Plume

[Barry]

June 17th 2010

I'm not sure how often i'll get to write and I don't really want to give much away about the film, though this has been around for many many years, 15 in fact.

But nevertheless, I find myself in a small French town, in a studio with an enthusiastic crew. Ou studio a few hours ago looked very very different. But with a lot of ripping up carpets, hoovering, much rearranging and laying a gorgoeous black rubber floor, it is now resembling a studio. We've not brought the cameras in or the lights or the set tips, but the storboards are up, and the puppets arrived safely - though they had sagged somewhat from their journey. However given their reception, they perked up.

As for the town, well the arrival of a small group of strangers has provoked some interest. As I walked with Wendy our producer, on an almost frutiless quest for sandwiches (and it being thursday, apparently, did not help), she did attract the attention of a, shall we say, curious, colourful character. We moved swiftly on. At that juncture, sandwiches were a priority.

Not sure the town has many claims to fame, but Leonardo, the artist not the turtle, died in a chateau near by. Apparently there are reconstructions of inventions in the garden. I want to see a topiary helicopter!

Anyway, for day one in the Big Feather house, it was grubby but remarkably productive, and we've made a difference. We are all fired up.

Watch this space.

[Barry]

Day 2 - friday 18th June 2010

The new floor looks fantastic in the studio, and has transformed the space. Dancers would be happy on it. OK so none of it will show on film, but we feel more professional. The table tops arrived and we immediatley covered them with tight black velvet and just placing a puppet on them is exciting. The space is slowly beign transformed into a working studio. The camera is there, and lights are lurking, but we just need Justin, the black drapes, and all my stuff, and off we go. Can't wait.

[Barry]

Day 3
Justin arrived bringing with him more equipment (and my case and tools) and the black drapes, transforming the space into a real studio. Lights were switched on and much discussion and decisions about the lighting that are the very core fo this film. There is little else than lights and a puppet. We're getting there.
I'm staring at the boards, eager and itching to get going, full of conficting thoughts after all these years.
Excited and scared, but let me just get the first shot done.
Things going on back home that sort of make me homesick, well not homesick as such but things that I should be involved with. It is hard suddenly putting a full life to one side.

[Barry]

days 4+5
Well scaffolding was erected, lighting done and much discussion done, and we agreed for a second pass on every shot. Taking an extra frame didn't seem too complicated but our software, when I started shooting today, couldn't cope with a second pass that we had to hide before we could see the animation. It started adding random frames into the sequence, and the onion skin simply made no sense at all, freezing and repeating an image from several frames from before. It was all getting horribly messy, i mean horribly messy and I simply could not tell where I was on the bar sheets nor what I was doing or what had been recorded. Out that went very quickly and the new dragond software bought and installed and hopefully that will make life very much easier. Really if the software couldn't play the right in the right order, there was little point at all. A few dramas averted, but it has delayed us, and I think put paid to my trip to a certain celebration in london on saturday. That's OK, as I don't think I was a significant part of it, and the travelling would have been ridiculous and expensive. All the same. Anyway I want to get on with the shooting. But from what I did do today I have learnt about the wings. A millimetre moved at the shoulders translates to an inch at the wing tip. Beware.
But a good team all working hard, refreshed by mini Babette's feast sat among poppies at lunchtimes. it's been a week but I think we are finally ready and raring to go.

[Barry]

Day 6
and we got going for real, with new exciting Dragon software, and with lots of messages about people loving Dragon from around the world, including from the designer of it. A hugely complex opening shot depending on a strong rhythm, and it seemed to work, with the wings seeming to breath. But oh I love widescreen! It makes such fantastic compostions.I can't tell you how happy I am that we have one shot, one epic shot actually, completed, and i do think it looks good. All the crew worked so hard today, and very long hours. We tried to set up the next, even more complex shot, but tired feet and closing bloodshot eyes got the better of us. A good new pastry today thanks to Gilles - packages of Chateau Renault....a sweet crisp crepe wrapped round cream and raspberries making a little box tied with a ribbon. sat in the sun under a lovely tree...yes that was good.

[Barry]

Days 7,8,9
Long long days in the sweltering weather, but made pleasant by civilised lunches out in the garden area. And so we are in our stride, and of course I fret over every frame, and part of me thinks this would be so much easier in cG when you have such perfect control, but then the puppet has surprised me on a couple of occasions so far and come up with some very interesting compositions and such that I had not quite engineered......that does make it exciting.
We have been doing a lot of rigging and in the dark - not an easy combination, and some of the movement has been a bit erratic to say the least, but some of the slower movement is really rather beautiful. Maybe I could jsut flap the wings for 15 minutes.
We have produced a healthy amoung of seconds - I'm trying to get some in the bank for the more complex, or rather, even more complex sequences ahead.

[Barry]

oh dear, I've lost track of what day it is, other than July 15th but I fear I was overly ambitious in hoping to write a daily log, however brief. The days are long, certainly not without incident, but as of today we are at about two minutes fifteen seconds, and feeling worse for wear but excited. I can't say honestly that technology has been our friend.