Studio mockups & Setbuild

Studio Mock-ups

During the weeks leading up to our set build we built mock ups a few times to see how big we should build our set and too see what lenses we should use. In the set build mock up below we used polyboard's to act as the brick wall and a table to act as the car as we hadn't built the car yet. We tested out different lighting set ups to so we could see what lights cause the most shadows and too see what lighting had the most film noir feel. With this set build we used a Hassleblad camera to see what camera position we want to use  and to see what camera lens we should use. We choose a standard lens as we didn't want to use a wide angle lens as it might distort the model and the car too much. During the mock set build we placed objects/subjects in the shot to see where we could cast shadows. From doing this mock set up we decided we liked the idea of having only one wall run along one side of the image and too have the camera pointed slightly to the left. We also decided we wanted to have a large light at the back of the set to act as a street lamp as we felt it would add a film noir feel to the image and we wanted to include objects in our set that would create a lot of shadows to add to the effect.

                                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last set build we used our initial idea of using the car so we decided to do a new mock set build, we kept the same concept as the one before and we still wanted the same lighting, camera positing and lens. During this mock set up we decided how long and tall we wanted the wall and where we wanted everything placed. For this mock set build we also used polyboards to act as the wall and had Rebecca act as the model so we could see how someone would look placed in the scene. From doing this mock set build we decided to have an alley way, and we decided on having only one wall on the left side of the frame. It also helped us design how tall the walls would have to be. 

This is a rough plan of our final set build which tells use the dimensions of our set and where we want to place the camera and model.

This is a scale drawing of our set that Sam drew. The plan will help us on our set build day so we know where everything has to be placed and positioned. 

The week before our set build we put together another mock set up to test our what lighting we are going to use. For this mock set build we was placed in the studio that we will be in for our final set build so we made sure we marked where everything should be placed so it would be easier when it comes down to our final set build.   We placed the plastic moulding for our brick work against the polyboard's to see  how they look with the lighting. As we wanted a column along our brick wall we  placed a box to act as it to see how much shadow it will cast. During this test photoshoot we decided we need extra length on the alley wall as we altered our camera position slightly, we also tested different lighting techniques such as having car headlights.

Set Build

Day 1 

On the first day of set build we focused on building our set. When we first arrived we started to put together all our flats of wood so we could begin to make the walls, all together we made one at two meters high and 1 meter wide, another one at three meters tall and one meter wide and two wish were four meters high and two meters long. The longer walls were made for the far back wall because we choose a low camera angle and needed the extra height. Next we cut out the vacuum mould brick wall and stapled them to the flats , we placed the more textured wallpaper on the two walls nearer to the camera and the other style was used for the rest. First we painted all of the walls in magnolia but we felt it looked to yellow and didn't look realistic enough so we decided to make a wash by mixing the magnolia, red and black paint together with water. After the walls were painted we used rollers to paint the bricks red, we decided to use a roller as it only painted the raised areas which made it look like bricks. Once the paint had dried we had to reinforce the walls so they was all supported when they were standing up. We then positioned the walls to where we wanted them to be and made sure they was all secure. At the end of the day we painted the floor a grey colour, we sectioned of the flooring so we only painted the areas that you could see in the picture. 

Day 2

We noticed that after the floor had dried it didn't look realistic enough as it was too smooth because of this we decided we was going to walk over it to create texture an dirt to make the road look more believable. To make the brick wall appear more realistic we decided to make curbs around the bottom of the wall. We decided to make the curbs out of polyboard and have them 50cm tall with another piece of polyboard in front of it which is 30cm tall. To make the polyboard look like brick we carved brick shapes into it and then used a heat gun to burn away the lines we carved  on to the polyboard so the bricks look as if they textured and three dimensional.

So the street looked even more realistic and too add more texture into the wall we decided to make a column for the wall we made it the same wall as we made the curbs.  After we had painted the polyboards the same as the brick wall we fixed them into place using nails. Where the alley way joined to the long brick wall it didn't look realistic as you could see the join between the two walls so we cut out some more brick mould carefully so it matched up to the rest of the wall and stapled it to the wall. As you could see some joins from the plastic moulds and the curbs walls we used filler to fill in the gaps so the scene looked more realistic.

Day 3

On the third day we decided to add props to our street scene so it looked more realistic. We place a drain pipe on the first wall which as well as making the street look believable it also hid the join from the corner. As the drainpipe was a shiny black colour we felt it looked to new and would reflect to much light we decided to paint it a matte black. To make our photograph look as if it is a street scene we borrowed a bin from the university, we then placed rubbish inside it and on to the floor around it so it looked believable.

Day 4

On our final set build week week we took some test shots a day before the model was coming in to make sure everything looked okay. We also used this time to experiment with the smoke machine to make sure it was working correctly and to test it to see how we liked it the best. We also practiced with having a model in a different positions to see where we wanted her so we could see if we had to change the lighting.