13 June 2024 | 5 min read
In January we, we found ourselves racking our brains to come up with a way of bringing the flavour of what we do (Full scale detailed scenery, very heavy and occasionally quite dusty) to the British Film Designers Guild awards do (Tuxedos & Evening gowns, glamorous West End venue, Celebrity MC).
So, laughably oblivious to the hundreds of hours of painstaking work to come, we decided to build a… miniature diorama of a film set. And, tumbling down an internet rabbit hole into a world of action figures and clothing, we settled on 1/6th scale. This just left the small (geddit?) matter of creating and sourcing hundreds of items of realistic flattage, rigging, tools, access plant, working work lights… the world’s smallest functioning wood screws… and lots of other ‘Easter Eggs’ for the eagle eyed.
Of course, our self-imposed brief became a god-given opportunity to leverage our Sketchup skills – to model, among other things; a Genie scissor lift, Georgian sash windows and mouldings, step ladders, Festool storage boxes and screw guns, paint cans, kettles, brushes and rollers… all 3D printed in resin by Ed and his team at CNC Factory. Scale graphics, packaging and wallpaper were designed and printed in- house and all the flattage and other timber elements were built in the workshop. As to the likelihood of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck mucking in on a DRS Filmsets build, well they are friends and hey… work is work.
Jason Statham got held up in the post and arrived a day late. He sent his apologies and will be part of next year’s event.