VinceVader
New Member
Hi David
Great to hear from you, yes it's been a while, works been keeping me busy for some time now and weekends have been keeping me busy on a car restoration.
Hope you and your family are well?
Vince.
Who here has actually built stuff for the movies? SHOW and tell.
- Thread starter ONEYE
- Start date
Hi David
Great to hear from you, yes it's been a while, works been keeping me busy for some time now and weekends have been keeping me busy on a car restoration.
Hope you and your family are well?
Vince.
SteveNeill
Sr Member
I have. 36 years in make-up effects and creatures. And CGI and models.
I have worked on Ghost Busters, Fright Night, Star Trek, and a lot more. Did Spock's ears for the first movie.
I'm still working today and I'm currently working with Andy Probert, Doug Drexler and Mike Okuda on the new Space Command. I'm Building Space Suits and the Clipper model.
That's me grabbing her in the face with the hands I designed and created.
Here's the original ear molds I made way back when in my oven at my home lab. Weekends I use to take them home and run them for the next week. Fred Philips was my friend and gave me one of my greatest moments in my career to work on Star Trek.
And here I am in my test makeup before we shot the opening scenes to Laser Blast. I built the gun too this was one of my early jobs given to me by Rick Baker.
Here I am with my wife and our old friend Bob Burns on the Mac Tonight set. I created the puppet head Doug Jones wore for years during the campaign.
There is lots more here: sneillfx.com and Steve Neill's Blog
Steve
I have worked on Ghost Busters, Fright Night, Star Trek, and a lot more. Did Spock's ears for the first movie.
I'm still working today and I'm currently working with Andy Probert, Doug Drexler and Mike Okuda on the new Space Command. I'm Building Space Suits and the Clipper model.
That's me grabbing her in the face with the hands I designed and created.
Here's the original ear molds I made way back when in my oven at my home lab. Weekends I use to take them home and run them for the next week. Fred Philips was my friend and gave me one of my greatest moments in my career to work on Star Trek.
And here I am in my test makeup before we shot the opening scenes to Laser Blast. I built the gun too this was one of my early jobs given to me by Rick Baker.
Here I am with my wife and our old friend Bob Burns on the Mac Tonight set. I created the puppet head Doug Jones wore for years during the campaign.
There is lots more here: sneillfx.com and Steve Neill's Blog
Steve
Black Thorn
New Member
OMg the talent shown on here is simply amazing!
Xenuprime
Member
Wow! I am one awe of your experience. Would you be willing to answer some Ghostbusters questions?
wannab
Sr Member
Sadly Steve is not participating at RPF anymore (don't ask). He has a blog you can subscribe to though.
Steve Neill's Blog
Doug
wannab
Sr Member
I've done plenty of signage and props for some fan related projects slated to come out next year, but I've only done crew related artwork for studios. I did the crew sweatshirts for the CBS tv series 'Touched by an Angel'.
wannab
Sr Member
You know that reminds me, when I was a production manager at a sign shop in Arizona in the mid 80's we made a bunch of signs (of all types) for a few failed tv shows and I believe we did some trivial stuff for Raising Arizona as well. So I guess I was a prop maker (although not really props more like set dressings) for the entertainment industry after all! We made so much stuff and were always under the time gun, I totally forgot about it. Thanks for the memory jog Yellowjacket!
Where do I get my membership badge? lol
Ha, found one of the ones we did the most work for -- man was it lame!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094479/
Doug
Where do I get my membership badge? lol
Ha, found one of the ones we did the most work for -- man was it lame!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094479/
Doug
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Skinnydog
New Member
Hi,
We build mostly jewelry for props, sometimes blade handles or other small metal parts. All the jewelry in Abraham Lincoln Vampire hunter was created by my wife and I, and we just delivered the last of the jewelry to the Mockingbird Lane (Munsters) set today. For a semi complete list of films,tv and commercial props we have designed and created, you would need to visit our website jewelrypropshop which is actually a year behind because we have been so busy on new work. I really enjoy viewing what everyone creates here on the forum, it is actually usually better that the real prop !
Scott
We build mostly jewelry for props, sometimes blade handles or other small metal parts. All the jewelry in Abraham Lincoln Vampire hunter was created by my wife and I, and we just delivered the last of the jewelry to the Mockingbird Lane (Munsters) set today. For a semi complete list of films,tv and commercial props we have designed and created, you would need to visit our website jewelrypropshop which is actually a year behind because we have been so busy on new work. I really enjoy viewing what everyone creates here on the forum, it is actually usually better that the real prop !
Scott
Propmasters
Member
All very good thanks
I hear you have a little R2 project on the go too.
- David
http://www.facebook.com/Propmasters.net
RobFallen
Member
Glad you like the Trebuchet, the overall look came from the Art Dept but I had to design the mechanics of the rig and make it practical, safe and reliable. Once I'd completed all the drawings four of us built and assembled it in around 5 weeks.
With safety and reliability in mind a steel chassis was decided upon which was then clad in 3/4" timber to give it the correct look of something constructed from solid timber.
You can see the chassis in the following photos:
Another cute little character I got to work on was Bubo for "Clash of the Titans", not seen the film yet but I understand the character gets minimal airtime, which is crazy when you consider the time and effort which went into the build. I can't take credit for the whole character as it was a bit of a team effort but I did design and build the chest feathers and feet:
Vince.
That is awesome and you are right about the airtime
gman71
Well-Known Member
This is a great thread and brings me to a question that I hope doesn't throw this thread off-track or offend anyone. How does one with no experience in this areana get started on a career in this arena? I'm retiring from the Air Force after 22 years in just a few months and moving to Colorado Springs. Once I settle in, I want to look at starting a second career that has me happily creating things for the rest of my days. In any case, any advice via PM would be appreciated.
VinceVader
New Member
That's a very good question and one I get asked a lot, I wish you well in your quest.
I was fortunate in that one of my old College mates started in the film industry with the Jim Henson Creature Shop straight after qualifying. Many years later they were up against it getting the Puppets finished for 'The Never Ending Story III' and I was asked if I could pop in for a few weeks to help out.
I loved it so much I asked if I could join them on another film, sure enough a few month later the phone rang and I was asked to work on 'Lochness' and 'Mary Reilly'. At the time CAD wasn't used in Animatronics or much of the film industry then so it was something new I could bring to the table to help design the main characters. I spent a very happy and hard working four years with The Jim Henson Creature Shop before leaving to help setup another Animatronics company.
I'm not sure what it's like in the States but unless you have a very specific skill it can be difficult to get your foot in the door. Most Supervisors in the UK use a core group of individuals who stick together and work from one film to another, new guys normally only get a look in when things get very busy and everyone else is busy on other films.
If for example you love model making then you really need to be able to produce a portfolio of examples of your work to show your skills to the maximum and stand out from the crowd.
Once you do get your foot in the door then be prepared to put your life on hold until the end of the project, commitment to getting the job done on budget and on time takes presedence over just about anything else. It's very hard work but very rewarding, we're currently working on Angelina Jolie's new flm 'Maleficent' and with the start of filming things have got very busy.
It's also a matter of being in the right place at the right time, you could ring a local model makers one day and not get a look in, ring again a week later when they are busy and they might ask if you can start that same day. I started on 'Clash of the Titans' with Neil Corbould SFX on a 12 week contract and I've now been there for over three and a half years!
If you're really keen then keep trying, find as many contact details as you can and give them all a call and don't be put off by knock backs, they are part of the job.
Good luck,
Vince.
I was fortunate in that one of my old College mates started in the film industry with the Jim Henson Creature Shop straight after qualifying. Many years later they were up against it getting the Puppets finished for 'The Never Ending Story III' and I was asked if I could pop in for a few weeks to help out.
I loved it so much I asked if I could join them on another film, sure enough a few month later the phone rang and I was asked to work on 'Lochness' and 'Mary Reilly'. At the time CAD wasn't used in Animatronics or much of the film industry then so it was something new I could bring to the table to help design the main characters. I spent a very happy and hard working four years with The Jim Henson Creature Shop before leaving to help setup another Animatronics company.
I'm not sure what it's like in the States but unless you have a very specific skill it can be difficult to get your foot in the door. Most Supervisors in the UK use a core group of individuals who stick together and work from one film to another, new guys normally only get a look in when things get very busy and everyone else is busy on other films.
If for example you love model making then you really need to be able to produce a portfolio of examples of your work to show your skills to the maximum and stand out from the crowd.
Once you do get your foot in the door then be prepared to put your life on hold until the end of the project, commitment to getting the job done on budget and on time takes presedence over just about anything else. It's very hard work but very rewarding, we're currently working on Angelina Jolie's new flm 'Maleficent' and with the start of filming things have got very busy.
It's also a matter of being in the right place at the right time, you could ring a local model makers one day and not get a look in, ring again a week later when they are busy and they might ask if you can start that same day. I started on 'Clash of the Titans' with Neil Corbould SFX on a 12 week contract and I've now been there for over three and a half years!
If you're really keen then keep trying, find as many contact details as you can and give them all a call and don't be put off by knock backs, they are part of the job.
Good luck,
Vince.
gman71
Well-Known Member
Vince,
Thank you for taking time out of your day to write such a thoughtful, comprehensive answer to my question. If nothing else comes of this post, I'll have walked away with a the first impression that the folks in this forum are top-shelf men and women which makes me even more determined to learn about your common passion of prop-building.
Cheers,
Scott
Thank you for taking time out of your day to write such a thoughtful, comprehensive answer to my question. If nothing else comes of this post, I'll have walked away with a the first impression that the folks in this forum are top-shelf men and women which makes me even more determined to learn about your common passion of prop-building.
Cheers,
Scott
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