As seen at STAR WARS CELEBRATION VII • BESPIN CLOUD CITY DIORAMA BUILDERS
Anaheim, CA, USA from April 16 to 19 2015
pre production Celebration VII WEDNESDAY FINAL SET UP
Welcome to the OFFICIAL Star Wars Celebration VII Bespin Cloud City Diorama Builders workshop site featuring my EXCLUSIVE CREW COVERAGE not seen anywhere else on the web.
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Wednesday, April 15 2015
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The BIG DAY !!! 24 hours before the public arrives and always a MAD DASH to the finish line, no matter how prepared we are, every year seems to be the same no exception LOL. So you want to see what we do the DAY BEFORE THE SHOW ? Sit back and enjoy my photos…
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- Waking up in the morning full of energy, sun is out, quick hotel breakfast, then we have ONE DAY to set up before the convention starts. Let the fun begin.
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- Arriving through the rear of the convention center, open the bay doors at the loading dock.
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- One of the coolest things behind the scenes is walking around before the fans do. We get to see the anticipation and panic of everyone getting ready for the big day tomorrow. Some areas like this at the main entrance is a ghosttown today but will be full of thousands waiting in queue tomorrow.
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- See the Hasbro sign, getting close.
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- Here we are, side by side with Hasbro and next to Battlefront.
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- So many boxes and tasks to do before they kick us out at 10 pm tonight.
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- Staff selfie !!! Jamie AKA Sillof arrives. My right hand man, with me since Celebration 2 !!! Well he was just a fan building at that show, but we hit it off and he's been helping me with EVERY Celebration ever since. This year were doing a test of offering custom classes inside the workshop. Hopefully fans will want to sign up and learn from the master himself.
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- Supplies suplies... we got lots of art supplies to sort. I hope we have enough Foamies 🙂
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- Placing the time lapse cameras to capture our crazy day of running around. I wonder what Alissa was telling Mark ? Looks like she was teaching him how to throw some basketballs 😛
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- Alissa preparing to cut the kids Hasbro daily toy draw winning colors. Hmmm, does this phrase make sense ? LOL. Each day, kids picked a color disc and if their color choice matched the winning color card (in Alissa's hands) then they would win MINT Carded Hasbro Donated Toys. VERY COOL.
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- Checking out the rools of decals and posters from the printers.
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- A special visitor walking by the booth this morning 🙂
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- I just HAD to show him the Sabine CUSTOM Tie Fighter we did for the show. He was very impressed.
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- Time to attack all these TOY donations !!! Is it Christmas ? My Birthday ? no it's Celebration !!!
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- Opening up the boxes, It's great to get some mint on card donations, but we OPEN EVERYTHING, ALL goes into the diorama display and all gets given to the kids after the show.
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- Bobby is that a 2nd Shuttle ? WOW.
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- Wow a WHOLE BOX just full of UGNAUGHTS !!! I got a lot of these on ebay but at least 30 were fan donations. Did I say that Star Wars fans are THE BEST yet ?
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- Some figures that will be FREED of their prisons real soon 🙂
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- So MANY toys !!! This is one of the most important part of the Celebration Diorama Workshops. Without Fan and Hasbro toy donations, there would be NO characters in the diorama which would look really foolish, they truly bring the fans creations to life and turn it into the movie scenes we all remember and love. So THANK YOU to ALL who have sent in figures to us this year. You are THE BEST.
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- Duke, Matt and Brent working hard seperating the toys into groups so we know how many extra missing characters we may need to go purchase from the dealers.
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- Sorting out more material supplies.
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- Even more art supplies to inventory. Glue for the yound kids, safer then hot glue, and doesn't melt the foamie sheets.
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- The hardest part for me of planning these shows is the math game... when buying at home it's simple to go shopping, but when you have to think of hundreds of people, just how much to get , too much or not enough. I just hate that part. I should have paid attention in math class ;p
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- Got these Mini LED battery lightstrips at crazy cheap prize on amazon. Using batteries, we didn't need to worry about finding enough power outlets in the Hasbro booth where the Diorama will be assembled and displayed.
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- Giant corrugated rolls of cardboard for the torture and boiler room levels. We eventually will be using these as well for the skins of some of the city skyscrapers. Everyone should keep some in the art supplies at home. It looks amazing when painted.
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- My man Duke pulling more foamies out of boxes and placing them on the tables.
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- Jamie was able to get AVES to sponsor the Custom Master Classes and in doing so sent some amazing tubs of Apoxie sculp that he swears is the BEST thing out there.
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- Aves also gave a FULL BOX of sample sizes to give away to every fan coming for a master class. This is just AMAZING !!! Who doesn't love FREE art supplies to bring home.
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- We got FOAMCORE or FOAMBOARD depending on what country or city you are from. Calculating how many sheets we need is a headache that drives me batty since every convention is different.
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- After months of emails and phone calls (planning the first ever official side by side partnering of Diorama Workshop and Hasbro booths) I finally get to meet Hasbro's Aditi in person. She is MUCH taller, it's a GoPro illusion I swear 😀
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- Figures aren't the ONLY thing fans donate for a good cause (EVERY toy is placed inside the display and EVERY toy in that display is brought home with the kids who built the display. WIN WIN situation 🙂 This year we need cloud cars, Xwing, Slave 1 and look, we got 2 shuttles !!! One from Hasbro and one from Fan Figure Fund donation.
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- I don't even have these beauties in my collection.
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- Seeing Dayton Allen's (Thank you AGAIN so much for doing this) resin mini cloud cars in person just made me smile. This is SO cool to have and the kids will have fun painting them for their landing platforms.
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- Ahhhh, found the boxes of our CREW T-Shirt Bespin Workshop giveaways. 20 a day for the 4 days. Doesn't seem like much, but makes them all that more special. DON'T EBAY your winning shirts !!!! 😛
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- Setting up tables to make our War Room. A little private getaway for chats, eating, computers and hiding LOL.
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- Aditi and I going through final details of where the Diorama will be displayed in the Hasbro booth.
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- By the end of the weekend, Bespin fan built diorama will take over the ENTIRE floor space that you now see covered in white plastic.
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- Back at the workshop, I finally get to meet Bobby. New to the Diorama Workshop staff, Bobby was instrumental to the success of the show. As a local, he allowed us to ship all materials bought and toy donation to his home. He also spent most of the morning yesterday loading the rental truck with Duke and bringing it all to the convention center. Plus he makes dioramas at home 🙂 Maybe YOU will be joining the staff next Celebration, after all, the entire crew is made up from former builders who had so much fun they wanted to switch it up and help out in the fun.
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- Alissa asking me what needs to be done next. Notice her AWESOME Celebration V T-Shirt 🙂
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- Always smiling Richard A, who is my lifeline with Lucasfilm during the show. It's always fun to finally chat face to face after weeks and moths of emails.
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- Alissa letting Richard know we are missing 16 tables. No worries, I know he will come through for us.
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- These are the templates for the ceilings. I created them so that the halls be as movie accurate as can be, however you will see during the weeks following photos, no one really took the time to do this. We just ran out of time in the end to explain to everyone how to apply them and cut them out.
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- What is this ? A HUGE box of DROID BUILDERS giveaways !!! Our good friend of the workshop and one of our biggest supporters all these years, Hasbro's Derryl DePriest found these for us. ALL that was left in the warehouse was sent for us to giveaway to the kids as they entered the workshop.
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- Mark is mounting the AVES sponsored thank you mini posters to foamboard for Jamie's Custom Figure Master Classes.
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- Had fun designing these just 2 days before leaving for California. Diorama Workshop IS FUN but you have to be CAUTIOUS, working with Art Supplies and tools in the wrong way could lead to injury. PLAY SAFE !!!
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- Here is a view of the templates I was able to bring in my suitcases. Thank god I brought these because we didn't have any spare time to build them in the day. Even with these, we were behind in showing fans what to make Day 1. Did I tell you there's always hickups when creating Celebration Workshops 😛 It's part of the stress but also the fun of it all that makes me return every time.
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- As organized as I think I am, there are ALWAYS last minute purchases that we need. Just a few items to go buy tonight after the setup.
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- Scott trying to understand what I am trying to say about the details I didn't have time to do for the Torture Rooms. I tend to ramble and talk too much 🙂
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- Thank GOD for Scott's knowledge of math skills. He was able to figure out in less then 5 minutes how to design and calculate the size of the ceiling grid spacers.
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- Scott is now measuring the ceiling templates. He's got this.
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- Jamie and I trying to figure out the size that the Carbon Chamber should be in order to fit within the city fan builds.
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- We know the size of the Carbon Floor, so we just need to calculate how much space on each side would be needed for the stairs and ceiling supports.
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- Checking the floor plan on the laptop. Yep, That's where the sink goes 🙂
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- Yes !!!! We got our sink !!!
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- Nice shot 60's Batman style of our Entrance Registration sign. I should have asked to keep this after the show. Dang I forgot 🙁
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- Chatting with Jamie and one of the head of Freeman's team on what is missing as per tables and chairs. Sink installed, Banners, we're all good to go.
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- Yes !!!! We got our missing tables. Now we need to bring some to hasbro's booth and the rest inside for our prototype displays.
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- Duke and I bringing some of the extra tables into the Hasbro Booth.
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- Tables are now 4 rows deep on the Hasbro booth floor. We can see in person just how HUGE this Bespin city is going to be. It's one thing to write 32 feet on paper but when you see it - Holy Smokes !!!
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- Mark giving me the finger... oh wait - phew... it's the wrong finger, he was just picking his nose 😛 Hard at work mounting and cutting out the Identification signs so the fans know what options they have to build during the show.
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- Close up of the identification signs. As you can see, there are builds for ALL ages, adults and padawans 🙂
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- Looking through the blueprint designs I did back home. This 1/4 corner iconic hallway may have to be scraped. It's so complicated and I haven't time to finish the calculations today. No worries though, it WILL be on site for you to build at home.
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- You know it's bad when you don't understand your own handwriting LOL
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- In the war room going through the blueprints instructions. Without these, we would have to verbally explain to the fans over and over how to make their halls and skyscrapers.
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- Thankfully Alissa had the brilliant idea to buy a cheap 100$ printer on amazon and have it delivered to Bobby's house. Now we can print any last minute items as we need them.
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- First five builds are printed and ready for tomorrow's crowd. Here I am explaining to the gang how many foamboard pre-cut pieces we will need for each build.
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- Staff Selfie: FINALLY !!! Chris J and family arrive in the middle of the day. Chris has been building dioramas in the workshop since C3 and bugging me (I say this lovingly of course) to oficcialy join the team since C4. Chris and his wife Dennisse are awesome and it's been cool to see his kids grow up with us during the 9 years we've known each other.
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- Staff Selfie - Yay, Chris's daughter Alyssa with a Y arrives at the show. I remember just like yesterday, she was walking on tables placing AT-AT's on the Hoth Diorama at C5 when she was 10.
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- Put her STRAIGHT TO WORK !!! 🙂 Alyssa doing a great job at precutting HUNDREDS of Foamboards for the fans. Since we are stacking the halls on 4 levels, we need very precise cuts for it to not topple all over the place.
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- Frank, what is this ? No it's NOT Spiderman's web 🙂 It's the floor pattern for the center room's floor tile details. Again, these designs will be available for the home builder here on site and easier to follow when you have more time to build and go into smaller precision movie accurate details. It just clicked this convention, took me 13 years LOL that the kids just want to build and have fun, they don't care if it is 100% movie accurate. That we can do if we chose to go that route when building at home.
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- CAPTION CONTEST LOL. Alissa, Duke and Jamie staring at me like poor deer in headlights. I must be saying something super smart as always ;p OR I'm just talking and talking and talking panic nonsense 😛
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- Scott starts to iron on our CREW PATHCHES onto the baseball caps. Every staffer will have one for easier identification, BUT we also are giving some away as thank you's for the special fans who help us around shop during the weekend.
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- Over at the hasbro booth, one table gap for the time being so that we can see Hasbro's HUGE Under Construction sign.
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- Unrolling the massive 32 feet banner explaining to fans just what is going on this year and how hasbro and DioramaWorkshop.com are working together for the first time together at the show.
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- The banner I designed fits perfect but we decide to keep it on the TOP of the tables, where it maybe easier to see and read then on the sides as originally planned because passers by's legs would block the signage and no one would be able to read what it's all about.
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- Almost 3pm I think it's time for a food break. What's easiest and the tradition on set up day ? Pizza of course 🙂
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- Chris starts to unroll the Vader Father Core decal sheet. I am putting him to task of building the GIANT BOX that will be displaying the Core balcony and catwalk builds. Hopefully Chris can have this done in 1 day or 2 so we can have a place to put the weather vane when completed.
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- Mark starts to unroll the banner of the Bespin Reference Wall. These screen grabs will help the fans see what the actual halls and rooms looked like to help with their builds.
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- Hanging the Bespin Reference Wall was a little more chalenging then anticipated.
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- Because of it's size and weight, it kept folding and creasing onto itself. In the end we needed 5 people to come hold it as Bobby attached the clips at the top of the poles.
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- Mark trying to move the clamps to remove the huge folds in the banner.
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- Snapping the banner to the support post looks easier then you think. Getting rid of the folds is a pain in the butt.
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- Looking amazing, the images are big enough to see details.
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- Plus on the last day, we will cut up the panels and sign them and exchange them with each other and fans for a cool Celebration experience souvenir.
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- Mark is so thrilled with the Bespin Reference Wall banner that he insists it's HI FIVE time 🙂
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- Alissa not wanting to be left out insists on a FIST PUMP 😛
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- Jamie's space for his Custom Master Classes is set up. This is the first time we are doing this and excited to see what the fan response will be.
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- One of the last things for ME to do personally before fans arrive tomorrow, is to create some cardboard templates for people to use and cut out their Foamies wall detail frames.
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- The 2 sizes fit against each other and create a bevel movie accurate look. However, these ended up being a little too difficult for kids to do and understand, so we had them only cut out ONE in the end. You will have the option to do this for your home build if you choose movie accuracy later on in the Workshop area of the site.
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- Before I decided this was too complicated for the kids, we were trying to figure out how to get the look and find a way to modify the designed height to fit on the shorter foamie sheets.
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- It's easy when building at home alone to buy 10 LARGE sheets, but when you have to buy 300 builds, it's best to try find ways to save a bit of money. So I got 9" packs vs 11" which caused me this problem of how to fit the template which was 11" Here I am cutting the template for the LARGE wall panels that will have the 3D sculpture textures you see in the film.
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- These Large template cutouts, were later scraped because we didn't have the proper foamie size and the cardboard just kept ripping being so fragile once the inside of the frame was cut out. You WILL be doing this option at home if you decide to using the instructions in the Workshop menus.
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- Time to cut some foamboard to make "X" shape support stands for the Carbon Freeze Ceiling.
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- Finally we have our shell. We found giant poster type yubes in a trash bin so we "borrowed" those 🙂 and cut them to height. We have our shell box, now we just need to BUILD the Carbon details that go inside.
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- Asking Scott if he could start building a rear hallway window prototype as an example to show the fans this particular build option.
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- Here I am explaining to Alissa how many of each hallway I originally calculated when designing the table layout. Since it has to fit inside Hasbro's booth, we must really stick to these numbers, or we will run out of space to put the builds.
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- And this is how they all connect together. At least in my brain, it's what I came up with 🙂 At home it will be the same principle but the depth maybe modified to fit on the size of your shelf displays.
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- Starting to wonder if I will have to modify the number of halls to give out to the fans as some designs still are missing prototypes and blueprints. Time is against us at every show. How is this possible when we always have MONTHS to plan. There are always last minute edits. Arghhhhh !!! 🙁
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- So long.... it's 9:30 pm and time to go have a late night dinner. Most is done with some minor template stuff for the morning. Since the JJ Star Wars trailer is being shown at 11, we wont have anyone show up until noon. So we get some extra hours so that we don't have to stay till 1 am like in past Celebrations. On the LEFT is the Diorama Workshop booth where all the construction will be, on the RIGHT, Hasbro's booth where the finished fan assembled builds will be stacked and displayed in a MEGA HUGE Bespin diorama.
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- Final closer look at our booth, Bespin Reference Wall in the back against our War Room, work tables in the center and right side. Lovely Banner on top. We are good to go.
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- SO proud of the design I did and how it looks hung up above the booth.
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- The day is almost over, Let's get a close up view of Hasbro's signage that is placed all around their booth. As a fan of the toys, it's super cool to see my site's logo on a Hasbro grahic 🙂
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- The full art that the hasbro artists created to go with the workshop. I wish I could have brought this home with me as a souvenir 🙁
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- Closer view of the Hasbro side, well their booth 🙂 Where the final Bespin display will be assembled. Finally after 6 Celebration Workshops, Hasbro partners with us officially. We are no longer the little train that could 😛 Playing in the Big Leagues now. But really, we are working the same magic we've been doing with the fans since 2002 😛
