Costume Design

Here is the basic costume design for my character. The general attire has been quite carefully researched to be period accurate, but I have taken minor artistic liberties to suit my needs. Details follow:


Outer tunic: Woven cotton material, akin to a modern t-shirt but rougher. The colour scheme comes from my intention to make the castle guards more like (to use a modern frame of reference) community support officers rather than policemen, by which I mean they are chiefly not employed as defenders of the realm and warriors, but rather a visible source of support for residents of the walled city. Because of this I have chosen the Medieval equivilant to high-visibility clothing, a bright orange and yellow colour scheme. This would mean that the castle guards were easily spotted from a distance to act as a deterant to foe, and as support for citizens, especially at night where their position along the walls could be guaged with ease.

Under-garment: Thick hessian like material, stuffed with straw. Being on watch all night is a chilly affair, especially during the winter. Hence it makes perfect sense that the guards need to keep as warm as possible by means of a thick undergarment which insulates and keeps their body heat in (at least as much as possible with Medieval materials and methods). Think itchy pajamas.

Wrapped twine: Crudely woven thread. Being stuffed full of straw as it is, the undergarment needs to be sealed at the wrists and ankles to keep the straw in. Further, the tightly interwoven twine compacts the straw, providing improved insulation.

Rope belt: Thick rope. Used as a makeshift belt to keep the long tunic held up about the waist and prevent flapping. Similarly keeps the trousers up. Wound round the waist a single time and knotted at the front/side.

Trousers: Woven cotton material, brown. Trousers that are semi-ill fitting and somewhat worn They are also too short. Worn on top of the under-garment and beneath the tunic. Typical peasant-wear, practical and simple.

Sack shoes: Formed from hessian sacking. Stitched to form the shape. Simple shoes, offer little in the way of foot protection but moreso than barefoot. Easily worn, most notably on the soles and heels.


The choice of this costume is meant to portray an amalgamation of both peasantry, and the uniform in service of the king. Being only very newly employed, I like to think that the night-guard has yet to receive his full uniform. He has been presented with the mandatory high-visibility tunic but has had to further makedo with only his typical peasant day attire in conjuntion. This then is just cause for his desire to stay warm, wearing as he is only meagre and thinly woven clothes.

How Illuminating

Here is a rough mock up of my film's title, taking inspiration from 15th century Medieval illuminated manuscripts, in which the first letter is elaborately illustrated with subjects from the passage of text, and is embellished with gold leaf.


And here are two variatons on the above - I've yet to choose my favourite:



There are clues in the illumination as to affairs that'll occur in the plot, chiefly the depiction of an owl. Further, the apparent leaves that adorn the F are in fact feathers (which will be more obvious on the final version), while the structured base of the F illustrates the castle setting.
The design above was largely based on the following:

and is typical of illuminationsdating from around that period. So too is the owl illustration based on real Medieval illustrations of the time, most specifically these:

Rejected Character Design

Here is a quick character I came up with, and quickly rejected.


Although my nightguard is meant to be inexperienced, this deisn appears too young for what I was intending.

Owlet Design Influences

My owlet is designed to be cute. He will be necessarily cute because then it will make the moment when he dies all the more powerful. The owlet’s primary intention in the story will be to antagonise the nightwatchman in various annoying ways, mostly just through his being there.

His actions are not malicious or deliberate; he is young and just playing.The design for my owlet will be unreaslistic in as far as shape and anatomy. My owl will basically be a sphere with wings. He will not fly like an owl, instead more like a bumble bee or a hummingbird in that he hovers in one place before rapidly switching to a new place in the air. This will be in keeping with the annoying nature of his presence. He is not a graceful bird, he is clumsy and about as unaerodynamic as you can get.

The influence for my owlet character comes from multiple sources as pictured below:

Firstly, just how stupidly fake and spherical an real owl can look.

Everyone's favorite: Woodstock of course. I want to emulate his fantastic animation in the flight style of my owlet.

The hummingbird: Again, this bird's method is flight is what I hope to capture, at least in part, with the animation on my owlet. Getting into the more obscure now...

As much as I dislike to take reference from Harry Potter, the Golden Snitch successfully captures the spirit of my owlet - small, fast, hard to catch. Plus it is a sphere with wings as in my original design intention.

This little thing is Clocky the Run-away Alarm Clock, and the stress I feel every morning when he runs away from me is exactly the kind of feeling I imagine the owlet induces in the nightguard. Everything about it from its erratic movement to its speed and noise are downright annoying. Perfect. And finally...

My cat. I've always though that she looks a bit like an owl, but more than that I'm drawing influence from the times when she has jumped onto my stop-mo set in the middle of an important scene in the past, and caused me a fury not unlike the one I hope to induce in the nightguard when he finally snaps.

Wow, long post... design drawings to follow.

Some Castle Imagery

Here is some general castle imagery by way of basic research into the design for my fortified wall set.


Rustled together from google images.