Sunday, October 19, 2008

mini series 3: building it up and carving it down

The first set i am building will be a giant crater where the bug lives. it is about 2 by 2 by 1 ft. This is a particularly complicated base because it has to be able to split in two so we can film the inside of the crater from the side.
Sorry i didn't take more pictures of the base building process, but i will try and fill you in. basically i took a square wood, and added some pegs for them to fit together. I then started glueing the foam blocks on, using the contact cement and a GAS MASK. I kept in mind that the set had to come apart but i also put a few blocks over lapping so that the set will stay together during the construction process. later on a will cut it apart. We will see if this was a good idea or not.
I cut some of these blocks with a saw just to get a very preliminary idea of the over all shape of the crater. The more of this you can do, the more economical you will be with your foam, however, make sure that the peices are really glued down solidly, and try not to have too many breaks because you will have to fill in these cracks later.



I let this sit over night with some books on top of it for pressure and to give it time to fully air out. the next morning i started so carve it out broadly, mainly with the rasp, and the stilleto knife. i am not looking for detail, i am still trying to refine the overshape.


more refinement. this process is surprisingly quick, and the blick foam will carve very easily so if anything, be carefull not to carve too much. you'll notice that the construction has a few little niches where the foam was put together. unless you want to waste a bunch of foam, this is unavoidable. perhaps i will be able to use the insulator spray or glue a little scrap foam on to patch it up.

now that its starting to look like a crater, take a couple photographs from the perspective shots that you will need in your film. if it is not reading, maybe you will want to exaggerate the shape a little. start thinking about foreground and background


2 comments:

J.D. Amato said...

this looks good. Miniatures = the best.

Andwew said...

Hey harry! I stumbled upon your blog. These miniatures are awesome! whats your film about? if you need any help, let me know. coffee sometime?