Rake The Yard! — Speed Post: 9 of 12

 

Here are my first uses of the paper pulp panels as ground cover in action.

This free, re-recycled material has changed the set-building game for Halfland.

I kept improving the overscale ground close-up set as I was fixing to begin shooting scenes on it. In this last round, I'd taken to having it span the seasons from right to left as the Snail strolls by at Dusk. As it wasn't planned, it was clunky. All the grasses became lined up in a straight row without enough foreground in front of them to frame the Snail's position.

I thought I was only filling in with a piece of packaging filler/insulation between a makeshift extension and the set edges. A portion of the backing paper had been torn away, enabling me to notice how earthlike the texture of the inner glued pulp was. I got more of it and stacked another layer on top to get the surface flush with the set floor. It tore beautifully and took paint without soaking up too much, miraculously.

I ran a more organically rough edge along the rear of the set as well, so the camera would never catch a straight line from any direction. It was added with hot glue like a champ. I was hooked.

I noticed that if I angled the front of this new set extension downward, like a raked stage, I could capture the snail through the blades of oversized grass WITHOUT covering too much of her up. The viewer will feel as if they are looking through a stand of grass, yet still be able to watch her sway along the ground, unobscured.