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FRANCESCA NOBILI
STOP MOTION ANIMATION
BEDTIME STORIES -
MAKING OF AND INSIGHT
Dog House
Dog House made out of wood craft sticks, paper, and foam sheet.
I love to use furniture touch up markers to create several shades of realistic wood.
Capitol Records Building and Hollywood Sign
Capitol Records Building made out of foam rings, poop bags roll, clay, a toothpick and little flag cut out of a food package.
Hollywood sign made out of free-hand cut foam and garden decoration.
Adirondack chairs
I love my miniature Adirondack chairs. As a center piece of the set, I wanted them to be good-looking, original and cartoonish. I built few different prototypes but I wasn’t happy at all. On a sunny day, my design-encyclopedia friend Suzanne suggested Adirondack chairs. I loved the idea immediately! My beloved Dremel was essential in the process and I am really proud of the final result. I used cigarette ash and fingers to add the dirt.
Dr Martens boots
Dr Martens for the character Daniel. I used faux leather, yellow thread, metallic eyelets and elastic thread as shoelaces. Pretty proud of this prop!
Kodak Carousel
Project inspired by Kodak Carousel made out of wood craft sticks and circles, foam blocks, paper, a bobbin, another plastic little thing I have no idea where it comes from that I used as lens. During the shooting I used 2 different techniques to animate it: with a decorative light, giving a pretty realistic effect, and with a yellow and silver pompon. The bobbin rotates but not very smoothly, I must say.
Tea Set with Tray
Starting from a miniature wooden table I bought at Dollar Tree, I cut some pieces and re-used them to shape a tea tray. I painted acrylic white on blue on black and sandpapered it for a Shabby Chic look. The tea set was bought at Michael’s.
Wood Boxes
Boxes made out of paper and wood craft sticks.
Wood Windows
Windows made out of wood craft sticks, checked fabric (curtains), plastic package (glass), hooks and eyes closure (hinges), and urethane parquet floor tile samples (frame). The urethane parquet floor tile samples are widely used in this set as they can create a semi-realistic surface for background and small objects. You can find plenty at Home Depot for free and they are easy to cut and shape.
Background trees
Trees for the background made out of garden ornaments, wooden beads, wooden sticks, clay, and plastic containers.
To add the “leafs” to the wooden beads I hot-glued the beads to the garden ornaments and cut them off with small scissors. I used a dark furniture touch up marker for the trunk.
Barn
For the background on the left I built a sort of barn made out of A LOT of wooden sticks (thank you, Starbucks!) for the door and the roof, a urethane parquet floor tile sample for the wall, a miniature incandescent bulb and small hooks for the light above the door (cute!). I also used some foam cubes to hold the roof. As usual, I used furniture touch up markers in different combination to give a more realistic look to the door and the roof. Door hinges and handle made out of some mysterious hardware I found in a tool box I bought in a thrift shop.
Ext House
A lot of elements in the background on the right, the ext of the house.
First of all, I struggled a lot with the color of the wall. This kind of wooden craft sticks is nice because is wider but using the furniture touch up markers the result was too shiny. So, after many attempts, I decided to paint it. I painted green on black and sandpapered it to give a worn out look. But that wasn’t enough for what I had in mind, so I used cigarette ashes and a finger to add that dirt. (I know, gross)
For the garden trellises, I just used the usual wooden craft sticks painted white on black and sandpapered them for a worn out look (works well for a shabby chic look too!) before having fun gluing them. I bought the fabric flowers string at Michael’s and cut it as needed.
The door is inspired by Alice in Wonderland and is made out of paperboard, wooden craft sticks (wide), and the hardware of a little wooden box. The handle turns.
The door’s light is practical and the hardware is just another treasure from that mysterious toolbox. The funny part is that light is one of about 50, hiding in a black plastic bag in the back of the wall.
Last but not least, the window is practical too. For the frame, I used the top of a wooden little box that already had a window on it. Then I added little curtains and a vase made out of a plastic hair roller, felt, clay and roses earrings. For the light, I simply used a book light. Most of the items were bought at 99 cent stores and similar.
Oh wait, the two hanging vases. I had those two baskets from my previous short film “Amatriciana“. I always try to recycle as many props and materials as possible from previous projects, while I am building my own Prop House and placing Easter eggs here and there.
Red Door
I chose an easy pattern to carve for the red door on the central background because I wasn’t sure how that small wooden board would have reacted to my basic tool. I found out the board is made of layers that come off easily and with clean edges but the texture is all straight, I can’t guarantee the result with a curvy pattern [See the video on the left].
I like the fragility of the little bell as door knocker.
Before painting the door, I made different color tests to obtain the red I had in mind, combining different kinds of furniture touch up markers and acrylic paints on the same kind of wood. As you can see, the same red combined with other markers and/or paints completely changes.
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