I just came across this short video on the model maker that does many of the miniatures in Wes Anderson's feature films. Much of what they do in the film world is the same as what we do for ourselves. Well worth a look
Thanks, very neat.
You can see the same idea in the YouTube videos by "Boomer Dioramas". He did model making for movies and now he's building an HO scale layout and other larger scale dioramas, employing the same philosophy and techniques he did for film.
Over here in the UK we had a Sci-Fi puppet TV series in the 1960's called Thunderbirds (no, don't laugh - it was good!). They had some really good models, some original ones still exist as I saw them at an exhibition a few years ago, and model toys based on them are still for sale on Ebay. What was interesting was the fact way back then they realised weathering was needed and very effective it was too. They went on to produce further Sci-Fi programmes but using live actors, not puppets (like "Space 1999"), but still has excellent models. Derek did some work for some of the James Bond feature films -a Radar unit emerging above a rocky outcrop in the "Man with the Golden Gun", space craft for "Moonraker", a 60ft long model of a supertanker for "The Spy who Loved Me" and a train crash sequence for "Golden Eye". The 1978 film "Superman" had a model of the Golden Gate Bridge destroyed in a simulated earthquake.
One other film I recall(not a Derek Meddings model) was Stanley Kubrick's "2001 - a Space Odessy" which was probably one of the first to demonstrate the huge size of a spacecraft by moving the camera along the underside of the model, as though it was flying by, a technique used a lot these days though now using CGI. They even projected a small image onto the model to show crew members walking about on the "flight deck".
Les Tindall
Great video. Thanks for posting.
Jerry
This video covers some of the models on the previous Wes Anderson film.
There are quite a few You Tube videos about movie miniatures; most of them careful not to give away any trade secrets.
What I find most fascinating is the combination of a model with a green screen background and computer graphic imagery. And the background walls aren't curved; they meet at corners just as any other wall. The computer blends everything. Technology is wonderful. -- Russ
To me its just amazing stuff !!
Barney