Rationale

Little Miss Muffet

In researching the meaning behind Little Miss Muffet, I found a lot of speculation surrounding the meaning of the nursery rhyme. Although some believe an entomologist named Thomas Muffet (1553-1604) wrote it for his stepdaughter.

 “Popular” interpretations of this nursery rhyme usually portray a little girl, alone, sitting on her ‘tuffet’ eating from a bowl of curds and whey, when she gets frightened by a spider and runs away. From this I took the underlying theme of the nursery rhyme to be something to do with fear. It made me question whether or not Miss Muffet had a right to be afraid of a little spider or if it was just an over-reaction. I took this underlying theme of fear and applied it to a modern context. I wanted to create a ‘modern’ world for Miss Muffet, and take the idea of the spider and apply it to day-to-day life. So I created an urban city for Miss Muffet, and imagined how she would react living in our environment. 

In my interpretation, Miss Muffet is afraid of shadows. We see the shadows distort and transform, as we presumably see the world through Miss Muffets eyes – her imagination running wild. Eventually she cannot handle the fear and she runs away. However after Miss Muffet leaves the scene, the shadow still lingers, making the viewer question whether or not Miss Muffet was really imagining things.

I chose this aesthetic because I wanted it to reach a younger audience. There is an underlying humorous tone to the storyline, which is emphasized by the bright solid colours of Miss Muffet, and the ‘cuteness’ of the dog. For the font, I chose a handwritten style, something a little more personal and fluid, but which could easily turn creepy when distorted. The soundtrack I chose complimented the emotions Miss Muffet was feeling and subsequently aided in telling her story, and setting the tone for the animation. In the beginning the music is almost cheerful, but it soon turns creepy and the pace quickens as she becomes more afraid.

I wanted to tell the nursery rhyme this way because I wanted to delve into the idea of the spider and what it meant. Was this spider dangerous? Did she really need to run away from it instead of dealing with it? Was she just over-reacting? I wanted to question the viewer’s opinion of Miss Muffet, but also make them question themselves, would they be afraid and react the same if they were in her shoes?




................................Miss Muffet Final Move - Link.......................

References - links

Style

"Tanks for nothing" by Joshua Armstrong

"Snow White and the seven dwarfs" (1937) by Walt Disney

"The Legend of the Scarecrow" 


Animation

"Tanks for nothing" by Joshua Armstrong

"Thought of you" by Ryan Woodward

"Snow White and the seven dwarfs" (1937) by Walt Disney

Lucida Handwriting

I wanted to get a sort of creepy feel to the text. I wanted them to be a part of the setting, like subtle shadows in the background. This font style is perfect for setting the tone I want. The handwriting is more personal. There is a fluidity to it, and when I apply the puppet tool in after effects it becomes more creepy.

Fonts

My darker scene for when Miss Muffet panics and runs

Shadows

I experimented with a number of different ways to create shadows, from literally drawing them on photoshop, using drop shadows and also lighting in After Effects. I have decided to use drop shadows because it gives me more control over the shadows and they can be applied in both after effects and photoshop. This way I can move back and forwards between programs.

This is especially important for my 'monster shadows'. After playing around with the shadows in after effects, I decided I liked the effect of the puppet tool, it gave a nice, spooky effect when the shadow is pulled to extreme lengths and i could merge it into the original shadow.

I like how in "Tanks for nothing" the characters expressions are exaggerated. When she gets surprised or happy her eyebrows float above her face.

In photoshop I separated her face into components. Then in after effects i animated each piece. I tried to exaggerate Miss Muffets expressions like Joshua Armstrong did with his character in "Tanks for Nothing"

Miss Muffet walk/running front on

I liked the quirkyness of the walk cycle in the "Hey Arnold" intro scene. As there wasn't much reference to go by in "tanks for nothing" I went for this walk instead.

Miss Muffet alteration

After animating a few walk cycles for Miss Muffet in after effects, I decided I wasn't achieving the look I was going for.

Going back over my references, I decided to change my character so that she moves similar to the character in "Tanks for nothing". Miss Muffet had too many components to her and i was making it far too complicated for myself, redrawing the legs and knees, elbows and shoulder etc. Subsequently she wasn't walking smoothly. So instead of trying to perfect this, I simplified her.

 I want my overall animation to be simply and quirky. I don't want any serious "realistic" animating, because I want to establish a quirky, humorous tone.

My new Miss Muffet can now shuffle.

Character development

Animation references - For Miss Muffet I tried making a walk cycle frame by frame in photoshop then looping in After effects. For the dog, I separated it, then animated it in after effects by rotating the legs and resizing etc.








Animation Style - reference

"Thought of you" by Ryan Woodward

Woodwards animating is incredible. He hand drew every scene in this beautiful 3 min animation. Using a program similar to photoshop he drew each scene. This is similar to the way I want to animate mine. But instead I'll create walk cycles in after effects, so it wont be so time consuming. 

Walt Disney's - Snow white

Color adjustment

Storyboard edited

Thought through my my film a bit more - scene by scene - and took out unnecessary shots, also added establishing shot and worked out how long i needed for each shot

Prop and Shadow work

I decided on using warm colours for this prop, as the idea is for the shadows to be menacing, not the objects themselves.

Prop and Shadow References

"Snow White"

References - Shadow

"Tanks for Nothing" - shadows

Further Setting Design

"The Last Scarecrow" - Establishing Shot.

I decided I would like an establishing shot in the beginning of my film. It will consist of warmer colours, which will contrast  to the end of the film where the sequence gets darker and scarier.

Setting Design

Setting draft1

I wanted something with a lot of deatil in the background, similar to my references - "Tanks for Nothing" and Walt Disneys "Snow White". They use a detailed background, contrasted with bold bright characters/objects infront. The background is faded so as not to distract the viewer from the foreground.

"tanks for nothing"

"Snow white and the seven dwarfs"

Setting draft2

"Snow White and the seven dwarfs"

I love the colour palette seen in Snow White. The harmonious colours, and blue dark tones will be perfect in  my film.

Setting in photoshop

Setting juxtaposed with character.

Character Design

Miss Muffet - Colour inspiration

In these pieces Miller uses neutral colours, mainly browns and tans, but what is interesting to not is the subtly n the shift in tone to create depth. The reds and pinks aren't just "colours from a tube" they are mixed with different hues and tones. The pinks he uses are soft, so as to blend with the rest of the image but pop at the same time.

The Rescuers - Note the different shades of pink

Bambi - fabulous use of colour, amazing and subtle.

Tanks for nothing - Style mainly influenced my design, not so much the colour.

Moodboards

Deep blues, greens and greys establish a sinister feeling. Inspired by the forest scene in Snow White.

Another colour palette option to establish a creepy scene. The neutral browns and natural colours add a "realness" to the scene.

Neutral, pale/dull colours also have a realness to them. The neutrals juxtaposed with the dark - almost black tones create a creepy ghostlike quality.