Funded by the Irish Film Board’s Frameworks film funding scheme and produced by Barley Films in 2007-2008, The Rooster was created using cardboard, crepe paper, tinfoil and dreamy Super 8 footage of a glittery blue velvet Night Sky.
Below are some concept images and photographs from the making of the film:
The Rooster:
Initial designs by Pádraig
Figuring out the Rooster’s attitude
Some fighting Rooster concepts
Some more fighting Rooster concepts
First designs for pitch
Featuring different story beats
Once we received funding we got started designing Rooster properly
Trying different proportions
And colour pallettes
A collage made using acetate painted with transparent ceramic paint
Concept using wire and painted tissue paper
`Mockup using crepe and tissue paper character and background
Experimentation with black card and crepe paper stained glass effect
Rooster build prototype
Figuring out rooster palettes
The Rooster in action
The Crocodile:
Initial Crocodile designs by Eimhin with a little Krokodil Gena on the left
Final character design, based on Jean-Paul Belamondo
The Hoover Plane concept
Final plane design
Collage concept for the Crocodile’s Hoover Plane, made of tin enamel paint and leather with glittered stars
Crocodile build prototype
A shot of the Crocodile and his Night Sky cutting machine, using a special forced perspective build
Night Sky & Dawn sequence
Initial concept image for the dawn scene
Concept for the NIght Sky being hoovered
Experimentation with black card and crepe paper stained glass effect
Super 8 footage tests
Super 8 footage tests
Rough concept with Super 8 Footage in situ
Paint on glass sunrise animation in progress
Close-up of oil paint on glass
The Night Sky being hoovered
And the final Dawn scene in GIF form
The Animals:
Some bird designs
Prototype bird build
And the bird family in action
Some rough concepts for the rabbits
Rabbit prototype build out of cardboard, cotton wool and pushpins
Rabbits in action
Mouse design concepts
The Mouse awakens
Quick concepts for the Sea. They were then animated in flash, and used as reference for the oil paint on glass animation
Off Licence design concepts
The Sea in action
Pádraig With Frank Kelly, the narrator of the piece.
Pádraig and Eimhin did a bit of travelling with the film too:
Green Crocodile at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2008
Pádraig receiving his Finders Series award from Tomm Moore, Dublin 2008
Meeting up with Yuri Norstein in San Francisco, 2010
Eimhin & Pádraig with Richie Baneham at the 37th Annie Awards, Los Angeles 2010
