Harry Palmer

As worn by Hunter S. Thompson

From http://www.imdb.com

Every bank holiday scooter enthusiasts from every corner of the UK converge on sleepy seaside towns for that peculiarly British tradition that is the Scooter Rally. This film follows the exploits of one club as they travel by scooter from their homes in Middlesex to Porthcawl in South Wales.

Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

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Have you noticed the plethora of Indiana Jones merchandise around at the moment? I was in the supermarket and couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I saw a toy model of the truck from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I just had to buy one much to the amusement of my sister (“I suppose that’s for Douglas?”).

I scratch built my own version from two 1/35th scale kits when I was living in London in 1995. It was quite a surprise to see how much I got right. After watching that part of the film over and over I guessed they had based the movie truck on a GMC “Deuce and a Half” and then added a mocked up almost period Mercedes cab (remember this is almost pre-interweb when such knowledge had to be researched in real books and “making of” videos), heightening the cab roof to fit the earlier style.

Looking at this new toy version I see I was almost spot on. I used a Tamiya deuce and half kit for the chassis and then a Mercedes 3000 light truck kit for the cab and flat bed. I think my homebrew model actually looks better! Although it hasn’t fared well during the many house moves done since it was made.

Not complete without the Ark!

I even had enough material left over to scratch build the scout car which meets it’s end over the edge of the cliff. Adding a squad of Tamiya Afrika Corps infantry gave it the authentic look.

However Ian has pointed out that: -

But, I think – of all movies! – “Kelly’s Heroes” was more authentic in using Chevy civilian trucks in khaki which were virtually what the Nazis used! (The Opel ‘Blitz’ was the same truck made under licence – presumably much to the Fuhrer’s annoyance!)

Here’s a another video project I’ve never quite finished. It was to be a short film in CGI based on a scene from American Graffiti.

I got as far as making story boards :-

Building a ’32 Deuce Coupe in 3D Studio (the Yost Group DOS version!) :-

Starting to detail the engine in SoftImage :-

And then resurrecting the project in Maya 6.0 only to drop it again for other things :-

I’ve been collecting Star Wars related stuff for years. I have to admit that I stopped buying new items when the Phantom Menace came out as there was just too much junk going around.

This has to be the best thing I ever found. Five pounds from a flea market in Peacehaven.

My scanner is having some difficulty with over exposure but you can see the shots.

Way back in 1991 Martyn and I shot two reels of Super 8 film using models. One reel was indoors on a set I built in my bedroom, mostly trying to do stop motion. The second reel was shot on the dunes at Newton. I built a special camera mount, something like a golf club and remote shutter release so that the camera could be flown very close to the surface of the sand. The effect looked pretty good. We also tied a model into a puppeteers style rig with fishing line so that it could be “flown” over the sand and perform banks and dives.

As soon as I find a Super 8 projector I will cine transfer these onto Mini DV video and into Final Cut Pro.

A science fiction short film begun in university (1995). The source video has been sitting unedited on Video 8 tapes in a cupboard for ages. I finally got around to capturing it into the computer using the analog-in port of the new Canon Mini DV camera. I’ve been begun putting a rough cut together with Final Cut Pro. The quality of the video is really poor and several key scenes from the opening were never completed. If only I’d put a little more time and money into the project.

Martyn and I had a lot of fun building all those models.

Part 1 – Opening Credits

Part 2 – Docking with the Freighter

A medium shot of the lead characters space ship. This technique has been used in many films including Total Recall and Alien.

Pyrotechnics get out of hand! A miniature we built for a scene of an exploding air lock goes up in flames.

It was supposed to be “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in space. I think I beat Joss Whedon to the Firefly idea by about ten years.