Archive for September, 2010

30
Sep
10

25th anniversary of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman music box

Thanks to Jeff Bond for working so hard on this compilation and for sending the link!!! If you love the music of Danny Elfman and the movies of Tim Burton well the massive 25th anniversary music box collection is coming this December,,, Wooo can’t wait for this one and soon we’ll get Mr. Bond over to on the blog to talk about it in more detail. Till then enjoy the links below!!!

http://www.burtonelfman.com/

28
Sep
10

Miss Katy Awful, a red dress story

katy 1

Two weeks ago I made my annual Tucson Arizona trip and met with some old friends and some new ones for some awesome pin up style photoshoots. I had met Katy via her Model Mayhem page and we got together at the Pima Air and space Museum for a vintage style aviation themed pin up. Katy’s sleek style and elegant way of posing for the camera made for some very beautiful pictures. She has a very inventive imagination when it comes to outfit choices and in the first set of shots at the museum she wore a lovely formal gown that really put a gorgeous twist to the look that we are all so familiar with. We shot two wardrobe sessions at the park the pictures she took there are breathtaking!!! We talked about shooting a red dress theme before I had to go and Katy was pretty excited about it.. She found the location in the mountains above old Tucson and did quite a bit of research on the old 60’s characters. we meet again two days later at this awesome rocky location and she hops out of the car with the coolest Trek style Hair doo, (which she did herself) and some classic fishnet style stockings. Katy has a magical presence about her not to mention she has a towering figure coming in at 6 foot 2, She is a very unique and gifted young lady and she has the world before her to do what ever she wants. Modeling is her artistic outlet and she shines ever so brightly using herself as the medium  in which she creates her art!!! Thanks Katy and for all you pin up fans your in for a great treat. enjoy and as always there will be more to come. Also be sure to check out the next spot I’m working on for StarTrek.com, Katy will be the special red dress guest for the next article.

Katy 2

Katy 3

katy 4

27
Sep
10

props from Star trek 200

car wash device

Howdy all, today’s post features some of the prop concepts for J.J. Abrams  “Star Trek.” My boss for this phase of production was Prop Master Russell Bobbet. Russell was one of the only other guys on the show that got in as early and sometimes earlier than me, HAAA!!! Russell was great fun to work with and he has one witty sense of design incorporating new ideas into the worlds he is trying to make real.  A lot of times he’ll put the extra twist into the props, more so than what is written in the script. He really knows how to push the technologies a bit further than originally imagined. For example in “Iron Man II”, Tony Stark has a pocket projector device that he pulls out and projects images and dialog into the air. We drew several fairly down to earth ideas and Russell comes in one day and says; What do you say we just make it a tiny piece of glass and all the technology is hidden within it, so basically it’s like an iPhone but layered and transparent! What a cool idea and if you have seen the movie it turned out to be one awesome prop that had a lot of believability as something you might see in your own hands in a year or so. The same was true with Trek , Russell was always trying to push that envelope a little further. At one point in the film Young Kirk’s mom’s boyfriend has an old classic Mustang and Kirk is ordered to go out and wash it, so we had to come up with a futuristic car wash machine but one that would be had by a common man who puts all his love into toys ‘n cars. So what you see is a rolling caddy that has just about everything you would need to do your car right all in one unit. As the film moved on the car changed and the car wash machine was scrapped but it was a fun idea to put down onto paper. Prop two is of some medical instruments, another Bobbett brain child, that took the MRI one step further. This was designed for Kirk’s mother as she gives birth aboard one of the Kelvin medical shuttles in the opening of the film. The idea was that the doctor would run a mouse-type device across mom’s stomach and the read-out and live transmissions would be seen by the doctor through special optical glasses. The designs show a broad range of ideas. These too in the end were ideas that got left behind.  Lastly, are some holster and belt concepts for the cadet and officer uniforms. Lots of fun for sure and hard to believe this was all done over 3 years ago. Holly Cow does time fly so with that all said and done, enjoy! …and more tomorrow…

medical devices

holsters n belts

25
Sep
10

how to build a flying saucer from (race to witch mountain) part 1

By popular demand here is the plans and design process for the exterior of the flying saucer from Disney’s “Race to Witch Mountain” I had touched upon this in an earlier post and a lot of you wanted more so here it is. the show called for a flying saucer and I have always wanted to do  a 50’s style ship and it was one big thrill to get the opportunity!!!! My boss David Bomba gave me some quick dimensions that it had to be because a practical was to be built for the set, as well as for the special effects department. the dimensions were so small that the ship was almost a box!!! akk the lines were retained as the ship was passed on to Billy Hunter, the art department CG modeler.. he was the one that got the go ahead to let us stretch out the dimensions to make for a much more sleek and dynamic craft. the ship was broken up into 4 rib like sections and 4 counter suck surface panels,, this would help with breaks in the ship for the carpenters that had to build the full sized ship. a silver chromed like paint scheme was established for the final and what you see in one of the drawings is the burned and battered version of that chrome look. to make our saucer a little different from what has come before, we thought of the ship producing a saturn like energy ring around it’s equator when it would transform into flying mode!!! this idea went through a series of passes and the final VFX were really awesome to see on film.. So with that all said here are the complete plans for the saucer and there will be more to come on the interior and production stills of the actual saucer construction.. enjoy

variations of the energy ring

the burned little ship

plan views #1

plan views #2

25
Sep
10

Miss lacy lane, a red dress encounter

lacy on a blustery day

to windy to fly

A few months back, Lacy lane and her husband Johnny where enroute from Nebraska to Palmdale, CA. and we all got together during their travels for a quick photoshoot. We had very little time so we did three locations and three outfit changes in under an hour and a half. These two pictures at the airport were Lacy’s idea, she saw an old vintage painting of a pin up gal having her hat a dress blown by a small prop plane,, well in Palmdale you don’t need a prop to blow your hat off,,, just go outside, and as a matter of fact the wind did catch her hat and we chased forever down the tarmac, HAAA! Anyways the timing and lighting was perfect so we met at Fox field in Lancaster for the first part of this fun shoot. Next we were off to Edwards AFB and saw this Sandy patch off the side of the road,,,, A PERFECT LOCAL FOR A QUICK RED DRESS ENCOUNTER!!!!, Lacy had to change into the mini in there little car and in moments we were capturing some awesome vintage Trek shots!!! Lacy captured the essence with great ease and sleek style, and she had the most awesome pair of boots to make the red dress series complete.. Johnny and Lacy where an awesome team and my wife Tara and daughter Alyna were all there to look after Lacy’s needs. lots of fun and hope you dig these great pictures.. the Edwards stuff will be coming soon!!!

set phasers to kill

the away mission

25
Sep
10

pin up update with Miss Ashley Lindroth

Well folks thanks for the warm welcome and so glad to be back!!!! Even in the midst of all the business I managed to squeeze in some pin up shoots and the pictures you are a about to see are of my friend Ashley Lindroth.. This was one very fun shoot and it took place over Comicon weekend last July in San Diego. Nelson Ashley and I met on board the USS Midway  for the shoot and that alone was one heck of a treat!!! What a cool ship and one awesome location for a vintage location!!! Ashley had picked up a beautiful blue and white Navy dress and some way cool earrings to make her outfit one fine addition to the shoot.  She has one very sleek and elegant style to her posing and look and she made every picture perfect. She is one awesome talent and it was such a treat to work with her. Ashley looks great in either color or B&W and it was hard to decide what I liked best so you get the best of both worlds in the pictures today!!!!  Thanks Ashley for the great day!!!!  below is Ashley’s link to her pinup lifestyles page,, be sure to go have a visit and see some of her awesome work!!!     http://www.pinuplifestyle.com/profile/AshleyLindroth       Later that afternoon “Myouterspace.com” had it’s launch party (also aboard the Midway) and William Shatner landed on board via helicopter to start the party off with some interviews and fun times.  Levar Burton, and Brent Spiner were there as well as the Chiodo Brothers Dean Foster and a whole host of other fun sci Fi folks.The party went way into the night and the ship and the San Diego skyline was one really breathtaking site!!! OK then so with that here are some fun pics and hope you enjoy Ashley’s work as much as Nelson and I had working with her!!!

Ashley ever so glamorously boards the deck copter

one of my favs!! Ashley at the back of the F-14

Bombs away in B&W

bombs away in color

Ashley and the F-4

Ashley and the Corsair

Ashley in lovely B&W

24
Sep
10

Back this weekend!!!! yes the world is slowing down and new post’s to start tomorrow




September 2010
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