Less light!
| Pre-production » Production » Set design | No Comments“More light” demanded Goethe on his deathbed. We had to fight with the opposite. True the motto “one has it the other one not”.
Due to the white walls in our studio, a small spotlight is enough to flood the room with light. Of course that is not what we desire. The light reflections of the walls and ceiling complicate the illumination of the set tremendously.
For small rooms it is therefore important to choose a wall and ceiling color as dark as possible. Since we only rented the room, we can’t just paint the walls black of course. The only possibility for us was covering the wall and the ceiling with dark sheets. Thanks to our patented “spotlight frame” this was an easy task for us.
What would life be like without color?
| Announcement » Pre-production » Set design | No CommentsWe forgot to mention one of our sponsors before, so we wanna catch up on that. An art store, the Ideenhaus Siller & Laar in Augsburg, supplied us with several bottles of acrylic paint, that we have used a lot so far. All of our set-pieces like sand, rocks and cactuses have been painted with it.
Thanks a lot for this donation!
Creators of the desert
| Pre-production » Set design | 4 CommentsThe work goes on and on. After the first labourous days we can look back on the achievements of the last days. The base plate of the set is now covered with Sand, we hand-carved several rock walls for the background and some rocks and cactuses too.
This did not go without some injuries. I already have several small cuts on my hands from little slips with a knife or saw. But we are prepared for this and our room is always equipped with band-aid and disinfectant. On the other side I am also proud to see the successful results of the work (I even received the honorary title of “Sergeant Rock” 
).
We did some video documentation of our work for the Making-Of . The first clip shows us covering the set floor with a sand-glue mix (which also serves as a marvelous hand-peeling lotion), while the second clip shows me painting part of the rock wall.
Today Daniel and Marco were busy doing animation tests. We have to start practicing smooth animation. The first test shots of the wire armatures don’t look too bad, so we’re staying optimistic.
You can visit our gallery to see some pictures of our achievements. Just now, in the busy phase, it will be upgraded regularly since we are advancing more and more.
On your marks, get set,…
| Pre-production » Set design | 3 CommentsWe’ve reached the point where new progress is visible every day. We moved into our “studio” with lots of equipment and raw material. Lighting, tools, tables, chairs, paint, cables everywhere, but we found a place for everything.
Unfortunately the team is incomplete, since some of the students have internships or spend their holidays abroad or at home.
The work is advancing well. The blue screen has been set up (9×6 feet!), the base plate for the set is assembled, a part of the storyboard is hanging on the wall and some rocks for the set have been carved and painted. Some aluminum wire armatures have been constructed for testing purposes and the digital camera has been tested.
Full speed ahead!
Canyon of clay
| Pre-production » Set design | No CommentsThe film is taking shape, at least in our heads. Last Saturday Marco, Sebastian and I met to discuss the basic look of the set. We had done some research in the web on the kind of landscape we wanted. It should be a canyon with red-ish color, great rock formations and maybe a little river.
To test the layout in 3D we sat down to sculpt a little canyon. A little bump here, a rocky bridge there, little blobs of clay as substitutes for dogs…
Finally the canyon was finished. Doesn’t look like much and the size relations aren’t quite right, but that’s not really important right now. We’ll see what it’s gonna look like in a big size.
