In this moodboard I have created I picked films and comics that might be reliable to get some inspiration for our project since they all involve anthropomorphic birds with emotions and expressions proper of human beings. They are the following:

• Angry birds: it previously was a video game which was then adapted into a film and a tv series. The most inspiring aspect is that they took inspiration for their character designs from existing birds using their features to exaggerate and amply them into they cartoon adaptation. The Yellow Angry Bird, for instance, is an American Goldfinch.  In the game, it’s special ability is to have sudden short bursts of speed. 
• Finding nemo, in this Disney movie, they are portrayed as greedy, single-minded eating machines who only shout one word: “Mine!”. Seagulls briefly appears also in the prequel “Finding Dory”. Similar to the seagulls in the film, seagulls in real life are also known for being a very opportunistic bird that will approach people trying to obtain their food in urban locations. They can also be aggressive when trying to obtain food, so in some places feeding these birds is not only discouraged, but also illegal. This is an aspect we wanted to add income of the comedy sketches we are writing to include in the narrative. The seagulls’ design is based on Feathers McGraw, the antagonist penguin from the Wallace and Gromit short “The Wrong Trousers”.
• Rio, in this film the main character Blu is a completely domesticated – and flightless – bird who has lived his entire life indoors, so he has strongly human features and behaviour and his knowledge over what humans study comes to help in a few scenes to help solve problems he encounters; since he has never lived with other birds his movements can be an inspiration for our Animation process considering they would be more “human like”.
• Spies in disguise, in both this film and Rio the Character designer Sang Jun Lee worked in these two projects here he contributed in the character design process for the birds, so conducting a research over his work would be very useful. The three other pigeons which don’t talk differently from the character dabbed by Will Smith represent different aspects of pigeons: as the Directors say themselves “Crazy Eyes is like that gnarly pigeon that you see in the city eating garbage (which can be inspirational for one of ours Seagull characters). Lovey is those cuddly ones that you see huddled up on the top of rooftops and Fanboy is the one that you see always following somebody else so they each represent a type of pigeon.” This process was very useful in order to differentiate them from the human character trapped in the pigeon body. Crazy Eyes is distinguished by his unfocused green and blue eye which is a feature that may work for one of our seagulls the childlike looking one.
• Joshua Barkman comics of seagulls; obviously I have also include the comics on which this project is based on which is “False knees” I especially gathered these sketches including seagulls since their will be useful to generate some ideas for sketches that we are going to write for the narrative; what is useful is the dynamic of this jokes: there is always a clever seagull talking to a more clumsy seagull and the difference between them is what create the comedy and make people laugh, which is what we want to achieve.

We wanted to include in the storyline both seaside and city environments since that nowadays seagulls can be easily found in both. Brighton is the ideal place to set our narrative: it has the seaside side where it can be difficult to eat in peace since you always have to be on alert because a seagull may appear from nowhere and steal you food (idea for a sketch) and it also has the city environment where is easy to find them peaking from the garbage (starting from this I thought that a funny idea may be to create a sketch where they have a “Lady and the Tramp” kind of situation where they have a dinner outside of a restaurant eating some garbage from that same restaurant and ending up find themselves slurping up the same long noodle for instance.

Next step was starting working on the characters design and concepts to use to after model the seagulls to include in the virtual reality environment. I started by using some real life reference pictures and carrying out a study of the main pictures of this intriguing animals. As I noted in this picture beneath, I have noticed that they tend to a have a quite flat head, their neck is quite thick, their eyes are small and mean and kind of soulless (ready to attack), their beak is sharp, they have grey wings and a big body which can be stylised into a half circle when I draw its structure I even noticed that on their body they don’t have very defined feathers; the legs are characterised by very pronounced knees and thin legs.

So starting from real life I started to stylise and draw some characters ideas using the outcome of my observation and their “normal” actions and expressions. I also included some sketches involving some expression that I may take in consideration for the final characters.

I After tried to create a more precise characterisation for our main two characters based also on “false knees” seagulls personalities and the outcome of the moodboard as well as the study on features proper of seagulls:

He is characterised by a really flat head and his distinctive feature is his eyes which are unfocused and of different dimensions, he has a slightly bigger body and paws.

This second seagull on the other hand, has a more “pointy” head (pointing out the fact that he has a brain, smaller body and paws and his eyes are more expressive and “active”.

I thought it might be useful to create an expressions concept for both seagulls since eyes and eyebrows are essential to interpret characters feeling and better understand and defining their personality as well.

Comedy genre

The comedy genre humorously exaggerates the situation, the language, action, and characters. Comedies observe the deficiencies, frustrations of life, providing fun and a momentary escape from day-to-day life. Comedy is a performance of light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending which may also lead the audience to reflect on serious life matters. Just like Joshua Barkman does in his comics, by taking every day circumstances for the animals we see around us in urban areas, like raccoons, rabbits, and various species of birds, and applies absurdly humorous conversations or thoughts adding a degree of seriousness to them but using comedy lighten them. 

Comedies usually come in two general formats: comedian-led (with well-timed gags, jokes, or sketches), which resembles more with Joshua Barkman’s comics, and situation-comedies that are told within a narrative.

Even though comedy is aimed for making people laugh another aspect of it is to make people reflect and has a degree of seriousness in it as if the division between them becomes blurred. Humour can be considered as a copying mechanism a way to express serious subjects but with the excuse of keeping it light.

Comedy Duos

“I think the thing that people love about double acts is it reminds them of their two best mates down the pub, or the relationship they have with their best mate,” Dominic Wood.

A comic duo in theatre and cinema indicates two actors where they comedy act relies on their asymmetric relationship (meaning they look different from the way they look to the way they act) which is intended to stress their differences in a grotesque way. They do tend to have some common features: they usually have the same age and they share the same ethnicity and profession, however their sketch usually highlights their differences especially referred to their personalities.

In cases of comedy duos one of the two comedians (once the leading comedian) impersonates the strong, volitional figure, and is depicted as a serious, reasonable and totally reliable person, while the other (usually the shoulder) is painted as a often rude figure, unintelligent or coarse, however funny and comical to excess for the hesitancy and embarrassment shown within the gag or sketch staged. The comic actor who plays the ‘serious’ role within the couple, must not necessarily be devoid of a sense of humour. In fact, often the laughter is aroused by the reply of this actor to a joke provided by the shoulder.

• Lauren and Hardy

One of the earliest duos to find success, Laurel and Hardy were a study in contrasts in many ways. They began working as a duo on-screen so early their first films were all silent shorts. However, their career carried on for decades, delighting fans of slapstick humour and helping to bring the comedy duo as a concept to the big screen. They made more than 100 comedies together, with Laurel playing the bumbling and innocent foil to the pompous Hardy.

• Totò e Peppino

They were one of the most well known Italian comedy duos in one of their films “Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge” (1956) they even pay a tribute to Lauren and Hardy since its plot follows the one from Lauren and Hardy’s film “Sons of the desert” (1933). They were two actors from Naples when they were making movies together in the duo Totò was the lead and Peppino the shoulder: Totò had a really expressive range of facial movements and Peppino had a face of good-natured person.

• Lillo e Greg

Lillo and Greg are one of the most loved and talented contemporary comedy couples in Italy: an irresistible duo that for years has held the bar on TV, at the cinema, in music and on radio. Greg shoulder Lillo has the leading role. However the two roles in this case are not the traditional ones because the comical aspect of Lillo is very accentuated his role as a victim. 

• Shrek and Donkey

In Animation this Comic duo is one of the most famous among the animation movies: Shrek being the hero is grumpy and hot-tempered, but is also caring and brave and Donkey has some annoying traits, flightiness and occasional cowardliness, however he is a good-natured, golden-hearted, sweet, and euphoric character. He is a deeply caring and loyal friend who will stick by his best friends side and be supportive of them through thick and thin, especially Shrek. What makes them work so good together is they very different personalities but also the fact that they are both outcasts at first.