Bringing Back Sci Fi Model Making
One of my all time passions is sculpture and scale model making; a hobby (or career for some) that has seemed to dwindle and die over the progressing years, especially in the film industry where C.G.I. seems to have taken over. It is an art style that has a very practical application and sets itself apart from conventional painting, drawing and so on, as you can create something in the three dimensional world. It is not as though there are no model kit companies out there, as there is still Airfix and Revel and their equal competition, yet it is more that no one uses skills beyond that which they used as a kid on that one old forgotten Spitfire or Sherman tank, instead of expanding talents on future model making such as "kit bashing" or "scratch building"--which are important to the movie world as well as for artistic appreciation.
I first noticed this problem when watching films from years ago in comparison to modern cinema. You have the classic Star Wars or Flash Gordon that used model spacecraft and practical effects, but as you look forward in time films begin to lose the quality of physical models to work with and start to use computer generated sprites (which were especially bad in the '90s)..
However modern films do still try, and I think one of the main reasons practical effects and models are still a thing in cinema is because the artists enjoy making the props so much, as well as the known benefits of something being there for the actors to respond to. It seems that an equilibrium is being made lately between C.G. and practical effects, as the directors start to see the benefits of both complimenting each other--something that Christopher Nolan has shown with Interstellar, or J.J Abrams with his rendition of Star Trek and the upcoming Star Wars.
The decline in model making is not just a problem in cinema, but as an art medium in general. Hobby suppliers these days seem to be lacking in variety for kits, with only the boring old planes, tanks, boats, etc. You hardly see any decent sci fi models without them being either the usual, pre-painted Star Wars things, or specialist kits that a beginner could never dream of affording.
The problems I see with this is that a smaller audience are seeing the benefit of model making, and the practical skills it gives. That one tank or plane you make as a child may open doorways to other ideas and may assist in giving better understanding into design and engineering, which, in a modern society, can be incredibly useful. And of course it helps as a fun hobby.
However modern films do still try, and I think one of the main reasons practical effects and models are still a thing in cinema is because the artists enjoy making the props so much, as well as the known benefits of something being there for the actors to respond to. It seems that an equilibrium is being made lately between C.G. and practical effects, as the directors start to see the benefits of both complimenting each other--something that Christopher Nolan has shown with Interstellar, or J.J Abrams with his rendition of Star Trek and the upcoming Star Wars.
The decline in model making is not just a problem in cinema, but as an art medium in general. Hobby suppliers these days seem to be lacking in variety for kits, with only the boring old planes, tanks, boats, etc. You hardly see any decent sci fi models without them being either the usual, pre-painted Star Wars things, or specialist kits that a beginner could never dream of affording.
The problems I see with this is that a smaller audience are seeing the benefit of model making, and the practical skills it gives. That one tank or plane you make as a child may open doorways to other ideas and may assist in giving better understanding into design and engineering, which, in a modern society, can be incredibly useful. And of course it helps as a fun hobby.
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