Time Bandits

Our studio, a run-down Methodist Church in Battersea was empty, not what one wants when a potential client visits. Terry arrived along his vfx supervisor and DoP. We had a long table usually occupied with jobs in hand, models, references, etc, but now glaringly bare. It was soon filled with references from Ghormogast by Mervyn Peake and Paraniesi 

 What Terry wanted was the biggest building in the whole world and the shoot was to be in three weeks' time. Not a particularly outrageous request in this game but complicated by the newly released 9.8mm lens he wanted to use. One of the main issues with a 9.8 mm lens is that everything is seen, the floor, edge of frame, and the ceiling. Everything has to be built, able to be instantly moved then refitted with no marks or visible joints. Significantly adding to costs was seeing the ceiling and floor in the same shot and this was just the establishing shot.

 Our brief was "just" the exterior, the biggest building in the world. Interiors were constructed at Lee Studios by the production designer and construction crew.

My father Ken Hill opted to the model down with the sky vertical which resolved all the main issues including time, budget and the 9.8mm lens. To accommodate the camera being able to track we built a 20 foot wide tracking platform allowing the entire camera crew plus camera to track "up' the citidel.

The model was mapped out on the floor relative to the lens's perspective, then built from plaster and polystyrene in sections. The texture whilst perfect for the model absorbed light causing significant exposure issues for DoP to the extent we needed several Brutes (Carbon arc lights)

tb set01 copy 

Last minute close to midnight request for a top-down shot and the one that ended up in the film. Scaffold, boards, tie downs, steadiness.

 tb top copy

 

A few days in Terry called.

"you know that biggest building in the whole world?" 

"Yes," I replied.

"Well what I'd really like it to be is the gatehouse of the biggest building in the whole world."

 Terry doing what he loves best.

 TG

Below. The Evil Genius

 

 In every job there are three connected factors. Time, Budget and Quality. Time and budget are fixed so quality is the first to go. There are no winners in the race to the bottom.