Episode 95 'The Star Wars Toy Commercial'

Not so long ago, in a studio far, 
far away....

Yes, it's all bloomin' Star Wars at the moment. A parsec away from fatigue? Perhaps. But regardless of what you think of the new film (Rise of Skywalker) the toy industry shall never suffer. Every high street shop has a section dedicated to Star Wars. Whether for toys, costumes, stationary, books, collectables, magazines and stuff; everywhere from Woolworths to Toy"R"Us will have a Star Wars logo slapped onto something.
    My appreciation, however, for some of the newer Hasbro Star Wars range has suffered. You may call them pet peeves, I call them sloppy engineering especially when it comes to things like limited poseable parts or shoddy face sculpts. Coming from an animated background does scupper my expectations, I admit, as all the characters I encounter are fully poseable puppets that would make splendid toys (but they are not, they are absolutely not toys).
    The Black Series (6 inch) is a quality toy range to aim for, in regards to Star Wars collectables. I would highly recommend following @starwarstheblackseries on Instagram - the photographs taken of this toy range are truly inspiring. Think big kids, natural surroundings, Star Wars toys and a camera; hello mind palace. 

Meanwhile... along came the Galaxy of Adventure figures.

This toy range is very reminiscent of the Disney Infinity characters, having a stylised appearance but also having a well engineered figurine that lends itself to some really sweet action poses. One might even be able to, oh I don't know, animate them...

Now, what is better than rambling about a new range of Star Wars toys? No, not playing with them... (although, hmmm... *drools) but building, painting and dressing an epic set for a new Star Wars toy advertisement campaign. I literally cannot achieve a higher accolade in regards to my stop motion career; combining it with Star Wars and the figurines I so admire. Flabbergasted was the look upon my face when Drew Roper from Yamination Studios contacted me about this project, and after only a short moment to gather my thoughts I responded with YES! FOR THE LOVE OF THE FORCE, YES!!!

Yamination Studios is where I began my stop motion journey post University where, quite frankly, the sense of overwhelming fear and pressure to get a job in your chosen field is absolutely bonkers. I owe a lot to Drew and the people I have had the pleasure of working with at Yamination Studios in Birmingham. This is why it was so easy to say yes to the toy commercial project; not only being Star Wars (obvz) but because I knew I'd be working with a really cracking team, many of whom I have worked with in the past. It was also a chance to work for Disney and meet some of the people involved with this level of toy merchandise and marketing. The creative director, Matt, was in charge of this advertisement campaign and had overseen the project for quite some time before getting Drew involved for our [stop motion animation] segment. Once completed, the commercial would not only use stop motion to bring the toys to life, but combine live action, time lapse, CG and a whole lotta Star Wars love. 

  EPISODE I  

  THE CARDBOARD MENACE  

This cardboard mock up was of the smaller scale set you see in the
commercial where the children are playing with the action figures. 

Every saga begins with a well executed plan of action. And when it comes to establishing a plan in set building and model making terms, a good cardboard mock up usually does the trick. Suffice to say, they can look crude and shoddily crafted together, but I cannot tell you how important even the most basic of structures can be. After the team discussed the size of the set base, and using concept artwork to use as a reference, we begun to cut out rock formations, blocks, trees, platforms and Imperial flotsam to create the general landscape.
    The cardboard set proved to help us enormously. It allowed us to demonstrate camera angles, framing, where the characters would be in relation to props and set pieces, and most importantly it gave us the precise blue prints to work from when is came to constructing the real elements.

  EPISODE II  

  ATTACK OF THE BLUE FOAM  

We had now established a full set with a scale that matched the figures, and a depth that accommodated all of the camera angles needed for the shoot. The cardboard mock ups were used to transfer the measurements onto blue styrofoam with MDF bases, where the Art Team would bulk up these 2D mock ups and cut, carve and sculpt them into the landscape you see in the commercial.

Ultimately, we were given the creative license to sculpt a new Star Wars
planet (nothing to do with any possible copyright infringement) 

We used knives, scythes, fists and the Force to sculpt all the different shapes needed for the set. Blue foam is very good for carving into, but has its own perimeters as a material. For instance, it does not react well with heat i.e. hot glue, and you'd need a strong undercoat before applying texture and paint for the detail. 
    There were no real issues with it, however, and Drew had a plentiful supply in the studio for us to use. Meanwhile, I had taken charge of the set base and was working on the lay of the land (I likened my task to a real life version of the CD-ROM game Age of Empires 2 on map editor mode). I was cutting plateaus from MDf, shaping them with jigsaws and sanding down the relief. 
    Each section was laid upon the set base in a geographical manner - which is fantastic, I thought, as Geography was a close second in what subject to pursue as a degree. At every point, the Art team would gather together unfinished props and scenery and we would lay it all upon the set base to continuously check progress against scale. Drew would give us feedback, and we would crack on. 
    Building the set base to our Star Wars landscape was really a great opportunity to show all of the skills that I had learned over the years. And now I had returned to Yaminations, as Luke Skywalker returned to Tatooine, not as a padawan in training, but as a Jedi Knight  set builder.

  EPISODE III  

  REVENGE OF THE TEXTURE 

The texture, I remember, was probably the most crucial. It was crucial because if we nailed the 'look' of all of the set components, it would make the paint job a hell of a lot easier (in theory). Everything from the surface of the 'planet' (which was a miscellaneous rock/sand terrain) to the bark on the trees (which, I hope, were inspired by the gnarltrees of Dagobah) was carefully worked into.
    I mixed a concoction of fillite, water and PVA glue together with sand and gravel to create a gritty paste - this was then smothered all the over the set base, covering the MDF sheets to help create a natural gradient. The paste then hardened over night and became a pretty good base for our planet. 

Hands on deck Grainger!

  EPISODE IV  

  A NEW SET  

When you see the commercial, you'll see that there is a miniature version of the [larger] set with a group of children playing with the action figures. This was another build for the team; one of which had various alterations, last minute and throughout. This is to be expected with such a high profile commercial - the script (as with many creations) is forever changing and evolving. The team, however, were prepared to handle anything the Mouse had to throw at them.
    It's crazy how much detail went into this set, despite the fact that it's on screen for no more than 3 seconds. Of course, whether we knew this or not, the treatment of the set would be met at the same professional standard. It has to bloody look good!

Playing Positioning the action figures was very important. We did have card mock-ups of the characters,
to save any damage or dirty fingerprints, but sometimes using the real toys as stand-ins really brought the sets to life.

  EPISODE V  

  THE PERSPECTIVE STRIKES BACK  

The stage was being set, but how was it looking? Are we there yet? Did we make it in under 12 parsecs? It was one thing to use our trusty cardboard mock ups to help with scale, but now that we had large sections of 3D set pieces, it may well change the perspective, depth and layout of the entire set. There were moments where our designs and models, as incredible as they looked, didn't quite fit together. We had built a wide selection of individual scenic models, each painted with great detail so that you could see it from all angles; this gave Drew the freedom to frame up and not worry about having a 'fixed' set. The cliffs, trees, rocks and general dressing could all be moved around and positioned carefully to fit the camera framing for that particular shot.

Yes, Gary... yes!

This ultimately boded well for the team, because as soon as we started piecing together the landscape (like a giant jigsaw puzzle) there were elements that didn't quite work. We had followed a piece of concept artwork, sticking quite closely to its design, but in reality we had to allow the camera angle to determine where that rocky outcrop should be placed or how many vines we should dangle from the branches of the trees.

This job rocks!

Painting the set base was tricky - taking into account the depth of perception. Colours would be bolder and more vibrant close to camera, progressing to paler and more opaque colours the further away you got.

    This gave the impression of a much bigger set, with a bit more of a horizon between the foreground and the cliff faces. 

    Michael Price headed the finer detail on the rocks, giving an old weathered look with stagnant water washes. Michael was our very talented toy rigger, but my god that boy can paint. 

Meanwhile, in another studio nearby... Fudge, our resident legend, was painting the backdrop to our Star Wars
landscape. This would be placed behind the set and lit to eventually become a rather moody cloud-scape.

EPISODE VI

  THE RETURN OF THE SET DRESSER  

That's no moon.. it's a cheeky chappy!

It was final touches time. The Art team was in full set dressing mode now, with blades of grass and a sprinkling of flocking. As the lights, camera and rigs were getting set up, we knew that time was becoming ever so precious. When the camera had been positioned for the first frame - the team cracked on! 

The reward for our work was outstanding. When the first test frames were being shot we could finally see how all of the elements, built and crafted by different members of the Art team, were coming together. The light [Sai and Surinder] poured through the beautifully painted cloud-scape backdrop [Fudge] and cascaded off the chiselled cliff faces, creating dramatic shadows that crept over the detailed work [Nicola and Amy]. The drooping trees [Amanda, Eve and Stella] covered in vines framed our Galactic heroes who stood, fully poseable [Michael] and ready for animation. Old temple ruins [Beth] and rusty, discarded cargo boxes [Tristan] littered the sandy terrain as the capable hands of the animator [Tom Edgar] loomed over to move C3PO and Chewbacca a fraction at a time. 
    It's hard to put a name to each part of the landscape, and why should I? (even though I just did, ha). Everybody pulled their weight and helped sculpt, texture and paint something from every corner of this truly amazing set build. Now, ramblings aside, I ought to let you simply enjoy the final product, eh? 

I will say this though, Drew Roper led the team and pushed us to new levels of skill and hard work. It was a project that had perimeters and time strains, but the captain of our vessel steered us true and directed a very attractive piece of animation. I also want to mention @iandaviesphoto who was our behind the scenes photographer; he managed to capture all of our antics, so a big thank you to Ian. 

So sit back, grab a cup of Jawa juice and enjoy the finished [edited] version of the Star Wars Galaxy of Adventure toy commercial brought to you by Yamination Studios.