Throughtout the Inside

Statement

Throughout the Inside is a short narrative stop-motion film starring an weary old character named Quolger and his journey beyond his mundane life to find the outdoors. The story relates to how I often feel engulfed by technology - this leads to sudden urges to be immersed in nature and wildlife. My ideas for the project really started to form when I traveled to Mount Field at the beginning of the year. I was very taken by the energy of the landscape and by the animals and beasts I discovered. I kept seeing a creature in my mind, inspired by Tasmanian wildlife such as the tiger quoll, numbat, thylacine but also rodents like rats and mice.

From drawings, he evolved and I began to plan and build the armature. This was like starting from scratch as I'd only ever built puppets with wire and clay. After the armature came his foam body, his features, teeth, taxidermy eyes, feet, nose, ears and then finally his fur. I coloured his fur to give him stripes, much like a thylacine or a numbat. I wanted to give the sense that this was a creature that was possibly the last or the only of his kind - that he was built artificially but still something natural and instinctual remained inside of him.

The story follows him as he journeys beyond the everyday when he is shown the natural world through a TV set. He travels to find this place along the way encountering problems due to his frailty. He’s old and tired but he wants to experience this world before he fades into nothing. I wanted the viewer to not only relate to him but to also be uplifted by his journey and be inspired to take their own voyage beyond their everyday life.

Reflection

My final film for the year. It's taken me at least 8 months to make. Surely an amazing feat. I will admit it has been quite a struggle and I've had to really kick myself into gear at some points. I struggled quite a bit this semester and the reasoning for that may be because it's the very last one. For a while there I was very much in doubt about the project, not having seen much of it put together until a week or so ago. I definitely took off maybe a bit more than I could chew but that doesn't mean I didn't pull through in the end.

There are a few things I wish could have been better. Firstly, the animation. I was quite happy with the vast majority of the sequences but some I think could have been better – namely when he's walking. All animators know that walks are one of the hardest things to animate, whether it be in 2D, 3D or Stop-motion. What makes it incredibly difficult with stop motion is gravity. I looked up references of how quadrupeds walk and worked to it frame-by-frame but things still came out a little wonky. I think definitely the weight of the puppet is what made this a more difficult task. Granted, though if I had made him any smaller he'd be lost by the spaces he was situated in. I think I really just needed more practice and perhaps I could have improved upon my technique. I am satisfied with what I achieved in the time I had but as a perfectionist there's some things I can't let go.

Secondly, the flickering. Now, I don't have a huge problem with the flickering myself, in fact I think it adds something in some of the sequences (like when Quolger is interacting with the tv) but I do realize that professional grade work has no flickers and when I did my previous stop motion it didn't have any. That's because there was no natural lighting. I attempted to make it less noticeable in photoshop but because only parts of it flickered rather than the whole image, it wasn't looking right. Part of me wanted to leave it in too, to keep it a bit more raw and true. I think in the sequence where Quolger first sees the window and walks towards it is strengthened by the flickering also – as the shadow of a cloud drifts over the curtains. I was aware of it happening while I was filming and I just went with it because I liked the effect. Those are things you can't really create. The film is quite in the moment and has some inconsistence sure but I experimented a lot and if I didn't it may have come out perfect sure but I wouldn't have learned anything. I suppose I'll admit it would be more professional without it, but it's more creative with it.

Thirdly, the ending. While I am satisfied with the ending I can't help but wander how the alternative ending would have looked. It would have been nice to have enough time to at least experiment with it. I did in short bursts but nothing amazing came out. Not to mention it would have been dangerous having a mac outside – especially in Hobart. Had I had a week or two more I probably would have attempted to test this ending out. My critiques did reveal that people were more fond of it ending with him simply jumping out the window, but still it would have been nice to be able to contrast the endings. The important thing is that the story and ending does still get the message across and it's more uplifting. I figured having him dying under a tree maybe would have been a bit harsh, like his journey had been somewhat in vain. So as much as it would have been good to test out those final shots, I think it still works well without them. Even leaves it a bit more open ended, before it was quite cold and a bit harsh.

So overall I am very happy with how it turned out and I really can't wait to see people's reactions at the grad show. Only a few days away and I can't wait!

Rig showcase and tests

So here's some tests I did originally for the film. I was sort just making sure I could get it looking right before committing. Turns out there were some issues. Mainly with camera movement. The problem was I had to press down on my camera to capture a frame – so I borrowed a mac and started doing it manually through dragon stop motion. The program can be a little difficult to work with sometimes but it really did improve my animation techniques. It was slower to use but definitely worth it.

And here's some final sequences that aren't edited. I thought I'd show all the shots where I used a rig or props to hold up Quolger to make him jump or walk. I basically edited it all out by hand in photoshop, which was a bit of an undertaking. Really there was only issues with the shot when he's walking by the heater. Look at the final film and you can see a bit of a ghost following quolger. I spent hours trying to iron it out but there wasn't much I could do.. Strangely the exposure had shifted slightly between each frame which is unusual because that shot had controlled lighting. Well, at least I didn't have that problem with any of the other shots.

Extra Sequence

Here's a sequence I didn't add to the final animation. It was intended to come afterh e looks up to the window. The reason I didn't include it is because I couldn't really capture it how I wanted to, and I thought it wasn't needed in the end. I really wanted to get a view of it like Quolger was looking upwards, but the shot wasn't working - It was only visible from this height. I tried to keep the entire film on his level so the audience has more of a connection with the character and this broke that connection a little bit. The whole time I situated the camera low to the ground so we were right beside him experiencing the moment with him, or close ups and one shot through his eyes is when the box is falling on him. It worked for that one because it was a lot more immersive. This just broke the consistency to an uncomfortable point.