Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The end is in sight



Making yet another brick wall.... why do I torture myself like this? This is the last major set piece, after this it's just a matter of putting it all together, finishing up a few loose ends, and doing final set dressing before launching into actual animation. Hard to believe... after 3 long years, this film is actually going to happen!!

It took a lot of work to turn a pice of foamcore into a brick wall... here it was at one point:



So much cutting and the hardest part was peeling off both paper facings from each brick individually (too hard to peel a large piece). But it's done now, aside from a little more painting and detailing. Soon I'll show some of the props I've been making.

I've made several brick walls before... Buster's hat tip test, Race the Wind, and my first, for the Ahab tests. when I look at that bucket of peeled bricks just above I clearly remember the History Channel show about Einstein that was on as I laboriously peeled each one. And for Race the Wind... it was a Victoria's secret Runway Show (that one was a bit distracting). I don't recall the other ones, but it's funny how certain kinds of work lend themselves to that kind of memory retention... possibly it's the tedious repetitive jobs that allow us to pay attention to something else as we work.

13 comments:

The fearless threader said...

I can't wait to see the finished walls and the first frames of this animation. I've missed your posts, keep 'em coming.

a guy in a gorilla suit said...

Nice to see the progress - after all your extensive writings about 'story' and 'storytelling' (enough food for thought for a long winter here...) and the - really outstanding - characters, I am really curious to see it all come together... All the best with the further progress !

Mike said...

I feel your pain man...you pullED it 0ff great!

The fearless threader said...

If you are able to watch it I suggest you watch a programme that was on BBC4 tonight about Oliver Postgate, who as you may or may not know created Bagpuss and the Clangers, amongst many others. You should be able to watch it on bbci player.

UbaTuber said...

Cool beans! Almost animation time!! :D

Have you ever tried pulling a texture mold off of the peeled foamcore? Might make future brick walls easier if you have a mold to work from, latex maybe?...for my alley set, I sculpted my bricks out of clay, made a 4" x 6" segment of wall that I molded with rubber latex, then pulled plaster casts out of the mold...fairly easy to assemble the pieces too, I'd just chip off a brick here or there and fit them together like a puzzle...

Darkmatters said...

Thanks all!!! It means a lot to me to hear from you.

Uba, I did make a latex mold and cast a few panels for Race the Wind, but I think I threw out the mold a long time ago... it ended up under a stack of books and got all mashed out of shape... plus I just don't want to keep using the same walls or castings of them in different movies. Each wall has its own unique character, ya know? This one is the most 'perfect' looking wall, the least beat up and eroded. I actually wish I could chunk it up a bit more, but oh well... for once I have something that looks fairly new and fresh. Still gotta age it up a bit.

Fearless, I'll see if I can find that. Thanks.

StopmoNick said...

Great - some real production work happening!
Heck, I've re-used the same set pieces more times than I can count. Lost most of them when I left the ABC, so I'm back into making hundreds of bricks and stones - sure can get tedious.
After seeing the interior of the bar taking shape, it's nice to get a glimpse of the exterior!

Emily said...

Wow, congrats on getting this far! Seriously, the amount of work you put into this site and SMA are a full time job, I'm not sure how you do it all but I can't wait to see this film, and hear about the progress filming - so excited!

Yaz said...

Mike, it is great to see these posts about your film. Yes! The end is in sight and your wall is looking wonderful. I like how you said that you try to make different walls for each film. And memories... I wonder where they can take us in the end if we follow one after the other remembering...

Dan Metalmadcat said...

m_) How is everything my friend, haven't heard of you for a while.
Hope you started with the right foot, or the left ,either one as long as it lets you move ahead :D

bRYEnd_of_the_schtick said...

(^ AUGHhhh! foam brick layering! grr the memories.

(^ one question tho: why peal both sites? I though showing surface could be peeled but the back/glue to wall side.. well.
and another thing.
y'ever hear of a vacuform table and styrene sheeting?

but I digress.
I'd rather do it the long drawn out knit by hand way than get into the nitty gritties of setting up a loom that takes over the full production space.

Shelley Noble said...

Missed this party too. hmm. Chiming in after the snacks are gone to say, love the texture!

Dan Metalmadcat said...

m_) What do you mean by ""peeling off both paper facings each brick""?

m_) Are not they just squares that you attach to another piece of foamcoard, or is there anything else in the process that I am missing?