I sewed and rigged a quilt that was animated to emulate the breathing of the characters sleeping under it. I was responsible for the construction, distressing, and rigging of the quilt.
I started by tracing the linework pattern onto the fabric, then I sewed the fabric onto a quilt backing to get the look of a quilt. The quilt was designed to be in a forced perspective, so the pattern got smaller as it was farther from the camera.
To achieve the green color we wanted for the stars, I dyed a fabric to match the color script. Next, I cut out all of the pieces of the star patterns. For the larger pieces, I cut them out slightly larger than the pattern, then folded over the extra and glued it to match the pattern. This was to prevent fraying and keep the look of a real quilt. With the smaller pieces, I glued the edges with an anti-fray glue.
From there, I placed all of the pieces onto the quilt base and glued them in place.
Then I sewed all the pieces onto the base with a sewing machine.
After assembling the quilt, I distressed it with washes of paint. I further weathered the quilt in camera as well.
Quilt Rigging
Before the quilt was constructed, I made a test quilt with wire rigging to develop a plan for the hero assets. Through trial and error of animation tests, I created a rigging system that works with the animation style.
I used 1/8″ wire with loops on the corners and other points where we wanted to have a strong contact with the quilt. This frame was completed with a triple twist of 28-gauge wire along the top edge where the puppets would be. This was to allow more flexibility for animation. Also, a grid of twisted 28-grade wire was placed in the middle of the quilt to control the movement of the animation.
On set, all of the corner loops were grasped tightly with nuts and bolts attached to polycarbonate blocks on brass square tubes that were held by C-stand arms mounted to the table.
This was so it could be posed into the desired framing. The points at the top close to the puppets were attached to a burkey system hardware on rods on weights, as well as two more points of support in the middle of the quilt. These were added for extra support and used small hardware going through the quilt, just out of frame.
For the perspective decided for the shot, the puppets’ heads were at an angle; they would have to be separated from the bodies, so the bodies were not used. Instead, I made armatured foam arms to animate the quilt against.
Pillows
I constructed 4 upholstery foam pillows with 1/8″ wire rigging so the pillows could be posable and anmiatable. I also made pillowcases with 28-gauge wire, lining the openings so the cases could also be posed. And I made a stand for the pillows to attach to.
Tess Smigel 