Welcome to Fuck Off Bunting Film School!
This is a course you can undertake and complete, in only one humid Sunday afternoon, just like me!
Here’s a little stop motion video, that I made in my living room on a Sunday using my iPhone and a bunch of materials from my sewing stash.
I work in TV so when I had this idea, for sometime I was planning in my head the storyboarding, complex shoot, VFX and post production schedule I would need. I had already rehearsed the begging speech, to scrounge kit and ask for help from all my crew buddies. However after having a think about why I wanted to make this video, I realised that it was the creating and process that was important to me, not so much that I would become a bastion of British Film & TV . I wasn’t making this to get a job on the next Wallace & Gromit, I wasn’t making this for my show reel, I wasn’t making this for the festival circuit, this was an idea I have had floating about for some time and just wanted to realise and express it somehow.
So I stopped making roadblocks for myself and just cleared a space on the living room floor and cracked on, flying solo.
This first job was for me to make the doll which would star in my short.
I simple cut out the body from plain canvas, with one piece for the head and torso and then separate pieces for both the arms. I then embroidered the hair into the front and back canvas pieces using a medium tweed wool and embroidery needle. Finally I sewed up and stuffed the arms and body, with regular toy stuffing. I used cut out pieces of fabric for the facial expressions, heart and tears, as these would change so needed to be unattached. (Said doll is currently residing on my bedroom floor, looking all kinds of horror movie creepy)
I then needed my ‘studio’ where I would shoot the photographs. The piece is set in bed, so I used a quilt and pillow case to create somewhere comfy for my doll. I placed this half under the dinning table, which served as my tripod. Here’s the set up I used….
I bought a christmas cracker quality, bluetooth remote self timer to use, so I could shoot top-down, without disturbing the position of my phone and the shot it framed. However, the temperamental nature of the iPhone-mount plus my clumsiness meant that the camera did jog twice, which is noticeable in the film, but I’m not beating myself up about it.
I closed the blinds, in a small attempt to control the light, but this also has a bit of a change over the video- I am happy without this going in for a grade on this one guys. I did consider doing the whole thing in my windowless bathroom, but that meant less space and less flat surfaces to sucker the dodgy GPS car mount to.
This idea started as a poem and I had originally intended for the text to be included in the final edit too, but after seeing how it turned out without additional words, I decided to leave them off.
I enjoyed the whole process of stop motion and feel that I have a few more ideas that could work really well in this style (especially with the little more planning and less clumsy fingers in filming!)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my stop motion debut!
Fuck Off Bunting. 