1:12 Industrial Loft model completed!

Uff, it took me a while to finish this. But motivation is not the same every day ;-)

Well it is done now and I have made two videos over the past three weeks.
It is incredible how long it takes to make an interesting short film!!!

The cutting an assembling for both videos was done in about 12 hours.
But selecting the right pix, fixing the exposure, etc.
And finding the right tools to make a clip that was steady and had the right focus.
Very time-consuming and sometimes frustrating... you think you have it all just to see that something has fallen down, or the windows have too much glare from the outside, etc.

DONE!!!

Here the house:



And here the 'making of' video:



I hope you will enjoy :-)



I wish you all a wonderful Festive Season!

Marion

Video of Modern Wood House Model

It is done!

Here the link to the video of the house

And here the link to the Making-of video about this house

What a way to end the year 2017!

Now, I am off to the southern part of the world and will spend time in Cape Town - making new memories with old friends...

And - of course - meeting the South African mini group. Sandy, here I come!!

Happy new Year to all of you

Marion

Photo shooting and making a video

As much as I love working on a project - coming to an end is great as well ✌✌✌

Taking photos and video shots

Background:
This was always meant to be a winter house and the snow around here came just at the right time (gone again since yesterday)! For the photo shooting I wanted some of the pix to be done outside, whilst others I did in the warm inside using a poster backdrop I photographed and had printed.

Background poster 60cm high

Outside shot

Equipment:
All my pictures and videos are taken with the iphone6. Most shots and definitely all videos are taken holding the phone horizontally! Nothing worse than having black voids left/right of the video picture.

- For hard-to-get-to places I use a 360° blue-tooth selfie stick. The 360° the vital feature because I really want the phone to swivel the way I need it.
- The tripod ensures really sharp takes.
- For the videos I need to be in a non-cramped position and have a steady hand. A video stabilizer like DJI Osmo would come in handy for those who are prepared to spend money.

Taking photos:

Avoiding glare and mirror effect in the large windows of the model, is always the biggest problem. That's why I sometimes close all shutters and work with borrowed photographer lamps. Not my favorite - I prefer natural daylight. But then again, it should not be too bright..

Photo shooting is a lengthy process because I try different light situations in a south/east facing room (am, pm, artificial...) to be able to select the best.

A little cramped in my 'village'...

Select and enhance shots:
Because I am not all that good (yet..) with Adobe Photoshop Elements, I perfer to use the Mac Photo program to enhance - where necessary.
But before I get to that I have to select!!! I first sort them all into room categories. And then mark those worthwhile looking at again. So it goes... until I am down to a good dozen shots per room.

Then the critical eye becomes extremely critial:
- Everything straight? No? Grr... need to re-take the shot
- Specks on the floor? Easy - use the little fix-it plaster in Mac Photos
- Is the background realistic? No? Grr... need to re-take the shot
- Is there glare? ... off into the delete baskets and take a new shot
- is the focus where I want it do be? Adobe Elements can help a bit ...
- And it is bright enough? Up to a certain extent, Mac Photos can take care of that...

Assembling the video from photos and video takes:
I do this with iMovie on my Mac. I use this since many years and the best tutorials I found are Gary's Macmost website.

I use various features of the program, such a stabilizing the video take, adjusting length of take, adjusting exposure, etc.
The photos I use (only horizontal takes!) become alive by using Ken Burns. It allows to put the focus to where is should be. iMovie does this automatically - but my choice is often different ;-)

So, this is how I finalize a model. Thought you might be interested in this.

My next blog will give you the links to the videos of this house.
Wintery and christmasy greetings from Switzerland
Marion



BTW: if anyone ever needs one of this large posters just let me know and I can either send you the file or the printed poster (on loan). These are the ones I have..

Provence House Videos

Here the summary of a year's mini passion!
Enjoy!

Video of the model

Video of 'behind the scenes'

1:12 Scale Shipping Container House completed!

Making the video took a bit of time: first had to sort through I don't know how many photos!
Good thing though judging by the trash bin :-)

Here the star photos:

Everything else at: https://youtu.be/79w7sS_GHk4

And a 'making of' at: https://youtu.be/uHb93uoT3po
Struggled a bit with this one... and by the time I did the personal end bit I just could not care any longer! No re-takes or such - just as it happened. Main thing it was done :-)

And now I will take a rest from model building. The bug will invariably bite me again... but it does not have to be tomorrow. You will notice when I start blog writing again ;-)

Publication Doll's House Magazine Christmas Edition 2015

It has been a while since I sent an update. Been kind of busy at work and did not even get around to communicate this - and this really was my miniature highlight in December!!

Carol from Doll's House Magazine put together a great article about my previous project, the Swiss Log Cabin model:

She did this wonderfully - wrote a story and even gave some ideas on interior decoration items when furnishing a log cabin... just like in the 'big' magazines.

To see the full article

And for seeing even more - see the video on youtube.

Log Cabin Video

The worst thing about making a video is detecting the flaws!
So, there I was thinking everything was as perfect as it could be...
Carpet that was not laying firmly to the ground, a piece of thread that was not cut, a toothpick left on the lounge floor (!), tape of the background picture was in the photo, etc.
After about 8 hours of cutting I found myself with another 8 shots that had to be re-done! grrr..
But eventually I had to control my perfectionism and just get on with it :-)

Now, proudly presenting the video of the Log Cabin!!

http://youtu.be/h4GOzNOAhTY

And since I had a few pix taken during construction and was now fully familiar with imovie 10
I assembled as short 'making of' trailer as well... just for the fun of it.

http://youtu.be/u3K8M1qYKPE

Mini plans (next to a busy time at work...)?
- doing some skiing and enjoying winter outdoors
- some real 'renovation' work at my home
- David Neat workshop would be great, too..

New blog posting the moment the fever hits me again ... probably real soon ...

Video preparations

Just as I did for my Glenwood house I will make a video of the Log Cabin as well.
Good light, an iPhone4 (small) and a blue-tooth selfie stick are the tools (Cindy thanks for this hint..). And I found a nice poster to create a background. Wonder though if it is not a bit too kitsch ;-) I will try again tomorrow in different light conditions.

Filming is tricky since my hand is not always steady enough ;-) But then - there is always KenBurns.. haha.The worst is to finally have a perfect 20th taking - just to find out that the cushion on the chair was not straight!!

Just getting the shots and selecting only the best is a two-day job already. But without tough 'trash' selection it would be a nightmare to make the video! 

iMovie - here I come!