Production Bible Fowl Play

Production Studies - UADACP-40-2 - Tutor: Rachel Robinson
- Production Bible –
compiled by Thomas Barth
2012 Bristol School of Animation, University of the West of England

Fowl Play Production - Production Studies - UADACP-40-2 - Tutor: Rachel Robinson - 15/01/2013
Index
Contacts …………Page 2
Story …………Page 3
Storyboard …………Page 7
The Characters …………Page 13
Concept Art …………Page 16
Design Manifesto …………Page 20
Inspiration …………Page 22
Final Puppets …………Page 23
Set Design …………Page 33
Production …………Page 40
All work is subject to copyright held by the respective team members of ‘Fowl Play’ - 2012
Contacts
Pamela Legg - Director, storyboard & concept artist, stop motion animator, assistant puppet fabricator
Pam is the director of the Fowl Play production. Her idea "Fowl Play" had caught the team’s attention and they
decided to help her to realise her vision. She worked in making the story line, providing storyboards/character
designs and concept art for our production. She also helped to animate some of the scenes.
pamela.legg@hotmail.com http://pamelalegg.weebly.com/index.html
Thomas Barth - Producer, stop motion & 2D animator, Photoshop artist, Foley artist & animatic editor
Tom is the producer. He is responsible for arranging the production schedule, shot breakdown and animator shot
list for the team to follow. He ensures everyone follows the schedule to meet the deadline, whilst maintaining a
high production value. Apart from that, Tom also worked as an animator for the both stop-motion and 2D.
As for the sound, he worked with the team to create different sounds using the Foley room.
Thomas.Barth.TB@T-online.de http://thomasbarth.weebly.com
Roos Mattaar - Puppet designer & fabricator, lead stop motion animator, sound editor & music
composer, AE compositor
Roos is a puppet designer. She built the puppet from scratch to the final design.
She worked as a lead animator since she built them and understood the bird design. She is passionate in making
music and composed the music for the film. She was editing the final sound mix, and together with Tom worked on
the final video edit for our production.
roos.mattaar@xs4all.nl http://stopmoroos.wix.com/roos-mattaar
Yasmin Jamil - Set designer & fabricator, stop motion animator, assistant puppet fabricator
Yasmin is a set designer and fabricator. She is passionate in model making and sculpting.
Thus, she is responsible in the making and dressing of the sets for the Fowl Play production.
The film required a range of shots sizes, for which sets in a variety of scales had to be built.
She also animated some of the scenes with the bird puppets as well as additional bird parts
in front of a greenscreen, which was used in the fight sequence.
j_ysmn@yahoo.com http://jysmin7.wix.com/ysmnj
2
Story
Fowl Play features two chicks left alone in a nest who both have their
eye on an innocent tasty fly. But their sibling rivalry has nasty consequences.
3
FOWL PLAY.
EXT. ON TOP OF A HILL-DAY

From viewing the title screen we pan down to see a
tree in the centre of the shot. It stands alone with
gently rolling hills behind. A small nest can just be
seen on a low branch. We move in closer to the nest.
The nest fills the whole screen and in it sits two fat
sleeping birds. A purple bird on the left and a blue bird
on the right.
A buzzing can be heard and then in the top
right of the screen a fly appears. The birds both wake
with a start and look at the fly. Wide eyed they watch it
fly to the top left of the screen, then back over to the
right. Each bird is moving its head and neck in time with
the fly to follow its movements. The fly moves low over the
purple bird and the blue bird snaps at it. He misses and
instead grabs the purple birds’ feather which is sticking
out of the top of his head.
CUT TO close up:
The blue birds neck is in shot, his head

reaching (off screen) to the left. A squawk is heard off
screen. His head appears with a determined expression as
he pulls the purple birds’ feather. It snaps away and the
blue bird looks down. He's surprised to see the feather
in his beak. He looks back at the purple bird off screen.
CUT TO CLOSE UP:
The purple bird is in shot. He looks up to

where his feather use to be then back towards the blue
bird off screen. The purple bird is angry and he narrows
his eyes frowning.
CUT TO CLOSE UP:
The blue bird, looking concerned, turns his

head and blows the feather away.
CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT:
Both birds in the nest. The purple bird is

angry narrowing his eyes and swaying his head back. The
blue bird is narrowing his eyes. They both raise their
wings threateningly.
CUT TO CLOSE UP:
A still coloured image showing a close up of

both birds looking angry, their eyes bloodshot and
showing their teeth.
CUT TO CLOSE UP:
The fly is seen hovering patiently.
4
CUT TO CLOSE UP:
The purple birds neck is in shot his head is

reaching (off screen) to the right. A squawk is heard off
screen. The purple bird slowly pulls his head back. He
has an angry expression on his face and is gripping
something in his beak. A noise like stretching rubber can
be heard as he grits his teeth and pulls back on the worm
like object. A pop noise is heard and an eyeball appears
dangling from his beak. The dangling eyeball and the
purple birds’ eyes look at each other as it swings below
his beak. He then throws it up into the air off screen.
CUT TO CLOSE UP:
A side view of the blue bird is shown. He

slowly turns his face towards us. He has one eye (his
right) missing. He is not very happy. His beak is
drooping down in the corners. His eyelids on his
remaining eye narrow. He turns back towards the purple
bird.
CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT:
Both birds in the nest start to lean their

heads towards each other.
CUT TO CLOSE UP:
Both birds’ heads come together. Their eyes
look angry. The blue bird shows his teeth. Both birds are
pushing against each other. The purple birds’ eyes are
narrowing and he shows his teeth.
CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT:
Both birds start to fight! A dust cloud starts

to cover the birds. The birds can no longer be seen as
the dust cloud gets thicker. Sometimes a wing or a foot
pokes out of the cloud, or a torn feather appears and
flutters down.
The dust settles and the purple bird is shown
lunging towards the blue bird. The blue bird is leaning
back in the nest, his wings supporting him and his beak
is open.
The purple bird grabs the blue birds’ foot in
his beak and pulls it back. The blue bird clenches his
wing into a fist as the purple bird bites down. Suddenly
the purple bird lets go and flaps his wings at the blue
bird.
A dust cloud starts to cover the birds again
obscuring them from view.
As the dust settles the birds are shown lunging towards
each other. The purple bird has his wings raised behind
him as he reaches forward and grabs the blue birds’ wing
in his beak. At the same moment the blue bird grabs the
purple birds’ neck. They pause there for a moment, biting
and flapping their wings angrily. The eyeball then drops
down and both birds freeze to watch as it hits the edge
of the nest and bounces from view. They both blink then
return to nibbling.
5
The purple bird pulls back and at the same time pulls a
feather out of the blue birds’ wing. The blue bird raises
his wing.
A dust cloud covers the birds as they fight
again.
The dust settles to reveal both birds, having
got confused during the fight, nibbling each others own
body. The purple bird is enthusiastically nibbling his
own wing and the blue bird is attacking his own leg. They
continue for a moment, then realising their mistake, look
at each other.
CUT TO LONG SHOT:
The tree is in shot with the rolling hills

behind. The two birds are visible in the nest on the
branch. The dust cloud starts again as both birds begin
fighting.
CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT:
We pan down, following the fly to see the blue
bird looking tired with his tongue hanging out of the
corner of his mouth. He's panting. The nest is revealed
to show the other bird is dead, his head lying back over
his body, his skeletal wing hangs down over the side of
the nest and his ribs are showing. Feathers from both
birds are scattered around the nest. The blue bird is
still watching the fly.
CUT TO CLOSE UP:
The blue birds head is in shot. He leans

forward as the fly hovers just out of his reach. His beak
opens, his tongue hangs out of his mouth. He slowly licks
his beak. He then lowers his beak and takes a last look
at the fly. He gasps.
CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT:
The fly still hovers above. The blue birds head

is drooping, his eyelids are heavy; he continues to pant.
His whole body is shaking and his wings are torn and
hanging down limp at his sides. He then throws his head
and his wings back, his eyes close and then he collapses
forward over the side of the nest with a thud. He is
dead.
The fly happily zig zags down to the blue
birds’ dead body and settles for a moment. As soon as he
settles another higher pitched fly sound is heard and a
second fly appears from the left side of the screen. The
second fly settles on the dead purple bird. The two flies
spot each other. In a second they zoom towards each other
both buzzing loudly about to fight.
THE END.
6
Storyboard
Shot 1 - one landscape shot of tree in the hills
Shot 2 - birds asleep; woken up by the fly and synchronously following it; blue bird pecks in direction purple bird
Shot 3 - blue bird pulls feather out; looks at feather and back in direction purple bird
7
Shot 4 - purple bird looks up– realises feather has gone; looks back to blue bird angrily
Shot 5 - blue bird maintains eye contact with purple bird; trying to look innocent; blows away feather
Shot 6 - feather still blown out of frame from shot 5; choreography to be finalised in dope sheet
Shot 7 - confrontation of both birds, painted by Pam in acrylic colours
8
Shot 8 – the fly buzzing happily; blue sky background and one small leaf sticking in
Shot 9 - purple bird with tin on head; starts revenge blindfolded (got changed during productions)
Shot 10 - purple bird picking out eye; slinging halfway round head; letting go in surprise
Shot 11 - blue bird (has eye missing): looks in direction purple bird–
towards camera – back to the left angrily
9
Shot 11.2 - got added later to make a cut to shot 12 possible – the confrontation begins
Shot 12 - confrontation continues; blue bird more angry than purple one; head feather can emphasize this
Shot 13 - fight scene - choreography to be finalised in dope sheet; falling eye with rig
10
this idea of the twisted necks was dropped in favour of a shot of the birds fighting themselves
Shot 14 - tree seen from the distance with heavy fighting in the nest
Shot 15 - half dead blue bird (has eye missing) looking exhausted and scruffy; looks up to see fly
Shot 16 - half dead blue bird’s last attempt to catch fly but realises it is hopeless
11
Shot 17 – blue bird takes last look at fly; exhaustion shows clearly – then collapses over the nest edge; the fly
settles down and begins to fight with another, second fly shortly after that enters the frame
“In the very first storyboard, I wanted to keep the images and the staging simple as the
focus needed to be on the birds’ actions. That storyboard however had a lot of extra bits such as fly
close ups and extra feather pulling scenes that were eventually cut because of time restrictions. Also,
it was agreed that the tree design was not very good and so was later changed.
The final storyboard I sketched the new tree design using Yasmins model as a guide. I think the
new design is much better, almost Japanese like. There is much less feather pulling in this storyboard
and getting straight into the action. It has also changed who is getting their eye pulled out.
Even in this 'Final storyboard' things were cut at the last minute. The tin can which is thrown
over one of the birds was cut in the final film as it was agreed that it did not make sense and that the
story did not need it.”
- Pam
12
The Characters
13
The purple bird is just as curious about

his surroundings as the blue one but he is
also lazier. He is the more intelligent one of
the two. He has a hot temper and all too
keen to start a fight and can easily get really
nasty really quickly. However despite his
keenest to fight he is actually not that good a
fighter.
The blue bird is very curious about his

surroundings and always on the look out for
something to eat. He is a bit stupid and has a
mischievous personality. He is the gentler one of the
two. He tries, but fails to keep the peace in the film.
He has a very endearing child like quality to
his character but he can be just as deadly when it
comes to fighting.
The fly is a noisy, buzzing tiny fellow who manages to be just out of reach
for both birds throughout the film. His hunger however is just as big as that of the
birds. drawings by Pamela Legg
14
The behaviour of the chicks changes from a gentle sweet setting to a vicious scene (below).
Picture 1 – first character painting for pitch in acrylics both images (1 and 2) by Pamela Legg
Picture 2 – final acrylic painting for shot 7 of the film – the characters show their darker side
15
Concept Art
Picture 3 - First turn around sheet by Pamela Legg
Picture 4 – bird surprised by Pamela Legg
16
Picture 5 – birds getting angry by Pamela Legg
Picture 6 – birds preparing to fight by Pamela Legg
17
Picture 7 – birds grabbing each other’s wings and neck by Pamela Legg
Picture 8 – the dying bird by Pamela Legg
18
Picture 9 – the dead bird by Pamela Legg
19
Design Manifesto
Our 90 second dark comedy short aimed at young adults
features two (baby) birds left alone in a nest, who do battle with each other.
The Design of the film which starts as cosy and friendly is slightly at odds with it's violent
and gory end. The environment and characters have been constructed to have a cartoony feel to
the film and while bird like in appearance, they display human like characteristics for comic effect.
20
Picture 10 – final character design by

Pamela Legg
,,The final character design, I think this final design is much better than the original and is
even more comic looking! It's design had to change as the old design was a bit flat and would
not be very effective as a stop motion puppet. The shape of the head changed as originally I had
the eyeballs sitting on top of the head, but after Roos's animation tests and advice it was
decided to have them in-cased into the head. This actually made them more easy to control
when animating and did not take away from any comic effect. The legs, although added to the
design were not always attached to the birds while filming and were mainly used in the
fight scenes. The tail is something that was also left out in the final puppet as it was agreed that
it was not needed.”
- Pam
21
Inspiration
We found these images above useful because they shared the same textured look that we wanted to
achieve in our final puppets (various sources from the internet).
Range of prototypes and maquettes
Through a variety of maquettes and

prototypes, we were able to develop
final versions for both birds that not only
moved convincingly, but also looked
appealing.
Samples for the final skinning
22
The Final Puppets
23
The following pages display the final scale drawings for the technical construction of the
bird characters, and their final shapes, plus an expression sheet that shows a selection of the
varying expressions we were able to achieve with the finished puppets.
Although the design of the puppets did only undergo small changes from the initial
drawings and paintings created by Pamela, a lot of maquette making for material and shape and
prototyping of potential technical solutions was needed to get to the final solution that gave us
the full range of movement necessary while still keeping the costs low.
“The initial technical drawings I made for the armature of the birds were very
complicated. I really wanted to dive into more advanced puppet making and was willing to
spend much time on that. I had already designed and even prototyped some complicated
mechanisms for moving chests and stretching necks when we decided as a team that this was
going beyond what was needed to make these characters work for this film. The final puppets
are much simpler, but they still were a challenge. The simpler and cheaper design allowed time
to prototype and test and abandon concepts before moving to the final design.”
– Roos
The final puppets are made using aluminium wire, polymorph, K&S and red hard foam
for the armature, a range of materials for the skinning and finally a layer of foam sheet cut and
carved feathers to give the birds their final look. As we need two versions of the birds - where
they are dead versus dying in the end – there are 4 characters in total. One – the dead purple
bird - is technically a prop as it does not need to move. The heads are re-used, as well as one
‘tie-down rig’ for the blue bird. The main characters have detachable wings while the dying blue
bird does not. The main blue bird has legs as well, as they are needed during one scene. The
birds do not need to walk or fly, but are attached to a moveable rig to allow them moving and
shifting through the nest while still being steady and secure. The heads of the birds are made
out of a variety of materials as shown in the annotated scale drawings. A replacement system is
used for both the beaks and the eye-lids to allow for the wide range of expressions we need
these birds to perform. The head feather is detachable and animate-able as well. The different
beaks were sculpted by Pamela, using plasticine. The plasticine allowed us to – besides
replacing the beaks – also animate and change the shape slightly to make everything move
smooth and convincing, and easily add elements like a tongue. The replaceable wings were of
good use where extreme pose changes were needed and also to animate the wings separate on
rigs for the fight cloud scene. The first thought behind this design was to be able to replace the
wings easily in case of breaking.
24
Picture 11 – final scale drawing of the purple bird by Roos Mattaar
25
Picture 12 – final scale drawing of the blue bird by Roos Mattaar
26
Picture 13 – final scale drawing of the skinned puppet by Roos Mattaar
27
Picture 14 – final version of the blue bird puppet by Roos Mattaar
28
Picture 15 - final version of the blue bird puppet (half-dead) by Roos Mattaar
29
Picture 16 - final version of the purple bird puppet by Roos Mattaar
30
Picture 17 – purple bird final puppet (dead) by Roos Mattaar
31
Picture 18 – character expression chart by Roos Mattaar
32
Set Design
We wanted something that looked

striking and several tree photos
were used as reference before a
final design was created by
Yasmin.
Initial set design options drawn by Yasmin Jamil
Various tree samples sourced from the internet
33
The Tree
Picture 19 – scale drawing for final tree used in the landscape shots by Yasmin Jamil
34
Picture 20 - scale drawing for final tree with material annotation by Yasmin Jamil
35
The Tree Trunk
A closer look at the textures of branches and trunk of the tree for ideas (various internet sources).
Picture 21 - scale drawing for the tree trunk extension for the long shots by Yasmin Jamil
36
Picture 22 – scale drawing for the tree trunk extension for the long shots, in the station by Yasmin Jamil
37
The Nest
An agreed design similar to the 'nest bed' image in the bottom right hand corner as made (sourced
from the internet). It would also compliment the texture of the birds.
Picture 23 – scale drawing fort he final nest used in the film’s medium and long shots
by Yasmin Jamil
38
Picture 24 – The final set as it appears in the stop motion station
39
Production
40
Picture 25 – first production schedule to show the amount of days to animate (blue) by Thomas Barth
41
Picture 26 – Final production schedule broken down by individual team members by Thomas Barth
42
Picture 27 - shot overview duration and responsibility chart page 1 by Thomas Barth
43
Picture 28 - shot overview duration and responsibility chart page 2 by Thomas Barth
44
Picture 29 - shot sheet for animation, with timings from the animatic compiled by Thomas Barth
Picture 30 – example of a dope sheet for each individual shot to be animated by Thomas Barth
45
Picture 31 – the production pipeline for ‘Fowl Play’ by Thomas Barth
46
Picture 32 – production pipeline timetable part 1 by Thomas Barth and Pamela Legg
47
Picture 33 - production pipeline timetable part 2 by Thomas Barth and Pamela Legg
48
Picture 34 – proposed industry budget of £10.000,00 by Thomas Barth
49
Picture 35 – Actual budget with expenditures by team member by Thomas Barth
50

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Production Studies - UADACP-40-2 - Tutor: Rachel Robinson

2012 Bristol School of Animation, University of the West of England

EXT. ON TOP OF A HILL-DAY

CUT TO close up:

The blue birds neck is in shot, his head

CUT TO CLOSE UP:

The purple bird is in shot. He looks up to

CUT TO CLOSE UP:

The blue bird, looking concerned, turns his

Both birds in the nest. The purple bird is

CUT TO CLOSE UP:

A still coloured image showing a close up of

CUT TO CLOSE UP:

The fly is seen hovering patiently.

CUT TO CLOSE UP:

The purple birds neck is in shot his head is

CUT TO CLOSE UP:

A side view of the blue bird is shown. He

CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT:

Both birds in the nest start to lean their

CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT:

Both birds start to fight! A dust cloud starts

The tree is in shot with the rolling hills

The blue birds head is in shot. He leans

CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT:

The fly still hovers above. The blue birds head

Shot 1 - one landscape shot of tree in the hills

Shot 7 - confrontation of both birds, painted by Pam in acrylic colours

The purple bird is just as curious about

The blue bird is very curious about his

Picture 3 - First turn around sheet by Pamela Legg

Picture 4 – bird surprised by Pamela Legg

Picture 5 – birds getting angry by Pamela Legg

Picture 6 – birds preparing to fight by Pamela Legg

Picture 8 – the dying bird by Pamela Legg

Picture 9 – the dead bird by Pamela Legg

Picture 10 – final character design by

Range of prototypes and maquettes

Through a variety of maquettes and

Samples for the final skinning

The Final Puppets

Picture 11 – final scale drawing of the purple bird by Roos Mattaar

Picture 12 – final scale drawing of the blue bird by Roos Mattaar

Picture 13 – final scale drawing of the skinned puppet by Roos Mattaar

Picture 14 – final version of the blue bird puppet by Roos Mattaar

Picture 16 - final version of the purple bird puppet by Roos Mattaar

Picture 17 – purple bird final puppet (dead) by Roos Mattaar

Picture 18 – character expression chart by Roos Mattaar

We wanted something that looked

Initial set design options drawn by Yasmin Jamil

Various tree samples sourced from the internet

The Tree Trunk

Picture 24 – The final set as it appears in the stop motion station

Picture 31 – the production pipeline for ‘Fowl Play’ by Thomas Barth

Picture 34 – proposed industry budget of £10.000,00 by Thomas Barth

Picture 35 – Actual budget with expenditures by team member by Thomas Barth

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