Presentation

Working in pairs we were tasked with doing a presentation based on the area that we wanted to go in to and a period in its history, so i decided to do mine about theatre. I started looking in to what thinks change the theatre of the time such as issues like race, sexuality and politics.

One of the main thinks that we had to do for the presentation was to present it in an interesting way, we did this by using sock puppets to do a performance to get our information across. I think that this was a good way to do our presentation as it made it more interesting rather that just giving people information.

Hare Anatomy

As I want to make a hare puppet I decided to have a look at the anatomy of a hare so that it will help me get the right features and the proportions to represent a hare correctly.

The Secret Garden Puppets

Whilst doing some research and looking around at for how other people and real productions had made rabbits or hares I came across a production of the secret garden at the Grosvenor park open theatre in Chester. The puppets were designed by the director Toby Olié. I found it quite useful to see how the puppets were used and how they work especially as there are so many different puppets that were used during the production.

Max Humphries - The lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Blind Summit - His Dark Materials

I wanted to move away from just working on the bird and look at doing some more design work for the rest of the characters. So i began to do some research in to some other puppets to try and get inspiration for my work. Whilst doing this i came across a puppet company called "Blind Summit" and the puppets that they created for a production of "His Dark Materials".  I really like the puppets that they have created for the production as they are really really simple and haven't tried to make them look to realistic. I think that this is the way to go with my work as i often try to over complicate thing. 

One particular thing that i found interesting about there work is that is doesn't try to hide the puppeteers at all but in the case of the polar bear uses them as part of the puppet itself. I find the polar bear puppet interesting as they have only focused on the head to show that it is a polar bear and then used a simple structure to imply the rest of the animal.

Artificial Trees

As i wanted to make a tree as prop for the play i had a look at how other people had created trees, i came across this video about the process of making artificial trees. I think that it is quite interesting how they are actual created and i could create something similar for a prop but would need to simplify the process as it is to complicated to use for a prop that would be used on stage.

Tree Bark Experiments

As i wanted to move away from just working on the bird i decided to try and do some experiment with trying to get a tree bark texture. I start by trying to create it by using plaster but my first efforts didn't go very well as it doesn't look very much like bark.

As my first effort hadn't gone very well i then went outside to look at some of the trees and what there  bark looked like and found to small pieces of bark to use as a reference. 

I then had another go using the plaster but this time being more gentle when creating the grooves in the plaster, i created a lot more as well so it look more realistic. I think that this one worked better as it doesn't look particularly realistic but does have quite an interesting pattern.  

I then decided to move away from using the plaster as i thought that it would be to heavy to use as a prop. I therefor tried to use paper and glue instead as it would be a lot lighter and but still keep the piece quite sculpted, i think that it has worked quite well although it isn't that realistic i like that texture that the paper has once it is scrunched up as it has a look that is similar to bark.

Wing Mechanism 2.2

After making my second wing mechanism i then decided to make another one which is very similar to the previous one, but instead of having one larger piece of wood i used to smaller pieces so that it was easier to make the wing open and close. Having the design like this made it a lot easier to make the wing move as it need very little effort to move, where as the previous one was quite hard to move using the string and didn't open very well by using the springs.

Simple Puppet Structure Attempt

I quickly made a puppet structure to see how it would work. I actually think that this design works really well as it is very light, simple to make and is easy to work, i could then use a structure like this for the bird puppet but using it for the basis of the puppet and then building a structure around it to make it look like a bird.

Simple Bird Puppets

As I was overcomplicating the design I started looking at some really simple design similar to old toys. I think that using a simple design like this would work better than what I was trying to create as all that the mechanism does is to make the wings move up and down. If I use a mechanism like this I could use the basic structure of the design then build on the structure to make it look more realistic and have a more interesting design that a simple one like these have.

 

Wing Mechanism 2

I tried to make another wing mechanism to make the wings move in and out similar to the other one but this time using split pins to make it easier for the wing to move. I first tried to make it out of paper but didn't get very far as the paper was to thin to work as it just flexed rather than moving the way i wanted it too. 

I then tried using balsa wood to make the prototype for the wing, the wood worked really well as it is really light but still quite strong. As for the design its self, the design works well but not quite how i wanted it to as it doesn't open and close fully, this is because of the way i attached the spring to the wood as i glued it on and doesn't allow the spring to move correctly.

Wing Mechanism

Again i had a go at making a mechanism for a wing of a bird puppet but instead this time i made the mechanism so that it would make the wings move up and down. I made it out of wire so that when you pulled down on a wire it would make the wings move up. The mechanism isn't very effective as it doesn't move much and isn't very strong, the reason that it doesn't work very well is because i tried to make the mechanism too complicated without using enough research in to real puppetry.  

Thoughts

I decided to stop focusing on making and the mechanics of the bird as I was spending to much time on it and not focusing on any of the other props. I have also stopped thinking about the wing as I was trying to make the wing in a much too complicated way even though the gold bird is only a small part of the story.

Instead of doing the wing I am going to go back through the story and start looking at design and the technical aspects to some of the other props that would be need for a production of the story. I have just started to draw some ideas for the hare and the fox but so far hasn't gone very well as I have done no research to back up my ideas meaning that I have very little knowledge of haw to make them. 

So I now need to chose some of the props that would be needed and do some research to back up the designs for them. 

Bird Movements

As I was having trouble creating the wings and getting the movements right I decided to look at how bird move and videos to see how they moved and what was the best way to recreate that movement. From looking at birds I found that the wings move up and down more that they move inwards and out from the body so when I am creating the mechanism I should not focus on the in and out movement as much and try to get the up movement.   

 

Targets

7/5/15

- Use the split pins to make a quick models of wings (keep the designs simple)
- Make a few other simple designs for the bird and wings
- Look at making designs for the other animals in the story and how the will be technically made.

Anamatronic Bird

Whilst looking around on the internet at mechanisms for bird wings I came across this video of a working wing mechanisms, the mechanism was made for "Waddleworth" and used in the move 102 Dalmatians. I wound this video useful as the mechanism moves in a very similar way to a bird moves in really life. This mechanism is too complicated for me to use for a puppet but I could experiment and try and adapt it so