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March 9, 2007
elder thing puppet test
by sven at 4:40 pm
Yesterday I was a busy boy. I built a new puppet and tried out animating it.
While I was driving to Tucson, I thought through some changes in the script for Let Sleeping Gods Lie. I've been really unhappy for some time with the "joke ending" I'd originally planned. I've come up with a story now that is much more dramatic -- while still using my basic elements.
But changes? Oh dear...
I'm loath to ask my actors to come back for yet another shooting session. I still might be able to avoid it... I've decided that my storytelling style has generally been too linear; I want to switch my approach to "hitting the high points." By using a style that's similar in pacing to a movie trailer, I may be able to get away with using only what I've already got in the can. ...And then if there are a few vital pick-up shots, I may try using myself as a stunt-double.
An important development: I'm adding a whole new section to the film. I'm calling it the "deep history segment." Because it's a sort of flashback, I think it's appropriate for this segment to have a different visual style. I'd been contemplating animating something viscous -- like black molasses, or a mixture of ink + hair gel on glass. But then yesterday it struck me: why would I not use puppets?!?
So I set out to build a "quick and dirty" elder thing puppet -- just for proof of concept.
The limbs are made from 1/16" aluminum armature wire: two strands for the arms and eyestalks, three for the legs. The arm and leg wires are 6" long.
The spine is a piece of wooden dowel, and the limbs are attached with plumber's epoxy putty. After fixing the limbs onto the dowel, I added an additional layer of epoxy -- just to make absolutely sure everything holds together.
I've got 1/4" and 3/8"-thick sheets of cushion foam on hand, which I cut into long strips and wrapped around the armature to bulk it out. Most of the time I chose the 1/4" foam. It allows greater control -- but does take quite a while to layer.
The foam strips are held onto the armature with athletic tape.
It's a little hard to see in this photo, but I remembered to add a rigging point for this puppet. In one of its "armpits" I epoxy-puttied a 1/2"-long piece of 7/32" K&S.
[Notice that underneath the puppet you can see the rough blueprint that I drew for scale before starting construction.]
There, the foam-wrapping stage looks about complete!
Next, I refined the form of the Elder with althletic underwrap. This is an extremely thin non-adhesive foam tape.
I had the thought that maybe I ought to use the athletic tape -- which is flexible -- as the final form-shaping layer. I tried this idea out on a leg tentacle... And found that I didn't like the way it crumples when the tentacle bends.
However, for the torso -- which is not meant to bend -- the tape worked out very nicely. It's sort of like applying papier mache -- but with cloth Band-Aids. The tape did a nice job of refining the form; it also accepts paint better than the porous foam does.
Here's the pup, all ready to be painted.
I mixed mold-building latex with black acrylic paint for the paint job.
My latex has the consistency of thick mayonnaise. I would rather have used a more liquid variety -- but didn't have any on hand.
Why use latex? I was hoping to smooth over the texture. And I wanted something that would help hold the underwrap all together. And I've read about this technique -- but hadn't tried it yet -- so I wanted to try something new.
Nick Hilligoss describes puppets that have been painted with liquid latex as bending "like a rubber boot." Yep -- that's what it's like!
I don't really like how the latex turned out... How it crumples when you bend it. How it wants to stick to itself. [I know I could apply talc -- but it's important that this pup be as black as possible.] ...Still, it's good enough for a test puppet.
Almost forgot: I also added a little bit more epoxy to the eyeballs, just to make them bigger.
On to animating! The first test was a very simple "whipping" motion with one of the legs.
I've got some new photo lights. This was their first outing. Turns out their light is extremely blue. Not too happy about it.
One of the big mysteries with the Elders is: How the heck do they walk?
I haven't really figured it out yet, but I've begun to get a better sense for how weight shifts from one leg to the next.
...This is one of the HUGE benefits of making an elder thing puppet: I don't know how I'd ever be able to figure out how they move if I was just positioning pixels with a CG version. I need to hold the creature in my hands and be able to push it around, trying out different possibilities in a concrete way.
I've been trying on a new hat lately. I'm playing with calling myself a "mixed media animator." (I also heard the phrase "animation artist" recently, which I kinda like too.)
I love stopmo. But "mixed media animation" is probably a better label for the style that I'm ultimately going for. Not just using CG effects to enhance stopmo -- with digital water, skies, and fire. No, what I want to do is mix CG, cel animation, motion graphics, and puppetfilm in innovative ways that blur the lines.
The clip above is a good example. I've taken the puppet animation and used AfterEffects to turn it into what look likes a digital line drawing. ...I like!
Another thing I've been aching to see is how the elder things stand up.
Looking at the prior "walk test," it seemed to me that the Elder was almost comical -- waving its arms around hysterically. These creatures are millions of years old, frighteningly intelligent and dignified. Maybe they don't move their arms much at all? Maybe they don't writhe -- which has always been the assumption -- maybe every motion is very purposeful.
Important puppet construction note: This puppet sorely needs tie-downs at the ends of each of the legs and at the base of the spine. Animating a two-legged puppet without tie-downs is painful, but can be done in a pinch. Having five legs all subtly shifting as you animate, when you really want them to stay fixed to the ground? ...Intolerable.
It's going to take more playing around, but I'm beginning to have insight into the Elders.
(Huh. Does puppet pushing constitute method acting?)
Their limbs are fast and lithe. But lifting up their torso -- that's heavy, so the rise has to be more deliberate and burdened.
As I'm animating, there's a tendency for me to choose one of their five faces and think of it as the front. When I do so, I see a pair of arms and a pair of legs -- which looks almost human, if I don't focus on the other spare limbs.
I think I can use this impression of humanity to good effect at key moments in the film -- but I must beware. What are the other faces doing and thinking while I'm looking at this particular side? Maybe it's better to conceptualize the Elder as five separate people, all standing back to back. Kind of like certain photos of multi-faced (Indian?) gods that I've seen.
The eyestalks... If they function like human eyes, then they ought to dart around from focal point to focal point. But there's a danger of making the critters too human. In the "standing up" test, I tried having all the eyes swing around in unison -- which produced a sort of sea anemone effect. Plausible, but very appropriately alien.
For this last clip, I tried using AfterEffects to multiply the critter, and tried out using white lines on a black background. This is very close to what I think I'm going to ultimately use. I thought I'd like to use a "lens flare" effect to create green, star-like eyes... But it turns out that I'd probably need to use LightWave to get what I want -- which may not wind up being worth it.
...
Holy cow! All that in one day??
posted by sven | March 9, 2007 4:40 PM | comments (11) | categories: let sleeping gods lie, movies, stopmo
Comments
Damn! This is incredible! I can't believe you did this all in one day! The animation tests are excellet (though the first one is a bit cartoonish). Makes me want my own little monster to animate!
Posted by: Darkstrider at March 10, 2007 1:12 AM
Hey Mike --
Yeah, no love lost on that first animation test. I almost didn't include it -- but then decided it was important to show that I needed a warm-up animation clip before getting down to business.
Also, the idea that tentacles swish is so... archetypal? ...had to get it out of my system, had to see what it would actually look like on screen. Glad I did it -- it reinforces the question in my head, "Why is it swishing it's leg?"
Even with monsters, all action needs motivation.
Posted by: sven at March 10, 2007 9:24 AM
i was thinking about the whole five different people thing...it seems to me that these five would stand back to back, with the next to each other arms & legs tied together, do you see what im seeing??
this would mean, not multiple personality, but complex personality, since they are joined. which does seem to go with the whole alive for thousands of years idea.
also, i liked the way they stand at first b/c it appeared to me that the elder was using its arms to help stand up. very good, since the legs are not so terribly thick and do not have well defined muscular structure. now i see that the arms simply dangle, their tips sort of tap the ground. a ha...of course we are speaking of an alien species, so their bodies are no doubt quite different from our, eh?
your new puppet is just lovely, thank you for your, as always, well documented account. i know im not the only one who appreciates this!
Posted by: Mân Dì at March 10, 2007 5:26 PM
Wow, that is a phenominal amount to have accomplished in one day, Sven! great post too! I so appreciate the detail you go into, telling us the materials you chose, etc. Great stuff!
Posted by: shelley Noble at March 10, 2007 7:15 PM
It is a terrific puppet and character. My favorite clip was the white line test of the standing up elders. They had "gravitas" and burdened weight as you say.
Posted by: shelley Noble at March 10, 2007 7:20 PM
Mân Dì and Shelley, thank you both!
@ Mân Dì: That's a really cool idea about the Elders having a sort of multiple personality thing. I'm going to have to chew on that... Very grateful for more ideas!
With regards to the legs not seeming very muscular: The CG version of the Elders has a more refined appearance. There's only so much you can do to finesse a build-up puppet. I could see maybe doing another version of this puppet in cast foam latex.
...On the other hand, I might be wise to just go with what I've got and not get stuck on making the perfect pup. :-)
Posted by: sven at March 11, 2007 4:39 AM
I have been waiting for you to get back to the sleeping gods, and now that I see you're going to incorporate some stop-mo!? AWESOME! Beautiful puppet, I love it... I love your 'mixed media animator' title, thats where I want to be too, but Im guessing you supposed that already...I definitely want an emphasis on puppet film, but I feel like theres so much new ground to be broken by combining techniques.... For the walk, I always imagine them sort of slithering about on cilia, not actually using the tentacles to motor, but cilia on the tentacles, so they appear to glide, with some writhing in the tentacles but not actually steps....know what I mean? Or maybe even octopuss-y (not the Bond movie) with little suckers on the tentacles....
Lookin' good, keep it up!
Posted by: ubatuber at March 12, 2007 1:38 PM
Thanks Jeffrey!
In the "At The Mountains Of Madness" novella, the critters actually have little triangular pads at the ends of their legs, and the explorers discover petrified footprints in some prehistoric mud. So, apparently they're supposed to walk.
(Not that I've stuck to everything in the book -- but I've tried to keep the critters pretty close.)
I think having them walk will add to the sense that these are sentient beings.
...Plus, the threat that they could actually chase after you maybe makes them a bit scarier. If they're planted on the ground, one assumes that they can't move very fast. But if they're standing up -- well, who knows?
Posted by: sven at March 12, 2007 3:47 PM
Thats right, I remember the footprints now....I guess I imagine them gliding b/c its too difficult to conceive of a five-legged walker, which is why you made the pup in the first place :) Good luck!
Posted by: ubatuber at March 13, 2007 1:45 PM
sven, this is amazing!
Posted by: hazel at March 27, 2007 12:54 PM
Hey, thanks Hazel!
Posted by: sven at March 27, 2007 1:36 PM