BODY CLOCK

THE BODY CLOCK

As apart of my University course I had to collaborate with the Newport film students, by acting as Production Designer for their final short film. The production I worked on was called The Body Clock, which is about an ageing clock maker and his battle to combat his ageing body, through applying his expertise in clock making to try and repair and improve his body and to prevent the issues old age is causing him. The film focuses on Colm’s weakening mental state and his ever growing confusion as he begins to lose his grasp on reality.

Sceen shot of Colm in the final stages of attaching the body clock.

One of the main component of the art department on this short film was the design and making of the body clock itself, as well as constructing other important props such as the waterclock. During my time on this short film there was also a lot of set dressing required on the 3 main locations that were used. The biggest location was the clock workshop where we had to strip most of the interior and redress it. We also had to create some flats to create a forth wall that could be removable for filming purposes. As well as juggling the preproduction roles during filming I had the role of stand by art director.

Screen shoot of Colm working in his workshop. on ideas for the body clock. Look at the wonderful set dressing! One of the hardest things with his main work space was continuity as a lot of props got moved around, and things changed depending on what part of the film we were filming. In the background you can also see the waterclock which was another important prop we had to design and build.

One prop I was in charge of creating was Colm's detailed sketch book/diary. Throughout the film he refers to this as he figures out the mechanisms for the body clock and writes down his personal medical notes.

I personally took charge in the designing and making of the body clock coponents. The main requirement was that there needed to be lots of tubes and had to somehow relate to the water clock. Below is the technical drawings of the body clock (drawings were also used in shot). A few last minute changes where made on the day including the main mechanism to be placed on the desk instead of attached to the back of the chair.

Technical drawings of the body clock used for filming.

Here is a series of pictures to show the development process of the chest piece which was the main component of the body clock. After studying clock mechanisms I started by drawing some concepts for the chest piece. The picture to the left shows the final idea. Afterwards I started creating a sketch model which various clock parts I had collected from various clock makers to work out measurements (picture of sketch model in the middle). The picture on the right is the final product before it was given to the makeup department who were is charge of attaching it to the body. It is mostly made of foam board painted to look like metal.

Here is a series of other pictures showing differenr parts of the development procress and during filming.