Construction of the characters


Once my set was total finished i was very happy with how it was look but I had at the same time been working on the character unsuccessfully i had tried loads of different way to construct the armatures to no avail.

Attempt 1

I tried to make each half separately out of wire then hot glue them together and cover in air dry clay to bond the two half together this was just to flimsily and would not survive the shoot attempt 1 fail.

Attempt 2

I tried to construct then using bits of wood and wooden dowl with wire limbs drilled and glued into holes in each pieces of dowl the glue to the main wooden body part this work well at first but after messing with the armature for a bit i notice the wood was not holding up to the strain of the wire bending it was splitting at the loins attempt 3 fail.

Attempt 3

Then I was informed about making the character using one pieces of contuses wire so there would be no joins to brake of connections to fail I thought this works really well but I was inform I was using the wrong type of wire for making armatures Ops.
I was not aware there was different type of armatures wire until Johnny told me about them that was attempt 3 failed.

Attempt 4

So final I started work on my 4th armatures which was made of once continues peace of wire using the right thickness of armatures wire. I used bits of dowl for the arms and legs where I drilled straight though the dowl and pall the wire all the way though so these would act as the bones of the legs and arms, and the wire as joints this work fantastically well and seems like they will easily survive the fall shoot.


After finally get my armatures made both father and kid where made in the same way (Attempt 4) they need some bulking out so first I add fiymo to all the main part that would get the most stress from animation. Such as the waist, chest and back, I then add foam to the father for belly padding and a small amount to the kid this was great as it moved with the clothes like really fat would.




Now I had the armatures bulked out it was the difficult task of making clothes for both the father and the kid (gulp!)
The father was not to hard as i can sew pretty well so that tuck not very long at all, but the kid on the other hand was a lot more time consuming because of the size I was working at.
Both armatures shoes are made in the same way. I used a peice of scrap hard wood and the dermal to shape the shoe the drilled a hole in the top and larger one in the bottom then the leg where glued into the top hole and a strong small magnet was glue in to the hole at the base of the shoes on both the father and kid as I had decide this was the only way feasible to fix my armatures to the set because of the carpet would get in way with tie downs and such.




picture of the finished father and kid armatures

SET CONSTRUCTION PART 3 AND 4

SET CONSTRUCTION PART 3 AND 4





After compulsions of my set structure it was now time to add in the details such as furniture and fittings I build most of the furniture out of ply wood and hot glue

The arm chair is made up of two ply wood boxes hot glued together then coved in foam to make it look more like arm chair. Then to finish of the look i glue leatherette to the foam and base of the chair.







The television, tables and grandfather clock where all made in the same way using plywood construction and super glue/ hot glue together. Then sanded back smooth and filled in any gaps or holes with wood filler then a equal layer of wood varnish was applied to each piece of furniture to give it that authentic dark mahogany wood colour.

The curtains and carpet where made from sheets of fabric hemmed to give it a crisp edge.


the radiators are made from 3 piece of plywood glowed together and a rotary tool used to cut in to one side to give it those groves you find in really life radiators then panted with a white prima, two bits of wire where drilled in to the bottom sides and bend in to place to finish the look.



All the small objects dotted about the room such as beer cans, beer bottles, kids toys telephone and ash tray are made from Fiymo oven bake clay and then painted to look like the desired objects or labels added to the beer cans.

SET CONSTRUCTION: PART 2

Now that I had the basic structure of my set, it was time to add some detail to it. I added small scale hinges, the ones you might use for small box trinket box possibly, that sort of thing.
I wanted my door not just to look like real doors, but also to act like them when they open and close.


I also added the door frames, window frames, skirting boards and the hallway panelling details.






Im really happy with the way the hallway turned out as it is doing what I wanted it to do.
The way I approached this was to paint the top half of the walls grey and the bottom as black paneling. When you look down the corridor, the lighter area is almost covered, enclosing you in the small space.

SET CONSTRUCTION

Here are some pictures of my constructed set. I used MDF for the construction and screwed it together with nails. I decided to use wrapping paper for my wallpaper, as it had the right width of stripes I was after.

Picture of the wallpaper I used for my set.









I took a photograph of my set in black and white so that, at this early stage I could get a feel for what it may look like.

CHARACTER DESIGN IDEAS

I wanted the father to look scary to a small kid. So I decided to make him pretty tall about six foot. You never see his face in my animation, this is to prevent the viewer having a chance to connect with the father in anyway as the story is about the kid not the father. And it’s more frightening I feel, to have a massive man with no identity waylaying on a small kid. Makes him even more menacing than he all ready is, with a fear of the unknown.

Also I have made him quite a fat man as he only eats fast food,  after going out drinking, chips, burgers and takeaways. He also has a beer belly.
I gave him several gold rings, this is based a bit on a character I remember from my childhood when I lived in Swindon. He would come storming out of his house shouting abuse and swearing at his children. Perhaps a bit of a stereotype.

Here is a sketch of my father puppet.



CHILD

I wanted to show the child as neglected without just putting him in torn up clothes.
I thought back to Tim Burton's movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the character, Sally, she is a rag doll who is misused, unappreciated and abused by her owner.




Making him into a tattered rag doll showed the years of neglect and lack of love, both mental and physical scars having thier impact on the character.

For the child's favourite robot toy I decided upon a retro feel, as these toys have more personality than mass produced modern toys like cyber men, terminator etc.

Sketch of the child

BROKEN TOY ANIMATIC

here is my final animatic with the inter titles added.
the end is not quite right in this though.

BROKEN TOY SCRIPT

Darrin Farmer Proposal for 3rd Year Animation Final Film:
Broken Toy: script


scene 1

Opens with the kid sitting down on the floor of the living room, happily playing with his toys
and his favourite toy robot.

Scene 2

Inter title is flash up on to the screen with violent text scribbled and scratched into
the lenses.
Inter title TXT: “TIDY THIS FUCKING ROOM UP”


Scene 3

Cuts to a high shot looking down on the kid from the father eye level as the kid
looks up at the camera sad faced and teary eyed.

Scene 4

Fixed camera as we watch the father fling the kid's favourite toy robot
at the wall and it breaks on impact with the wall with a large crack.
The robots left arm and right leg flies off

Scene 5

Cut to the living room door slamming shut as footsteps walk away from us as
the father leaves the house.

Scene 6,7,8,9

Cuts back to the kid who is now lying on the floor spread out, as he has just been hit by his father after he broke the toy. The toy robot lies in pieces next to him.
Kid lifts his head and gases at the phone that is just to the right of him, he pauses for a moment.
Camera Cuts to a close up of the phone
Kid looks back at his broken toy, sad and slowly starts to collect the parts for the toy and cradles them in his arms.

Scene 10

After cradling the toy for some time the camera cuts to a close up of the kid opening the front of the broken robot toy chest and reach into it and pulling out a needle and thread.
Fades out to white.

Scene 11

Starts with a fade into the kid fixing himself with the needle and
Thread he retrieved from the robots chest.


Scene 12

Cuts to the front door slamming open, as the door hits the wall,  it’s a quick cut back to the kid who has his hands up to his ear looking terrified that his father has returned.



Scene 13,14,15

Drunken father stumble though the front door holding chips and a bottle of beer
Cuts to a inter title written in drunk txt.
“YoU Bessssssst not offff....ff Lef.......ed a DAM messs!!....”
Father stumbles down the hallway, dragging his feet. As he walks he bangs into the table in the hallway and knocks the vase of dead flowers onto the floor, it smashes into a million pieces.


Scene 16,17,18.19,20,21,22,23

Camera cuts to the Father. He is slumps down into his arm chair to watch the tv still very heavily drunk
Arms hand down over the arm rest.
Camera cuts to a inter title.
Your all waaaays under my DAM! Feeeeeet.

Camera pans to the right of the father as he scoffs the chips he staggered home with into his face, dropping more chips and ketchup on himself than are going into his mouth; to see that the kid is sat in the corner of the room trying to make himself as small as possible, head in hands.
The camera pans back to the centre, to see that the father has fallen asleep; his arms limp at his side and the bag of chip sprayed across the floor.

The camera then pans this time, to the left to see the boy's head peaking out from behind the arm chair and staring straight at the chips on the floor with a hungry look in his eyes.

The kid slowly moves towards the camera on hand and knees to kneel in front of the chips and slowing starts to eat them. He cries as he is eating the chips. As the kid is eating the chips he carelessly knocks over his father's beer which in place then to his leg the beer seeps through his sock onto his food and he instantly wakes up angry and pissed off.


Scene 24,25,26

Camera cuts to the father jumping out of his seat, turning to face the kid and backhand him straight across the face. The kid's head is knocked to the left of the screen, as stuffing flies from his mouth.

Cuts to an inter title
“Your such a waste of space you little shit!!”


Scene 27,28,29

Camera cuts to the father holding the kid by the legs and dragging him across the floor with stuffing falling from out of his mouth. He also has a torn arm.
As the kid gets pulled close to the living room door his arm slowly un-stitches and falls off. As he passes the phone on the table in the living room he looks up at it and tries with all his might to call someone for help, but instead just ends up dragging the phone off the table and unplugs it from the wall.
The kid losses grip of the phone and lets go of it as he is pulled of screen though the living room door out of the cameras view point.

Scene 30,31,32,33

The camera is now placed in the hallway and the boy has gotten to his feet. As the father grabs him by the scruff of the neck, the camera goes into a first person view as if your looking through the fathers eyes. As he is about to punch the kid straight in the face, time slows down as the kid slow strains to look over his father right shoulder.




Scene 34,35

The camera is now fixed on to the front door as it swings open and a burst of light erupts into the room and fills the space.
The camera quickly cuts back to the father holding the kid and he lets go to see where this over- powering light is coming from.


Scene 36

Camera cuts back to the front door where two lanky tall shadowy beings emerge from the door, one open arms and pointing to that point of the bright light outside the house.
The screen fades to bright blinding white.

Scene 35,36,37

Is a close up of a cartoon robber, been held just as the father was holding the kid in scene 31. The camera pans out slowly to show more of the cartoon on the TV screen to show a super hero has beaten up and apprehended the robber.

The camera swatches prospective and is now set behind the TV as is zoom out to reveals the kid sitting in the middle of a sofa with a dad and a mother ever side of him as the camera zooms out further, he slowly turns from a unhappy kid to a happy kid and grabs both his new parents arms and holds tightly as the parents also hold him tightly.


Scene 38

As the kid sits with his new family a quiet but slowly getting louder noise is heard and the screen starts to turn black from the outside inwards. Then a beeping starts up in the background that gets loader and loader as it get to its loudest point the whole scene will have turned black.
Now the black slowly turns into a heart beat monitor to coincide with the beeping.
The line slowly gets smaller and less bumps each second until a flat line noise is ringing as the heart monitor flat lines. After the credits have started to roll you will hear in the background the sound of an emergency room, as the doctor’s panic to resuscitate the kid.