Jack's Clock

Mathias Malzieu and Dionysos' ongoing project La Mécanique Du Coeur (The Boy with the Cuckoo-clock Heart) has captivated my attention for many years ever since I saw the movie. The universe of the story extends far past the movie however, and by the time the movie was in production had already been explored as a concept album and novel, and later as a short film and stage play. The Tais-toi mon coeur music video is the first time the story was told in a visual medium, and the clock here is very visually intricate and engaging, so when I decided to make a version of Jack's heart it was an easy choice.

My reference images, screengrabbed from Dionysos' Tais-toi mon coeur music video.

I began by sketching out the general shape of each major section. I then copied over the lines, and re-colored the map to show each level in a different color, so I could cut it into pattern pieces.

I cut it out of EVA foam and glued it together into three pieces, keeping the back plate separate for now so that the gears could be added while I could still reach them. I used real tiny hinges for the doors of the bird housing.

The back has two strong magnets glued to the opposite side of the foam, partially hidden by tape and paint. These are for attaching the clock to my costume.

Now I could start cutting gears out of cardstock. I matched a couple of the more visible ones to the video, but otherwise made a random assortment of shapes and designs. I finished the wood grain on the back of the inside first, so I could paint more gears to fill in the background.

I started glueing in and layering the gears with small chunks of foam in between for depth. Then I could finally glue the larger pieces together and finish the paint job. The hands of the clock are attached with a brad, so they can spin independently.