Slide Into the Void - Darling's 'Crazy Science Wall' (Patreon)

One of the many reasons 'Slide Into the Void' was a big project was that it was the first Stupendium video to feature a full live action set, custom built for the shoot. Darling's 'Crazy scientist wall' as we called it whilst shooting. I tried my best to replicate the set used in the game's actual live action cut-scenes. Unlike the earlier Darling scenes where I had painted the real Darling out of the game's footage and placed myself in his place, I wanted to have full and free control of the camera in this section, so the only choice was to build a real set.

Darling's 'Crazy scientist wall' as it appears in game.

I certainly could have shot the sequence on green screen and built the crazy office in After Effects, but for this scene in particular it wouldn't have worked so well. That can and has worked great when you want to create a large space for the character to stand in the middle of, but this scene had to feel cramped and intimate. I wanted that tactile look to the papers, the ability to go real crazy in there and not worry about causing too much motion blur to green screen myself convincingly.

So it was decided, this room we'd be doing for real.

This little blacked out corner of the studio we were filming in was perfect for the scene. I opted to create the scene in a corner as opposed to on a flat wall because the two walls coming towards the camera not only make the scene feel more tight and enclosed but also create the illusion that the scene continues further into the distance behind the camera.
The first thing we did was lug the two filing cabinets out of the disused office next door. They were full of nothing but empty ring binders (which came in very handy when dressing the set later on!) but they were still darned heavy!

With the cabinets roughly in place we hit the end of the work day and everyone went home.

...Except me. The studio had a sofa and we needed to begin filming at 9am sharp the next day. So I was there for the night to set up.
We had filmed the first half of the project, all of Trench's scenes, the day before on Tuesday. But the Wednesday the studio was booked by someone else, leaving me just the evening to set up for the Darling shoot on Thursday. So after Nick helped with the heavy lifting of the cabinets I was on my own!

I left to grab some food and set up some renders to leave going whilst I worked then returned at just before 10pm for a long night of paper sticking.

350 sheets of it!

The various papers were a mix. Online I found a bunch of the game's actual paperwork designs however they were the designs from the game's opening CG cut-scene, very finely detailed and not the most eye catching from a distance. Certainly not what was on the walls of the in-game set. So for variety my girlfriend Liz also stepped in and re-created many of the documents and diagrams you see on papers in game. The large hexagonal 'Hedron' diagrams and reams of text documents, ominous fuzzy black and white photographs. I also made a few schematic diagrams and forms to up the variety further.

We had to explain to the man at the print shop that the documents were designed to look poorly printed and that there wasn't an issue with their machine!

So, 10pm, 350 sheets of paper, two packets of blu-tac, a roll of tape and the whole night ahead of me. Let's go!

10:20pm - A slow start. I decided to work my way out from the middle to make sure I had enough papers to cover the most important parts of the scene.

11:00pm -  'It will probably only take about an hour to get all he papers up!' ...Individually placing papers one by one only a wall in an aesthetically pleasing a mess as possible turned out to be more of a task than I anticipated...

12:00am - Starting to see some decent coverage. Perhaps I was taking too much time deciding on exactly how much to crinkle each sheet for greatest textural variety...?

1:00am - A chair has joined my efforts in affixing the higher sheets. In some maddening act of self sabotage, I decide that there is actually enough paper to cover more walls than I initially planned. I move the cabinets to make more room for papers.

2:30am - The papering is complete. It's as high as I can reach when standing on a chair and as wide as will fill a wide angle camera lens. Madness has set in. My feet hurt from standing for so long. The cold chill of the concrete floor soothes a sore foot but only for so long before its hard surface also starts to become uncomfortable to stand on. I have taken to wearing only one shoe at a time.

3:00am - After a short break to regain some sanity I return to start dressing the set. Firstly with a generous helping of sticky-notes, then I begin to decant the filing cabinets of those ring binders I mentioned earlier.

The chair, for all of its help in sticking up the papers earlier, has earned a cameo.

3:30am - A bit of catharsis. I got to take a little revenge on all of those papers by going at the walls with red paint and marker pens for a while. Scribbling and doodling for added crazy. And of course the large 'P6' we see in game.

Technically in game everything is marker pen. But I took some creative license here. Red poster paint was far quicker and easier to use than scribbling the 'P6' over and over and over again in a fine red pen like it is in the game. I'd have been there for at least an hour and needed at least a dozen red markers! Besides, the paint got us a cool drippy effect.

4:00am - It is done. Six hours... SIX HOURS... I've scavenged any bits and pieces from around the studio I can to clutter the place up. Fire extinguishers, a dehumidifier, a heater, a massive metal storage case. I've scattered a bunch of the leftover papers around the floor and on top of things. We're done! The 'next day' when Nick returned we set about lighting the scene, but for now (for then?) it was time for sleep...

...Once I'd completed some other rendering jobs...