Visual Report for Contributions thus far to 'THE COBWEB HOTEL' project.

At the start of september this year the group began working on a Stop Motion & Puppet Making module consisting of what will eventually become a highly detailed, shot for shot remake of a Max Fleischer short; 'The Cobweb Hotel', except we will be transforming the drawn animated style of the original film into a fully three-dimensional stop motion film.

So far, this term, we have established the scale of the sets and characters, and started construction of the set; a shelved desk made from wood (plywood board with incisions to create the impression of wood).

My main contribution at the start of the term was constructing the Spider character, fully realized in three-dimensions. I made two of these, as the first Spider was, we realized, was not large enough, because the Fly characters would need to be larger in stature to be able to be animated, thus, the Spider would need to follow by being increased in scale. These measurements were taken as rough guesses and experimentation, as, with the second Spider that I made, I constructed in comparison to another students Fly design, compared to what I could see and work out by watching the short film, then merge these together. On the second Spider I decided to experiment with texture, as in the final film, I really want to make the Spider a realized character, with hair on its body and clothes that look or are made from real fabric. This is the bonus of getting to remake an otherwise 'flat' drawn animation - we will be able to give a palpable dimension to everything, making it a feast for the eyes.















On the newplast sculptures I made of the Spider, for the indications of hair, I wrapped brown string around the parts of its body that are not clothed, and interestingly, rather than just giving the 'skin' a bumpy texture, thin, hair like strands from the string came off onto the sculpture, making it look and feel hairy. I did this first on the first Spider, but did it on the part of its body that will wear a waistcoat, and only on its arms, so on the second Spider I made sure to put the string on all of its skin.



Below is the second Spider sculpture.









I also attempted to realize what Max Fleischer's Spider's face would be like in three-dimensions, especially its eyes, which I had struggled with (on the design front) on the first Spider. The second design was definitely an improvement on the first, not just because of it's scale, but due to what I was trying to achieve through texture and design.

This project will continue and really kick off after Christmas.