Building the Set!

Right so I have the main two puppets! Next is somewhere to film them at. I had already set out the schematics of what I was going to build, so it was a very straightforward task of cutting out plywood to the right sizes and screwing it all together.

The Set




First thing was to cut out the back wall of the set, I marked out a guideline on a large piece of Plywood, then cut out the rectangle with a jigsaw, then the squares for the windows and the two rectangles for the doors. I then cut out a rectangle for the base and screwed them together. Very simple! =) I then went on to cut out four rectangles for the sides of the balconies, and four triangles to then glue on the front of the front sides to create the decoration in the desing. So I now had the back walls and the balconie sides built, next task was decorating it and mkaing it neater. I went and purchased some very thin skirting and measured it and cut it to be the edge of the doors and windows to create a more asthetically pleasing wall. Next was to carve the windowboxes, I cut to rectangles out of Pine wood, and then just chipped away at the center to create a groove to fill with plastercine to give the impression of mud and plants. So I had the basis of the set, doors, windows, balconies and windowboxes next step was to varnish it all.

To fill the doors in I cut some asssetate sheet to the right size and stuck it to the back of the set to give the impression of glass. And when it came to the doors, i cut to rectangles of cardboard, then cut out a rectangle inside them 1cm in, painted it brown and stuck some assetate to the back.

Heres some photos of me making it, but generally I had the basis of my set finished, it was just props to make, it was the one job that I didnt hit any problems and it all went to plan.



Next step the props...

The Props

After the feedback from the first hand in, there were some changes to the prop designs. The old mans side needed to show that he was really into plants, so I included a hanging basket from some of the original designs aswell as a pot plant on the table, and got rid of the chair. Whilst on the boys side of the set I removed all of the toys, balls etc. And made it completely bug orientated, I built an ant farm kind of enclousure for the boy, and replaced the plane in the window with a bumblebee aswell as making a quick poster of a bumblebee to go on the side of the set.

First, how I went about building the pot/hanging basket. It was very simple to do, I measured a square out of Pine wood, which I then shaped to have curved edges with a chisel. Next step was sanding all the edges to give it a nice asthetic, then I carved a square groove in the top of the pot. With the hanging basket I then drilled four holes, to glue twisted copper wire into, to create a hoop to hang on a hook. Whilst the standing pot missed out this stage because its standing obviously... Then I varnished both before adding the plants. To make the plant I purchased three different colour greens of FabFoam, which I then shaped into several leaf shapes. I then pierced each one, threaded twisted copper wire though them, to create a branch. I then placed these in the pot and held them down with green plastercine. I made several of these branches till I felt the pot/hanging basket looked full enough. I was then finished, simple!

Heres some photos of the process;





So theres the pot/hanging basket for the old man, next was a table to place the pot on, it was very simple, i already had the measurements that i had planned, so I cut a rectangle out of Pine wood, then cut four dowel legs, drilled into the bottom of the rectangle in each corner. Finally then glued the four dowels in place straight up let dry, and varnished when finished sorted!



So theres all the old mans props built, varnished, and ready to be filmed! Next was the little boys who now after changes only had one prop which was the ant farm. It was another easy thing to build. I cut two pine rectangles out, and glued themtogether to form an L shape. I then went on to cut 12 long thin rectangles to become the edges of the enclousure, they also served another purpose which was for me to be able to glue the assetate to. Once all 12 were glued in place I varnished the whole thing ready for the assetate. I then cut the assetate to length to go all around the outside of the shape in one go and glued it in place. Once that was dry I then filled it with plastercine to represent wood, with a few plastercine branches too to finish it off.



I ought to go back to the window boxes quickly to explain how I did the fillings for the groove. I twisted two pieces of thin copper wire together as a sketleton structure. I then stuck them in place with brown plastercine to represent mud. Then taking three types of green plastercine I went on to cover these copper wires over to give the appearance of plants. Very simple!



So there you have it, how I made the set in depth! Heres some photos of the finished product, and also me testing out the height of the puppets fit in with it =D