Mutant Pollutants Toy Commercial! Behind the Scenes

Hi friends!

I just discovered another toy commercial I worked on, and wanted to share some fabrication pictures!

Here is the commercial, it's pretty fun!

For this project, I was building a little city pipe system to supplement existing city miniatures to create a crazy polluted environment.  It doesn't sound very "healthy" perhaps, but it was a ton of fun to build!

I was working with my good friend Adam Lawrence, the production designer, and the first thing we did was run to home depot to accumulate all sorts of odd conduit and fun hardware, that might translate well into miniature pipe.  I also used yellow foam and dowels to create some of the custom shapes from Adam's drawings.

This first pipe was supposed to have a huge gash for the toxic ooze to flow out of.  I dremeled out a hole, and then used pliers and a heat gun to warp the gash open.  Once the the pieces were roughed out,  we gave them a quick primer gray coat.  

Then, the fun step could begin.  To give all of these various elements a little unity and "texture", I wrapped various strips of squishy foam adhesive sheets around everything.  This was the perfect material to use, because it could hug curves well, and not warp.  Also, when cut, it exposed a clean edge.

Finally, to give everything that last bit of authenticity, I covered everything with "bolts", or press on jewels.  Although every jewel was adhesive, I had to super glue each one, to make sure nothing came off.  

Another coat of primer!  This time, we sprayed it on a little thick, which created these fantastic cracks all over everything!  We loved the look of it.  Below, we tested out a little chrome, just to see how it looked.

Here are the pieces on set!  Isn't it incredible what a little light and movie magic can accomplish?  I love this set picture.  All of the background elements came from a prop house, and Adam built the ground and rigged it for ooze.  I think it all came together fantastically well.

Thanks for checking out the commercial!  I am currently looking for my next project, so keep me in mind if you need any miniature work!  Also, be on the look out Thursday for the latest on Vera!

Vera - #3 - Mock Up Main Street!

Big Day!

Yesterday, I got to cross off the entire Set Design category from my to do list!  Major accomplishment.  This means, of course, that I finished my set mock ups, and am ready to move on to character design.  So pumped!  That said, I'm only going to show main street this week, and save the cinema for next week.  :)  Suspense!

On the left, you'll see my wall flat pile has grown dramatically.  It's going to be very exciting when those flats are no longer foam core.  On the right, you'll notice the scrap pile is shrinking too.  At this point, I have used almost every piece of foam core in the shop, and as you can see, I keep every scrap for the most part.

The first scene of my short is a loving homage to the scene in Amelie when she leads the blind man down the street, describing everything she sees.  In my short, the family starts at a soda shop, where the young daughter Scarlet bangs on the window, scaring the patrons within.

This is going to be fully decked out in 1950 set dressing, including a Wurlitzer jukebox.

V is standing where Scott puppet will be sitting.  He and Eric (the soda shop bartender) have the first cameos of the film.  Elly will be sitting in the booth by the window, not yet present.

The next buildings they pass are a bakery and a delicatessen.  Both are closed stores, but their windows will be brimming with miniature loaves of breads and meats.  Below is the bakery.  It will have a European flair, which will appeal to Vera as they pass.

Next is the Deli.  This does not appeal to Vera as much, haha.  These will be subtle reactions, really.

Below is the bakery and Deli pinned together.  They already take up about 6', not including the Soda Shop, which is roughly 5'.  It's going to be exciting to light everything for this first walking shot!

Finally, they get to the grocery store.  There will be lots of produce outside on this stall, and light coming from within.  This is the street corner, and is where the family will end the long shot.  This is also the place where the grocer (James) falls in love with the shopper patron (Mel), over a fallen apple.  Homage to Aladdin?  perhaps :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Check back in next Thursday to see the cinema I've been working on!  

ZVN2 - KAP'M KRUNK - Behind the Scenes!

Hey Ninja fans!

Here's the latest video I worked on for Zombie vs. Ninjas - Season 2!  Don't watch if afraid of klowns, or sugary cereal.  :)

This was a real fun episode to build for.  Here are the toys I started with:

First, I started working on the Klown.  I sculpted his head and feet using Magic Sculpt, and then painted him with acrylics.  I was going for horrifying, which is not my forte.  I think it turned pretty scary!

My next build challenge was especially fun, because we were cross pollenating with the other Shut Up Cartoon show, Do's and Don'ts!  Here's a picture of all the characters.  I was making the middle 5 into zombies.  

I covered their little toy heads in tin foil, and then covered them with magic sculpt.  Even so, they were very top heavy.  It took me 7 tries to photograph them all standing, without one falling over mid shot.  Luckily, Michael Granberry (the creator and animator of the show) knew how to compensate for this with wire and wax.  

Here they are with zombie paint effects.

It was also super fun to make a giant version of Andre.  I started with a large doll (Ken?) and gave him a hair cut with the dremel.  Then, I sculpted him a mask, and started working on a pattern for his costume.  I used the same stretchy material that Kristen Myers used to make the normal ninja's costumes.  She designed and built everything for the first half of season 2!

Once I wiggled him into his costume, I had to take a picture of the two of them together!   Super Fun.  

Thanks for checking in!  Side note, if you happen to be in need of some miniature fabrication, these magic hands are available and looking for their next project.  :)  Keep me in mind for your weirdest prop and puppet needs, and stay tuned for a Vera update coming on Thursday!

KRE-O Commercial! Behind the Scenes

Hey guys!

Just recently found the commercial I worked on for Transformers, and I thought I'd share some behind the scenes fabrication pictures!  Here is the commercial:

On this one, I was sculpting giant (in miniature terms) white foam sets to create the landscape backdrops you see in the play sequences.  Below are some of the process pictures of some stand alone mountains.  I started by cutting large triangles out of white foam, and then glued the pieces together.  Then, I rough sculpted the mountain using a hand saw and a reciprocating saw.  

Then, I smoothed out the detail work using hand tools and power sanders.  Here's a different mountain I was working on below.  For scale reference, this was something like 4 feet tall.  

I was working with Brian Nevins on this project.  He roughed out both table top bases, and then did the finishing work on the back, while I did the finish work on the front.

Here's a close up of some of the hills on the right.

Below is my favorite rock formation.  I spent a lot of time on it, adding lots of detail and texture.  I think it turned out pretty well!  We only had two days to complete the sculpting before the art department came in, painting and adding set dressing.  I was covered, Completely, with popcorn foam for days.  I am still finding it the laundry, and this project was months ago now.

Here's a screen grab from the commercial, that shows a lot of the set pieces all dressed up.  Thanks for checking in!  Be on the look out for the latest on Vera!