Wandering Soldiers (2021)

Student Film - Production Design, Prop Maker, Costume & Makeup

A surrealist thriller set during the english civil war. As a woman endevours to find her husband who has gone missing during battle, her journey grows stranger and stranger.

Mood Boards & Plans:

As you can see during my initial planning process I compiled mood boards rooted in research into the time period. The mood boards above are very early preliminary boards pitched to the director and writers. For this particular project I relied heavily on old drawings and illustrations of the time period. I wanted to be as creative as possible to challenge myself and learn new skills as well as keep within a low budget. My research had to be specific to the correct religious factions and years during the war to ensure the correct religious garbs and dressing could be utilised to ensure the church scene effectively conveyed which side of the war the preacher was on.

Prop Making:

Lungs

A surreal scene in the script called for a pair of lungs to appear to grow from a tree. To create the lungs I used polyester filling stuffing and cling film to create the basic shape of each lung. To create realistic and more or less symetrical lungs of the right size I had to do a few mockups as you can see in some of the images above. When fixing them to the tree on the day of the shoot, I utilised fake moss to add to the illusion that they were growing from the tree itself.

Pikes

To create Pike's typical of the time that were also safe for use on set as props I chose to craft them from foam/polystyrene. I carved them and sanded them before coating them with a base primer coat of PVA glue. I then painted them by using sea sponges layering grey, white and metallic silvers as well as oranges and browns for light touches of rust. By painting them with this method and layering them with latex I attempted to create the mottled texture of civil war ironmongery and

Musket

To create a non-firing musket prop that was safe to use on set as well as being convincing for the brief shots in the film I used wood, PVC pipe and paint predominantly. I was able to use a variety of black, grey and metallic silver paint to sponge onto the pvc pipe to create a layered sooty colour as well as build a metal-like texture. I also used a dark orange and brown to create the odd rust patch to age the musket barrell. I studied the shapes of original 16th century muskets to try and create metal attachments that would match those found on genuine muskets. They did not have to be too intricate as the shots would not be close ups and majority silhouettes.