The construction of the puppet started of with two square foams which was then carved with a scalpel to form the torso and the waist to its apportioned size. We also used foam to make the head. I then began to make the limbs in which I did by using metal material to make arms and legs sturdy enough so that the character itself was able to bend and move without it falling or breaking. We didn’t run into any troubles with this but just to make sure we added some clay material to the each arm and legs to make sure they don’t detach. I also used this for the feet so that the character could stand and for the eyes which later on would add the pupils. We bought sponge from a local store to put padding on the puppet just so that it felt like an actual character when the clothes would be on. After everything was mainly finished with the puppet i painted the first head white and the second a darker colour, so that both the characters weren’t the same.

I didn’t run into that much trouble with the puppet but their were parts where I did have to glue on more because it wasn’t stable enough. The main problem which was later changed was the waist. The first waist we carved wasn’t the correct size especially for the movement of the legs so we had to re do it.

After analysing and receiving feedback about our storyline and specific shots, certain changes were made. The plot now includes more of a motive for both characters: rather than just a late night endeavour of a child to get a snack out of boredom, there is an elevated sense of eagerness expressed in which the protagonist is older and has injured himself badly. Rather than casually rushing to the shops because it’s late, Kid 1 (or Billy as we’ve come to refer to it as) has more of an eagerness to his story. Billy is in need of aspirin or rubbing alcohol of some sort to heal his wound. So rather than a shop, he is running to a late night pharmacy. This makes more sense than just leaving his home out of straight curiosity and hunger for a snack, and it gives the protagonist more motive to encounter the scenery. Furthermore, the psychopath whom is entangled within the pants also has more of a motive to get Billy – similarly to how a shark is enticed by a single drop of blood, the psychopaths behaviour whilst in this entity (pants) is carnivorous and like that of an apex predator. This doesn’t visually explain the reasoning as to why the psychopath chooses young adults as its prey, or the ulterior motive of his loop of consumption, however the blood dripping expresses that this entity is like that of a raging predator rather than just randomly swallowing stray pedestrians off the street. From our feedback, we also made changes to our set design as well as the weather conditions. In terms of set design, we changed out the rusty trash can, for a more modernised dumpster bin. The trash can illustrates a time period we weren’t initially planning to have the film set in, so we switched it. Furthermore, there is graffiti and missing bricks and cracks on the side of the walls. In terms of weather, we originally wanted it to rain to enhance the dark and gritty atmosphere. This would’ve been a pain to animate alongside the main action, so we decided to set the scene after a big storm – so, everything is partially wet from the rain and the skies are still gloomy etc. Also, the thunder striking to reveal the silhouette of the psychopath within the pants deemed too dramatic, unnecessary and it kind of defeats the purpose of the reveal being subtle and hidden in plain sight. We decided to switch this with a flickering lamp post to reveal the silhouette against the wall whilst the pants are laying on the dumpster acting as the bottom half.

Revised plot:
It’s just finished raining, gloomy skies, car horns, urban atmosphere. Billy (protagonist) runs around the corner towards a late night pharmacy, whilst applying pressure to a wound on his upper left arm. Along the road, he runs past an alleyway and notices a stray pair of pants resting on a dumpster. Billy notices there is aspirin in the pocket of the pants. He looks around before approaching it for a closer look. The lamp-post behind him begins to flicker. Billy turns in anxiety, and the flickering light reveals a silhouette out of focus above the pants in the background. The light goes out. Billy turns back to grab the aspirin and the pants jump off in front of him, and jump to him whilst teeth grow along the inseams of the pants (cuts to black). The pants tears Billy’s leg off as he crawls away in agony. Silhouette of psychopath arches over Billy on the ground. Billy looks inside pants to see a dark abyss.. eyes turn white and becomes possessed. He pulls his eyelids, rips his flesh, goes crazy, as pants begins to swallow him whole. As he struggles, he disappears into the pants (like a black hole) and the pants hover for a moment, burps out Billy’s hat, and drops to the ground. There is ambience for a minute, and kid 2 walks by and notices pants. He walks up to the pants, cuts to black (end scene).

Finalised Characters:
– Billy (kid 1)
– Kid 2 (re-purposed kid 1)
– Psychopath in entity (pants)

Finalised Set:
– Sandy brick colours, sepia tone
– Pavement around perimeter of set
– alleyway with one light and bins

The construction of the set was inevitably always going to be difficult. Our group came across many challenges during the process of design and construction.

The main issue we had with set was figuring out how to keep it together but being able to take away wall panels for camera angle shots. We needed the houses to remain fixed to the base however we needed to take certain walls apart to allow camera movement. After careful consideration we made the sacrifice of that idea and instead only used two wall panels and made them fixed together but not fixed to the base.

We ran into smaller issues such as hiding the screws at the front of the house, which we covered with the wall texture.

Problems such as keeping the houses stuck down to the base but them also being able to move when needed was quite difficult to figure out. However, we have marked out its position and used thin rolls of blue-tac stuck to the bottom of the houses to keep them secure.

Due to the time period and location of our story we had to change some of our props to make them more appropriate to the time. Therefore, instead of the original round trash can we then decided to make a more British style dumpster.

We found that we had to consider the smaller details to allow the whole process to run smoother. I’m sure as we progress more, we will still come across more issues and then have to decide how to solve them.

Since teaming up with fellow colleagues Arif and Cristian, our ideas and storylines were discussed and eventually combined to create one short storyline with an ending insinuation a reoccurring event. My initial ideas, being iterated from A TellTale’s Heart, included a psychopath put into isolation, and rather than hurting the people around him my iteration shows the aftermath of how a person may feel from bottomless guilt after committing a sin (or in my characters example; mass murder and torture). My colleagues iterations were both similar, as they were of the text The Pale Green Pants. Their storylines were somewhat similar in terms of using the green pants themselves as a character, more so the antagonist. As a collective we decided that we can merge elements of each story together, and we developed this:

Basic plot:
– It’s raining, on the brink of thunder. Kid 1 (main protagonist) runs towards shops. Along the road, he notices stray pair of pants on the sidewalk after commencing the shop, decides to leave it alone. The pants make a strange roughing sound off camera, kid 1 looks behind and see’s it’s standing up right, floating in mid air. Kid stops and stares, pants fall back to the ground. Kid 1 picks them up, lightning strikes and reveals silhouette of old scrawny man (ghost of psychopath). Kid looks inside pants to see a dark abyss.. eyes turn white and becomes possessed. He pulls his eyelids, rips his flesh, goes crazy, as pants begins to swallow him whole. As he struggles, he disappears into the pants (like a black hole) and the pants hover for a moment, and drops. Rain calms down slightly, music stops, and kid 2 walks by and notices pants. He walks up to the pants, screen cuts to black.

Characters:
– Kid 1
– Kid 2 (re-purposed kid 1)
– Psychopathic silhouette

Set ideas:
– village cottages
– Shop (optional)
– Sandy brick colours, sepia tone
– Pavement
– Grassy sidewalk with trees

Big shots:
– lightning reveal for psychopath
– Closeup or dramatic high angle shot of kid 1 getting swallowed
– Pulling eyelids and latex ripping (skin) after being possessed
– Closeup of eyes changing colour (use Beverly from IT chapter 1 as reference)
– Long shot of sidewalk after pants swallows kid 1, and kid to appears (cut to black)
– Listening and reaction mid shots between kid 1 and hovering pants