It was time to work out the details for the concept. Writing the screenplay, making some Stylesheets to experiment the final Layout. Also writing the Monolog for the character was kind of challeging for me. But it is also fun cause this is the step were the creative magic happens. You can adjust all your ideas you have in mind. When I had a meeting with Andreas Giesen, to give him an update in the process, we made the final big change to the content.

To keep the show interesting for you, I'll add the final screenplay not until the premier will have happened. Only this hint I wanna give you:

Will has to prepaire himself for a presentation and he is really not amused about that...

After I listed all the tasks, I was overwhelmed by this massive amount of work. I had to find a solution for that. So I looked for some support. Right now I can proudly announce that the famous Phillip Brehl will give lil' Will it's voice. Also he will improve the text to give him this special kind of extra he still needed.

Also I'm in touch with a second Animator and a Foly Artist who will definitely improve the sound effects. But still nothing is sure so I actially want to wait before I introdruce them to you.

clay: classic 3D

With the thoughts and rough scetches in my mind I immediately began to clay. I like this method very much cause you get all information you need to build this character in a 3D program. Also it's one of the last things you don't do with the computer. So I enjoyed to work with my hands. At the same time you see at this step if things work in space. Sometimes things you scetched earlier in your scetchbook don't work in 3D space. So it's a very important to translate the 2D design to our world before pushing it immediately in digital into the computer.

This sculpture took me about five days to make. Onder the surface there is a wire construction to keep this tiny thin arms and legs in position. So you first need to build the rough proportions with wire and fix it on the fundament wood. Then you start to build the claybody around it. Without a good wirejob you won't get a good result after all. What also should be mentioned is that this T-Pose is very handy to go on working in the 3D-program with. So for this reason it's modelt in this weird way.

While I was working on this I was inspired by the great costume designs in the film "Shakespeare in Love". They did a very good job on this project. However this cheesy film was only worth it for the costumes.

We decited to work with the technique of videomapping. With this technique you are allowed to create illusions on the surface of buildings. To stress more this beautiful & interesting Globe theatre. Also a character should entertain the audience and bring the joy to the people.

This was the intellectual birth of "lil' Will". When I started with sketching, I didn't make that much sketches as I normaly do. But during this period I was constantly busy with the question: How this character should look like? What are his main attributes and how can you see them in the design?

I decided to give him an outstanding head. He should look like a profound thinker, a poet. Mainly working with his head. The most important features to recognize William Shakespeare as a character is his moustache and his expressive haircut. These are nearly enough features to describe his outer appearance. So I experimented a little bit with that. Additional I did some research in the clothing of the time around the 16. century. Very typical for this time were the shoulder elements and these 'aladin' trouwsers. So Will got also some of these. :)

Also people who have this beautiful minds are intend to have some issues in normal life. Think about the crazy professor who forgets constantly where his glasses are. So I wanted to give him a little bit of a goofy side. I thought, when I extend his leg and arm proportion a little it'll make him walk and stand more clumsily.  But at the same time this are the fundamentals to give him a camp movement, when it comes to animation.

The Project was born in 2011 on the 21th Shakespeare Festival. The intention was to give the festival a new attraction. Extend the brandwidth of the cultural spirit of the festival a little bit. And give the audience an eye catcher to look at after the shows when they have some conversation in the beautiful shakespeare garden.

Together with Head of Production Andreas Giesen and with the technical support of Michael Kloss, Head of Stage, we started brainstorming over a creative solution.

The progress of this interesting project is documented here on this blog. To keep also our international guest stay tuned I try my best to write my posts in english. Unfortunately I don't have William's english skills at all. So excuses in advanced for any langage mistakes I make. I would very appreciate to get your Feedback. Therefor we have a comment function below each post. So don't hesitate to ask questions or suggest anything you want. I' ll try to answer as soon as possible.

So I hope you enjoy the exquisite background information given on this site.