ROD VASS @
Film Sets, Props, Sculpture and Armour Design,
Manufacture and Construction for Film and T.V. in the U.K. and Worldwide
CASE STUDY: DRACULA UNTOLD
DRACULA UNTOLD 2014 – UNIVERSAL PICTURES
We were asked by Production Designer FRANCOIS AUDUOY to create a large cliff and 2 cave sets for this retelling of the DRACULA legend.
The Cliff and caves were based on basalt rock geological formations, such as FINGAL’s CAVE off the coast of Scotland and THE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY on the Northern Irish Shore.
Sculpted Basalt Columns
ROD VASS and his team sculpted a range of massive 5 and 6 sided basalt columns from high density expanded polystyrene with a sprayed polyurethane hard coat.
We created large silicone moulds from these masters. We used these and a range
of our existing rock moulds.
The Production Designer wanted a lot of sharp detail and depth in the cliff and we achieved this by attaching sprayed foam pulls from our moulds at projecting angles onto a scaffold and timber base structure.
Working with Louis Vass, Pod Farlowe, Steve Matthews, Ian Rigden and Dan Fall, we used a mobile spraying unit and 350ft long heated hoses to securely fix and attach the rock pulls to each other with sprayed polyurethane foam.
Sculpting the fine details into the joints of the rock mouldings with hand tools.
Exterior of Set
The Cliff
Cave Set 1
Leading through a cleft opening in the cliff, were 2 x long cave sets, featuring rock ceilings, walls and floors and featuring outcrops of basalt columns on the walls and floor.
Cave Set 2
The Cave was the lair of an ancient never dying vampire and we created many bones, skulls and damaged arms and armour from a range of historical periods to dress the sets.
