Claymation: Backgrounds 2

Currently waiting for elements of my set-up to arrive so that I can begin taking photographs, till then I have been creating my backgrounds. I have done a few already, but they are indoor scenes. I need a few outdoor scenes. Once again I began with a drawing.

I made it way too bright in preview, so that when I brought it into Illustrator. Then did a simple live trace on it, so that the lines would become vectors (much cleaner than my little sketch). Can you tell that I had fun drawing trees? ha. After Illustrator it again get brought into Photoshop for color. I’ve been coloring a lot for ads that my groups have created for our class, so I’ve gotten quite used to this. The end result is pretty cool, but I’m not sure if I’m 100% happy with it.  I will probably make a lot of changes in After Effects to unify my animation.

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Inspiration: Sets and Lighting

After creating my characters I knew that I was going to need to turn to creating a set for my characters to move through. I initially thought of none other than Wallace & Gromit. What worried me was that from my storyboard I would need to create at least four different sets. Plus Wallace & Gromit creates tons of real furniture and fixtures. Luckily after discussing the situation with tutors I learned that I am able to create elements in After Effects and use a green screen or masking to remove the background. I am still going to have to create elements that the characters interact with, but it is less than what the people of Wallace & Gromit do. It is still inspiring to see what they are able to create. Of course they have more time than I do.

Similar to Wallace & Gromit, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride also created entire tiny sets. Seeing this helped me decide on colors that I want to use and the lighting that would create that. I like that everything is tinted a green-gray, which creates an eerie feeling. I think I will try to recreate something similar, because it seems really effective in enhancing the feel of the story.

His live action films also have a gray filter over them that creates the sad and dark feeling that is necessary in a film where a barber kills people and a baker bakes the bodies into meat pies. The wallpaper in this scene also really made me want to create seemingly happy wallpaper for a dark and dingy scene. I also loved all of the wood elements in all 3 scenes that create a subtle warmth that rounds out the set.

My original plan is also to create an almost tea party or coffee shop scene to round out the end of the animation. I then of course turn to the quintessential tea party, of Alice in Wonderland. Tim Burton’s version was not my favorite, because I wanted him to make everything have a darker twist to it. He made it too child friendly in my opinion, but at the same time it was a beautiful film visually, filled with characters and scenes that completely inspired me. I liked the use of the pastel colors in this dark  and gray atmosphere. I think I will try and do something similar.