ART HOUSE
Stop motion collaborative senior capstone production.Responsible for direction/concept, set and prop fabrication, miniature practical light rigging, set dressing, and lighting assistance. Below are closer detail on process of highlighted fabrication pieces.
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PROJECTOR
The projector was modeled after a Super Simplex Peerless projector, meant to show the wear and tear from the use of humanoid rat creatures as their device of terror on their movie theater victims. It was intended that it look old and run down, pieced together from different projectors as it needed replacing in order to keep being run.
The model itself was overall made with shaped MDF dressed in styrene, using watch gears as the main asset for detailing the inner workings of the parts. The "head" of the projector was cast in plastic, with MDF pieces attached, and detailed in styrene. It had to be built in a way that a practical light could be rigged within the frontmost component of the projector, and run the wire through the body and out the bottom, hooked up to DMX and animated within the shot.
Paint job by Chloe Helm
POPCORN MACHINE
The biggest challenge of the popcorn machine was creating a scale box made almost entirely of windows, while housing the large popcorn kettle and the lights on the top of the machine. It was made in a way where the kettle was attached to the top panel, along with the LED lights, and was removable from the rest of the box.
The frame and windows are made in lasercut acrylic, framed out in aluminum sheet and angle pieces. The base of the machine is polycarbonate plates put together allowing for the windows to slide in tensioned to the outer frame. The kettle is a vacuum formed shape.
Popcorn fabricated by Chloe Helm.
THEATER CHAIRS
The art house theater was planned to consist of 15 separated and re-arrangeable chairs, two of which were fabricated in a way allowing for the puppets to be rigged to the seats, with sturdy enough legs to hold the weight and animation. The seats on every chair were poseable and the two hero chairs were animatable. Each chair had a different combination of fabric upholstery for the seat and back cushion, then distressed to embody the feel of the unkempt, creature-run theater.
The seat cushions were silicone molded and casted in plastic, then covered with fabric. The curved seat back was a vacuum-form over a carved piece of polyurethane foam, with pieces added for screw attachment to the chair arms, all molded and casted in plastic. The hard seat bottom and chair arms were laser cut, and the armrests were also carved polyurethane foam, molded and casted in plastic.
SODA MACHINE
The soda machine was inspired after machines of the 70's, which interestingly had wood type paneling around the neon, bubble-shaped sign. This, like many other props, had LED practical lights built-in.
The base of the machine was polycarbonate, dressed then in styrene. The sign was a vacuum form layered with a printed design behind. The spouts were molded and casted in plastic, inserted into the polycarbonate base.
CONCESSION COUNTER
The concessions counter was modeled after tackily-colored, laminate top concession counters with underlit acrylic candy boxes. The model was built in a way that the candy shelves were removable for set dressing, and were lit from beneath with practical LED lights.
The frame was built in plywood, dressed in Masonite pieces. The inserted shelving units were made of acrylic.
Set/Prop Fabrication
Set Dressing
