Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1490572
Filming in the volume stages was completely new to me, but something I have long wanted to work with. It's strange how much it looks like a video game when you are standing on the volume stage, but within the lens of the camera it coalesced so well with the physical set pieces as to be indistinguishable. Physically, what would have been a gargantuan workshop set was reduced to a handful of handmade elven worktables and highly figured stair units that would connect to the balcony overlooking the workshop, all in digital space. We had several stair units created in order to work with the big screen walls, whether it be up on the balcony or down in the thick of the toymaking world. Set Designer Drew Bender and his amazing mustache spent days building the entirety of the workshop digitally, as well as the designs and rather painstaking schedules of the real-world stair units that would integrate with the giant blue screens humming for the workshop to be projected upon. The snow globe depository was another set we put on the volume stage. A beautiful art nouveau storefront, inspired by a flower shop in Belgium, was encased in ice and served as its entrance. Two massive shelving units for the snow globes were digitally replicated into infinity to represent a A. FIRST CONCEPT OF THE SNOW GLOBE DEPOSITORY BY MELANIE PAIZIS JONES. B. SNOW GLOBE DEPOSITORY. ILLUSTRATION DONE IN SKETCHUP VRAY AND PHOTOSHOP BY HUNTER BROWN. C. SNOW GLOBE DEPOSITORY ON THE VOLUME. D. WORKSHOP. MODEL STUDY BY GARY MYERS AND DREW BENDER. E. WORKSHOP. VOLUME STUDY. F. WORKSHOP ON THE VOLUME STAGE. ONLY DESKS AND THE STEP UNITS ARE REAL. SET PHOTO. A B C