“A Whole Lotta Water”

My role on this commercial was to design and make a functional stop motion puppet along with a number of props and set pieces, along with the illustrations used in the final sequence. I handmade every aspect from scratch, focusing on the functionality of not only the puppet but every set piece. The lamps were fully functional with miniature electrical wires that ran through the base of the lamp right up to the tiny lightbulb. Even the coin operated viewfinder is made so that it can be tilted just like a lifesize viewfinder. My goal for this project was to make everything as functional as possible so that the animator, Nathan Lee, along with the electrical team could use my props with ease.

This was one of the most time consuming yet rewarding projects I’ve had the chance to work on. Because of my desire to fabricate with an intense attention to detail, I made sure every piece, no matter how minor, was crafted completely by scratch and did not label anything as “finished” until I felt it was pushed as far as possible.

I continued to fabricate on set, helping the production designer fabricate last minute props along with meeting the needs of the animator as he needed various elements for animating such as new mouth shapes, eyes and transition pieces for animating.