Still Shots

Progress 1

It has been a while since the last post but I have great news.. At last all of the physical work of the set is finished!

This is my room, I have purchased the lights and the 'green' screen, which is now purple because it is the only color not in my pallet. Lucky for me purple acetate is only $2 a yard :)

I used polymer clay for the feet, but because they had to be directly added to the puppet, I made a makeshift oven with a box and a hair dryer to 'bake' the clay. 15 minutes and they were solid..

Character Exploration 2 [updated 1.24.12]

This is mostly how I want the little boy to look. I went for the industrial revolution era instead of the 1300s. I might want to exaggerate the proportions a bit more and work on the face in clay. 

FACE STUDIES: the first one looks a bit too freaky.. so I adjusted it a bit in the second, but still looking for something more cartoonish. I will definitely resolve most of these problems in modeling it in clay. The silent vs. voice acting decision is a huge one.. but i believe the mouth should still move none the less. 

A good suggestion given to me by Jeff was to differentiate good and evil:

As far as color goes, I like the idea that the man has bold deep hues of purples, reds and greens. Since he is an outsider, I imagine he has traveled all over the place and it reflects in the textiles of his clothes.

Where the villagers will tend to be muted, monochromatic, and desaturated in color.. and very dirty lookin.

Character Exploration 1

Excerpt of the Pied Piper of Hameln by Robert Browning

When, lo! as they reached the mountain-side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed;
And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast.
Did I say, all? No! One was lame,
And could not dance the whole of the way;
And in after years, if you would blame
His sadness, he was used to say, --
"It's dull in our town since my playmates left!
I can't forget that I'm bereft
Of all the pleasant sights they see,
Which the Piper also promised me;
For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
Joining the town and just at hand,
Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new;
The sparrows were brighter than the peacocks here,
And their dogs outran our fallow deer,
And honey-bees had lost their stings,
And horses were born with eagles' wings;
And just as I became assured
My lame foot would be speedily cured,
The music stopped and I stood still,
And found myself outside the hill,
Left alone against my will,
To go now limping as before,

And never hear of that country more!"

It Is Decided!!!

The Pied Piper with the captured children

Safe to say that I want to use the Town by the River story. The Pillowman was the best play I have ever seen, and the best story I have ever heard. The main character is an author of dark and twisted stories, who shares his work while being interrogated by the police throughout the play.  

Yoriyos: The Pied Piper

The Tale of the Town on the River: The Pillow Man, Mcdonagh

Once upon a time in a tiny cobble-streeted town on the banks of a

fast-flowing river, there lived a little boy who did not get along with the

other children of the town; they picked on a bullied him because he was

poor and his parents were drunkards and his clothes were rags and he walked

around barefoot. The little boy, however, was of a happy and dreamy

disposition, and he did not mind the taunts and the beatings and the

unending solitude. He knew that he was kind-hearted and full of love and

that someday someone somewhere would see this love inside him and repay him

in kind. Then, one night, as he sat nursing his newest bruises at the foot

of the wooden bridge that crossed the river and led out of town, he heard

the approach of a horse cart along the dark, cobbled street, and as it

neared he saw that its driver was dressed in the darkest of robes, the

black hood of which bathed his craggy face in shadow and sent a shiver of

fear through the little boy’s body. Putting his fear aside, the boy took

out the small sandwich that was to be his supper that night and, just as

the cart was about to pass onto and over the bridge, he offered it up to

the hooded driver to see if he would like some. The cart stopped, the

driver nodded, got down and sat beside the little boy for a while, sharing

the sandwich and discussing this and that. The driver asked the boy why he

was barefoot and ragged and all alone, and as the boy told the driver of

his poor, hard life, he eyed the back of the driver’s cart; it was piled

high with small, empty animal cages, all foul-smelling and dirt lined, and

just as the boy was about to ask what kind of animals it was had been

inside them, the driver stood up and announced that he had to be on his

way. “But before I go,�? the driver whispered, “because you have been so

kindly to an old weary traveler in offering half of your already meagre

portions, I would like to give you something now, the worth of which today

you may not realise, but one day, when you are a little older, perhaps, I

think you will truly value and thank me for. Now close your eyes.�? And so

the little boy did what he was told and closed his eyes, and from a secret

inner pocket of his robes the driver pulled out a long, sharp and shiny

meat cleaver, raised it high in the air and brought it scything down onto

the boy’s right foot, severing all five of his muddy little toes. And as

the little boy say there in gaping silent shock, staring blankly off into

the distance at nothing in particular, the driver gathered up his bloody

toes, tossed them away to the gaggle of rats that had begun to gather in

the gutters, got back onto his cart, and quietly rode on over the bridge,

leaving the boy, the rats, the river and the darkening town of Hamelin far

behind him.