Ranging Mountains

The Set-Beast Grows... man, this thing is taking Ovah! Big score: managed to reattach the set pieces to each other.

Today I moved the paper craft station in the shop to the house side of the space here. The chaos is spreading. I felt the need to convert the set's back-40 acre piece into a long far away distant mountain range instead.

The one big unwieldy piece was sliced into two slim unwieldy pieces with a small saw, easily done. Upper right shows a set dissection, cardboard and crumpled newspaper under several layers of starch maché, plaster/burlap shell, and brown bag top coating. I positioned them as far back from the main set as the space allows. The sky backdrop will call for even more space be made behind them.

Comments

  1. You know... it's probably looking great! But I could tell a lot better if you'd post some massive images on Flickr - or something.

    HINT
    HINT
    HINT

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  2. You are te only one whose interested, Mikee! I think everyone must be bored by now!

    But--as you wish! I'll update today with clearer shots. I've been shooting dozens of mock opening shots to see what the hell the background has to do, how much has to be covered.

    So far, this is harder to figure out than the sky! Oy!

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  3. Hey there!!

    those mountain ranges in the distance will look really good once lit and in shot.

    they will add some serious depth.

    and ....everybodys watching! Dont even think for a second people dont care.

    jriggity

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  4. Thanks, Justin! Thanks so much, If you say so...

    I'm having a very hard time getting the mountains to marry the main set visually and complete the view.

    I've studied other real landscapes, dioramas, and mini sets with hills very very closely now and see that most of the time a rise in the mid-ground hides the space between it and the way back mountain view.

    I'm still piecing mock-ups in place and videoing to see if it makes any sense at all.

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  5. Everythings looking amazing Shelley! I cannot wait to see this set all painted up :D

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  6. Me too! Jeffery! I'm going in! Today's the day! I'll figure out the mountains after!

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  7. Trust m, I think a lot of folks'll be very happy to see this landscape larger. It's a bit frustrating to me that I can't make out much detail in these little shots. They look so damn good I want to be able to lose myself in them, but I can't.

    You might want to tilt those mountains forward a bit, increase their profile so they fill more visual space. Also maybe add some blue paint (transparently) so they blend better into the background - assuming the BG will be blue.. whatever color it is should be misted onto the BG mountains to provide atmospheric perspective or haze.

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  8. Anonymous11:17 PM

    Wow, it's like Pangaea has split apart, the seperate continents drifting to the far corners of the studio!

    I tend to make my landscape sets in front of the camera, so there is usually a lot less to them than meets the eye You know what I mean. Like you said, a rise in the foreground conceals a big gap behind, where I can walk in and animate. Then where the midground shows on the other side of screen, that's all there is of it, and there's a bit of background behind that isn't there.

    Good point from the Stridemeister about atmospheric perspective.
    I do add a bit of blue haze to the distance, with whatever works - usually a combination of blue gelled soft light hitting the far hills, and actually painting them bluer as well.

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  9. I do, I do trust m, Mikee!

    I'll post some clearer shots tomorrow in a Flickr set. That you for wanting to see and help.

    I worked and worked on getting the set , the mountains, and the background painting to work together, getting closer, but still could use some ideas. I'll show you in the photos. All this for a single wide shot! d'uh.

    Love the haze, the blur, the blue. Matter of fact, the final visual effect may be utterly obscuring anyway but I still want a certain reality to it.

    Hi Nick!! Heh heh! yeah, I have a whole new appreciation for the Earth as a project! It's taking all I've got to make a little patch of ground and a single tree!

    I wish I knew how to make only what I need to meet the camera's eye, as you describe it. My problem is I want to be able to have creative option while shooting scenes. And I didn't want to conceive of all of those shots in sketch form.

    I wanted to have the fun of plotting it out on a fully rendered 3D environment. That, and I still would like the set to be on display later, but honestly, it's looking more like a movie set than a real place now anyway.

    The background will indeed be blue, with the most beautiful (I hope!) demarcation of softly blended ocean horizon to it. Yes.

    I'm going to hit this puppy with so much atmosphere, the audience will need its oxygen brought in.

    night!

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  10. It's looking great Shelley - seems there was a halfland earthquake too!
    Love the pics of cats amongst the chaos :)
    x R

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  11. Yes, Ryan, I keep wondering about that! But then I think about the delicious fun for finishing the props and all the details and I push on anyway!

    Hi Rima!! You're right! It was a weird coincidence indeed. The cats are good sports. They take turns sleeping in the miniature cottage... hee.

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