Props
Voyage Trekkers – The Great Hall FX
by Cookster on Sep.10, 2011, under Blog Shorts, Non-fiction, Props, Stories
At the end of July, David once again asked if I would like to help him on another one of Nathan Blackwell’s web series -Voyage Trekkers. The premise for this show is not a parody of Star Trek, but homage to all sci-fi. The twist being, “With all the starships in the galaxy, somebody’s gotta be the worst”…or as the tagline goes, “These are the voyages that don’t make the captain’s log”.
Blackwell gave us the footage for episode nine, filmed entirely with green screen background. David chose to do physical models for these shots instead of digital. I was in charge of making the models, while David was responsible for prop designs and postproduction effects.
Our assignment was to create a columned great hall similar to one in Star Wars and a large impenetrable door. We had a few recyclables to choose from so David decided that Gatorade bottles might work. (continue reading…)
Okay, so it’s not a DeLorean!
by Cookster on Aug.31, 2011, under Blog Shorts, Non-fiction, Props, Stories
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to help on a web series project with former Star Trek VFX supervisor, David Stipes. Local filmmaker, Nathan Blackwell, has been making short films for some time and has recently been showcasing his two new web series on the internet. For this project on “Normally This Weird”, David and I needed to build a death ray prop and help David’s son create a time machine from a derelict old sports car. I am going to focus on the time machine for this post, but to see the making of the death ray for the series “Normally This Weird”, see David’s blog at http://davidstipes.com/blog/?p=556.
Three days before the shoot, I was sent on location to view our prospective time machine. A grimy, un-restored Austin Healey Sprite needed to be rolled out of the garage, hosed off, and cleaned out before we could even begin to figure out what we were going to do with it. (continue reading…)
Todd Cook Designs
by Cookster on Aug.26, 2011, under Costumes, Props
Phoenix Comicon 2011
For all of you who know that I pretty much started this blog to showcase my son Todd’s work, he now has is own site where you can see what he is up to these days. It is at www.toddcookdesigns.com.
I realize I haven’t posted anything here in almost a year, but I will get a couple of posts up soon.
Hoist the colours!
by Cookster on Apr.20, 2009, under Blog Shorts, Props
For Halloween this last year I wanted to display a pirate flag. The book Pirateology had a design I really resonnated with. These are the colours of a fictious female pirate by the name of Arabella Drummond.
The pattern was a hand drawn copy transferred to Wonder-Under and ironed onto muslin fabric. It was then easy to cut out and iron in place on the black fabric. I sewed a running stitch about 1/8 inch along the muslin edges. The skull and swords pattern appears on both sides of the flag.
Aye, what ye need is a good scabbard!
by Cookster on Apr.18, 2009, under Costumes, Props
While David took on the task of weathering the sword, I began to create a cover for the plastic sheath. Leather would have been the preferable material to make this with, but I prefer to cut costs by using vinyl. This is costuming on a budget, you know.
The ones on the left are the original pieces as you buy them. Most of the (continue reading…)
