"Big M" Big Headphones

Late last year we started making plans to build a large set of headphones that would be used in part for a TVC and also as an actual monument that was to sit in various locations around Australia. I was employed by "The Otto Empire" to design and construct this mammoth beast.

The finished structure sits at over four and a half metres tall and has a foot print of twelve by twelve metres. We had to make it so it could be broken down and transported and then erected in urban locations that were yet to be determined. We started with a steel frame which we then clad with plywood . The final cladding was to be done with empty "Big M' cartons, all 30 thousand plus of them. Each carton had to be glued and stapled into position so that they would not come off in extreme weather conditions. The base of each Earpiece middle section was engineered to sit on large steel girders and to hold 3.4 tonnes of ballast on each side.

Once completed the headphones were taken apart and loaded onto 2 semi trailers so it could be transported to a park in Melbourne and erected for the Television shoot.

The Block Promos

The brief was to make a Dodgem car behave like it was travelling down a roller coaster, tipping backwards, forwards, sideways and shaking. We went old school , made a dedicated rig and mounted it onto truck tubes. You can beat a tried and true method, it worked a treat.

Kmart Xmas TVC

Airbag productions, directed by Adrian Bosich and produced by Jessica Norton.

This job required lots of people and lots of wrapping paper. Everything that was put in front of the camera had to be wrapped (other than the actors). So we pre-wrapped as much as we could and then had a crew wrapping over the nights before the shoot days. Wrapping trollies, bikes, Xmas trees can be very time consuming.

Bupa TVC

Television commercial Directed by Jake Robb and Produced by Jackie Fish, both from fiction films.

We were required to make a 3 metre x 3 metre self lit cube . All sides of the cube were going to be seen, including the top. The cube also had to rotate and have inter-changable sides so that different logos could be installed and shot. Getting an even spread of light on all 5 sides was very important, this required a combination of the right density of fluorescent tubes as well as the tubes being set back from the acrylic the correct distance. After a couple of discussions with the cinematographer, Garry Richards and some calculated guess work we ended up with a great result.

"Unity" By Kit Webster

Kit Webster, Projection Artist Extraordinaire needed a light weight white diamond to project his flag images upon. This was to be set up inside the Melbourne town hall front balcony.

The framework was made from trussed Aluminium. Plywood was bonded to the back of the frame so that the white fabric could be stretched and stapled. The diamond when it stands is about 4.8 metres tall.

Taj Mahal Cubby

Bosch power tools TVC

Directed by Tov Belling from The Pound.

The cubby was built in my workshop and then transported in pieces to the backyard location.

We only had to build the bottom half of the Taj, the domes were going to be computer generated

in post to keep costs down. All the fret work was hand cut using a jig saw.

The Block-Promo

The Block-Promo

We were asked to build, (with the help of Nick Pledge-model maker) various parts of everyday objects that would be completed in post. We had to build all the bits that the actors physically handled or climbed over. These pieces included a plug hole, tape measure, toy spanner and a toy hammer.

Medibank -talk bubbles

This was a simple idea that got bigger and bigger. In order to be able to shoot the talk bubbles (some of which were huge) and keep the Medibank letters out of frame we had to shoot this in at the docklands studios. So we had to paint the whole floor and create our own temporary cyclorama.

The bubbles had to be soft and tactile so we built plywood carcasses and then took them to Rod at Trimworld who covered them in foam and vinyl faux leather. The final result was fantastic but they were problematic to transport being so big.

Tooheys Extra Dry

Directed Garth Davis And Produced by Karen Sproul of Exit films.

We had to build a bathroom set that sat on a rostrum so the actor could get underneath the bath and raise himself up through the ice. Before we build this set we made a cardboard full scale model so we could get the proportions exactly right. Most of the FX were shot in camera and tweeked in post, so we had to build ice crators and huge green screen cylinders for all the smoke/ice particle FX.

Damian loves carving foam!

Undruis is standing next to a tank that will be lined and filled with water and ice.

The actor was required to go head first into the laundry trough, sliding through ice and then outside into a large tank. The small film is of me doing some research and developement, the first hesitant test down into the sink.

We fitted the Laundry wall/tub set into a doorway of an old kitchen. We filled and painted all the gaps and it there wasn't a huge tank sticking out from the other side you wouldnt of known it was a set.