It is a period of financial crisis. Due to budget cuts, the evil Galactic Empire is getting weaker, day after day. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, are regularly winning battles.
The evil lord Darth Vader, seeing his end getting close, gathers his strengths, for the last battle. As the exceptional podracer pilot he always was, he decides to ride the very last experimental machine constructed by the Empire's best engineers. However, the insidious recession got there too, and things are not going as expected....
Yes, I am shamelessly having too much fun. I really hope I will manage to put some smiles on some faces with that photo.
Technically, it was a pain to obtain that result in one shot. In a nutshell, I constructed a structure around Vader, so that I could hang him to it using fishing lines. Of course, the whole thing had to be relatively light, so that it could be installed anywhere. Here is a little list (probably non comprehensive) of items used in that shot:
- 4 long metallic bars (measuring 2 meters each)
- Screws and bolts, in order to attach bars together two by two and construct two 4 meters long bars
- A rope, to link the two 4 meters bars at their top, and create an horizontal line over the scene
- Some fishing line, strong enough to resist the weight of Vader and his podracer
- A Darth Vader suit, that I stuffed with random fabric I had around (I had to buy the disguise for the occasion)
- Planks of wood, to construct the oars
- Some paint for the oars
- Motorbike gloves for Vader's hands
- Of course, a large cardboard box
- Lots of duct tape and various wood pieces, in order to fix Vader and the oars in the box
A first try was made by my wife and me. It failed miserably: holding everything in place was too hard for the two of us. Fortunately, we were supposed to visit my parents this week, so I charged the car with all that stuff and took everything there.
My parents were very kind, and accepted to help us. In fact, I believe they found it quite funny too ;) That second try went much better: my dad was holding one of the 4 meter vertical bar (left side), while my wife and my mum were holding the other one (right side). I believe I had the easiest task with my camera taking photos: the structure proved to be heavy, as the podracer was pulling it towards the middle. The wind was also an enemy, but in the end we managed to get a few good shots. Back at home, I quickly processed one of them (by cloning out the fishing lines and adjusting the colors a bit), and that was it. I won't hide that I am very happy about the result.
A big special thanks to my wife and my parents for their great help.
Of course, thanks a lot for the nice votes and comments, they are are really motivating :)
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Place: 2 out of 41 Avg (all users): 7.2710 Avg (commenters): 8.3125 Avg (participants): 7.0690 Avg (non-participants): 7.3462 Views since voting: 3883 Views during voting: 366 Votes: 107 Comments: 44 Favorites: 3 (view)
It took me forever to realize that the contraption you built was large enough to suspend this and be off-camera! I'm always overwhelmed by the amount of thought and work you put into your images. And it clearly shows. Charming, whimsical image, too.
Ha! Reminded me of your skating snail :-). Brilliant image, congrats!
Anyway... my story was that he went back to Tatooine only to find how everything has changed... pod racers sold for scrap metal, the track used for agriculture. A cardboard box and a touch of the Force did the job, for old times' sake :).
Here's a video I think you will like.
Don't know how to vote on this one at the moment (though I am very much a Stars Wars Fan and find this well done). I find my time is occupied more with the mechanics of the shot in that I am trying to figure out how you managed to pull it off in Advanced. Hmmm. O.k. perspective and angle is working for you here on this one. My best educated guess is that there is a contraption hidden behind the box & in the field; a platform that allows Vader to sit in that box making it look like it is floating above the fields. I'd go further in that the cardboard box is attached to that seat platform but maybe a few inches below it so that it can more effectively hide the contraption that allows Vader to paddle in the box. Angle helps to hide and give this illusion:-)
The Dark Side of the Financial Crisis
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