the Adobe megapack and thought it looked effective. I made a few others just from the top of my head, but I'd like to translate some of my other biro sketches into this style.

It could be fun to try out some actual mono-printing, mono-typing or etching, it's just been a while since I've done it so I'll have to remind myself and then I can enjoy getting messy with it again. It could also be fun to delve into lino printing, because it can be made to look similar to woodcut, and woodcut has a fun olde-worlde feeling to it that could add a fun context to Shuck prints.

In the mean time I've just been considering my inspirations to keep me moving, I'ce been thinking more about Emily Carroll and Dave McKean, I love the use of colour and texture in Carroll's art, and the way that she unfolds her narratives is brilliantly sinister, I always enjoys her storytelling. Dave McKean's textures are also beautiful, but I especially love the way he uses shape and plays with proportions, Most of his characters look twisted and bizarre but always super intriguing. I've been looking a lot at how he draws cat's bodies when thinking about how to draw my Shuck. His human characters are also wonderfully shaped and exaggerated though, so I may well look more at his work once I am designing my human character.

[Emily Carroll's Work]

[Dave McKean's Work]

Another point of inspiration for me over the last few weeks has been an instagram account that catalogues pet graves called creaturecrypts. It's interesting to see the variety that people get for their beloved pets, some are standardised and some are incredibly unique and ornate. Lots of the graves the account posts have photographs of the pet printed in a frame attached to the stone. It's also nice seeing all the funny names each of the pets has and what the owners have chosen to remember them by- some of them are funny, some of them are very sad. I think it could be an interesting topic to doodle around.

I think it could be inspiring to wander about a pet cemetery myself but there aren't really any in the area. The closest one of any interest is Carmichael house, which i about 2 hours away and a bit hard to get to without a car, it has an abandoned pet cemetery but there aren't many graves really and they all look very similar.

Talking of inspiration, this Monday I went to the Samhuinn Fire Festival, which kept all the wonderful pagan imaginings I had in my head going. It was in Holyrood Park this year and seeing a small procession of flame-bearers walk up the crags from a distance was enchanting, I felt a bit transported to another time or realm. The live music was also really big for me, the constant drumming could be felt in your feet, it was brilliant, I felt much more present than when I went in first year. It made me think about the possibility of having that sort of music over my film, and to have it be more driven by music and rhythm than plot. I was thinking this would fit more with the idea of the linked souls of wolf and woman, switching between the woman and wolf, maybe I include some sort of ceremony or ritual, I'm not sure. Here's the best video I could find of similar music to the festival:

It made me think of the Dark Morris from the Tiffany Aching series, where the coming of winter must be heralded by a Morris dance like the spring is, where the dancers use bells that emit silence when rung, and wave black handkerchiefs, all whilst leaving space for the Wintersmith (the king of the season) and the Summer Lady to enter the dance as they please: "On a certain day when the nights are drawing in, the dancers leave work early and take, from attics and cupboards, the other costume, the black one, and the other bells. And they go by separate ways to a valley among the leafless trees. They don't speak. There is no music. It's very hard to imagine what kind there could be.And in the cold afternoon, as the light drains from the sky, among the frosty leaves and in the damp air, they dance the other Morris. Because of the balance of things.You've got to dance both, they say. Otherwise you can't dance either." - Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett.

[The Dark Morris being performed in real life, inspired by the books]

For my next steps I need to develop my story but in smaller steps than just suddenly thinking 'I need a story now!!' Jared suggested I chose whether I want a conventional narrative or a more abstract one first, so I will try to come to a conclusion on that before my next update. I'll be looking at some poetry and watching more films- I have MirrorMask lined up which should be fun to revisit, as well as Dog by Suzie Templeton.