Sunday, March 30, 2008

Cell Phone Trials

I've been hard at work on the 'bleeding cell phone' rig. The plan is for blood to flow down the screen, and out of the middle menu button, 3 and 5 buttons.

Sorry...no pictures yet. Still don't have a camera.
But here's the diagram and the process.



First, I scavenged a cell phone from an e-dump. Took the battery off. Realized that the screws were all star-head... which I don't have. So I started prying it off. To heck with the screws. Ripped the circuitry out, pulled out the buttons and all, and then applied caulk all over the inside. Stuck all the buttons back, except the ones I want to bleed. Turned it over and cleaned the off the caulk that squeezed through with the buttons.

After that dried, I cut a piece of lexan and drilled a hole through. Superglued a 1/4" tube to it and caulked that baby into the back of the phone. Stuck the back half of the case back on and cleaned up the edges... and yup--caulked it again. It ain't going nowhere.

Gave it a test run buy filling up the tube with blood and blowing into it.

"Creepy." -Evan

It burbled out, dripping down the cell. Perfect consistency, methinks. But I realized that blowing wasn't going to do the trick. Really need to test it with a full blood squeezie. But I did learn what I wanted to learn: the blood did come from the proper holes, and even after all that caulk, still oozed from the side just a tad. A few minor adjustments and we'll be good to go.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Publish Your Own Book? Naw...

Blurb

Blurb is a little expensive, but you can publish your own professional-quality book. Journals, photography book, graphic novel...anything you want, any size or way you want. I'd love to use Blurb once I get 'Three Men Walk Into A Bar' rolling.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

World-Class Artists Show Off

ConceptArt.org

If you've not seen this site before, you're missing out.
If you've seen it and weren't inspired, your eyes are made of granite.

FX Seminar

SpecialFX101

If only I had $3500... Anyone want to sponsor me for this, and I'll in return I'll get a tattoo of your company on my arm?

Griptionary

Absolutely every term a Grip will need to know, all in one place.

Gritionary

Soooo coool.

Indy Mogul

Here's another link, this time much more broad. Indy Mogul is targeted to film students with absolutely no money. Sometimes its too cheap for its own good...but it gets you thinking in the right direction for DIY FX. Definitely worth a look, but don't use their words as law.

IndyMogul

Sweeney's Blades

I dug up a neat little article that details some of the creative process in fabricating Sweeney Todd's trick razor blades. Those guys are brilliant...but the article is tragically missing diagrams and pictures.

Sweeny Todd Razors"

Tuesday, March 18, 2008


Monster Makers

This is the site that got me started on molding/casting. I bought the basic mask making package, and sadly, did not have enough clay to make the mask I wanted. However, I did do a lot of sculpting and used almost all the components on other projects. So it was hardly a waste.

But before I go and recommend Monstermakers, one caveat: They switched my order on me without my consent. Substituted one clay for another, one book for another...left me rather disappointed. So while they offer silicone mold rubber, I'm looking for a cheaper place to buy it. If I find one, I'll post it.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Lifecasting


Life Casting

While looking for an online source of alginate or silicone mold rubber I came across a great DIY site for casting body parts. This is especially useful for making custom prosthetic appliances or false limbs. While there are tons of prosthetic DIYs out there, most prosthetic websites only give half the detail to the molding portion of the job that BNG does. Worth a look.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

FX Glass


[www.smooth-on.com]

For the 'Monitor Explodes' gag, I'll need a few panes of special fx glass. The stuff I've previously made is only convincing from a distance because it is too yellow and riddled with bubbles. So I'm looking into how to improve it.

Here's the current recipe: www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/9373/SCREAM/glass.html">

Seems to be the best low-budget one out there. But I got an idea from one of the professional plastic breakaway glass websites ["www.smooth-on.com"].They use a vacuum chamber to remove bubbles from their 'glass' while it's still in the pot. I think I'll try building one of my own. =D

Sunday, March 9, 2008

FX Rig Details

I've been going through and detailing every rig for each gag in the film. In total, there are 11 gags, with about 15 rigs. Here's the diagram and rough storyboard for the 'Monitor Explodes' rig.

It is written in shorthand, but the gist of it is that the sugar glass will be the screen and the 'explosion' will be a grip with a slingshot and circuit board pieces. This shot became four times as complex when I decided to put the 'shelf falls' gag in the same shot. That will take some rehearsing.


Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Robot

A quick sketch I didn't plan to finish, but Johnny encouraged me.
It's a'ight. Nothing world-shaking. Still, glad I saw it through.



Thanks, Johnny.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Scene 44 update.

First draft of storyboards are done, and I'm presently sketching the second draft. Lots of new gags added, plus I found my location, so some of the blocking had to change. It's a short aisle of cubicles, so I'll need to cheat in some shots from the aisle next to it. But no worries; I love to trick the viewer. It's my favorite part of the job.

Draft 1 storyboard excerpts: