Dan of the Dead Poster

I must apologise for the lack of postings recently. I have been so busy working in the theatre business that animation has been compromised. Thing is... The theatre work funds the animation.

Well I'm back and working hard on getting Dan of the Dead pilot made. Here is a quick poster for the film





There is plenty more to follow so please keep checking. Sorry again.

Keep animating

Pete

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Location:Acresfield Rd,Salford,United Kingdom

Costume has arrived!!!

Hi everyone. This is just a very quick post to let you all know "Dan of the dead" now has a fancy costume





Provided by Hillary at the Sewing Room Northwest Ltd. She has done a superb job. She even made a replica as the pilot I'm working on will be shot again when filming the whole film. This film is going to be shot in order of scenes which isn't ideal, but because of blood splats being added as the film goes on, the continuity wouldn't be right if I didn't shoot it in order

That's all for now. I'm thinking of finishing the gents toilets set next. Keep checking in guys

Pete

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Dan of the Dead

Hi guys. I'm sorry I've not posted for a while. I've been busy working on the Manchester International Festival.

We have changed the name of the film... "Dan of the Dead" a little joke to the famous George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead"

I have been back and forth to my costume people working on Dan's (Jim has obviously changed due to the new title) clothes.

They have done a mock up which you can see below. I'm happy for them to go ahead and make the clothes for the Pilot.


While I'm waiting for them to come back I will be busy working on the toilet set for the Pilot and a few smaller projects for a Rotary conference.

Sorry for the delay in blogs but I will be back on it now work has slowed down slightly.

Keep checking and following

Pete

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Jim construction part 5/set design

Hi guys. I've been doing a few finishing touches to Jim. I'm going to start be explaining how I made the neck.



First I sculpted the neck in plastercine.



Then I stuck it to some foam board and also made a perimeter wall ready for casting. I covered any gaps with a small amount of plastercine for a perfect seal.



Then I mixed some resin plaster and poured it into the tub surrounding the neck. Making sure I didn't cover the top of the neck. This is so it's easier to get the silicone out later.



Next I made a slightly smaller version of the neck out of fimo and cooked it. I placed it in the centre of the upside down cast, superglueing it to a piece of mdf. I then made sure the inner piece wasn't touching the sides of the cast. Holding it all together with elastic bands.



Last part was to pour the silicone into the mould. Once done I was able to slot the neck over Jim's armature. Hey presto... One flexible neck.




I think it's about time I mentioned my co partner in this project. Rob Vaughan. He's working on the script and design of the film with me. The script is coming on great, but I couldn't possibly show you that could I? What I can show you is the early makings of the set design for our pilot scene... Gents toilet!!! Sounds great eh



Here's Rob working on the mdf for the four walls.



Here's Rob showing off our clever idea of being able to flat pack our sets and fix them to the set without any bolts showing. Clever that.



In other quick news. I decided against the ball and sockets in the arms. I want more flexibility with him. So this is a new cast with wire and epoxy gum inside.

Thats all for now keep reading my blog and please spread the word. But for now. Good bye and peace out!!!



Pete

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Jim construction part 4

Hi everyone

Just a quick update on Jim's head.


After many different tests I have finally picked the head and materials to use. He is made out of soft fimo. I did a lot of tests with White fimo which helped work out his head shape. But when it came to colouring I thought it would be better to actually use coloured fimo.


The advantage of fimo is you can make the basic shape and bake it solid, then you can add more fimo on top and repeat the process. You can repeat as many times as you want. Building up the detail.


Next thing to do is fit Jim's head onto the armature and cast his neck. That will need to be in silicone so it can move and be flexible

Keep reading and spreading the word. The stop motion Zombies are coming

Pete

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Jim construction part 3/Walk cycle

Hi guys

Sorry it's been a few weeks. I blame it on my job! Haha

Luckily I have a few weeks of spare time to work on Jim/pilot scene for Stop Motion Zombies

So I left you last with Jim's 2 part mould ready to have silicone poured in. Well hey presto... Here is the finished arms out of the cast and fitted to the armature.



Next step is to foam out the armature with upholstery foam. This helps when Babs (scope animations costume designer) makes the pants/shirt. She can make a tight fit to the foam. This stops the fabric bubbling when moved during shot.















Here is the finished puppet ready to be fitted by Babs. Not looking too bad.

Also in other news. I have been converting my studio from my back room to the middle room which is bigger. Giving me more room to animate.



Sneak peek of Jim on the new set top. It's a full sheet of metal. Great for using the magnet technique instead of tie downs (which I find a little messy and time consuming)

Here is a quick walk cycle test with Jim

Thats all for now folks, hope its kept you all up to date on my project

Pete

Jim construction part 2

Hi everyone.

I've had another busy week at my paid job, but managed to get a few sculpts and casts done.

So... Since the last post I have made Jim's right foot in silicone and attached it to the armature.

Today I will be talking about Jim's hands. I forgot to take a close up of his hands before this blog so you'll have to look at the full armature instead.








I have took the whole arm off from the shoulder joint and wrapped it in cling-film ready to sculpt the arms over the top.








Here are the sculpted arms. I've attached the top arm joint to a special ball socket which will be embedded into the cast. This will be used as a locator/way of attaching the armature in the middle of the mould when casting the silicone. You'll see this more clearly later.








Next step was to cover half of the hands in plastercine. A sculpt like this needs to be made in 2 halves otherwise you would never get the arm out after casting. I've also added square plastercine to act as locators for when the 2 halves are wedged together during silicone casting. The tube of plastercine that connects the arms is there so I can get my allen key in to undo the armature from it's locator.








This is the first half cast. I had to redo a few bits of details before casting. You can see the ball locator protruding out with no plastercine around. This is because it needs to stick into the plaster and not move. next I smothered the plaster in Vaseline to make it easy to pry the 2 halves apart.








Here are the 2 halves cast with the armature fixed to the locators which are stuck into the cast.








The cast has worked really well. I need to sand down a few rough edges, but hopefully in the next post I will have 2 perfectly good working arms/hands.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to follow this blog for more updates

Pete

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