Set Designs

With the storyboard finalised, we were able to see which sets we'd need and what sort of scale they'd need to be in relation to one another. In total we planned to create 4 different sets: The exterior of the flats and the ground in front of it, the apartment's kitchen, hallway and Frederick's bedroom. Of course, the interior builds would have to be to scale with the puppets - much like the ground where Tray would drink water from, whereas the exterior build of the windows could be made on a much smaller scale.

From here we started to discuss the look of everything. The first main decision came with the location of his home, Jane suggested Eastern-European styled tower blocks: yellow in colour and brutalist in style. The grounds in front would be dressed in flowers creating a nice contrast between colour and architecture, a suggestion of brutalism despite the light colour palette. This involved some research into the architecture associated with early 2000's Germany and the relevant colour schemes.

Below are a few notes made by Gray into the style and origin of these types of tower blocks.

The interior design came with a bit more ease, we simply had to follow the exterior and dress it to suit the inhabiting characters. Our main focus was on the colour green: we wanted this to be the centre point of the film. This led to a pastel green colour scheme for the kitchen, a selection of bright green props in Frederick's bedroom and a general green tint in the lighting used.

Below I've put together some final moodboards for all 4 sets and a short description below them.

The Exterior Build:

An Eastern-European style block of apartments Coloured a fading-yellow with unique windows and an arrangement of other features on the walls [such as gutter pipes and cracked concrete]. Despite the type of building, it gives off quite a warm, homely atmosphere. Update: we also plan to have a playground on the grounds in front of the building.

Frederick's Bedroom:

Dark and dingy full of tools, experiments and categorised boxes. The blinds are rarely ever opened and the spotlight lamp is the only light source used. This is a room that his parents never dare to enter.

Apartment Corridor:

The corridor and kitchen will both have a slight pastel green tinge to them. This particular set is a simple one, narrow corridor with a rug running down the middle. There are a couple of photographs hung on the wall and some peeling wallpaper but there's not much to look at.

Apartment Kitchen:

A bright and clean kitchen with a pastel green & yellow colour scheme. It's a bit tight, like any council kitchen, but with enough space for a small table. There's one single window opposite the door that lets in a lot of light. Frederick only comes in here when his parents are out.

It was at this point that the storyboard structure was finalised, so while I proceeded to create the finished thing in my own time, we all began to create concept art for the sets and colouring them using the palettes shown above. Below you can see the whole collection.

The Exterior Build [Concept Art]:

Despite the initial depictions in the storyboard, we knew we wanted the facade of the tower block to have more depth to it, to cast shadows and show character in each home. Working with the planned colour-scheme, I put together the design seen below. The main point was to convey a homely feeling which was not subtracted by the deterioration of the tower block. [Exterior illustrations made and coloured by myself].

Additional: The staircase of the tower block for the 'he threw kittens down the stairs' shot.

[Illustrated and painted by Gray].

Frederick's Bedroom [Concept Art]:

Working in coherence with the colours of Frederick and his costume, I coloured the bedroom to exagerrate the oppressive feel given by the original illustration. [Illustrated by Gray, coloured by myself].

Apartment Corridor [Concept Art]:

This set design definitely involved the most amount of group discussion and revised drawings. Eventually we settled on something a bit more dynamic that the original plan which also adheres to the classic style of Eastern-European flats. [Pencil drawing by Gray, digital drawings/colourings by Jane].

Apartment Kitchen [Concept Art]:

This particular room needed a lot of light and the use of soft colours - it's to portray his kind mother and her wishes to have a happy family home. A large window is placed opposite the door for the vital scenes of Frederick killing flies and approaching Tray. We also see the suggestion of the hallway which we plan to be attachable to the kitchen for these particular scenes. [Illustrations by Jasmine, colouring by Jane].

Using this collection of concept-art we are now ready to create macquettes and begin sourcing materials for the final models. Dimensions are to be decided.