Special Effects
1994 -1995
The stop motion dinosaur puppets were sculpted by
Thomas R. Dickens- including the cable actuated
puppet; we took molds of them in ultracal then cast
them in polyurethane foam, with an exterior layer of
liquid latex "skin", they were then painted by brush
with PAX paint. We occupied the late David Allen's
Burbank studio for this project.
Thomas R. Dickens, holding the Allosaurus stop motion puppet, behind is the design drawing for the matching larger mechanical puppet he created for the foreground miniature shots. I assisted with the sculpting, mold making, casting and painted the
stop motion Allosaurus puppet. It was painted to match the paint scheme on the cable
stop motion Allosaurus puppet. It was painted to match the paint scheme on the cable
actuated puppet, both were painted by brush with PAX paint.
Part of a 27' wide acrylic matte painting on custom made canvas, painted by Thomas R. Dickens and Tamar Dick. In addition, we built the 17' miniature landscape set out of plywood, plaster, acrylic paint, sand, rocks, and other debris from the desert, and fabricated miniature foliage from found weeds, twigs, etc.. Using found objects cut some of the material costs from our extremely low effects budget (photos were not found of the finished set).
Thomas R. Dickens animating the Allosaurus on the
17' landscape miniature (the Stegosaurus stop motion
puppet can be seen on the left). The miniature set
was built in long "layers" similar to the "Star Wars"
Hoth stop motion sets, allowing the animator to achieve
"forced perspective", and move in between the layers
of the set. Due to budget and time constraints, 3 stop
motion shots per day had to be achieved to stay on the
extremely tight shooting schedule.
The Saltosaurus stop motion puppet, against the
backdrop of the matte painting and 17' landscape
miniature.
The foreground miniature technique used for
scenes with the Allosaurus cable operated
puppet, in a live action shot.
The Allosaurus stop motion puppet I painted to
match Thomas's paint scheme on the cable
actuated puppet, both were painted by brush
with PAX paint.
Dinosaur Valley Girls
