Welcome back the construction/production blog of Joe Carabeo and Brian Sarvis’s newest feature film. A lot of hard work has gone on so far and it’s Friday, so what better way to take a break then to have a look at the photo sessions that have been going on to decorate the walls of the diner.
This weeks model is a favorite of my mine to work with, her name is Atilla.
Atilla thought it would be cool to do something inspired by the french new wave looks, a la Breathless. Funny, because I love that movie and I was thinking the same exact thing. I think that’s why we work well together.
So here are some samples from that shoot. It’s a good example of what happens when we both put our brains together.
There are more, but I thought I’d save it for a rainy day.
I think you should check out all those pages, they’re a blast…
So the last time you tuned in we were in the process of making a new chalk board/ black board, whatever we end up calling it. The only hassle is that we have to wait a long time for it to dry. So…What else can we do while we lay a bunch of heavy things on the frame as it glues it self together?
Well…
I guess I could always touch up some stain…
I guess, I could also paint the door blue…
Sweep the floor…
So then fast forward a few hours and now it’s dry!
But of course there has to be some sort of problem. It wouldn’t be us if there wasn’t drama. And the drama was…
The frame was too small…
When I mean small, I mean that the actually board behind the frame that we glued it on to, did not totally match up perfectly like how the other chalk board did.
DRATS!
So, with some quick thinking, and Hollywood magic, we decided that we’d just paint the excess the same color blue as the wall that it would be hanging on.
BELOW – Carolyn nails the details.
BELOW – And there you have it! Does it match??? We think so, problem averted. It’s Hollywood right? We’re not gonna be living in the diner.
High fives to everyone.
BELOW – So, by now you know that we’ve started to move forward with the photo shoots for the walls of the diner.
We’ll this tiger clock thingy is the first thing to be hung up.
I know there’s a story to it, but just look at it!
Does it really need a story???
Tune in next episode as you get another peak at the diner photo shoots. That might leave you breathless…
Hello everybody, Welcome to the construction/production blog of the Brian Sarvis and Joe Carabeo’s next feature film, Help Wanted (Or whatever name it will become)
As we contemplate what the name will be. The 1/2 of the hosts for the lovable riot, The Carolyn and Joe Show, tells a very interesting story about names that she heard from thedollarbin.net
Welcome back to the construction blog of Brian Sarvis and Joe Carabeo’s newest feature film, Help Wanted (Working title)
I’m gonna keep it real simple for this post.
Here’s is our diner set.
Of course it needs some decorations and some dressing to make it complete, but there is still something very off about it. We looked back at the photos that we’ve had on this blog (which has now become a picture reference for us) and decided that we don’t really like the aluminum in the background.
It was a half punch so to speak and we wanted a full punch. We felt that if weren’t gonna have a full back wall of shiny aluminum, that maybe we shouldn’t have that one piece of aluminum there at all. It was sorta of a tease.
So we decided to tear that sucker down and put up a matching chalk board.
VIDEO – Brian scrapping away at the left over glue.
We’re very happy with the waythey turned out. But now it’s time to get to finishing up some unfinished business, like doors all types of doors.
First, we had to install the fake cabinet doors that would be placed on the fake cabinets by basically screwing them in from the back of the cabinet that doesn’t even exist.
Once these were screwed in and secure, the Hollywood cabinets would then be leaned against the back wall with the hopes of someone, someday, attempt to open them and become frustrated.
Now it was time to have at the main door.
Our goal was to have a double swinging door. So the first thing that needed to happen was strip everything off that stopped that from happen for us.
While we were in the area, Brian and I also decided it would be the perfect time to start creating the illusion of our kitchen. Which first meant that we have to block out the windows. So that’s what we did.
Once all that was done, it was time to take a journey back to our “favorite” place on earth, Lowe’s.
Time for some door shopping.
Just like everything else, this is where the trouble starts. We thought, ” OH yeah. They’ll have all the doors in the world for us to choose from”. So not the case. After taking the measurements of the doorway that were dealing with and then going to the store. We found out the hard way that there’s no such door with our measurements. This then lead the discussion of, “Maybe we should saw the door” or “Maybe we should just keep looking on other places”. As fun as all those options were, if we were to keep looking we would lose lots of time and possibly still not end up with something that we could use. But if we were to cut the door, Joe’s skills will be truly put to the test for cutting a completely straight line with a table saw. Both risking money and time in the process. So, of course, the executive decision was for Joe to put everything on the line. No risk no gain, right?
So there’s the door. One of the biggest concerns that we had was that our door would be hallow on the inside. If this was true, when Joe trims the edges of the door, the door would then reveal to have just a big hole in the inside because the door is not solid wood, but pieced together. Making the door completely unusable. Lets find out the hard way.
First thing, lets see if this door fits.
Of course it doesn’t. So now it’s time to begin the trimming.
Welcome back to the Construction/ Production Blog of Joe Carabeo and Brian Sarvis’s newest feature film, HELP WANTED (working title)
On this particular post, we’re gonna try something different.
At a time during the construction of the set, Joe Carabeo took a trip to the west coast. He said it was a much needed break away from work since he hasn’t stopped working constantly since 2005, doing whatever it is he does. But ether way he went on a trip to the west coast while something special was being set up at the diner set.
BUT during that trip, Joe found inspiration galore for the construction and set dressing of the diner, and it just had to be shared. During that trip Joe visited as many diners as he possibly could. Sounds like even though he’s supposed to be on a vacation he still found a way to work. The images below were all gathered from the west coast trip. What you’ll see are images that you will find to be the key inspirations for certain elements, look and tone for the Help Wanted diner, Roxy’s.
Of course not everything is practical for being included into the set design, like Mel’s Diner from LA. It looks great, but it just won’t work. But we wanted to show it off anyway. But something huge that Joe found on his trip was Peggy Sues. Peggy Sues was a restaurant that Joe stumbled upon while driving from Las Vegas to LA. In Joe’s mind, the whole layout of the decorations in Peggy Sues was exactly what he was looking for. From the photography to the actual placement of the photography, it was perfect. Peggy Sues was also located out in the middle of no where, very similar to how Roxy’s, the diner in Help Wanted is located.
There were also other amazing places that Joe found while driving on the historic Route 66, like Emma Jean’s truck stop, which was another great small diner, an antique place that would serve as the inspiration for the sign construction and also a Route 66 stop that had the greatest mens bathroom ever. Joe just had to take a picture of himself in the middle of it. Some how he even ended up in Radiator springs.
So enjoy the images and we’ll be back to the norm at the next post where something electrifying happens.
Hello again, welcome back to the adventures of Brian Sarvis and Joe Carabeo, as they try to get their feature film (Working Title) Help Wanted, made. Right now we’re at the construction stage. A lot has been done so far, but now our heroes must deal with the winter cold, lack of electricity, dying spirits and now…
a broken boom box.
Besides that, everything is coming together with hard work and inspiration.
But on this day, a deal was struck.
Electricity is coming!
Now it’s time to clear everything that didn’t need to be there , so that in the process of the electricity coming through, we don’t set the whole place on fire. Just in case.
So it’s time to clean up.
Good bye to all of our fine art.
Below – Where did these pans come from?
Below – This is how the cabinets will look like, but imagine it sitting up.
Below – Another view next to our blue corner.
It’s time to get that chalk board up. We start by places the braces.
Then Brian lays in the final touches, cleaning up little sections of glue.
And up it goes!
Not bad.
I can’t wait till there’s electricy, then we can put the over head lights in.
Anyone want to buy some stools, they really are for sale. Just contact us or leave a message below.
Below – The chalk board.
I also can’t wait for the set dressing to come in and really make this place a full character.
Below – The on lookers
Below – The look of the diner with the sun coming in.
A lot is gonna happen in these booths. Watch and see.
You’re not gonna believe this, but chalkboards don’t exist any more.
How do we know? Well, basically we thought that the task of buying a chalk board was gonna be the easiest step for us. Nope. We searched in ever single store that we could drive to, in the normal driving vicinity, and guess what? They were no where to be found. We couldn’t find chalkboards anywhere. Ether that, or we really are in the middle of no where.
But in truth, it’s hard believe that in this day and age chalkboards do NOT exist.
So we found us a sink instead.
But back to the chalk board.
So basically what had to happen is the same exact process that seemed to happen with everything on this project.
We had to make it ourselves.
Below – Brian creates the frame for the what would be the size of the chalk board, which is gonna be placed on the wall as our menu.
With that frame done, it was now time to make the black board section of our chalk board. It amazed me that you can really just buy the material for a chalk board and lay it down anywhere, then boom, you have a place to write with chalk.
Below – Brian lays down the black of the black board.
At the same that Brian was putting the works on the chalk board, it was also time we finished up the cabinet doors that were gonna be placed on the back counter. This would be another bit of fakery for the sake of movie making, because there is not gonna be any cabinet’s, just the door. But these doors needed color though. So what batter color than the awesome blue that we’ve been rocking the whole time.
Below – Brian has finished the black board section of the chalk board.
Below – The back cabinets getting their coat.
Below – The cabinet doors with their new coat of blue.
Below – The doors now with their knobs.
And now it’s dark outside.
Which means its time to stop working cause we can’t see, and it’s very cold at night time.
Below- Our only warmth is this working light.
It’s so nice.
Tune in next time as there’s a possibility that our hair styles will change even more!
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