The 12" ruler indicates the scale of the figures and the sets

 

Filming of more than one character gets slowed down because each figure has to be moved a touch for each shot.

 

Wear and tear on the characters becomes more evident the more they get moved

 

Sections of 2" aerobord were used as the base for the set

 

I sharpened some pencils at each end to join the sections of aeroboard together

 

The biggest bag of grass I ever saw

 

The procedure I used to fix grass to the aerobord

 

I fixed several bundles of grass at each side of the set to begin with

 

I taped over the joints before adding sand as a covering

 

I had considered just scattering sand over the surface but was having a problem with the masking tape over the joints coming loose and any sand getting underneath this would add to the problem

 

I then experimented with using PVA glue first on a small section. The glue also helped to stick the tape more securely

 

Although the joints are still obvious I will be shooting from a low angle and in the shots they aren't noticable

 

I decided to shoot the third scene before the second as I could adapt the existing set without dismantling it. this meant making the cubs. originally I was going to have eight but they were taking a lot more time than I'd expected to make, so I cut the number to six. I kept the armatures simpler as well as their legs would be shorter and I was counting on the thickness of clay on their legs to support them.

 

I cut grooves in bottle corks to take the armatures

 

The wire joints were glued as they were a bit loose

 

A layer of PVA glue over the surface of the aerobord worked well to secure the sand covering

 

The leg joints of the lions became so loose that the lions wouldn't stand up and had to be rebuilt using screws through eyelets added to the rawl plugs with glue

 

It took over a day to replace all the leg joints which was time I didn't really have to spare.

 

It took over two days to repair the lions and make the cubs, which was time I had scheduled for filming. I had planned to do all the filming over the Easter holidays and edit everything when I have all the footage

 

The characters in position for the opening shot of the third scene

 

With the bits of buffalo added

 

For some reason the red clay ends up pink on film. I'm hoping to darken this in after effects

 

I'm using this set again for scene one when the grass thins and we see the cubs playing in the clearing

 

I added some rocks and crumpled paper to build up the background

 

 

I'm also using part of this set for the opening shots of scene two. In fact by changing parts of it I think it should do for all the scenes