Here we have it, the long belated 2nd Squid
adventure (and now the long belated blog post). This one is interesting as it
came about almost by accident. Our original idea was to do each Squid video
with no continuity to the others, and each one ending on a cliff-hanger with
Squid about to die. We would then not resolve that, and just start a new story.
We’ve now abandoned this, as we worked out that would get
pretty tedious for everyone. Instead we decided to let the stories come up
naturally, a sort of go with the flow writing process rather than relying on a formula.
So somehow we started coming up with ideas for Squid roaming a Dalek ship,
encountering strange sights and challenges. This went on for a while, a back
and forth with me and Aaron each adding more and more sections to the script
until it became a weird Disney land ride of a story, the viewer following Squid
as he makes stop after stop on his crazy Dalek ride.
Now this video is a prime example of my brain catching up
with our ideas. It was only after we’d
written the whole script, giggling at our own jokes all the while, that I
realised we had literally nothing to work with. Well we had a Squid, but not a
single corridor or Dalek, and not a Davros in sight. So next came a step that
is at once both terrifying and exciting, a step known as ‘Work out how the hell we do this’.
The obvious solution to the set problems was green screen, a
staple of the Fanfilm genre. I tried to shake it up a little, using model shots
as the backgrounds and effectively shrinking down Squid into them, rather than
building the sets in a computer modelling program. I hoped this would make it
look at least a bit more natural, and have a sort of charm to it.
To bring the Daleks to life I decided to use stop motion
animation. For those not in the know, that’s an animation process were you
string together still images to create a moving piece of video. It’s what they
use in good stuff like Wallace and Gromit, and the wonderful films of Laika.
I decided to again go for this model based solution rather than a computer generated character, mainly because I don’t have access to, or experience of 3D animation software, but also because hand crafted is more my sensibility. I really think there’s a little switch that goes off in the viewer’s head, telling them what they’re watching is real rather then made all in the computer. And I think this feeling is really cool, the feeling that what you’re watching has tangible weight and existence; it’s something you could pick up and touch. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying its way more convincing, High quality CG would have probably been more fluid and convincing on the Daleks, but for me model shots just have a character and charm all of their own. (also I have no way to do high quality CG)
The hard part here was working out how to give the Dalek a
character, and make him emote. It’s all well and good sitting at the computer and
typing up the character of this bitter and incompetent Dalek, but how do you
use this hunk of plastic with very limited movement to convey that?
Here I put my animator hat on, the one only half knitted and
covered in dust from being shoved at the back of a draw for years, and have a
think about the different positions I can move the Dalek into. It took me a
while to get into the swing of it, but I eventually learnt how to get the Dalek
to act; the eye stalk lowered for sadness, and then maybe a little head swivel to
the left to give a wistful look into the distance.
It was the Daleks in fact that made this video particularly
tricksy, because apart from Squid there is no performance, nothing to work with
in editing. The “acting” of the Dalek is made up of all these different
elements, voice acting, animation, even the music in the scene, that there
really isn’t a full performance from the character until all the pieces slot
together.
At this point I also have to give a huge shout out to Aaron,
who spent hours in an uncomfortable costume reacting to things that weren’t
there in front of a green screen, and somehow still managed to do his wonderful
Squid character to its full effect. Again, it felt like he wasn’t shooting a
video, but just filming little bits and pieces that would slot into a larger,
impossible to see, whole. I know it was like some kind of mini hell for him,
Hot and tired, and with nothing and no-one to bounce off of in the scene, and I’ve
worked out to avoid this scenario in future.
Because of the puzzle piece effect, neither of us could really
get a grasp on how the video was going to turn out until very late in the game,
leading to many doubts about whether it would be an good at all. However this
was also a fascinating thing to learn, and gave me a little insight into the
world of an animator. It also taught me how important every little detail in
the film is, and how it all works together to create something. Take one thing
out and the rest just falls apart.
For example if you remove the foley I added to the Daleks,
the little whirs and drones as they move, then suddenly they lose all weight,
they stop have existence in the real world. You can still see the animation and
hear the voice, but it’s not in the scene with Squid.
I have to draw attention to the Davros effect because
something about it makes me laugh every time. I think it’s the fact it almost
looks convincing, but doesn’t quite manage it. What did was just take a still
image of Davros and cut off his arm and mouth. I then overlaid filmed elements
of my own hand and mouth onto the still. Imaging those masks you can buy with
cut out holes for the eyes. I really like this very simple solution to incorporating
the character, and think it produced and amusing final image.
To summarise this video was a mind bending jigsaw puzzle to
put together, and almost more like working on a stop motion film then a live
action video. However I’m very happy with the end product and this project has
solidified why I love working on the “Squid” series so much. It’s a combination
of all my favourite things; silly jokes mixed with Doctor Who, and all against
the backdrop of cheap but creative cardboard effects.
See you next time…
See you next time…
