Baking Day - Monday 7th May

Since we didn’t solve everything we arranged to meet up again to iron out the kinks.

To start us off, we made a to do list, addressing the segments that needed to be fixed or worked on. 

However, through this session we managed to resolve the arm issue, but on the other hand, we still couldn’t get them to sit, so, we have had to scrap that idea altogether – in another video I saw that they were snapped in half to sit but it didn’t look aesthetically pleasing.

George and I created our own templates since we were using a cutter that was a bit larger than we originally wanted. George's is on the left and mine on the right. We felt that neither worked particularly well. George's template was let down by the arms being too thin and mine was still too wide throughout.

Having learnt from the previous experiments, we supported the head of the lying down figure with foil, and as another technique we stuck cocktail sticks into the arms, hoping they would help keep the dough up. We also have gingerbread men pushing a rolling pin in our storyboard, which means that they have to lean forward in order to get down to the rolling pin and we did this by wrapping foil round a slice of rolled up bread and sticking cocktail sticks in the arms to hold them up.

The end image is a result of one that doesn't have cocktail sticks in the hands, resulting in the dough being too heavy and slumping down again, making the hands and feet chunky and the disappearance of the neck.

 

Since the previous attempts of the sitting position didn't work, we tried another two. The first being sitting them against a cake tin, but the same problem as before occurred, and the second was wrapping them round the foil. However, the problem with this technique was that they became too curved.

On the left is George's gingerbread man decorated, in the middle is a small cutter made gingerbread man, going to be used for our army, and on the right is my templated gingerbread man. With these we were trying to figure out what the resulting decoration will look like for the clip. We agree on smarties for the larger, but not the army, and a small bow tie on them all.

Baking Day - Wednesday 2nd May

Our first official baking day and it didn’t start too well since we didn’t have a cutter. After the perilous journey of going to my house, 2 supermarkets and a school, we finally found one that wasn’t too small. This day was for testing and experimenting for the positioning, so that we could get all the technicalities out of the way.

George and I making the dough and the ingredients needed.

In order to make a leg go forward we thought of adding something underneath the dough to support it. At first we tried baking paper but found it wasn't sturdy enough, so, we also tried tin foil, which was much better because it is stronger and we could mold it appropriately. We also used this technique for the other positions such as sitting and having the arms out so they could then push an item forward.

Unfortunately, this technique was not as successful as we had hoped. Our first figure broke in half when we tried to bend it partially through the cooking time, hoping it would stay up for the rest of the time. But, most of the time the dough slumped down, causing the second to mesh into a pile altogether and the third to have no neck. The pushing position didn't end up any better since the arms became squished, however, the leg worked out fine. Since we didn't support the head of the figure lying down, the dough fell around the arms making it look as if it has a large head.

These were the only figures that turned out correctly. The first seems like it is leaning casually, which is the effect we were going for, and the second will be lifting a tray. Although, the top is flat, because I accidentally placed it too close to the edge of the tray, it may work, so it may be something we have to consider. The third figure was just to test the proportions of the cutter in a simple standing position.

Quick Test

In order to make sure that the movements would flow, I made up some Ello figures and using my camera and a small tripod I gradually made them walk across the boards to approach the Tupperware bowl. This was quite rough and rushed so the movements are quite large, but I feel that this technique could work quite nicely.

More Detailed Storyboard

Since I need visuals to go by, I drew up this rough storyboard, however, I was concentrating on the main elements, ensuring that the storyline flowed, so I didn’t pay thought to the technicalities, such as the camera angles:

Story in Brief

From the mini storyboards George and I came up with a brief storyline to go by, giving the main elements but allowing changes to be made is necessary:

1. 3 on a tray

2. Stand up to show they're alive

3. Walk down the counter

4. Get bowl

5. Push ingredients

6. 2 hold note saying amount

7. Third by ingredient, another frame and they get closer to bowl and then ingredients are in the bowl (improvise by these guidelines for other ingredients)

8. Around bowl as mixing occurs by itself

9. Time in oven shown by clock ticking and men changing positions every 5 minutes

10. Men walk with tray

11. Gingerbread men get decorated

12. Rise row by row

13. March to house

Extended version: House making

If we have enough time then we will show the house being made, but this could make the clip too long winded. 

Mini storyboards

When making the notes, images were entering my mind so I started to draw a mini storyboard, while discussing it with George, which made one idea evolve into another and then another, until we had three different ideas on how to start the clip:

Option 1: this concentrated on the idea of having an army of gingerbread men having their own adventure in the kitchen, however we hadn't thought of their objective.

Option 2: Again an army is made but beforehand a house is made, so that they could then charge out of it. However, we hadn't thought of their objective.

Option 3: Another beginning to the clip is where there is initially three gingerbread men, not just one, and they come alive, getting up from a baking tray. 

Other Research

I found that the majority of posts on Youtube and Vimeo are instructional, with the basic step-by-step method, or, if the gingerbread men are animated then it is either through being made from plasticine or by computer software, not actual gingerbread men. However, I did find these examples:

Gingerbread Man Escapes

What drew me to this was the fact that the gingerbread man has its own freewill, and that is the essence of our own clip. Also the technique is similar since photographs have been taken, however, he has been positioned in certain places to show the stages of the adventure, whereas I would prefer our clip to be more of an animation, where the movements are more fluid. 

 Goldtooth Christmas Card

Much like this clip, which is the kind of animation I would like to produce. On the other hand, I know that the stop motion will not be as smooth as this, and the subject matter will not be so sinister =).