Stop-motion, stop-animation, classic special effects, puppets, masks, costumes, props, models, sets, matts, production illustrations, production design...

7
7D

Interiors: The North Pole Workshop

 

The background wasn't particularly important in the storyboard. However, when working on the 3D animatic, I've found out I had to fill the background somehow. So I came up with the basement concept and this back wall filled with toys.

It was to be situated in the basement at first, but then I changed the Santa's lair from a hut to a barge, encaved in polar ice. So, without any actual changes to already finished background, this set finally - to be exact - supposed to end up under the deck of a barge. Elongated as it is, the set had struts on the ceiling from the start, and they (how convenient) resembled something that could belong into ship's interior. However, if that'd be the case, there should be an array of vertical ribs of the ship's hull, but I decided that this ship could be fitted with a double hull, thus omitting the need for distiguishable hull ribs. After all, it wasn't all that important for the film if it is a barge or not, moreover - even the exterior wasn't made to be immediately recognized as a barge, but rather as a floating cottage.
Anyway, the background was already finished and Sanja painted it. On tests everything looked ok. It was only after that I decided to go for crooked angles in my sets, and begun reconsidering this one as well. But distorting it was out of the question because of the sideways move of the camera. So, I continued as planned, but had to find the way to hide plain geometry of the back wall. I had decorations for that. It seemed like a simple solution.
I've been extremely naive in preparing for this shot. I thought it'd be possible to use the same background for the whole range of the camera move. The thing is, I've heavily misinterpreted the animatic's 3D set. It turned out that in real life I needed more distance between the camera and the backdrop so when camera did it's movement, the wall segment was barely wide enough to cover the background. That may seem all very well, but I had several (nine to be exact) working posts for elfs. So I had to match "exits" with "entrances" for every camera move, in a way not only to sync movement, but to reconstruct every single detail in the background in completely opposite end of that set piece, just to repeat it in the next camera move. It has to be, otherwise transition between clips couldn't work. Also, the "display" behind elfs turned out to be several times longer than expected, so dressing it a bit different every time became quite a creative challenge. Above all, I had to light it, and that introduced whole new level in adjusting props for in-set lights, and also top lights, etc. All in all, I had to repeat the process eight times. And it all counted as just one shot. What a mess! Nevertheless, it was educational. Here's how, from tests to final shots:
I shot every frame with chroma-key screen of some colour (this one above was obviously blue, but there were situations where I had to go with two or more colours) between foreground and background. With all the lights (and masks for some of the lights) in the set, guides, railings, telescopic mirrors and all sorts of rigs, there was hardly any room for my hands to handle the puppet and whatever else needed to be animated, let alone the space for chroma-key screen. But I had to squeeze it in, somehow... I wasn't aware of it at first, but I had to adjust everything nine times... for just one shot!

I had to fasten the machines for every change, and I needed every time the one that's going out of the frame, as well as the one that goes in. I wasn't like I enjoyed it... I hated it, but it had to be done. I had no idea that would be so complicated... If I did, I'd do it all in one row, with one long background (for that, I'd have to build several more meters of background) and shoot the whole thing down the longer wall of the studio, but none of that would be as time consuming, as this approach was in the end. But, I only started to realize some of that out when I was already way ahead and over and done with the first puppet, and deeply in the preparations for the second one... If I decided to change anything, I'd have to reshoot the first puppet, and I wasn's too keen on that proposition.

 
_1 The ARCTIC PIRATE index
_2 Color chart development, coloring and light tests
_3 Storyboards, shooting plans, concept arts, sketches
_4 Puppets, from sketches to animation
_5 Vehicles of all sorts
_6 Houses and exteriors, from sketches to final sets
_7 Interiors: 7-D - The North Pole Workshop
_8 Small props
_9 Graphics and maps for posters, banners, press, signs etc.
10 Shots against all odds
11 Simple shots, confined spaces
12 Basics: workbenches, tools, logistics, etc.
13 Miscellaneous
 

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ContactFilmsCataloguePuppetsCostumesModelsSetsIlustrationsabout_usT1T2HrvatskiDvojezicni