Aardman's "Early Man", the Tribute with Ray & Harry.

-
When I first heard about the film, the first thought that entered my mind was "I hope they will put Dinosaurs in it!" even in a kids film, Dinosaurs and cavemen have been a hand in hand relationship since the dawn of early cinema, the very first quite possibly being Willis O'Brien's The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy in 1917, that's over 100 years ago!

Whilst the film is based in the Bronze age (so a majority of the animals featured in the film are from the Cenozoic era) there are some nods to Dinosaurs, especially the opening scene; featuring two Dinosaurs, a Ceratosaurus and a Triceratops, battling to the death which resulted in quite a comical twist.
This was a loving homage and tribute to Ray Harryhausen, in fact the Dinosaurs are actually nicknamed Ray & Harry (wait until the end of the end credits if you don't believe me), after seeing this scene in the film and knowing what Ray's sense of humor was like, especially with his love for Laurel and Hardy, I would like to think Ray would have chuckled at this brief but welcoming cameo.

One thing that I found interesting than the inclusion of these Dinosaurs was the making of them; unlike Ray's models, these were created in the Aardman style and construction using updated and traditional techniques for creating the two puppets, taking a different approach to how Ray would have made these two puppets in the 1960's. For example, making the puppets with a silicone skin rather than using foam latex, the mold making  techniques used to ensure the armature sits in the center of the mold during casting and the way the skull is constructed.
Also the scale of these puppets are much smaller than their original counterparts, having seen the original Ceratosaurus hard model at the Valence House exhibit "Dinosaurs, Harryhausen & Me" in early 2018, Aardman's Ceratosaurs puppet is a much more manageable size.



Photo credits go to Gary Roberts, James Young, Frank Harper, Anne King and Verity Filipow

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Armatures.. the things to know and what to avoid!

-
Image
I've been studying stop motion armatures now for over 10 years, 3 of those years has been actually fabricating them with Animation Toolkit on Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires , and at Telegael studios on  Morten and the Spider Queen and Project 390 . What I have learned, both historically and technically would be of great interest to future students in stop-motion. I know what your thinking, you take one look at a ball & socket armature and think "this is way to hard to do, its so complicated", well, I once thought exactly the same when I started my animation path back in 2002. The trick is learning how to use it right, ball & socket armature kits are like a steel equivalent to Lego construction kits, you have many tiny pieces that when assembled create a final item, in this case a armature, so understanding the mechanics of biological joints and translating that movement into a engineering solution. Wire is simply understanding how the wire and which wir
Read more

Mould making...Here's one way the industry do it.

-
Image
Until recently, my only knowledge on mould making was basic, rules such as not having undercuts to allow easy removal of a casting and using mold release. I also only had material experience with plaster and silicone, I was aware of fibreglass mould's, but I had never used it on any job or hobby project to date. I have recently discovered a material that the industry also use whilst I was employed at Telegael in Ireland, which is called Aluminium Resin (I refer to it as Alucast for short). It's stronger than plaster, but just as light as polyresin, it's virtually odorless, it can be sanded with a file or a belt sander, each casting cures in about 30-60 minutes and it can be used for silicone and foam latex casting. If you're working at home making your own stop-motion film, you can make your mold's in whatever fashion and material feels comfortable for you; However, if you are looking to work in the industry, they expect a level of skill that demonstrates
Read more

The build-up method, or foam fabrication to you new puppet makers!

-
Image
For years I have wanted to have a second stab at the build-up method for making my stop-motion puppets, back in 2012, Ray Harryhausen told me my build up technique was wonderfully done, but I could see the flaws in my work even back them, the second time round, I wanted to be a little more careful with it, but not take to long in making it. One big help to me was a book by my friend Richard Svensson "My Stop-Motion Monster Puppet Menagerie" which the opening of the book tells readers how he make build-up puppets. His level of puppet making is a true skill to behold, you can find his work, along with how to videos on his YouTube channel Bluworm . This was a better insight for me into making my newer puppets, where as previously I was making my puppets on pure guess work. Though I did not have time to make my puppets as detailed as his, it was nice to see what could be achieved from his photos had I the time to learn how to make them. I started with the Xenotyranuus
Read more