THE VICTORIANS photo story featuring brand new characters/customs!

[conniefrere]

 

Wonderful

[tonguello]

We want the backstage!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Luis]

Thanks WoT, Linda and Conniefrere for the kind comments

Gastón, I will post some behind the scenes pics (and the custom house!) later today or tomorrow (sorry i'm late i've just been extremely busy )

I haven't forgotten

[Luis]

Charlotte did get a new home after all, with roomates and all...

Charlotte: A mouse in my cell! Somebody kill him!!!

[Luis]

Time for some behind the scenes stuff!


ok i went home this afternoon and grabbed my brother's camera to take some pics of the mansion (my camera must be hidden in a pile of sets i used for the story )

I used parts from both the large and small mansions, but still had to get a few spare parts to cut etc

So, how this what the house looks like by the front:





And some close up to where the customized connection is:





The highlighted parts is what I had to cut with a Dremel, otherwise those sections cannot be put together.

[Luis]

I did some cutting in the corner roof too, and then just put it up side down to connect them all and make that L shape. Smart huh?





The balcony and its respective staircase also had to suffer some cutting so they could get attached to the front door wall:

[Luis]

This is the backside, no cutting was needed here. I LOVE steck system:





Backside can be turned into a playable version if removing all the walls. This is obviously very incomplete, but the space can be fully furnished.





I took away all the original flowers that the mansions come with and I decided to decorate the house with roses. IMO these roses are WAY prettier, and they match the rest of the scenery/general atmosphere of the story.

[Luis]

Some people assume that the backgrounds I use in my pictures are computer generated...Some people don't assume and ask if I use photo shop. Well, I DO NOT use photo shop for my pictures - it's all artistic. The sky I used for this story had to be special (I normally use that clouded blue sky) because it had to reflect that pink atmosphere of the theme. The set up in general was bigger than any of those of the pics I've posted so far on the forum:




Every picture I make includes a lot of details, and the hardest shoots were definately those of the biggest layouts (like the backyard with the lake, the view from the front of the house and the park where the train appears). I normally picture the idea in my mind before I take a photo - It's VERY difficult to make sure you don't miss something (i.e. a misplaced figure overlaping a bird), and so I set it all up (a night before) to make sure I'm achieving the idea of the set up. First though, I have to calculate the room I'm going to use to make sure I don't have to re-arrange the diorama (I'm a busy person at work and for me taking pictures is a race against time! ). A good tool to rely on is the camera lens that allows you to see (with close ups) if all the details in the pictures are positioned as I desire.



In the picture above I knew I could continue with the idea and then I only had to choose the scenery that would give life to it.

[Luis]

As for the flying baby effect - I'm surprised that so many people (including some people outside of this community) liked that picture so much. I knew that I had to add suspense before the villian died, and I knew the baby had to be tossed but I had NOT picture in my mind how he was going to do it until the moment I was taking the pictures of that scene.
I used a method that I call 'suspendu en l'air', which features an "invisble" piece of thread. I used this method in one of my Arabian Valentine Cards (the big picture with the magic carpet) - I am surprised that no-one really pointed it out back then (I assume we all take a flying carpet for granted? )




Here it's hard to see, but the thread IS there:



Don't worry that's not the real Félix - it's a stunt Klicky!

[Luis]

The only non-playmobil stuff I use are scenery components like grass, sky and real looking water. This is some of the stuff I grabbed (if you saw how caothic this room is right now... )



That's all for now I guess.
Making this project was VERY exhausting and time consuming but I ABSOLUTELY enjoyed making it all the way through: from the planning to sharing it with you all.

I discovered this is the way I play with my klickies (I totally felt like a mini director/producer )