Sebastian and Them

I was asked to create a few props for Benjamin Bee's LFS graduation short 'Sebastian & Them'. A couple of cuddly toys and a severed head.....!

Cuddly toys still

The severed head of Nat Luurtsema still

CU of the severed head of Nat Luurtsema off-camera

 Teddy and bunny toys under construction - the brief was to make the toys look traditional and handmade, not like modern off the shelf cuddlies. The bunny was based closely on a toy made by our director's grandmother.

A Monster Called Charles

Well, I've been pretty quiet since July. I've actually been working SOLIDLY on this little puppy! 'A Monster Called Charles' is the upcoming short from award winning director Richard Paris Wilson (We Are Cowboys). I designed and led the fabrication for an 8ft monster costume, 'Charles', worn by the wonderful Chris Fleming.

  Initial drawn designs for Charles - he was to have blinking eyes that light up, eyebrows with expression, and one working hand. The design was based heavily on a sloth and the construction of Ludo (Labyrinth) - the puppeteer would have one hand inside the head controlling the head and facial expressions, the other hand would control one of the monster hands, whilst the other monster hand would be weighted/sprung so as to hang with movement and not noticeably be unmoving, but effectively it was a dead hand. Scale and weight distribution were key in terms of making a wearable walk around suit at this scale.

Left; scale cardboard mockup, Right; translated into sausages and gaffa tape!

The sausages were really important for working out the exact construction of the whole undersuit. Every piece was cut precisely to size according to the original 3D sausage mockup.

Undersuit translated from sausages to lightweight piping - it was flexible, light and really strong so it was the perfect material to use for this part. Left; Chris Fleming in an early fitting, wearing the stilts and partial undersuit, Right; most of the undersuit trannslated to tubing, with suspension between different parts for weight and natural movement of the facade.

Mechanical hand under construction - the monster has 3 fingers and a wrist flex that are controlled by Chris Fleming from inside the wrist of the costume

Left; Muscle construction, with mechanics of face and jaw, right; beginnings of final facade fabrication

Left; inside the suit, right; close-up of pattern cutting, you can see the red bungee chord used to weight the dead arm

Sneaky pic of Charles on-set, but no more of this until the film is out Feb/March 2015.

He Took His Skin Off For Me at Palm Springs 2014!

He Took His Skin Off For Me will be premiering at Palm Springs Short Fest 2014! Congratulations Ben Aston! Check out the news page on the official Skin site here for more info on the screening. Very exciting!

Chop Chop! **WARNING: Explicit images of realistic fake penis, viewer discretion advised**

Another penis! This time created for Christopher Granier-Deferre's exciting upcoming short 'Chop Chop'. I don't want to give away anything of the film suffice to say the penis needed to be 'multifunctional'! A fun brief and I was happy with the outcome.

Inside the pants; the penis is hollow.

 

Here is the resin insert, attached to braces and a modified cricket box that attach to the g-string with velcro.

With the insert; the angle is mad here, but the actor that will be wearing it is a lot smaller than the mannequin currently modelling it. This leaves lots of room for adjustment on-set.


Here is the flaccid penis, painted and with hair - it has been attached to a male g-string and has a blending edge as the actor needs to look like he's wearing no pants.

Flaccid from the side.

He Took His Skin Off For Me - REVEALED!

Finally, I can show this to the world! Here's what we did last summer! My wonderful wonderful team Hermes Pittakos, Tom Smith, Dave Felstead, Myriam Tillson, Emily Christman, Ruth Parry, Emma-Alexandra Watts, Alan H, so proud of all of us. Thanks also to Dan Frye over at Millennium FX and to Nigel Booth for early mentoring. Also a huge thanks to Colin Arthur and his wonderful wife Sarah - couldn't have done it without you both! Check out this article on the film in Fangoria and take a peek at the official Facebook for latest news and updates from our director Ben Aston - can't wait for the premiere!

Nosferatu in Love Trailer!

Front still for Nosferatu in Love. Click here to view the trailer - airs Thursday 8th May 9pm!

9th May update: A lovely review in The Telegraph can be found here. With 4 out of 5 stars I'm so proud to have been part of this installment of the Sky Arts Playhouse season.

The Pig Child

Here is our little floppy baby, all painted with hair and ready to go. This one was to be used on-set as the 'stunt baby' in place of our mechanical child. Cast, seamed and painted by me, Emily helped to lay hair and punch in eyelashes.

Here is our animatronic baby; the mech has been beautifully crafted by Alan H and Emily Christman (eye mech by Innerbreed), the skin crafted by me. Here we see Alan H cradling baby and cables, with the skin prepped for painting and finishing.

 Here is the Pig Child, painted and finished by me.
 

I am currently running the prosthetic and props department for an exciting upcoming short. We've got some interesting things going on here! Not least the creation of an animatronic baby! Here are a few work in progress pics - hugely looking forward to our early May shoot!

 Pig child sculpt, lacquered and ready for fibreglassing!

Here is our fibreglass mould, expertly made by my skilled colleagues Emily Christman and Alan H, 

with the clay being laid in for the core

 

Freaky clay pig child pulled out of the fibreglass mould, with our fibreglass core just visible

 

 Mini placenta test!

 Final placenta and umbilical cord, crafted by Dave Felstead in gun silicone and latex

 

Here is our pregnancy belly, beautifully painted by Ella Noble, and below the fabrication of the baby bump, crafted by myself

 Baby bump with waterproof covering for shower scene - this shape is more like it!

Testing the skin over the stuffing - a couple of minor alterations needed and we're good to go! 

Hard Light

I was asked to design and build a 'robotic' central nervous system with working electronics for director Ross McElwain's upcoming student film Hard Light. Here is the unit design for the 'Hard Light' nervous system robot, a full size man in scale, with pulsing lights and a clear screen/visor for the head.

 

 Below are two visor shapes I carved into plaster for vac-forming over at Artem, who very kindly lent a hand (and their vac-former!)

LEV Collective/Papa Zeus

I have just finished working as the prosthetic designer for the upcoming Papa Zeus promo, in collaboration with LEV Collective - you can check out Papa Zeus' music here. The project was ambitious and the video promises to be exciting!

Finished silicone bust of our actor

Finished bust, with zip at the back

 On the left is the bust fresh out of the mould we made after taking our actor's life cast. On the right is the bust after a little bit of painting and hair punching. Looking good!

The zipper for application to our actor's back, along with the finished bust ready for packing and taking to set.

Seams Update - Kickstarter launched!

As the Seams Kickstarter launches, I thought it about time to update my blog! Here are a few sneaky pictures from behind the scenes of the mannequin build...

My wonderful colleagues Dave Felstead and Alan helping in creating the life-mould for foam casting. Thank you Amelie Cherie!

 Foam pieces fresh out of the mould and in need of a clean up!

 Fitting of the skin over the hand - the idea was to make it like a perfectly tailored glove

Finally, a very sneaky little peek at the final product! No revealing until the film is finished!