Hi 🙂 Sure 🙂

This got really long so I’ll be doing this as a separate entry so I can include (horrible) photos with it 🙂

Hi 🙂 Sure 🙂

This got really long so I’ll be doing this as a separate entry so I can include (horrible) photos with it 🙂

jesuislegrandefromage:

gifs-gifs-gifs-gifs-gifs:

They’re pouring latex on him to make a false chest. So that they can place the arc reactor prop in him and make it legitimately look like it’s embedded in is flesh and with tears and scar tissue. The latex is colored so they can see where they are applying and how thick the layers are. It will then be airbrushed to his skintone and details like nipples scar tissue discoloration will be added.

Here’s that picture

Then the reactor prop is added to the dimple. Basically the latex becomes fake skin and they tear part of the center open to embed it.

Now you can see how realistic it looks. 

I cannot express enough how much I love little behind the scenes things like this. 

Ack no! That is silicon used to make the mold of his chest which is then cast and sculpted over and another mold made and then finally the (probably foam latex but could be silicon) appliance made.

The “dimple” pic is after a plaster jacket has been applied to keep the silicon stable- that’ll be what the white stuff is on his abs and arms. Also note how one of the technicians holds his head back? you need to be in just the right position to capture the same tendon and muscle tension you want in the final mold you are working over- my head cat is going to be denuded of ears as they are going to be in the way when I want to make cowls. That looks to be RDJs own musculature as all three techs are in the same positions it has to be the same day as the mold was made.

No tearing either! You can’t control tearing like that and you need precise multiple copies to shoot and reshoot scenes later… it’s so much more complicated. Lets give proper credit where due for the hundred of hours that go into making movie prosthetics and props. From design, to proof of concept to actual production to on set and warehouse maintenance.

So you want to work with thermoplastics?

Just be warned the lower the temp required the more likely you will end up with this sort of issue. That is a set of medical splints made from one of the many medical grade thermoplastics (thermoplastics have been used for splints for a long time and cost about the same as the stuff marketed at cosplayers- I was looking into them a decade ago for my Galadriel breastplate). On the left we have the left hand as left in the car over night and on the right the one brought inside. Thumb to the outside in both cases.

Yes it is summer but this was not even in direct sunlight just in the car. Overnight. Last night. This was not staged or deliberately done (these are needed medical devices!)

The easier a method is to use the easier it is to destroy. That said these are super fun to heat back into shape as they are super easy to form and reform and flatten and use over and over again. Part of why they were developed is the ease of remodeling.

Not saying don’t use the it, just saying there is no perfect material to work with. So think about storage and transport before choosing ease of use- there is nothing wrong with the stuff but you will need more care to look after it especially post painting/surface detail if something like this happens…

This is why I have plastic storage boxes for my armour (fibreglass- but it has paint that could potential transfer) and wire racks for my fabric and leather componants (in the shade and I switch the racks around every so often) and am open wire wardrobe in the same spot that also moves around for airflow.

I want my stuff to last as long as possible, so I build using methods used in the originals. Tiny ridiculously tiny machine stitches for corsets and Victorian- flatlined and much use of glazed cotton in areas not seen. Lots of hand finishing and interlining of facings and lining in my Renaissance gear. Use of high qualitly slip latex for my appliances (I want to do foam latex and silicon so bad but foam is super fragile and silicon is actually also fragile when encapulated in stuff that is easy to paint- think of how chicken fillets wear out, ya’ll know what I mean here!)

I think of the thermoplastics marketed to cosplayers fosshape is the one I most want to try. It’s been around for decades and the way it shrinks when worked suggests bonds form that are less easy to break.

I already use foam extruded PVC (generic term for Sintra et al), pipe PVC and styrene. The foam board is brittle but so yummy to form. PVC already formed into pipes seems to be a little softer to work with than in sheets, not quite sure why, it may be just different purposes as you need flex with plumbing! And Styrene is really prone to warping with direct heat.

And fibreglass requires hundreds of hours of sanding and bogging and sanding to get a good surface.

See, nothing is perfect, no bias. Just I do get annoyed when the cons are not given for hyped materials.

I still can’t find my own splints, which I desperately need, so may be buying a small sheet of stuff to redo them 😉 Mine are for trigger finger so wrap around index and middle fingers up to the first joint and extend on to the palm to thumb. I was aware of the melty issues so always kept mine out of the sun. Sigh. But I have lost them somehow.

operafantomet:

strangerthanudreamt:

One of the most dramatic changes to blocking in the new UK tour, before AIAoY, is Christine’s suicide attempt. After hearing the Phantom sing “Christine..” she is overcome by emotion and debates throwing herself off the roof of the opera house, with Raoul slowly bringing her back from the edge she crumples to the stage. It’s a pretty dark moment, and sucks the romance out of the scene. Making AIAOY a much more desperate plea than a sweeping romantic number.

Though more pronounced in the UK tour, I still wanna point out that Christine’s suicide attempt also has been done in the West End production of Phantom. Katie Knight Adams did it rather dramatic, and those to follow (like Rachel Barrell) has also incorporated it into the acting. 

My all time favourite balance was in Copenhagen (Jan 2001). The two were far enough away from each other but you couldn’t really say Christine was near the ledge- I never read it that way) and you were not sure if Raoul heard the faint “Christine…” echo, so when she is rushing around he looks a bit exasperated and almost walks off to leave her to her strange behaviour. Then the music changes and we just saw the back of Christine, hunch over and she lets out a huge sob. And at that point Raoul sees what *she* is going through not what he has been- elaborate tricks by someone wanting to cheat people from money and have the best view!
And his heart breaks, his demeanor just crumples and his “Christine?” was so incredibly quiet and full of concern for her. It wasn’t so dark as the above but it also made a really defining moment for them to pin the song on. And gave a sense of joy at the end of the song as well as hope and then of course that lead to a pretty tense “I gave you my music” secton.

It was an amazing stage moment full stop, not just as a fan 🙂

Sigh. I am so lucky to have seen the show in countries as far apart as Denmark and New Zealand 😉 The World Tour is still too far away for me to even think of going and it was a major effort to get to Oz when it was a set down production. But I did it!

rufiozuko:

pineappleandyoyo:

“We’re talking about kissing and I’m still wearing the ears…”
“This is the weirdest Q and A ever.”
“Ahh! I still have the ears on!”

wow… i totally forgot i had ears on… and why do i have ears… 

only in christchurch.

Ahhhhh, the ears.Yes. pretty sure I got caught out wearing tiger ears presenting the cosplay one year at Christchurch Armageddon (so on stage as well). They are so light aren’t they? So easy to forget you are wearing them. And aren’t they just wonderfully enhappy-nating? They make everyone smile, even the grump who doesn’t really want to admit that they are amused in a good way.
Sorry I didn’t make it to any panel, hope your stay here was nice, if brief and surprising!