Help With Making Props.

[Dootuz]

Hey,

I've been gone for awhile. Over the time my team and I have picked up a movie project. It was going to be a Halo fan movie for the first year in development, but we have changed it to our own type. It still has some things that are close, though. The only problem is the part of making props. My friends an I used to do Pepakura a while ago. But We need a lot of props for this movie. Our team, The 7th Hour Studios, are making a full length movie. The script is almost finished being written, but we don't have many props for the filming. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how to build weapons and armor. I still have all my stuff form my Halo days. I have Pepakura 2, I have boxes of card stock, and many other things.

I used to be big on Halo, and still am. Since we picked up this movie though I haven't had much time to build Halo related things. ( I still have a half peped rocket lancer in my spare room lol) Or if anyone could point me to some tutorials.

Thanks for all the help form before and in advance!


Thanks!

The 7th Hour Director & Founder,


Dootuz


EDIT: Oh yeah Happy Good Friday!

 

[MisterChief]

That's a sick idea. So first start off here. Then you can find the pep files either here or here. Then when you find what you want to make, read up on peoples previous creations and at other tuts that people have done to better your armor/props. Any questions? Ask the Q&A Team!

Misterchief

P.S. Maybe we could get a sneak peak of a part of the script?

 

[Dootuz]

Thanks Misterchief! I printed out the SMG, I'm going to use it as a base and see what I can get form there.

As for a sneak peek, I guess I can post some if you guys wan.

Not now though, we're in the middle of the 7th or 8th rewrite. (I don't remember how many, and I really hope I don't have to rewrite it again after this because the script writer quit so now I have to do it. 90 pages isn't fun lol. )


If everything goes according to the plan we should be filming this summer.

Thanks for the support!


Dootuz

 

[MisterChief]

If you ever need actors, I'm sure some people in the Florida area (or people who aren't, like me) might be able to (or I would want to haha). I know how much of a pain rewrites are, I've been making film with my friend for a while now, and I'm with ya there. So........ Painful........

 

[Dootuz]

Lol if you want to help you can lol.

I still help out at Westerfield studios sometimes. I was talking to Rob he gave me some advice too. If anyone else has some advice please tell me!


Thanks!



Dootuz

 

[sirblood]

Depends on your budget. If you don't mind spending a little money to get plasma weapons there is a line of Halo 3 weapons by Jasman Inc. Check ebay and you can find them easily enough

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksi...-All-Categories

A trick that most films use is use low detail junk props for people at a distance. If you have a guy that is 30 feet from the camera and a guy that is 5-10 feet from the camera, give the close up guy the nice looking weapon, and the guy that is 30 or more feet the mock up prop. Lord of the Rings did this with Armor, there were only like 30 suits of armor all the rest were either cloth or plastic... as the camera wasn't zoomed in close you couldn't tell at all and it looked awesome.

By mock up its essentially a 2x6 or 2x8 cut up in the general shape of the weapon, sanded slightly and painted. You could go cheaper and just use cardboard, but if you do it right you can practically mass produce the wooden replicas. One person working solo could probably produce 24 of these in a weekend... that doesn't include painting though as you might need a couple of days to get it all painted.

Word of advice do NOT buy your wood from Menards or Walmart, spend the extra 1$ per piece and buy them from your local lumberyard... they won't be warped like the hot fired ones Menards sells...

If you decide to go with wood for most of the weapons and want some higher details... use Balsa wood for anything that is lifted up as its simple to cut, light and easy to paint. You will want to sand the guns then seal them with 2 or 3 coats, you will want to apply a clear coat paint, sand it again repeat 1 or 2 times and most of the wood grains will be gone.

I wouldn't bother making more than 3 or 4 high detail weapons, up to a dozen lower detail ones depending on how many people will be in the shot and how close they will be and then whatever else you need for distance shots as you can easily get by using the mass produced mock up props.

 

[Dootuz]

Thanks Sir Blood. I didn't think of the mock up idea. T Hat would save a lot of time and money. I can get as mu7ch wood as I need for this so that shouldn't be a problem. I was talking to Rob form Westerfield and he said use MDF wood.

What do you think about that? I useualy work with popular wood at work. So I don't useualy use other kinds.

Thanks!



Dootuz

 

[HaloFreakX]

IT really would depend on what you "want a lot of." Depending on the item you could mold a piece that you've done from pep.

 

[sirblood]

making molds could cost you a couple hundred $$ to get going, its not the cheapest method out there, the plastics that people use in their molds aren't that cheap either. its all a matter of how much money you have to throw around. If you have someone who's experienced with mold making to show you personally it might be viable, otherwise you might go through a couple attempts before you get it to work right.

If you decide to go with the mold making process try on a smaller scale 1st. Grenades would be very useful in your movie I am sure, and you can always just goto a military supply store and start out using a real grenade as your master if you wanted to save time.

If you want to make plasma grenades, there's a cheap and easy way to get them. If you goto the toy department you can find those little balls that people fill up baby play pens with... or if you goto a play area in a carnival... the balls are 2-3 inches in diameter and come in a variety of colors. You may be able to buy 1 color from a supplier, then all you have to do is slap a little paint on it and your plasma grenade is ready. Spend a little time making a stencil and you can mass produce your plasma grenades. The fancy glowing effect can be edited in later when you do your special effects stuff

You will need several weapons no doubt about that, and a few high rez ones. If you decide to go with all wood for your high rez ones, be advised it may need a little reinforcement. I would suggest buying the longest screws you can find... 5 or 6 inches... pre-drill a guide hole, spray a little wd-40 into them, then screw the screw into the hole. You will want at least 2 or 3 in the handle and 1 or 2 going through the narrowest parts of the gun... that way it will be more able to hold itself together... as I am sure you won't want your 'good' guns breaking on you.

Remember movies are rarely shot in play order, the final scene may be filmed on day 1 depending on the movie... IF you want to show zoomed in shots of the distant guys, let them use the high rez guns for the shot, then when its over have them use the low rez/stand in props.

This is something I threw togather one night when I was bored, I ended up finishing the rest of it in a single weekend (that includes sanding, dremel work and painting)

That was made with a 2x8. You can see the extension part for the handle tucked right beside it. You wouldn't have to do very much more than that to have your stand in prop ready. You could make a stencil out of a piece of cardboard, or if you are careful you could use Plexiglas as a stencil and trace the outlines of the gun onto the wood. That was as far as I could go with a rotary table saw, if you have access to a band saw you could really crank these out. It wouldn't be necessary to cut out the carry handle unless you wanted an easier way to carry these around.

 

[Dootuz]

Thanks Sir Blood!

I have a lot of saws we can use for the project. I know a wood working place that will let us use anything form there. .

I'm going to try and see if I can go to a big lumber place and see if I can buy many sheets of MDF soon.

Thanks for the help! But what about for quick armor? Like not like the Chief has but somehting kinda like it. Any ideas how I could build them for the project?


Thanks!

Dootuz



Happy Easter!

 

[crackhead09]

this is not a hijack!

me and my friends are doing our own halo short also so do you want to do a collaboration? I'm their prop guy so we have a full MK VI spartan suit a BR a AR two pistols and a spartan laser currently working on odst suits so if your interested maybe we can help each other out and we also have a warthog in the works

 

[TheSpartanMjolnir]

Now a days, everybody is making a halo movie. I can tell you here then send you to links. So first, what you ought of do is print out and put the stuff together. I bet you know how to put the stuff together. If not:

You have numbers on your cardstock, you have to alllign that number with the corresponding number. Once you found the two same numbers ( there might be a line of numbers going across) you fold the part that has the fold part, and then glue the one with the fold under the one that doesn't. I think they're clled side and tab, i never could tell the diffrence.

So once you have your pep done, time to fiberglass. Optional: you can get a foam brush and lightly add a THIN layer of resin on the outside for a hard structure, if you over apply, it'll warp. So then you cut small and a little big pieces out, and dip or brush fiberglass on them, and go from the middle bottom alll the way up. '

Now you bondo, read the instructions for the fiberglass and bondo, as you know these stuff a freakin dangerous! So bondo the areas you want smooth, or detail. Detail with a dremel. If you find a little cavity in the bondo, just get some spot puty and fill that gap. To mix bondo, you need a plastic ( like a old gift card) card, or a putty knife or something like that( i recomend it). Then you need to get an area like plywood, or metal, that won't ruin your garage or pop a tire. YOu can add 1-3 drops of catlyst. 1 drop is mixing hot, that means it drys quick, 2 drops, is inbetween mixing fast and slow ( lots of people add 2 drops), 3 is mixing cold, that means it takes a long time to cure, that good if you take a while to apply, and if your working on a tricky detail.

Then you wet sand, just get wetable sand paper, and sand, This is really easy, so you should get it at first try, just don't go so fast.

Now you paint. Simole way is to, add primer,add layer of color, comlete.

Another way is to primer, add the first layer of color, blackwash it ( primer inside the liney areas to creat battle damge, do this lightly and NOT in a circluar moion), lightly add the first layer of color, not covering all tha blackwashing you did. then get a metalic color, spray on your bursh, and then apply to sharp edges and some areas you like.

Read the pep stickies : http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showforum=12

Now you can read the paint topic: http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopi...paint+procedure

Sorry for posting so much stuff, hehe.

Sir blood, not everyone could afford molding, unless this guy is rich then i suggest molding.

Hopes this helps big time,
'
TSM

 

[Dootuz]

Thanks TSM!
I read through it. That looks probably the best way for armor. I like Sir Bloods way for weapons, too. Thanks for all the help!

I can do some molding at Rob's shop. If he lets me >_<.


And to crackhead09, as I said in the first post, this is not a Halo movie anymore. I wish it could be though. I have a full Chief suite and a bunch of Halo props lol!

This is going to be a fully original movie. After the movie is done, our game dev team will hopefully finsh up the game that might go along with this.

This is going to be a serious full movie. I have had SO many people say that it's not possible for a small team to do that, but w're going to try Like I told my team, this will either be great or a horrible failure. We're working this a small budget but I think anything is possible.

Thanks for the help!

If anyone has more advice please tell me!

If anyone else has ideas please let me know. Also if anyone wants to reach me you can always aim me at waterflames117 or visit our site at www.the7thhour.net, (or .com, we have both).

The site looks bad because a hacking group took us down. I'm remaking the site now but its taking a while.



Happy Easter and God Bless!



The 7th Hour -Dootuz

 

[deekdog]

I have the same concept for my senior project (except im straying away from halo)

Im a pretty good film editor

 

[Dootuz]

I have the same concept for my senior project (except im straying away from halo)

Im a pretty good film editor

Same. We're trying to stay as far form Halo as possible now since this is now a real movie. I don't want to be killed by Microsoft's ninjas... i mean sued. The script and everything is original in this movie.

 

[TheSpartanMjolnir]

Wait, is this a halo movie, or a diffrent movie?

 

[scandomfo]

Wait, is this a halo movie, or a diffrent movie?

By the looks of it, it is something way different.

 

[Dootuz]

By the looks of it, it is something way different.

Yes. Now it is. I rebuilt the website yesterday. The 7th Hour. There is some stuff on there, but I'm still updating it.

The movie is something different form Halo. It was just originally a Halo fan film, but the team changed its mind since then.

(Wow. When, I'm typing I sound too professional lol)

But yeah our team has been working on this movie for awhile now. I hope this movie turns out good!

Thanks for all the help!
(if anyone has any more advice please tell me.)


Thanks!


Dootuz

Btw I put a link im my sig to our team's site.

And the movie is called The 7th Hour: The Last Hope. (for now) lol

 

[sarge5020]

if u want to make some low detail props form far away like "sir blood" said i think u could card board over weapons instead of fiber glass or just add fiberglass then bondo then it would look thick and realistic (remember the cardboard is only for reinforcement not detail so u dont have to get to fancey!) =