Under the Bed is a stop motion animated short film I made for the final project in a Stop Motion Puppet Fabrication class. It took over 12 hours of setup, animating, and editing to make the final product. The film is made up of 638 frames all individually animated and captured.
Behind the Scenes
The Puppet: The puppet’s body was fabricated as a traditional stop motion armature, but the head was 3D modeled and 3D printed. The lip sync was accomplished with replacement animation, meaning I had multiple copies of the head I would switch on the body of the puppet between frames.
The Bed: The bed was also 3D modeled and printed out, with tie down holes built into it so I could stabilize the puppet while it was in the bed.
The puppet’s body with a test head
All the different heads used in the film
Here’s a lip sync test I did of the character on the set before I started filming the final piece.
The Lighting: I built the stage on a dresser in my room, and played around with various lighting angles and effects to create a gloomy atmosphere without the frame looking boring. The lightning strikes through the “window” transforming into the monster were accomplished with a clay substance animated on the surface of an overhead projector.
The set on my dresser. Notice the small flashlight behind the bed I used to make it look like it was glowing.
The clay I used to make the window frame silhouette on top of the overhead projector’s surface.
The Sounds: All the creepy high frequencies and unnerving sounds in the film were created by my cousin and frequent collaborator Zane Shrem Besnoy (@tasteofzane). Go check out his work! He’s incredibly talented!