Production Design Pics: Page 2.

The Wood Scrotes.

From Childhood influences too story boards, through to conceptual design and finally 3D animation.

Originally the Wood Scrotes were to be in the next part of the story, “The Journey” and be a constant hindrance to the Corn Elf's though out the next two parts beyond that.

Story Boards depict early Wood Scrote design.

Through writing the script and doing several thousand story board's I got a real feel for them and liked or as equally disliked them so much. I decided to work them into Part One and give a little insight, that the Wood Scrotes were in fact just a hideous jumping creature, until Lord Akrafa inhabited the lower under earth beneath the tree and used them to enforce his will on the Corn Elf's and anyone else who got in their way.

The influences for their design started when I was I child, I was fascinated by workmen working on the roads, they would use Jumping Jack Compactors that did just that , they jumped on one leg.

Also a key influence was a kids show called “Rupert The Bear”, it was the puppet and not so much the animation that influenced my thoughts, there was a character called Ragity and he was made of twigs and I found he made me uneasy and he scared me slightly, so combining the two elements of the jumping jack hammer and Ragity my mind mixed the elements together and added some razor sharp pincers and I was left with .....The Wood Scrotes.

Conceptual sketch was starting to head more towards the final Wood Scrote design.

The shape and colour of the Wood Scrote can never be tied down, as with all tree type life forms they grow in size and thickness and their colour is influenced by their age and the elements such as, moss growth. War wounds and battle damage with the Corn Elf's are another deciding factor that in the stories to come, they will change there appearance.

So initially the Wood Scrotes design evolved through producing the story boards for the entire story, their design was very basic. If you look at the story boards and early design, their functionality was there but a lot needed to be worked on.

John Morris added some very interesting aspects to the Wood Scrote design , protruding eyes for one which have continued into the final design, only the colour and style changed.

John Morris was the next person to evolve the Wood Scrotes, using the 3D rendering program “Imagine”. Using AMIGA computers he developed their look and did some amazing tests with movement. When I saw the 3D renderings and the jump test's I knew they were possible and they could be in the movie, that may not sound like an amazing statement to people now who are so used to computer animation being common place.

I'm talking about us thinking about starting a project that Film production company's would have said,” that's impossible with what they had to their disposal”. Even then, it was that long ago that I had the Idea and technology was nowhere in site to do what I wanted, yes only a few years on and it surpasses what I wanted and more but this in the beginning was the frontier of 3D and no one knew where we were heading.

As an example, I had a shot story boarded of which I’d refer to as the impossible shot. I knew and everyone involved also knew, that it was impossible optically, chemically and physically but now, that type of shot is commonplace, that's how far things have moved along as I was developing Within The Shadow of The Tree.

So the Wood Scrotes were now a definite possibility, some of their characteristics would have to be missed out, like every time they jump a sticky resin oozed out of the top of the jumping tube, this is what later on in the story would trap the Corn Elf's but for their minor role in part one it was not essential, we did experiment slightly and if needed we will do it for part two.

John left to go to italy and work, so development on the Wood Scrotes stopped for a time but then I met Andrew Mc Cloud we picked up were John had left off and came up with a slightly different but very functionally fast and streamlined Wood Scrote... the chattering new souped up model.

The final design for Part One but not necessarily a clamp down, with more budget and better rendering becoming available, I can see a massive amount of improvements being implemented.

They jump into view and we try to keep up with them as they move through the forest, they stop and communicate with each other with clicks from their pincers and mouths, they are distracted by a third Wood Scrote that forces it's way up though the ground and tells them there is something growing down underneath the earth, setting the scene for the birth of Lord Akrafa.

Production Design Pics: Page 1