SARANG MOONBASE Although the SARANG MOONBASE had now been re-scheduled to be shot LAST (and so, as it happens, we could have trashed the harvester goodstyle), it still wasnt underway and wasnt something that could be cobbled together in a couple of days, so I started putting this together in the evenings too. It wouldnt have gone together half as fast as it did had Bill not had some major wiggets at hand, namely, some large plastic angular crates, which I could bandsaw into flats to make the walls of the base and some large ribbed pipe affairs, which could be screwed to a wooden roof. Mostly screwed together - the walls to the Plywood BASE, the roof to the walls, the walls to each other, the tubes to the roof, it wasnt long before the basic shape was there. I drew up the outline to the base, based on the full size set and the layout of the corridor and rooms and the Control tower and escape pod. It all relates. |
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NOTHING ELSE TO DO..... | the need for this base to started was in the past now, so I stayed late for a few more evenings to cobble this together. I followed the set-builders plans as a guide, to correspond with the corridors and areas inside. |
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But WITHOUT BILLS BITS | Lucky for me Bill had some large crates in stock, that I could bandsaw up for the walls - and some ribbed conduits to screw to the roof. |
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COMPANY ANGULAR! | The CONTROL TOWER was angular and probably
just about tied it in with everything else and probably the only thing made
out of FOAMEX on the Base (well, I had to get a piece in somewhere!). Mostly made during the 'night shift' this Communication tower was entiry my design. Just had to obey the corperate feel and match the windows with the live action set. |
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WASH THAT MODEL! | I didnt want this too dirty as it was generally
higher up that the rest of the base, so I used a WASH to weather it. Orange band was John Lee's suggestion and I think it needed it. This kind of up angle would have made a great establishing shot for when Sam is in the control tower, sadly, never filmed. |
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BILLS DRESSING | Bill dressed the bay I put together with some ceiling pieces and some, what could only be described as 're-fueling stations' |
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COMPANY ORANGE | I did get to spray 'em and dirty them though. |
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BIG JIGSAW | Making sure the Rover bay was REMOVABLE, as a seperate shooting schedule was planned for it. |
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MAGIC PAINT | All those individual multi-coloured pieces magically disappear when you put some paint on. |
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PIECE MISSING | John Lee's Launch vehicle and corridor yet to go in. |
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DOING MY THING | A general dirtyness to help with the scale....some powder-paint and some lighter-fluid and some blue-roll to dab it around. Maybe I should dab some on that bald spot on my head! |
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JOHNS VEHICLE | You didnt really get a good look at this escape pod and its a shame, because it would have stood up to it! another 'establishing shot' as its known in the trade, that wasnt filmed |
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FINALLY READY | after an 'all-hands-to-the-pumps' weekend, the base is finally ready for the cameras to roll. John Lee lets rip again.lol. |
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SAMS CONTROL TOWER | Director of Photography PETER TALBOT surveys the tower. |
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ANGLED CORRIDOR | Great care was taken to ensure the angle of the corridors miniature and full size matched. I went down to see Tony Noble and borrowed the art depts model of the set so John Lee would have the correct angle. 5 degrees if I remember rightly. |
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I WISH, I WISH, I WISH..... | I'd have checked this to see if it was in focus.....and taken another! Here, the shutters are open and the lamps are on...there was even a miniature sam (a modified David Tennent DR WHO doll), that could be moved around on a wire. |
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JUXTAPOSITION | Just a strange bunch of shapes. |
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THOSE LAMPS | I think I was right to extend those lamps - as a Rover could now stop comfortably underneath one even with the crane attachment - if Sam wanted to use the extra light to effect repairs (say). They threw lovey little pools of light around too - not too harsh. |
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OVERVIEW | You get a better idea of how SMALL this set actually was. John and Chris had to re-sculpt it about three times I think, to get the variety of landscapes Duncan wanted. |
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YOU'LL NEVER GUESS |
Something worth looking out for.... Above the mouth of the Rover BAY (Bill wiggeted the interior) near the entrance, were the hacked off ends to some Shepperton Studios toilet tissue dispensers that had been skipped. You can see the key-holes! |
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BEST SHOT IMHO | I know the tungsten wires were removed digitally,
but i was still surprised they didnt interfere with the soil at the top of the bay ramp and move it around - something else to be dealt with digitally? |
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UNDER STARTERS ORDERS |
A close up of the previous shot. |
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READY TO TURNOVER? | The center of attention - the moonbase SARANG. |