Cowboy Pepa

evet, maas olarak kukla alan bir ekibim var. karsinizda pepa bey ve minyaturu kovboy pepa. bir baska deyisle, kisiye ozel kuklada yeni donem! hehe :) 

yani isin asli su, fotograftaki western evi ve de kuklanin oturmakta oldugu sallanan sandalye tamamen pepa bey'in eseri. filmde de bizzat bunlarin sahibi olmak isteyince ortaya kovboy pepa cikti. ben de neden bu durumu film disina da tasimayayim dedim. yani bildiginiz sevdiginiz "kisiye ozel kukla"lari, bambaska kostumler ve temalar icinde dusunun. hediye sahibini en sevdigi film karakteri olarak mesela.. hmm?

yes, my crew take their wages as puppets. and here i present you pepa and his miniature puppet, cowboy pepa. in other words, a new era in custom made puppets!

well, the thing is, the western house and the rocking chair (the one cowboy pepa is sitting on) were all made by pepa. and he wanted to appear as the owner of all these in the film. so, cowboy pepa was born. and then i thought, why should this stay in the film? meaning, the custom made puppets will now be available in different themes and costumes. wouldn't a puppet as a character from the favorite film of the gift owner be wonderful? think about it ;)

(fotografa tiklayip kocaman halini incelemeyi unutmayin) (don't forget to click on the photo to have a closer look)

simdilik durum bu. haftaya kuklanin yakin plan fotograflarini da ekleyip detaylardan bahsetmeyi planliyorum, hatta kalin. filmin detaylari icin de surdan buyrun.

that'll be all for now. i'm planning to add some close-up photos of the puppet and talk about the technical details, stay tuned. and for more information about the film itself, please have a look here.

Pino

bir sey izlemeden (daha dogrusu dinlemeden) calisamama seklinde tezahur eden rezil aliskanligi gelistirmeye baslamam gecen sene bu zamanlara denk geliyor sanirim. haliyle de, adam gibi oturup ne duzgun bir film ne de televizyon izleyebilir hale geldim. filme yazik oluyor zira, televizyonumda da 4 kanal var biri slovak kanali, gerisi de cek. boylece el mahkum, dizilere verdim kendimi.

it was probably last year when i first started to develop this nasty habit of not being able to work without watching (or rather listening to) something. and since the main purpose is working, i can't really watch neither a good film nor tv. 'coz it's a shame to "watch" a good film without even looking at it, and my tv has four channels; one slovakian and the rest czech. so that's how i ended up watching almost all the tv series.

iste gecenlerde (gecenler derken, rahat bi 2 ayi var tabi) de boyle boyle diye bi arkadasla konusurken "ergo proxy" isimli animeyi onerdi kendileri. normalde, ki neden bilinmez, cok anime izlemiyorum aslinda ama israrlara dayanamayip basladim ergo proxy'ye. bir yandan da calisiyorum yine tabi (evet itiraf ediyorum, ingilizce dublajli izledim). dizinin ortalarina dogru, icimde bu pino karakterinin kukla/bebek/anahtarlik vs. herhangi bir seyini yapmaya yonelik akil almaz bir durtu olustu. hemen de yaptim ben de. lakin artik elim mi cok alismis nedir, tam da filmimin kuklalari skalasinda (a.k.a. 1/12) oldu minik hanim. boylece, hic hesapta yokken bir karakter daha eklemis oldum everland'e.

so, when we were talking with a friend of mine about life, universe and everything, he mentioned this anime called "ergo proxy". for whatever reason, i don't usually watch animes. but i couldn't resist the insistency for long and finally started to watch it. i was also working on puppets and stuff in the meantime. (yes, i admit. i watched it dubbed) but towards the middle of the serie, i had this incredibly strong urge to make a puppet/doll/key-chain/something of this pino character. and without even realizing, she happened to be in the exactly right scale for my film (which is 12th scale). so i found myself with a bonus inhabitant for everland.

bakiniz bu da minik hanimin orijinali.

and here is the original drawing of our little lady.

gelelim teknik detaylara. (yahu amma zaman gecmis kukla yazisi yazmayali, unutmusum valla. neyse) efenim, hanimefendinin kafasini polimer kilden yapip akrilik ile boyadim. govdesi tel iskeletten her zamanki gibi. percemi ham yunden. kostumu de keceden.

okay, moving on with the technical details. (wow, i haven't realized how long it's been since my last puppet post. i almost forgot how to write one. anyway) her head is made of polymer clay and painted with acrylics. body is basically a wire skeleton as usual. i used raw wool for the hair. and the costume is made of felt.

bu arada, belki film bitince dukkana neyin koyar satisa cikaririm. bilemiyorum simdilik tam.

by the way, i might put her up for sale after finishing the film. i'm not quite sure right now.

bakiniz ne kadar da minik.
(ya saka maka ne bicim de bitiremedim yaziyi. neyse, bu seferlik de boyle olsun artik. idare ediverin)

look how tiny she is.
(i really couldn't finish the post properly, could i? well what can you do, bear with me this time)

film isleri / film business

efenim malum, gunlerdir cekime yetismekti, mobilya tamamlamakti, kostum hazirlamaktir filan derken buralari epey bosladim. velhasil, setin ilk fotograflariyla karsinizdayim.

well, since i've been busy with the shooting, furniture, costuming and all, i just didn't have any time to take care of this place. however, here are the first making of photos from the set.

yukarida, yasini da goz onunde bulundurarak cekim planinda ilk gune koydugum ve surada bahsetmis oldugun hanimefendiyi ve oyunculuk yetenegini gorusyorsunuz. tabi mudahale bicimimden de anlasilacagi uzere oyunculuktu yetenekti filan hak getire kendisinde. dusununce bu kuklalarin hicbirinde zerre yetenek, ongoru vs yok ya, neyse.

remember this old lady that i was talking about here? so, considering her age and everything i put her scenes on the first days of shooting. and here in the photo above, you can see her and her acting talent, which is almost none by the way. actually, when i come to think about it, none of these puppets have even the slightest talent for that matter. but anyway..

burada da yasli hanimin ve yaslanmadan onceki (nam-i diger genc) halinin yasadigi evi goruyorsunuz. renk ayari bozukca oldugu icin bir onceki fotograftan cok daha sicak gorunuyor tabi. artik meshur olmus olan su tekli koltuk disinda her sey fena halde el yapimi bu arada.

and here is the place where the old lady and her version before getting old (aka young) lives. it looks way warmer than the previous photo, thanks to wrong-ish white balance settings. and by the way, everything visible here is painfully handmade (well except for the armchair, which is getting quite famous already)

veee ilk konusmali filmimin ilk konusmalarini yaptiran bendeniz. sanci dolu (yok be, keyifliydi aslinda) bir cekimin ardindan "bakalim nasil calisiyor" diye bakip, gercekten konusuyor olan kuklalari gordugumde yasadigim "hanim kos kos! cocuk konustu!" heyecani ise bambaskaymis cidden.

and me, working on the very first speakings of my very first speaking film. notwithstanding the long hours of shooting, the first moment of "omg! the baby is has spoken!" excitement after testing the footage with sound was just priceless.

[fotograflar via everland]

[photos via everland]

sneak peek - yasli kadin / old wife

evet efenim, sneek peak serimiZe ana karakterlerden biriyle devam ediyoruZ.

and we're continuing our sneak peaks with one of the main characters. yine tel iskelet uZerine polimer kil ve epoksi macunu. ekstradan boyun icin kuruduktan sonra da elastik kalabilen bir hamur kullanildi. iki set goZkapagi var, acik ve kapali. iki de agiZ yapmistim ama sonunda sadece bu hafif aralik olani kullanmaya karar verdim, rolu icabi.

she's constructed with polymer clay and epoxy putty over a wire armature, as usual. but i used a different kind of clay which can stay somewhat flexible after setting for the neck. she has two sets of eyelids; open and closed. i also made two mouths but decided to use this one only, considering her role in the film.
en Zorlayan coraplar oldu bu arada. toplu igneden hallice iki igne kullanarak ordum kendilerini. boylece orgu ormeyi de ogrenmis oldum :)

the hardest part was knitting the socks. i used two pins (they were a bit bigger than the usual pins) to knit them, meanwhile, i learned how to knit :)
bu arada koltugun da kaplamasini degistirecegim sanirim, turuncu-kiremit rengi agirlikli bir sey yapmayi dusunuyorum.

by the way, looks like i'll be changing the armchair's coat, to someting more orangish i guess. we'll see.

sneak peek - kafka

di mi kac Zamandir "film film film" diye sayiklayip duruyorum ama herhangi bir icraat paylastigim yok. efenim, gerek fotograf makinamla yasadigim bir takim sorunlar, gerek de sacma sapan calisma tempom sayesinde gunisigini bir turlu yakalayamam nedeniyle mumkun olmamisti simdiye kadar.
velhasil, bugunden itibaren bu gidise bir son veriyorum. hem Zaten artik hemen herseyin bir an once bitmis olmasi da gerekiyor, bir hafta kaldi saka maka cekime baslamama.

i know, i've been talking about that film business of mine all time for a while, yet i've never showed anything to prove its reality. but since i was having some problems with my camera and missing the daylight due to working during ridiculous hours, it just wasn't happening. until now.
starting today, i'm stopping this. i need to start getting everything ready real soon anyway. still feels unreal, but the actual shooting will be starting in one week.

ve iste karsiniZda kafka bey. filmde epey bir yan karakter olarak yer alacak kendileri masasi ve de sandalyesiyle birlikte. masa gerci dolu olacak tabi, kagitlar vs, ve bir de kirmiZi elma ile.

and i present you mr. kafka. he'll have a really small role in the film as a side character, with his desk and chair. well, the desk will be full though; with loads of papers and a red apple.
masa biraZ bilinci biraZ da kaZa eseri yimik oldu. ama yakisti bence ;)
masayi balsa ve bir takim tahta boncuklar kullanarak, sandalyeyi de yine balsa ve kurdan yardimiyla yaptim. kafka bey de klasik kuklalarim gibi tel iskelet uZerine epoksi macunu ve polimer kil kullanilarak yapildi. tek fark, ayaklarinin icinde somun olup stop motion'a yonelik olmasi.

the tabe is crooked, a bit intentionally and a bit accidentally, but think it suits this way :)
i used balsa wood and various wooden beads to construct the table. and made the chair using balsa wood and toothpicks. kafka himself, is just like my usual puppets, constructed over a wire armature with epoxy putty and polymer clay. the only difference in the nuts inside his feet, enabling him for animation.
kendileri 17 cm civarinda oldu. klasik minyatur skalasinda yani. isin asli, film bittikten sonra belki satabilirim diye dusunuyorum. ama bakalim, belli de olmaZ.

he measures about 17 cm, just about the siZe of a 12th scale miniature. actually, i'm kind of planning to sell him after the shooting. but we'll see, i'm not sure yet.