Lite and Narrow Column - 9
T
he late Frank Ellison made the statement that model
railroading is like the theater. The layout is the stage, or
set, and the trains are the actors entering and leaving
the scene as the script demands. This comment is true and we
all build our stages, or sets, to act out our own dramas or com-
edies depending on what occurs.
In July, 2012, I received a phone call from a local film company
asking if I could build a set for them to film a commercial. I was
curious and agreed to meet with and show them some of my
modeling work. They took photographs and were surprised at
the detail that could be obtained at that scale, HO, having never
seen a scale model railroad up close. At that time we had talked
about what they were looking for and the concept of the set.
The producer did a sketch of what they wanted and the shooting
parameters, in other words the visual field of the camera. What
developed for that first shoot was a 4’ x 30” box with scenery
base rising towards the rear and to the right side facing from the
front. It was to be a western desert scene and it would be built
in HO scale.
The scene included a corral and fencing from Scenic Express. I
received a call from the studio asking how high the fence was.
They explained that they were in Atlanta and were videoing cow-
boys against a green screen for insertion into the set. For those
of you who aren’t familiar with it, a green screen is a large green
background where live action can be filmed or videoed and then
imposed on another set or background.
The camera is your best friend, or your worst
enemy when it comes to modeling ...
Building a movie set
MRH-Aug 2014
