Catnapping

The concept for Catnapping is inspired by Miguel De Cervantes’ 17th Century novel, Don Quixote. Just like the titular character of Cervantes’ novel, the protagonist of A Catnapping (Ms Terry Sulphur) confuses the world around her with a fictional world – for Don Quixote, this is the chivalrous world depicted by the romance stories of the time; for Ms Terry Sulphur, it is the mysterious world represented in sensational detective novels and “whodunnit” television series. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a cat, presented as the recollection of a detective’s first big case. We follow Ms Terry Sulphur as she attempts to put together the disparate pieces of a mystery of her own imagination, creating havoc as she sees clues around every corner and suspecting all of those around her of subterfuge and sabotage.

Catnapping has been awarded Best Animation, Best Comedy and an IAC Diamond Award at the British International Amateur Film Festival. It has also been selected to be shown in Lift-Off’s First-Time Filmmaker Sessions and Stockholm City Film Festival.

Catnapping was completed in 2022.

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At the Vet’s (Set Building)
Inside the Train (Set Building)
Outside Gil’s Flat (Set Building)
And More

Watch Catnapping

At the Vet’s

The Vet’s was complicated mainly due to the fact that I had planned several panning shots between its three rooms. In practice, this was actually not so difficult to achieve.
Panning shots between the rooms
Computer with removable slides
Announcement Scroll Screen in Waiting Room
I made the waiting room chairs by melting plastic coat hangers and sticking them together. The cushioned seats were old material which I sewed around cut up kitchen sponges.

Inside the Train

For scenes above ground, I had several building and tree props which I would move by at different increments depending on their degree of perspective from the window.
For the opening scene, when the train is underground, a band of brick-patterned paper revolves outside the window to simulate the train's movement along a subterranean tunnel
The carriage itself was set in drilled in blocks of wood to a plywood base, allowing me to move it and adjust it as the camera stayed still, so simulating the wobble of a train ride.
To switch between a first and third person perspective, I used the same set, but switched around the characters and the adverts on the train walls
The train is two paint pots stuck together, with windows cut out and benches etc papier mached in.

Outside Gil’s Flat

Block of flats made from MDF, papier mached and painted
The scene outside Gil's flat is based on a block of flats in Deptford, SE London, where I used to live

Terry’s Flat

Much of the action would be happening in Terry's imagination, shown by cotton wool thought bubbles depicting separately shot scenes
Props
To simulate rain in the window, I swapped back and forth two acrylic transparent slides with rain drops scratched in
Big Props

The Park & Outside Patsy’s Bungalow

The action in the park scene was mostly focused on dogs
Building Mr Rhys Oldman's "awful hound"
I wanted to have several tiers of perspective, so that things could be happening in the foreground and background of the park. I also wanted it to exist in two different seasons: summer and late autumn/winter.
Patsy's Bungalow

Catnapping

Scroll down to see

The Vet’s was complicated mainly due to the fact that I had planned several panning shots between its three rooms. In practice, this was actually not so difficult to achieve.

Panning shots between the rooms

Computer with removable slides

Announcement Scroll Screen in Waiting Room

I made the waiting room chairs by melting plastic coat hangers and sticking them together. The cushioned seats were old material which I sewed around cut up kitchen sponges.

For scenes above ground, I had several building and tree props which I would move by at different increments depending on their degree of perspective from the window.

For the opening scene, when the train is underground, a band of brick-patterned paper revolves outside the window to simulate the train's movement along a subterranean tunnel

The carriage itself was set in drilled in blocks of wood to a plywood base, allowing me to move it and adjust it as the camera stayed still, so simulating the wobble of a train ride.

To switch between a first and third person perspective, I used the same set, but switched around the characters and the adverts on the train walls

The train is two paint pots stuck together, with windows cut out and benches etc papier mached in.

Block of flats made from MDF, papier mached and painted

The scene outside Gil's flat is based on a block of flats in Deptford, SE London, where I used to live

Much of the action would be happening in Terry's imagination, shown by cotton wool thought bubbles depicting separately shot scenes

Props

To simulate rain in the window, I swapped back and forth two acrylic transparent slides with rain drops scratched in

Big Props

The action in the park scene was mostly focused on dogs

Building Mr Rhys Oldman's "awful hound"

I wanted to have several tiers of perspective, so that things could be happening in the foreground and background of the park. I also wanted it to exist in two different seasons: summer and late autumn/winter.

Patsy's Bungalow

robertjoelbaldwin@gmail.com

07557413817

Catnapping

Scroll down to see

The Vet’s was complicated mainly due to the fact that I had planned several panning shots between its three rooms. In practice, this was actually not so difficult to achieve.

Panning shots between the rooms

Computer with removable slides

Announcement Scroll Screen in Waiting Room

I made the waiting room chairs by melting plastic coat hangers and sticking them together. The cushioned seats were old material which I sewed around cut up kitchen sponges.

For scenes above ground, I had several building and tree props which I would move by at different increments depending on their degree of perspective from the window.

For the opening scene, when the train is underground, a band of brick-patterned paper revolves outside the window to simulate the train's movement along a subterranean tunnel

The carriage itself was set in drilled in blocks of wood to a plywood base, allowing me to move it and adjust it as the camera stayed still, so simulating the wobble of a train ride.

To switch between a first and third person perspective, I used the same set, but switched around the characters and the adverts on the train walls

The train is two paint pots stuck together, with windows cut out and benches etc papier mached in.

Block of flats made from MDF, papier mached and painted

The scene outside Gil's flat is based on a block of flats in Deptford, SE London, where I used to live

Much of the action would be happening in Terry's imagination, shown by cotton wool thought bubbles depicting separately shot scenes

Props

To simulate rain in the window, I swapped back and forth two acrylic transparent slides with rain drops scratched in

Big Props

The action in the park scene was mostly focused on dogs

Building Mr Rhys Oldman's "awful hound"

I wanted to have several tiers of perspective, so that things could be happening in the foreground and background of the park. I also wanted it to exist in two different seasons: summer and late autumn/winter.

Patsy's Bungalow

Carecrow

Drawing

robertjoelbaldwin@gmail.com

07557413817