Model Box

In the design studio Stuart and I (Harry) were busy making a 1:50 scale model of the inside of the factory. So after a trip to the art shop for materials we got to work. Stuart took photos of the space and printed them out at 1:50 scale so that we could get more of the feel of the building into the model, which i thought was a great idea that i will probably use in some of my designs in the future. I'd never made a model this big before and I would usually be working at 1:25 scale which for me really gave a sense of the sheer size of the space.

Stuart also introduced me to a computer program called SketchUp he uses sometimes for things like this, In this program you can create a 3d model of a space and fairly quickly add pretty much anything you want to it whether it's bits of buildings, railway tracks, a car , table, curtain, river...... the list goes on. It's definitely something i will use for my own designs in the future.

We used the model to try out and develop some of the set ideas. One of the thoughts Stuart was having was to create great big hills inside the space, To keep it cheap we used cat litter, the model resembled a huge cat litter tray afterwards.

Later the model and the initial ideas were shown to Graham Vick (the director) who on the whole seemed to like it. Throughout the talk some parts of the set were slightly altered, parts were taken out completely or used in a different way and other ideas were added. I was on hand to quickly make up models for the things that Stuart and Graham were coming up with. It was really useful for me to listen in on that conversation and see how a director and designer interact and work together and especially the power struggle between them.

As the ideas developed so did the model even the people got replaced by even more detailed plastic people.