The Sweet Agony Of Cinemaquettes...

[Jedirick]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jedi-72 @ Mar 29 2007, 10:28 PM) [snapback]1451457[/snapback]</div>

Jack looks decent, but the other two....was the sculptor doing this with a blindfold? Not terrible sculpts of people. Just terrible sculpts of the people that they're supposed to be. No way that I would ever recognize that face as Harrison Ford. Viggo's...a passing resemblance only. There sure isn't $1500.00 worth of likeness there.
[/b]

Not to turn this thread religious but, Amen.

 

[agent5]

As a die-hard collector of all things Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's safe to say I was looking VERY forward to seeing this completed. I liked the prototype that made it's debut at the SDCC2006 but it being a die-hard I immediately noticed it was more of a Last Crusade Indy than a Raiders.

I wrote Cinemaquette and later found other fans did as well, showing their appreciation for such a piece but asking that they get all the details right. Here's my letter to them.

Cinemaquette,

I've been waiting years to see your Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones Cinemaquette since you first announced it years ago. My wish has finally come true to see it in it's debut at the San Diego Con. Although I was not able to attend I have seen numerous photos of it from all angles and I am VERY impressed to say the least. I have great interest in purchasing one of these if and when they become available. I understand the licence has not yet been fully established and have heard it may be a year before they're commercially available. I don't mind that wait as it's already been long but I am concerned about a few details and I thought I would write to state my opinion on the piece. I hope you realize more than anything that I find it to be without any doubt THE best Indiana Jones I've ever seen on any scale to date.

I've been collecting Raiders of the Lost Ark memorabelia since the films release in 1981 and with the advance of the internet have acquired a wealth of contacts over the past 10 years to help me along in my hobby. I eventually found Indygear.com which is the first and foremost site about any and all details of the costumes found in the Indy trilogy. Over the years I've been able to purchase costume items from the same people who worked on Raiders of the Lost Ark and have been studying the costume of Indy from Raiders in particular for over 8 years. I, as well as many others consider myself just short of an expert on this subject and so I was very, VERY excited to see this new beautiful piece finally come to light.

After looking over the pics of the Indiana Jones carefully I noticed that it looks exactly like a Last Crusade Indy rather than a Raiders Indy. The difference is small but it's the small details that are crucial and what set the Raiders costume apart from the other two films. Most people favor the Raiders costume heavily to the other two film costumes which are different in many ways.

I'd like to offer my opinion here even though I have no idea if it is wanted. I surely hope you don't take any of my criticism in a bad light, I've just been waiting so long for this piece that I can't help but attempt to contact you and hope you understand that I'm not trying to knock the piece in any way. Here is what I've noticed.

1. The crown of the fedora should be ever so slightly taller and the front pinch tighter. The crown should also have a more 'stovepipe' or squared off look. The Raiders hat had straight sides and showed very little taper as is evident in pics of the back of the hat on the model. The hat on the Cinemaquette is an exact replica of the hats used in the sequels.

2. The buckle on the bag strap across his chest is supposed to be square, not rectangular in shape.

3. The off white web belt on the Cinemaquette is the color of the belt he wore in Last Crusade. The Raiders web belt is brown...very similar in color to the gun belt the Cinemaquette is wearing.

4. The Raiders gun belt is supposed to be a very dark, smokey brown, close to the color of the jacket the Cinemaquette is wearing, but slightly darker.

5. The Raiders, Alden 405 boot came in two colors, the lighter, reddish brown similar to what the Cinemaquette is wearing and a medium dark brown. Harrison Ford wore the light brown colored boot in only one scene in the film. All other scenes with the light brown colored boot were worn by his stand-in. In almost all the scenes the boots are a medium dark brown. Much darker than the boots on the Cinemaquette.

6. The side strap buckles on the Raiders jacket were flat black and rectangular in shape, not D-rings as seen on the Cinemaquette. D-rings were used on the sequel jackets, but not in Raiders.

7. The zipper is on the wrong side of the jacket. The film jacket was made in the UK and they put their zippers on the left side.

8. The jacket pockets should be moved up slightly towards the front of the jacket. The film jackets had the pocket one inch away from the storm flap or edge of the jacket.

9. The yoke seam on the back of the jacket should be slightly above the arm seam on the back shoulder. The Cinemaquette has the arm seam and yoke seam meeting in the same spot on the shoulder, however, the yoke seam is an inch or so above the yoke seam on the film jackets.

10. The handle of the whip is about twice the length of the whip handle on the Cinemaquette. The whips made for the film have the handle measuring at 8 inches from the ball knot on the bottom to the bottom of the turkshead knot. I'm sure you are aware there are diamond shaped patterns on the handle, although none of the pics I've seen so far show the handle of the whip well so I have no idea if it was incorporated. These diamond shapes are different than the pattern on the rest of the whip and on the Raiders whip you can count 11-12 diamonds all the way up the length of the handle. I hope that explanation makes sense because it is a bit hard to explain.

11. One more small detail concerning the whip is that the fall on the film whip was white in color. Also, there should be a black popper at the end of the fall.

12. The last thing I noticed was the facial hair. The facial hair on Harrison Ford for Raiders was grown in a bit more than in the sequels and what I see on the Cinemaquette. The facial hair above his lips in particular was much darker, especially in the philtral dimple as well as the hair under his chin. This is very evident in the standard movie poster as well as in the film. Ford wore a much cleaner appearance in the sequels.


I know it seems like a long list but in actuality it's simply a bunch of small details that are incorrect to Raiders in particular. If you were to release this today as a Last Crusade Indiana Jones it would pass on almost all levels, even to most hardcore fans. I, however, am a Raiders fan as are most Indy fans as it's easily the most popular among the films. I've been waiting for information on this for some time and now that I've seen it I think that I would buy it immediately if I were a Last Crusade fan. Being that I'm a die-hard Raiders fan if this were released today I'd probably pass on it seeing it resembles the costume used in the other films for the most part. The majority of reviews of it have reiterated my thoughts on this as well. That it seems more a combination of all the films rather than just Raiders as it is described. Many have complained about the price but I know what goes into these items and I think the price is more than fair for what you get.


Again, I'm not trying to bash the piece in the least. It's apparent that Cinemaquette holds itself to a higher degree of excellence. This is obvious based on the current pieces I've already seen and the reviews I've read on them. If I were as large a fan of the other film characters you've done, I'd have been all over them. The Indy though, is without a doubt the best Indiana Jones replica I've ever seen, of any kind. Your talented artists have certainly done an insane job of creating a lifelike character that doesn't appear as stiff or fake as many of the similar styled pieces that other companies produce. The craftsmanship of the costume looks to be nothing short of incredible. Most similar pieces have the clothes looking rather bulky and unrealistic. Also, the base that the Cinemaquette is placed upon is absolutely stunning. It fits in perfectly and does not take away from the figure at all.

I hope you allow my criticism to be taken without prejudice. I've just been such a huge fan of this film since it's inception and I take this very seriously. I'd love to see the Cinemaquette done to absolute perfection. As it is, it's not far off. Attached below are some pics of my Raiders collection including my life-size Raiders mannequin which as stated, about 90% of which was made and purchased from the same individuals who worked on Raiders back in 1980 using the original screen produced costume pieces for reference. There are also plenty of detailed pics of all the other pieces of the Raiders costume as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99667814@N00/sets/

I certainly hope this is not taken the wrong way and that you don't mind the constructive criticism. Please feel free to contact me if you want to curse me out or have any questions. I'd be happy to provide any help if it is needed in ANY way.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.[/b]

Here is the polite reply I received a few days later.

Thank you for your interest in our Indiana Jones Cinemaquette. We are very impressed with your knowledge and attention to detail regarding our piece. In its current state, it is only 75% complete. However, a lot of your comments are actually already being readjusted to our Indy prototype. Actually, it already looks a little different than the piece we showcased. We will forward your message to our Art department as IÂ’m sure they will be equally impressed and inspired to know that there are fans that have excellent attention to detail out there. Please keep in touch as we would like to hear your comments in the future. Apologies for the delayed reply as we are a little backed up due to some minor email complications. Thank you for your continued support.

Best Regards,

Customer Service

Cinemaquette[/b]

Here are pics of the prototype...

...and here are pics of the supposed finished piece.

I dunno. For some reason to me the prototype looks better. They seem to have screwed more things up and not fixed others. I mean, you can look it up anywhere on the net or pop in any of his movies to see he has green/hazel eyes, yet they installed blue ones.
A few small things were improved on but I don't like the heavy beard. I think it would even look better airbrished. In Raiders, Ford didn't have a moustache or beard, but he did have heavier facial hair above the lip. I just don't understand how hard things like this can be to nail down when there are so many resources.
I really wanted one of these badly but at this point I think I'd rather have the prototype and modify it a bit. I doubt they'll be making any changes from here on in.

 

[Gigatron]

On the indy, it looks like they changed some things, but not others and changed things they shouldn't have.

The jacket looks a bit dark for Raiders, they didn't change the strap buckle or the shoe color and for some reason, he looks angrier than Indy ever did.

As for the beard, maybe you can hit him up with one of those adjustable beard trimmers :lol

-Fred

 

[Mechamaniac]

The prototype looks just like Harrison Ford

The "production" version does not.

 

[tripoli]

They definately needed to soften up the facial paint job, made the piece look very "off". Sad that they did not take into consideration the other issues noted above.

 

[Jedi-72]

The details in the figure are amazing. But, having now seen these close-ups, it looks even less like Harrison Ford. Just looks like some dude dressed up as Indiana Jones. Hell, for that much money you could buy your own, wearable, screen and brand accurate Indy gear from top to bottom.

Nice figure. Lots of details nailed...just not the most important one, the face. Who is that?

 

[DarthCalibar]

Aragorn looks like a professional wrestler or something, Indiana jones just looks like he let himself go, and jack looks ok at best.

On second thought i just realized that the Harriosn ford looks like sam and deans father off of supernatural.

 

[Alan Cross]

Agent5 -- First, wow, what a great letter to Cinemaquettes. Your tone was friendly and respectful and your points showed a world of knowledge about the subject matter. They should hire YOU to oversee this project for them. Well done.

Second, i was thinking, "the prototype looks better" just as I got to your words stating the same thought. And others have echoed it. You know, THIS is what Cinemaquettes needs to see. You should write them again and attach a link to this thread. It's as simple as this: I was definitely going to buy the Indiana Jones figure. Now, I'm not so sure.

But I bet you're right about them not making any more changes at this point. They probably looked at the prototype and thought that Indy's expression looked too soft and needed to be more "aggressive" or "meaner" and the sculptor did as he was instructed and you see the end result. The prototype looks more like Harrison Ford. Which is all I want. And what others have stated they want. If you're going to pay $1500 shouldn't you get, essentially, a miniature Harrision Ford?

Cinemaquette should know how we feel. How do we contact them?

Alan

 

[Gigatron]

I think what a lot of people are forgetting is that all likeness approvals have to come from (in this cae) LFL, not the artist. Hell, for we all, they may have an inside artisit who puts our best to shame, but it's up to uncle Georgie to approve the final likenesses. And we all know he really doesn't have an eye for detail...

Just something to consider.

-Fred

 

[Jedifyfe]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gigatron @ Mar 30 2007, 09:25 AM) [snapback]1451754[/snapback]</div>

And we all know he really doesn't have an eye for detail...
[/b]

No truer words were ever written.

Harrison Ford...

Harrison Ford's Evil Twin Brother Gary...

 

[Patattack]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jedifyfe @ Mar 30 2007, 03:27 PM) [snapback]1451859[/snapback]</div>

Harrison Ford's Evil Twin Brother Gary...
[/b]

Gary, Indiana?

 

[gunnerk19]

I dunno, that first pic looks to me more like Hannibal Lechter in a fedora than Indy Jones...

And this....

That ain't Viggo Mortensen, it's Ed Harris with hair extensions... :lol

 

[PHArchivist]

Dolls, action figures, or the real dudes -- I've always seen a resemblence between Harris and Mortentsen....