Blog

Part of the Dashboard design plan was to create a series of help messages; to guide Filmmakers through key project setup and help introduce our tools. The goal was to make these fun and not keep things too corporate and stale. So instead of just a generic message/alert box we wanted to come up with a “mascot” of sorts. Someone to help you through your project journey and greet you on arrival.

We decided who better to guide us through our project then HAL 9000, For those of you who do not know who HAL is:

HAL 9000 is the sentient on-board computer of the Discovery One spacecraft and major antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's fictional Space Odyssey saga.
HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is an artificial intelligence which interacts with the crew, usually represented only as a red television camera "eye" that can be seen throughout Discovery. He speaks in a soft voice and a conversational manner.

Stanley Kubrick is a Filmmaker who has had a major impact on our team here and also I bet most of our members. 2001: A Space Odyssey is widely credited for being both one of the most scientifically realistic and visually innovative science-fiction films ever made while maintaining an enigmatic non-linear storyline.

So without further ado let me introduce Hal. He will be appearing on a Project Dashboard near you.

So after backing a few films on Kickstarter and experiencing the great feeling that helping filmmakers get closer to their dream brings. We have decided to put up $1000 and split that between 20 deserving Film Projects on Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

We also want to give that money to ReelClever members. So if you are currently crowd sourcing funding. Give us your link below and we will back it.

Post the link to your Films Fundraising page on our Facebook wall and we will give you the donation

We have been a little slack of late and have not put any effort into finishing the Cyc Room. So we went off and brought some cheap white sealant/undercoat and a couple of rollers.

Painting in Progress

We put on 3 coats of White paint and wow it is really starting to look good. The quick pic I snapped with an iphone does not really do it justice. Almost tempted to leave it white and get out the camera for a few shoots.

Undercoat complete - ready for the Green

Tomorrow we will purchase the Green paint. So close now....

The steel pipe has been removed and we can now begin plastering. This required a forkflift

To fill in the gabs and staple gun holes in the cladding we just used quick dry filler and sanded it smooth.

For the curves we made up a concrete plaster mix and had to make a heap of batches using a wheelbarrow and shovel to mix it up. This stuff sets as hard as concrete so if we every get sick of Film we can use it as a skate bowl.

The first bit of plaster is down

It is actually a great consistency and very easy to spread and shape. The chicken wire holds / bonds to it easily and you can just use a long bit of wood and a trowel to smooth it out.

Trying to make things smooth

Because we raised out the bottom of the cladding 10 millimeters it was very easy to seamlessly connect the plaster to the cladding at the bottom of the curve.

The corners were a little harder a bit more of a mission to shape but we got there in the end.

Notice Barry is nowhere to be seen. Lets just say his smoothing left a lot to be desired.

We did the plastering over 2 days; The curves were done on the first day and left to dry and harden then the following day we plastered the floor.

Curves completed!

Plastering the floor; day 2.

Ready to paint

We also shaped an easy ramp up to the floor

Only painting to go – it’s hard to believe, but I think we are going to pull this off.

We could ignore it no longer; that annoying and very large steel pipe running through the center of our Room. Cladding has stalled and it must come down.

After careful deliberation over a few beers we decided to cut the pipe down in 2 sections.

We decided to cut right through the pipe at one end and then cut three quarters of the way through the middle, thus allowing us to bend the pipe down to a vertical position. One of us would then balance/hold the pipe, while the other one of us cut through the remaining steel, then quickly climb down from his ladder and help lower the section to the floor.... Sounded great in theory.

In reality what happened was this: the first cut went smoothly, the second cut was going well and we were able to lower/bend the pipe down to a hanging vertical. The part where I was then going to hold it while the last cut was made, that bit did not go quite to plan. Lets just say this thing was a little heavier then we thought and it simply crashed to the ground narrowly missing my bare feet (safety first) and taking a rather huge chunk out of our concrete floor.

Safety First: Protective footwear is important when using a grinder on steel

Oh well no one is hurt, lets move onto the last section. So the idea here was to do a similar thing, cut the section closest to the wall right through leaving the pipe hanging from a steel support bar – we then simply cut that and the pipe comes falling nicely down on some well positioned wooden pallets.

We hooked a tie down under the pipe and fastened it to one of the ceiling beams. This would allow us to sit on the pipe we were cutting. Probably not the smartest idea in the world, another “close call”. But believe it or not everything went to plan with this section and it landed nicely on the pallets.

Safety First: Not a Real Clever place to sit.

Obligatory Builders Crack Shot: Not a pretty sight, believe me.

We will have to call in a few people to help lift and carry the pipes out of the way. Job done! Now we can get back into cladding and get this room finished.

Steel Pipe is down: finally.

We were able to quickly get the rest of the cladding up and it makes the room look huge. We gaped out the bottom cladding 10 millimeters to allow us to easily plaster up to the bottom.

Next step is to plaster the bottom curves. We should be able to attack that tomorrow.