Paddy and i wanted a garment, showing a particular logo that represents John's secret superhero identity. Now, we didn't want to rip off or try to replicate any existing superhero logos, so we brainstormed various logos that would fit the role of John. Now, considering the contradiction the audience will see at the end of the film, we prefered a more comical logo. We knew we wanted an animal of somekind, progressing more specifically onto birds e.g. blue tit, raven, chicken, Pelican...
We finally came to the decision of using a Pelican.
As you can see, we used the very basic colour of white to place the design on. The design itself is very simplistic, which we believe makes it more effective. It's quite a funny and odd design, but then again so is the story's plot. And so, with the help of Paddy's artistic capabilities, the garment came to fruition.
Last wekend, Paddy and I indulged in a little bit of stop-motion. We originally planned to shoot the sequences within Paddy's bedroom, but the lighting and room setup didn't look so good on camera. so we looked at two other possible rooms- Paddy's brother's and his sister's.
Turns out that his sisters room was ideal- the room was smaller (makes John look bigger) and the desk set up, with lighting, all allowed for easier animation.
The model isn't built to move itself from one point to another naturally, so the desk had no need to be large.
We wanted the model to appear as simplistic as possible, yet hold hold the symbolism of a true superhero; so we fitted our little wooden man out with a makeshift cape. If you're wondering what the material comes from...........my dads socks. Cheers dad!
We have the actors to play John, Neville, and one of the council members, but we need three more actors between the ages of 30 and 60 to play the other council members. We need two men and one women. We wanted to find actors who were enthusiastic about acting, could do a job, and are of the right age and look for our characters. We have contacted an amateur acting group in Wymondham called Wymondham Players who perform productions in Wymondham. http://www.wymondhamplayers.org.uk/
Firstly, we called the group then exchanged email addresses to discuss the details in further detail.
Hi Alan, Patrick and Jack here. We spoke on the phone earlier about the possibility of using 3 of your actors for our A2 short film piece. Ideally we would like two men and one woman to play the parts. We're shooting Sunday 11th November at Tacolneston village hall. Flexibility could be a possibility, but that date is best for us and our other actors. Let us know whether you can help us.
Kind regards, Patrick and Jack
Alan's response to our email was encouraging as he seems keen to know as much about the production as possible. We exchanged a few more emails, and have talked a few times on the phone to better explain exactly what we want from each actor.
Hello Patrick and Jack
I assume you mean December!
As it’s a Sunday, I think we need to know the time commitment for the day – are we looking at an hour, two, four…?
And what time of the day please?
Are there scripts available in advance, and what about dress requirements?
Any more information you can let us have would be helpful.
We've used a very eye-catching, yet mysterious image of the character 'John'. As you can see, I've cut half of his face out from the photo- it's a subtle incentive for the audience to see more (watch our film).
The red eye is the most striking factor in this poster (thanks to photoshop), as i've contrasted it from the grayscaled surrounding facial features and jet black background. This is an implication of an oddity in the story's setting (film's title printed sideways up the poster specifies the oddity). Plus we thought that tinting the eye red would be far more effective than any other colour- It screams pain, passion and power!
The film's title positioning isn't placed horizontally as you would generally see on most film posters. The vertical positioning requires you to tilt your head (not a very conventional design) but, in saying that, this isn't going to be a very conventional film! Out of a selection of font types, we liked the style seen above in the poster the most. It's obviously not a standard 'Times New Roman' font, but it's not a very arty font either e.g. 'Edwardian Script IT'. Instead it's a very bold and funky 'Arnprior' style. Very superhero if you ask me.
As a whole, we think it's a very effective teaser poster, considering its simplicity!
PES is a stopmotion animation producer, who's YouTube channel is fairly popular, considering it's mere selection of 28 uploads. Probably down to the fact that he makes commercials for a living...
he has produced multiple highly renowned and respected short films, and i too respect these significant shorts. But, at the end of the day, i won't be able to produce clips at the same level. But PES has also uploaded these simplistic, short clips that i believe i can respond to...
Now these clips are obviously a lot shorter than your average stop-motion short, which is great for us! Paddy and I aim to produce a short with a couple, if not a few stop-motion clips, meaning that nothing too intricate is to be produced, but it needs to be effective.
These clips involve very basic objects, but have been used in a wonderfully quirky way, as you can see. We aim to produce stop-motion integrals involving a wooden model (little more human than the above), which may involve more fiddling with, but we hope to create a similar effect with what we have!
We wanted the character of John to be the bait in this story, in that the audience buys into the implications of him being 'super' (very deceiving). Ram Dunne fits the profile of your classic superhero e.g. muscular build, good looks.
we thought carefully aboutwhich of the four names would suit the film's story the greates, and we'vedecided to go with 'Atypical Superhero Story'. The story is all in the name, and the play on words should arouse interest!
