Caroline McFarlane-Watts

A Slippery Subject

2012-01-05T04:48:00.000-08:00

Enough of the posts about 'Myrtle' sets, environments and props... let's talk about characters. I finished making the first draft of Myrtle's snail - the pest turned pet who currently has no firm name (still settling on one)...

Here he is with collar and leash, and made in one inch (1:12) scale (this means he is 12 times smaller than real life) which makes him the size of a puppy. I made him out of polymer clay, baked him hard in the oven, finished him off with some mixed media, and today I'll start recreating a 3D version in Maya to run some animation tests.

Don't forget, he's just a first draft - stay tuned for final versions or get involved and leave me suggestions in the comment section!
Before you ask, yes I think I must have been (at least on a subconscious level) inspired by the racing snail from the 80s movie 'The Neverending Story'. ;)

Click on an image to enlarge.

Detail.

Walkies...

(Morning cuppa. For an idea of scale).

H A P P Y 2 0 1 2 ! ! !

2012-01-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R everybody! Hope everyone had a fantastic time last night. My night was probably my second favourite New Year's Eve ever (coming after New Orleans at the Ritz-Carlton in 2009)!

Today (after getting up at about 2 pm and washing the mulled wine out of my hair) I have focused at least a little on my 'Myrtle' short. I'm only starting with a short short so it's challenging as I'd love to run with a 30 min film (it's the only way I know how to write!) The 30 min film will come later. ;)
... But I'm progressing with the environments and props. Take a look below...

Carved pumpkin cauldrons for the other witch characters in 'Myrtle the Witch'. Like many other props in this film they were made using polymer clay. They're in 1/12 scale (most of the film is made up of 1/12 scale sets, with some 1/6 scale sections to be filmed separately).

Tiny poison bottles (again in polymer clay) to fill some space in Myrtle's cupboards.

Slime, snails and puppy dog tails. Well why not?! ;)

2011 was a great year partly because I managed to build a fairly substantial interest in 'fairytale miniatures' which I started making in Oct 2010. It's due to the sales I've had for miniatures and commissioned miniature sets that I have been able to build a budget for my 'Myrtle' short. If you want to help fund this film then stop by my online shop (Pixie Dust Miniatures) and buy something! All proceeds go to the 'Myrtle' kitty (kitty = British slang for piggybank).
Find my online shop here

An English Village, Hopping the Pond and a lot of bread...

2011-12-19T10:35:00.000-08:00

From one film hub to another - I've just moved from Hollywood to Turville - *the* location most filmed in Britain. Flew across the pond from California to the UK with no less than 9 suitcases in the first week of this month. (Don't call my US cell btw... getting new UK phone soon).

With a population of 100 people (including actor Orlando Bloom who owns a house here) Turville has been used to film many movies and TV shows, including: 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', 'Little Britain', 'An Education', '101 Dalmatians', 'Goodnight Mr Tom', 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Bride & Prejudice', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Jonathon Creek', Miss Marple'... the list goes on and on. I worked as a runner on set here when I was 16. Met Sam Neill ('Jurassic Park') on his birthday when he was filming here and had a slice of his cake. Thrills. ;)

Anyway... my updates...
I am focusing on my short film (ish) whilst enjoying being back, eating English pub food and racing through commissions. Amazing what people will order - just completed a commission for 150 miniature baguettes in one inch scale for a woman in Paris who needs them for a miniature shoot featuring a bakery scene. (See photo below). That's Jan rent taken care of. ;) And of course 'miniature collectors' love Christmas-themed miniatures so I've posted some images of products below (these are nothing to do with stop-motion film).

Scroll past miniatures to see pictures of the English village of Turville. 16th century brick cottages, 10th century stone built church and a pub named after Henry VIII at the time he executed Anne Boleyn.

Spot the matchstick in this photo...

And here's some pics of Turville.

Testing Testing...

2011-11-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I chose miniatures over cocktails. Yes, it's really come to this.
I'm still creating the 'enchanted forest' which is part of my set for 'Myrtle the Witch'. Each tree is individually sculpted and wired up with glowing glass lanterns (filled with fireflies / will o' the wisps) so that we get some additional light in the scene. I've only made 1.5 trees thus far. Playing with gel filters and a three point lighting set to see what kind of mood can be created with just the light from one tree and 'moonlight'. Came to the conclusion we're going to need about 4 or 5 more lit-up trees.

Take a look at some of my tests and as always do email / comment if you have any suggestions!

~ Caroline

Brushing additional glitter onto the bark...

In the Woods...

2011-11-12T17:39:00.000-08:00

A quick 'Myrtle' update before I nip out to my second screening of the day ;)

I'm in the process of building out an entire enchanted forest in one inch scale as part of my set for the Myrtle short film. Trees complete with faces and jelly jars hanging from the branches filled with fireflies / will o' the wisps. It's starting to look pretty good and I'm pleased with how the glass jars light up. They're all hand-blown glass and less than 1 cm in height. So like me, this project is pretty teeny.

I'll show and tell a bit more in the next few weeks. Most likely getting this enchanted forest set of mine featured in a magazine, so won't show too much too soon.

Click on the image for a close up.

miniature scale sets for films, TV, music videos by Caroline McFarlane-Watts

The Magic Trade Shop - Final Result

2011-11-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

I started working on this miniature model commission back in Dec of last year (2010) whilst working full time in visual effects (doing 3D conversion) at 'Illuminate Hollywood'. It gained interest from a trade magazine editor who asked for an exclusive on this project for the Nov issue of her magazine. (See previous post about this here)... but now that this mag has wrapped yesterday's fish and chips I can share this with you...

So here are some snaps plus some grainy as heck photos of me taken whilst I was working on it.

It's the smallest model I've worked on. Most are 1/6 scale (6 times smaller than real life). You'll be familiar with model sets of this size if you've seen 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', 'Wallace & Gromit', 'Coraline' etc. A lot of the models I've worked on have been smaller, at 1/12 scale (12 times smaller than real life), but this project was actually 1/24 scale. Pretty teeny.

Read all about it! NEW magazine Feature

2011-10-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hot off the press... just been featured in another trade magazine for my scale miniatures. 3 magazine features in 5 months - very pleased!

Dollhouse trade magazines often take an interest in me because my scale miniatures extend past making miniatures sets and stop-motion... I sell scale miniatures to collectors too.

Have a read. Just click on an image and click again to zoom in.

Baking with Snails

2011-08-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

It's a gag in my short film 'Myrtle the Witch' - she cooks with un-savoury ingredients. I'm focusing on the kitchen set at the moment, and sculpting the food out of polymer clay in tiny 1:12 scale to fill it. Take a look at the cakes topped with minuscule 'garden snails' and the poison pie in the larger image below.

Want to help finance Myrtle? As usual I make extras and you can find them at my online shop.

Caroline McFarlane-Watts miniature model-maker cicada princess nightmare before Christmas polymer clay miniatures

Flash back - 'Ín the Workshop' (2010)

2011-08-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Because some people have emailed to see more of a project I did for Christmas 2010, I'm posting pictures of this. It's called 'Ín the Workshop' and I had a lot of fun with it. The 'workshop' consisted of an 'L' shaped conveyor belt in front of a Christmas tree and surrounded with little worker elves and a plump foreman. The elves were preparing for Christmas by making cakes, candy, gingerbread houses, gifts etc. All in miniature (one inch scale) of course and designed, built etc by me.

Caroline McFarlane-Watts miniature sets miniaturist miniature model-maker stop-motion film Nightmare Before Christmas

Making Magic - to Scale

2011-08-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

As some people know, I am working on a short film entitled 'Myrtle the Witch' and it requires miniature sets, miniature props and miniature characters. I'm funding it in (small) part with money from my online shop which I run as a hobby alongside a career here in LA. So whenever I make necessary props and bits and bobs for Myrtle, I make 10 or so extra and sell them online. Smart little arrangement, right? ;)

The script necessitates two shots of Myrtle's back weed garden and here are some props (miniature pumpkins and gourds)... all in one inch scale (this means 12 times smaller than real life). Handmade by me using polymer clay.

Caroline McFarlane-Watts, Tall Tales productions, concept artist, miniature sets, miniaturist, fantasy stop-motion film-making

Miniature Model - Magic Trade Shop

2011-08-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

I'd love to share more of my miniature sets here on this blog but much will have to come later due to NDAs...

Still, let's start with what I can show. Below are pictures of a recent-ish miniature model I was commissioned to make. It's an antique shop of magic for trade. All in half inch scale (for those of you that don't know what this means... 1 foot in the real world equals half an inch in the miniature model world). So it was fairly tricky and detailed (I'm used to working in one inch scale).

This particular piece ('Boggart's Bazaar') is being featured in an English trade magazine 'The Dolls' House Magazine', published by GMC in the Nov 2011 edition. They're running an interview with me, so look out for it. :)
I've been permitted by both the editor and the owner of the model to show a few small JPEGs until then.

Miniature sets of a Fantastical Magic Trade Shop - 'Boggarts Bazaar' by commission. (March 2011)

And something a bit older... here's an image of Hogsmeade Village which I worked on in Greater London at Leavesden Studios. It was my second gig after graduating and I loved it.

Miniature set of Hogsmeade Village for 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' (Feb 2005)
Photograph courtesy of Warner Bros.

scale miniature sets for film, TV and music videos - designed and built by Caroline Mcfarlane-watts

Making Myrtle

2011-08-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

The short film I'm working on (mentioned here) is called 'Myrtle the Witch' and it's being made with miniature sets, polymer clay characters and Maya. I'm working to make it 3D. I'll share my progress here throughout the weeks.

So why Myrtle? When I was 6 years old I wrote and illustrated a book called 'The Witch's Day' which got my photo in a local Oxfordshire newspaper. I love turning the classic idea of a witch on its head and having fun with all the gothic stereotypes that go with it.

Myrtle's character hasn't really changed from my first concept but her image certainly has! This is a first sketch I did when I wanted her to be a much much younger witch. I named her Myrtle because I like that myrtle is a European plant with natural healing properties, previously used in Pagan and wiccan ritual, symobilically tied to Greek goddesses and also with a unique tradition in the royal family.

Here's a redundant Myrtle sketch. Click on the image for a close-up.

stop-motion CG film, caroline mcfarlane-watts

Fantastical Beasts and a Journey into the Hidden World

2011-08-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well I have to begin this blog somewhere. I'll start with some images probably familiar if you came here from my Tall Tales Productions website.

These are characters I created for my TV show 'The Hidden World' which I am currently pitching in the UK and the US. It's a show about everyday magic hidden among us, just out of sight. Based on a book I wrote of the same name. These are watercolour character designs.

I created natural habitats for 'The Hidden World' characters. Here's a few examples.



And a few more illustrations...

This is a collection of articles and instruments I designed as part of my 'Hidden World'. Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.