DESIGNING IT

I’ve spent a lot of time this week working on IT. You have to go back to HIVE for the last time I created something that wasn’t human and all the way back to BROKEN for something you might consider a monster. I was never that good at sculpting people but repetition leads to improvement and I think I’ve gotten better. Now I’m taking everything I’ve learned over the past 6 years and applying it to this new creation. I’ll be posting a series of stills showing the evolution of the design in the coming weeks.

PLASTER: CHAPTER 2

This puppet will be seen from behind a desk so I chose to sculpt him from the waist up. He also only appears in 3 or 4 shots. This is my way of minimizing the amount of work that needs to be done. Having said that, I like the way this sculpt turned out.

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PLASTER

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It may not be the most exciting part of the process but the first mold for DRAIN is done and it’s lovely. This is a typical 2 piece mold using Ultracal 30 plaster. While the new film may have a simpler story it still has five characters and, being who I am, I will spend as much time on the minor characters as I do on the major ones. Between the sculpting, the molding and the building of the skeletons, I expect it will be 6 months before I’m ready to cast the puppets in foam rubber.

METHOD

I recently came across an interview with Steve Johnson, a special effects make-up artist who trained under Rick Baker in the 80’s. He relates a story about sculpting the monsters for Poltergeist 2, about how he used to spend a lot of time working slowly and meticulously, making sure all his work was symmetrical and perfect. H.R. Giger, the man who designed the ALIEN and on whose designs Poltergeist 2’s creatures are based on, told him he shouldn’t think so much when he sculpts, that he should just get it all down as fast as you could. Johnson now swears by this method. Far be it from me to disagree with H.R. Giger so I’m giving it a go.

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BEHIND THE SCENES

https://www.facebook.com/montrealstopmotion/videos/900635017475031/?fref=mentions&__tn__=K-R

I was very happy to take part in an interview series put together by the Montreal Stop Motion Festival with many of the filmmakers whose projects screened at this year’s festival.

HIGH NOON

Two and a half years is a long time, especially this past two and half years. And yet it has gone by in something of a blur here in my little workshop. I can remember just about everything about the creation of FROM HELL HE RIDES, from its humble beginnings to the exhausting finish, by far the most challenging film I’ve ever attempted. So without further adieu I present … FROM HELL HE RIDES.