mrcarkeys42
Active Member
Howdy, in a few months I will (hopefully) be making a short sci-fi film I've been writing. the video takes place in a small space ship and i would like to build a set instead of using a somewhat sci-fi looking location or a digital set.
I am not very experienced at all when it comes to larger construction projects like this (i built a few picnic tables once, that was about it lol) so i really have no idea what i am doing. I watched a few videos about building movie flats and more specifically about building sci-fi corridors. The one i found most helpful was this trilogy of videos about making a small corridor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JorPhRD-Xs4
Although what Im building is a bit more complicated (and i will spend a lot more time on the set dressing) the main idea is there.
so since i know so little about building i have no idea if the structure i designed is going to work. Is it over designed? under designed? am i making any really obvious mistakes? i have no idea. If anybody has any experience and can give some input on my current design, that would be great!
Essentially i am going to make two wall segments of an octagonal hallway, and then build a cockpit for the front end and an airlock for the back end.
the "hallway" (really its more like a room but its design is inspired by numerous sci fi corridors) is supposed to be 16 feet long with each wall segment being 8 feet long. instead of doing 4 entire segments i am going to make two, this way i can have one entire wall and then i can just rearrange the segments for when i want some shots that show both walls (they will be limited to tighter shots of course) for now i dont plan on building a ceiling and will just use higher angles, but i wont be surprised if i change my mind later on. the floor will just be made of plastic pallets (hopefully, if i can find them really cheap) or something similar.
anyway, here is what i have so far:
all the vertical/horizontal plywood is 1/4" thick and all the slanted/angled plywood is 3/16" thick (all cut from 4' x 8' pieces)
all the structural wood holding it together (sorry if i am using horrendous terminology) are cut from 8' x 2" x 3" planks. The basic struts that hold together the walls and the cockpit are made from two 2' long horizontal pieces, two 2' long angled pieces, and one vertical
6' 9 15/16" piece. Seems like a strange length i know but thats the proper length needed so i can get the proper sizes for the plywood pieces.
The cockpit is what i am most worried about, because of its shape i cant really build supports at the edges because they would get in the way of the wall piece when i go to put them together. Because of this limitation i feel like the design i came up with is rather flimsy but i dont know for sure
the airlock is the most complicated part for sure (at one point had the same angled shape as the walls and cockpit so was even more complicated but i scratched that idea) and might have the opposite problem as the cockpit, i think its overly designed but again i dont really know for sure.
anyway this is just the general lumber and layout, i still dont know what kind of fasteners to use or anything like that, but i figured i should finish the basic design first before getting too detailed.
So does anybody with building experience see any major flaws in my design? or just ways to make it better? if so please share!
Also if there are any threads that cover similar builds you could link me to that would be fantastic!
I am not very experienced at all when it comes to larger construction projects like this (i built a few picnic tables once, that was about it lol) so i really have no idea what i am doing. I watched a few videos about building movie flats and more specifically about building sci-fi corridors. The one i found most helpful was this trilogy of videos about making a small corridor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JorPhRD-Xs4
Although what Im building is a bit more complicated (and i will spend a lot more time on the set dressing) the main idea is there.
so since i know so little about building i have no idea if the structure i designed is going to work. Is it over designed? under designed? am i making any really obvious mistakes? i have no idea. If anybody has any experience and can give some input on my current design, that would be great!
Essentially i am going to make two wall segments of an octagonal hallway, and then build a cockpit for the front end and an airlock for the back end.
the "hallway" (really its more like a room but its design is inspired by numerous sci fi corridors) is supposed to be 16 feet long with each wall segment being 8 feet long. instead of doing 4 entire segments i am going to make two, this way i can have one entire wall and then i can just rearrange the segments for when i want some shots that show both walls (they will be limited to tighter shots of course) for now i dont plan on building a ceiling and will just use higher angles, but i wont be surprised if i change my mind later on. the floor will just be made of plastic pallets (hopefully, if i can find them really cheap) or something similar.
anyway, here is what i have so far:
all the vertical/horizontal plywood is 1/4" thick and all the slanted/angled plywood is 3/16" thick (all cut from 4' x 8' pieces)
all the structural wood holding it together (sorry if i am using horrendous terminology) are cut from 8' x 2" x 3" planks. The basic struts that hold together the walls and the cockpit are made from two 2' long horizontal pieces, two 2' long angled pieces, and one vertical
6' 9 15/16" piece. Seems like a strange length i know but thats the proper length needed so i can get the proper sizes for the plywood pieces.
The cockpit is what i am most worried about, because of its shape i cant really build supports at the edges because they would get in the way of the wall piece when i go to put them together. Because of this limitation i feel like the design i came up with is rather flimsy but i dont know for sure
the airlock is the most complicated part for sure (at one point had the same angled shape as the walls and cockpit so was even more complicated but i scratched that idea) and might have the opposite problem as the cockpit, i think its overly designed but again i dont really know for sure.
anyway this is just the general lumber and layout, i still dont know what kind of fasteners to use or anything like that, but i figured i should finish the basic design first before getting too detailed.
So does anybody with building experience see any major flaws in my design? or just ways to make it better? if so please share!
Also if there are any threads that cover similar builds you could link me to that would be fantastic!
