Little Shop Of Horros

Kelsey Connor
DV2902

Task 1

Choose an Iconic Feature Film

Little Shop Of Horrors
Research

For task one I have chosen the iconic fantasy character of Audrey II. Audrey II is the main antagonist in the story/film of Little Shop of Horrors (1986.) An alien creature from beyond the stars that arrives on Earth with a mission. In the unlikely setting of Skid Row pretending to be an exotic plant it catches the inquisitive eye of budding botanist Seymour Krelborn and soon sets about turning his hopeless life upside down.






Little Shop Of Horrors has been imagined in film format twice. The first was in 1960 (black & white) and the second (colour) in 1987.

The concept and story was created by Roger Corman, the film was famous for it's low budget and two day creation. After the 1960 release it quickly became a cult classic and was reworked into an award winning Broadway show by David Geffen. Geffen also went onto produce the motion picture in 1987.

For the film a top design team was hired, at the head was award winning designer Roy Walker who created the set of Skid Row. The Plant (Audrey II) was designed and created by Lyle Conway. For the film seven versions of the plant were created, this required nine months preparation including constant day by day updates. By the end of production 1500 leaves, 2000 feet of vines and 11 and a half miles of cable had been used.

For the Audrey II to be realistic the staff had to combine the best parts of mechanical and hand operated movement. Every scene with the Audrey II in action was carefully story boarded for all departments to work with. The biggest technological breakthrough came in the form of the mechanical vines, the contribution of the Atomic energy institute allowed Audrey II to move it's eight feet vines with positive movement and control.
For the smallest version of Audrey II only had two to three people working it, however by the end and biggest version of Audrey II (around 15 Feet high) 50 to 60 people had to operate the plant.

The Audrey II worked with a combination of separate elements, cables controlled things such as the leaves and tongue mechanically. In the largest version a puppeteer worked inside the head to move the jaws alongside a mechanical leverage and counterweight system behind the scene.

Little Shop Of Horrors was shot using cameras on cranes. Transitions were also used to move from place to place, this was achieved by moving from colour to colour and face to face. Though most scenes in the film were story boarded the ones with Audrey II were followed to the letter. This was because the Audrey II was extremely challenging to shoot successfully.

Scene of focus: Audrey II & Seymour (Feed Me)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ea5jKFGgUw


The film has three film speeds (12, 16 & 24 frames per second)
This came about when the film was in production stages, it was established that the foam rubber puppet (Audrey II) could not physically be moved fast enough to speak and sing in real time. In singing scenes frame rates were put under scrutiny and a compromise was worked out.

In the song/scene Feed me there are two frames at work. When it is the actor on his own it is 24 fps however when it is Audrey II singing it is 16fps. This accommodates the time needed to move the physical form, basically it is in shot slow motion. When the actor and plant are together the frame rate is 16fps, the actor had to slow himself down and the footage was speed up to real time later on.

Underneath the Audrey II and set there was a tank full of puppeteers who controlled individual elements of the plant. Leaves, vines and tongue. For the largest version of the Audrey II an actor moved the puppets mouth, the lips were controlled by cables. Due to the eminence weight of the puppet it could only be moved for ten seconds per take.


Lip sync was extremely important and nothing prior to it had been done as it was in Little Shop Of Horrors.









Special Effects

Scene: Steve Martin riding his motorbike.

The scene was a three foot model which was shot beforehand to provide a background within the plate. They shot by moving the camera backwards from the scene. The actor was then shot on the bike against a blue screen. Shadows were added afterwards to improve realism.
It was shot using the same technique as demonstrated below in a scene from Star Wars.

Optical Effects

-Subway car in Skid Row
- Glowing plant
-Animated cartoon bird

 Cast/Staff

Audrey II (voice) Levi Stubbs      
Seymour Krelborn - Rick Moranis      
Audrey - Ellen Greene    
Mushnik - Vincent Gardenia
Orin Scrivello - D.D.S. Steve Martin 

Animatronics Staff

Coordinator: Barbara Griffiths
Senior Modeller: John Blakeley
Cheif Mechincal Desingers: Neal Scanlam, Christian Ostwald
Visual effects editors Derek Trigg, Bob Gavin

Puppetry & Animatronics

Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets. The concept is believed to have originated 3000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects.

Animatronics (disambiguation) is the use of mechatronics ( multidisciplinary field of engineering) to create machines which simulate life. Animatronic creations include animals, humanoid characters, plants and even mythical creatures. An animatronic device is a mechanized puppet. It may be programmed or remotely controlled. The device may only perform a limited range of movements or it may be incredibly versatile.

Puppets, Animatronics offer creative solutions to entertainment needs within the film industry.

Popular Puppets 

The Muppets are a group of puppet characters known for variety-sketch comedy. Having been created in 1955 by Jim Henson. The Muppets have appeared in numerous series (debuted in Sesame Street) and in films.

The Muppet Show (1976–1981) 

The Muppet Movie (1979) through to more modern films such as

Muppets from Space (1999)




A modern day exmaple of popular puppets is the Broadway American musical Avenue Q. The show is an "autobiographical and biographical" coming-of-age parable, addressing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood. Both Rod Puppets and Live- hand puppets are used.

Puppets work well because they seem to be alive, the characteristics, actions and expression are relatable. Animatronics are simply an extension of this, more control to create real movement and facial expression. Many puppets have exaggerated appearances or are not made to look entirely human. This helps avoid the problem of the uncanny valley that can occur in films.

Puppets in Film

Labyrinth is a 1986 British-American musical fantasy adventure film directed by Jim Henson, executive produced by George Lucas and based upon conceptual designs by Brian Froud. It is a film of interest because aside from the actors Bowie and Connelly, most of the significant characters in the film are played by puppets produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Resources used Labyrinth (1986)Inside the labyrinth: The making of. (Documentary)

Animatronics used in the film.

The second lead character is Hoggle, a combination of a live actor and animatronics.

The body belongs to the actor however the face is a mask and the jaw is controlled independently. 18 motors were used to control different portions of the face, 4 people operating the motors by radio control.  Furthermore the character of Ludo is also a mix, a person is inside the suit operating the body.

The fire spirits are puppets, live actors move the limbs dressed in black. The background is also black and the forest background is added in afterwards digitally.

Humongous, a 15 foot goblin guard. This character was made from foam and hydrologically powered. The way the characters are created is similar to the Audrey II. Little shop of Horrors came out the same year and whist the visual/special effects are limited and imperfect each film still performs well. The use of materials, puppetry and animatronics are key to the success of both films. 

Carnivorous plants

Jumanji (1995)

The carnivorous plant is a solid, real life based object. A puppet with animatronic controls. The same type of carnivorous plant is portrayed in Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008.) However instead of puppetry and animatronics CGI is used instead. 

Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

Audrey II re-imagined in Modern Day 

I have been looking at elements from modern day films. For example the fantasy creatures from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002.) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) & The Desolation of Smaug (2013.)

By looking at films from modern day I can begin to understand how the Audrey II would be recreated in the digital era. I believe that Audrey II would be made by digital camera and effects. The scenes would consist of a real world set made up with green or blue screen. Digital tracking markers would be placed to match the real world camera with the digital one. Because of the interaction I believe a human actor could portray Audrey II physically, this would help for the actors to visualize and physically respond to the character which would be digital.

Taking into consideration the physical demands of the Audrey II I would say that in modern day the character would be created digitally with CGI (Computer-generated imagery.) The defining factor in my decision is the elements of speech, song and movement. Although these components can be achieved with puppetry and animatronics with the technology now available it would be more time and cost efficient to use CGI.

Alternatively the Audrey II could be based in the digital setting and actors could interact with set and markers instead. A good example of the methods mentioned would be in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug. The real life actor (Bilbo Baggins) interacts with digital characters Gollum and a larger than life digital dragon (Smaug).



Audery II could be created in a similar manor to which the fantasy character Smaug.
Resource
http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/making-of-smaug-by-weta-digital/

Although Audery II could be created digitally it could be done with animatronics. Even in 2002 Animatronic character were still being used in films. Below is a screenshot of the giant (Acromantula) spider Aragog form Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002.)

In comparison the spider (Shelob) in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) is created by CGI, it is an animated creature, roughly eight feet in length and seventeen feet across.

Whilst similarities are visible the two films (mentioned above) used different methods to create a fantasy monster. Both which prove to be effective within the fantasy world.

Conclusion

Taking into consideration the physical demands of the Audrey II I would say that in modern day the character would be created digitally with CGI (Computer-generated imagery.) The defining factor in my decision is the elements of speech, song and movement. Although these components can be achieved with puppetry and animatronics with the technology now available it would be more time and cost efficient to use CGI.