Hello Moonbasers!
Thanks for your interest In my opening ID shot.
My original comic was inspired almost 30 years ago by seeing a photograph of a tomb statue in a book called Egyptian Disease by Dr Joyce Filer.
It detailed the many ailments that threatened these ancient people. In the section on congential diseases, there was a discussion of the various types of dwarfism and how the Ancient Egyptians believed that affected people were "Lucky", as they associated them with the Gods Ptah and Bes.
Many people are familiar with the exquisite alabaster sculpture of a princess on a barge, found inside Tutankhamen's tomb.
Far fewer (myself included) tend to notice the small female dwarf at the stern, doing all the hard work of steering the boat!
For some reason, this image of an obviously real person spoke deeply to me and I began to wonder who she was. Our of those fantasies was born my comic.
I have always desired that figure, so about ten years ago I decided to make a replica. I have a detailed sequence of it's construction on my Instagram feed here
ANYWAY...
Here are the items needed for filming my ID shot.
A) The statue, shot on a Tamiya rotating plinth against greenscreen.
B) The title lettering, lasercut from MDF, built up with putty and sprayed gold, then mounted on bamboo skewers above a green felt backing
C) A Ferrero Roche chocolates Christmas tree style clear plastic package, hot glued upside down onto a piece of blue glitter cardboard.
The statue was shot rotating 180 degrees.
The lettering was shot with a key light sweeping across the upper edges (very early 80's graphic style!)
The clear cone was placed on the rotating plinth and shot from above.
The three separate elements were then combined in a friend's After Effects program to produce the final effect.
Having been shot at 4K resolution, there was still plenty of detail on the face when subjected to a digital crash zoom. And yes, referencing the Toho Godzilla films was all part of my nostalgic intent! There is a bit of black fringing in the close up, but again this feels like 1960s optical effects, rather than today's digital perfection!
So, the entire effort is me using my Old School techniques and current technology to produce the sort of thing that inspired my childhood!
This will be a love letter to Thunderbirds, Godzilla, The Battle of Britain and 60's popular culture.
Hopefully soon, I will be hanging plastic model Spitfires on sewing thread above models of England's green and pleasant land for the actual filming!
What will the end result be like? Hopefully it will look like Gerry Anderson and Benny Hill decided to make a home movie together!
Thanks for your time at this briefing, Chaps, -Flying Crew Dismissed!
Looey
Oz Base
