Crows Nest concepts

So.... I have this old story that has seen several iterations over the years. For the longest time I just saw it as an animation, but I am not an animator and this would take me forever to animate. Finally I just decided to re-envision it as live-action puppets -- with some small sections of animation or pencil animation thrown in. It will need some rewrites to be a puppet film.

I want it to have a really sweet gritty look. I picture the environments as having practical elements in the mid-ground, like a chain link fence for example, while the far backgrounds will be matte paintings or pencil drawings, allowing for some real moody environments without building a ton of sets and backgrounds.

As for my early mechanical thoughts for the crow, here are my first attempts at visualizing the mechanics of the crow.

Here I was trying to figure out how to make the crow able to do a 'pecking' action and also swivel its head. This is too complicated probably... a simple gimbel would probably work just fine.

Wing mechanism sketches... how to make a wing that opens up and also folds back along the crow's back? Again, sounds like you already have a working wing, so I doubt these will be any use to you. 

 Here I am trying to figure out how all the mechanics would work together. It's a bit of a mess but anyway here it is.

These are Sculpey concept maquettes for the girl and her mom.

Here are a few of the old storyboards from the original script. This will change, but it gives you some idea of the overall look. The first boards show the girl in the yard of this post-industrial shanty town playing with a rock and some nails. I am changing this part but definitely there is a moment early on where she becomes aware of the crows. The only living things in this environment seem to be the mother, the daughter and this murder of crows.

Later, at the end of the story, this happens......

I honestly don't know yet what will be pencil animation and what will be puppets. Maybe the flying crows are all pencil animation. But having a nice crow puppet for interaction with the girl would be so lovely. The transformation from girl to crow... could possibly be puppets... but again it might be better as animation.