Surrey Border Film and Video Makers press report for September 2009
Tana Fletcher demonstrates how she uses puppets to make animation films
This is one of a series of reports which appeared regularly in the Farnham Herald. They report the filmmaking activities of camcorder bearing enthusiasts as they meet to see films and hear talks about film, video and tv film making.
The creator of Willoughby drive comes to Surrey Border
Tana Fletcher with her models
At the September club night, members of Surrey Border Film & Video
Makers were entertained by Tana Fletcher who talked about her animated
series “Willoughby Drive”. Tana brought two of the puppets with her to
demonstrate how she made the stop frame puppet animation.
She
explained how patience, dedication and attention to detail were
imperative to making this type of puppet film. The puppets were made to
approximately one fifth the size of a person, i.e. between sixteen and
eighteen inches as opposed to the usual 9 to 12 inches used in most
puppet animation. She had two different types of puppet head. One was
made from a hard material with a simple hinge joint to open the mouth,
the other had a camera cable release which pushes the mouth open and
shut easily and with the character of Mrs Gumble Bump a second cable
release caused her to frown. The eyes were either moved by a finger or
with a hatpin which fitted into a tiny hole drilled into the centre of
the eyes. Separate eyelids were used for either blinking or shutting the
eyes and lids of different sizes were used to either widen or narrow the
eyes to change an expression.
Initially actors Jonathon Cecil and Anna Sharkey created the different voices
for the various puppets and eventually Gillie Robic joined the team for the
children’s voices.
How does one start to make an animated film? The way
Tana did it was to first write the script. She chose simple stories about three
couples in a street called Willoughby Drive, and during each episode some
extraordinary person or event would take place. Once the script was ready she
would record the actors. She would then break down every second of recorded
voice into frames, there being twenty-five frames per second, and by listening
to each syllable she would note on her dope sheet the number of frames each word
would require.
After getting the puppets, props and sets ready she would then create a
detailed storyboard by practicing the movements with a stopwatch in real time.
Then translate this into animated time. (25 frames a second.) So if for example
the puppet raises it’s arm, she raises hers (1 second) and multiplies this by 25
and then moves the puppet’s arm 25 times while the camera takes 25 still
photographs. This equals one second’s worth of animation. Although she usually
does two frames a movement.
Working roughly 45 hours a week, Tana took 10 months to a year to make one
episode. The puppet series known as Willoughby Drive, with all its innumerable
changes, cuts and remakings, took somewhere near fourteen years to complete.
Between explaining how the films were made Tana showed three of the thirteen
episodes. All the club enjoyed the subtle humour portrayed so well in the voices
and characters of the puppets and several members bought copies of this
wonderful animated series.
To learn more about Willoughby Drive and the
Dolphin Puppeteers go to: www.dolphinpuppetfilms.co.uk
To comment on this website email: