Last night in the city for Husk.

Thanks to Kelly McGillivgray-Brown for her excellent help last night. We raced into the city to film a little pick-up to fix a continuity issue. Husk is now back in Carrum to shoot the final scenes...

Love and puppets...

Thanks to Tony Lawrence for the cartoon..

Milestone

Last night we moved out of the production office in town.

It was very handy to have a place to keep all our equipment and charge batteries etc.  

We might have to go in for one pick-up shot.  Last night we filmed a little bit of time lapse from the car...

Nothing lasts forever

This piece has been a survivor in its little nook in Centre Place for several years.  Last night while filming we were visited by a workman who measured up this very spot with the express purpose of filling it in and restricting access.  Lucky we have been able to use this space before it goes.  

Photo: James Edge

 James Edge and David Hewet were on hand last night to help out with a couple of tricky shots involving the moving van.  We used a conventional tripod and wired it to the van using foam covered wire.  This was surprisingly stable.  It didn't stop Paul from being anxious about his precious Russian lenses...

Photo: James Edge

Photo: James Edge

Tight fit

James Edge and David Hewet did a stirling job last night. We are edging closer to finishing our time in the city. It will be a bit sad when we are done because it is so much fun in there.  The staff of local businesses and residents have been wonderfully understanding while we film.
Husk (the big girl puppet), has had an interesting time in town. Three kisses, several cuddles, two attempted abductions and one marriage proposal. Who knew she would be so endearing?

David on the other hand (here with stocking on his head), has had zero kisses and zero abduction attempts. Not sure why!

Photo: James Edge

Where we filmed, the van just fits between the bins and gutter. 

Photo: James Edge

 Paul animating in Rutlidge Lane.

Photo: James Edge

The biggest prop...

Photo: Jason Reekie
Poor van, when we said "you are going to be a star" we didn't mean that sort of star...

 Last night was a very productive shoot.  It was quite a triumph because the star prop in the film made her debut.  This delightful 1958 Morris JB van was bought and restored just for this film.  There is a blog on her reconstruction here .  Yesterday she was driven through Melbourne to the set on her longest trip since her restoration. She didn't miss a beat, good girl!

Photo: James Edge

Photo: David Hewet

Everyone on set for a key shot.

Photo: David Hewet

This is James Edge being a puppet rig.

Photo: James Edge

David Hewet and Paul share a funny moment on set.

Dope Sheet

This is a dope sheet (instructions for each frame of the film). You can see from the rain splattered paper the trying conditions we are working under. 

This sheet was used for "Husk" when she walks. A classic 12 moves per stride cycle at 24 frames per second.

Cobblestones

Just a tip for anyone doing this sort of thing: animating walks on cobblestones or other rough surfaces will drive you mad.

Photo: David Hewet

Puppets in the same sick play

This appropriate poster positioned above us while we worked is open to a lot of interpretation.
I didn't realize until yesterday how primitive the urge to put your mark on a wall is. Just like cave painters from the stone age, the motivation is a mystery. You are left wondering... who did that? What were they like? And, what did they mean?

On the other hand, "Homp" and "Yo Snowy" are totally self explanatory.

Loser session averted!

"Fix my finger, Master" - Photo: Uncy Dave

Poor David Hewet, coming out to help me on almost a loser session!   "Husk", the big Dryad was very troublesome - she wobbled all over the place during her closeups and her thumb broke off.  That, coupled with equipment failures meant we came home after 2am.  Still, the shots are in the bag (well, on the drive) and we enjoyed the marvelous hospitality of "Hells Kitchen" once again. 

Mr Plasmo

It has been wonderful working with Tony Lawrence, creator of the TV series Plasmo on set.  He didn't give up, even when it was raining - thanks Tony. Animation mentor and button pusher!

Alleyways

Our mobile studio in a road case is holding up well.  Even after 3 hours use the 55Ah battery shows only 5% discharge.  The small footprint of the setup means we can operate in spaces like this which barely have enough room for pedestrians and cars.  In the shot below you can see our blue helper watching on...

Photo by David Hewet

The very dark conditions make animating difficult.  We are using existing light so the camera has long shutter speeds (6 seconds) and open apertures (f4).  We are keeping the ISO at around 200 to keep grain down.  These settings make the live view image very dim, so it is almost like animating blind. Just like the good old days.

Photo by David Hewet

We had many visitors last night.  There was an assault in front of us, the police showed up and we gave statements.  All very suspicious and exciting.  In typical Melbourne style there are street artists discreetly working right next to some of the best restaurants in the city, with socialites flocking out at closing time.  These alleyways are a very interesting place to spend time, a cross section of people showing this city is for everyone.

Excuse me, madam...

We are into the hard slog now... the big female Dryad puppet "Husk" is attracting a lot of attention.  We have had more than one lewd comment while animating her, it is not hard to see why.  All adjustments take place under her dress with our secret puppet mechanisms...

Her costume is an actual 1920's "flapper" dress.  It is fitting for her to wear something almost 100 years old.  Thanks to stylist Rebecca H for that.

These alleys were made famous in the 1920's and 30's with notorious"spiv" gangsters like Squizzy Taylor "touching people up".  Good to see the touching up tradition continue...

photo: David Hewet

Puppet stealers

We were shooting a long shot of the big puppet (the person sized Dryad) walking up this public lane last night. Each time we moved the puppet the animator had to walk about ten meters away from her to avoid being in the shot.  Each capture was taken with a three second shutter speed, meaning the puppet was alone and quite some distance from the camera and crew.
Around 12 am a party of revelers appeared and a chap thought it funny to take the puppet to scare the ladies in his group.  We had to chase them down and take the puppet back.  Luckily marks on the ground let us know where the puppet was located so we could continue the shot... the perils of out door shooting!

"Motion control rig"

We call our motion control rig David. This is the rig used for a fairy flying sequence. The puppets and lights are connected to the camera.  This entire arrangement is then mounted on a shoulder mount which David wears. David took one step backwards as I animated each frame.  David used a simple sight to line up the camera with an object in the background to ensure the camera did not jerk about too much between each frame.

View of our modest portable studio from the Hell's Kitchen bar that has the delightful Mountain Goat Ale on tap. 

3am in a lane way...

David H and I put in a big night yesterday to finish up around 3am.  (The office key did not fit our room lock... so we started 2 hours later than expected.)

During filming were joined by some street artists from Adelaide who did some pretty amazing spray work along with hanging photographically created / printed posters.  It is nice to be working in an area constantly evolving in a haphazard, inspiring way.

Other highlights were the kind owner of Cafe Vicolino, Jordan, who gave us some needed encouragement and liquid refreshments at around 1am, long after he had closed.  Thanks Jordan!

That's it for the opening scene with the fighting couple, onto the flying scene today...

Is that the director or janitor?