King Lear FF series Blog

Notes on the production of King Lear project:

http://kinglear-animated.blogspot.com/

Shakespeare project

Hey guys,

I just wanted to get your opinion on this. A coordinator of an animation film festival that I’ve met when I talked with Dave Sproxton is thinking of putting on a Shakespeare themed event sometime in the future. Anyway, he sent me an email about it- he asked if I wanted to make a film based on a play obviously the play itself would have to be substantially modified to fit a reasonable time (Not over 30 minutes) and split into three acts of ten minutes it could be manageable. He's got all the workshops and programmes planned for the next few seasons but I think that if I wanted to I could get the first act completed for the event then finish off the other two. I've just finished storyboarding The Sword and the Squire so I haven't gone and shot anything for my current project. So in theory I could put the storyboard and current puppets away until a later date and after finishing the first act or so, pick it up again and get all the puppets and props ready for shooting again.

For me, this depends on the play because I have said I couldn't do one that was too long. I've been thinking Hamlet or King Lear. Hamlet would be my first choice as it is set in one place, the castle, and the storyline is less complicated. I wouldn't want to be spending too long with sets and all the characters in other plays. Obviously the play would have to be cut down but composed in a way that still captures Shakespeare's language. I could also re-use a lot of the castle sets for The Sword and the Squire which would mean I would only need to construct a couple other sets and the rest of the puppets and I could be shooting straight away.

I love Shakespeare (I’m studying it for GCSE) so the subject is no problem. What do you think? Its quite a big festival in the UK, this seems like a chance to get something watched. I am devoted to The Sword and the Squire so I plan to continue with puppets and props while doing the prep for the Shakespeare film. Which would mean I could start shooting right away. I could also use the finished film as my main piece of coursework for GCSE. Sword in the Squire is going great so this is a side project I suppose.

Shakespeare 'The Animated Tales'

As a little detour from normal production proceedings I have posted some links to the BBC's Shakespeare 'The Animated Tales'. It was produced in Moscow and Cardiff. I really like the puppet style- they almost look like marionettes. I would like to go with the same aesthetic for the puppets in my film. A hard head perhaps with a simple movable bottom jaw, that seems to be the case for a lot of the puppets in this series. It also looks like a movable bottom lip is used on the rest. Here are the plays that have been animated for the series:

The Tempest

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XZ091CEgNU&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xYzRsQBn_M&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWa_uhtj0Fk&feature=related


Twelfth Night

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS9qTOFUNVM&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRI1hLlPp98&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR59i8EtwsY&feature=related


Winters Tale

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2_rcJUDpX0

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMIHVLyZiuI&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3TVEkpDon8&feature=related



The Taming of the Shrew
(Only second part)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J78V5rG0ekM&feature=related


Now, these videos are in Russian but the quality is considerably higher so I thought they should be included.



A Winters Tale (Russian)

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDFByZ8MZ0M&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbkQzxIx7s8

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XywsD7Og4_I&feature=related



The Taming of the Shrew

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vPtUxRg8SA

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VZnF365_Po&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgegoU9R6JY&feature=related

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nw0nrHkvQw&feature=related

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03S4Ysw3eSU&feature=related

Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DwvnUO6cw4&feature=related


I really enjoyed these shorts- the character animation is superb. I love how the sets are minimal, like in real plays where there are only a couple of props and the acting is what enthralls the audience. So, did anyone notice how the lip-sync was achieved?

Pre-production

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted in a good while but pre-production work is nearly finished. Its taking so long because I have been designing each and every prop- there are hundreds in Merlin's cottage- so that's taken up a lot of time. (I'm too much of a perfectionist really- but I've got my life ahead of me to finish this film, hopefully won't take that long though!) I'm very pleased with all character and set design work, again all completed and I am just up to the part in the storyboard where Arthur returns to the Castle with Merlin. I'm just deciding on how I'm going to draw up the final copy of the cottage/hovel design. I had been originally thinking of having Merlin live in a tree or in some moss-covered mound in the forest.

I like the whole idea of having it in the mound, with roots coming through the ceiling and stone+earth walls, with a little chimney poking out the top. Too many ideas! I have designed a little cottage too. What are your thoughts on this?

Can't wait to start set-building in a couple of months to put all the design work into practice. More interesting posts to come, later in the year.

Door designs

A collection of character designs

Here are just some of the many character designs I've drawn out. Arthur is finished in colour but the rest are in b&w for now until I get enough time to watercolour them. Most are quite fantastical designs, but that's my style, theres not much point trying to replicate other styles, when I feel comfortable creating this film in my own fable style. I hope to include most of these characters in the film even if they are only seen for a second or so. I'm nearly a quarter way through the storyboard so I'm ahead of schedule. Which is good as creating the forest sets which is my first challenge won't be a quick affair. I think I'm going to take a look at Shelley's fantastic tree posts and may create the trees in a similar way. Seafoam for the bushes perhaps...mmm.... Anyway, I'm sorry for the photo quality, click to enlarge.

Merlin

Quick post before I go tommorow - character design of Merlyn in progress