u/jessetaylorsmith

Heya everyone!
Wanted to share a look at the madness behind shooting the video for Grayson Gilmour’s "Minus Times Infinity". See the process / result here

I built a massive, physical animatronic dragon puppet (we named him Boris) and we hauled him out into dense, remote Australian forest alongside a Soviet-era Kinor 16mm camera.
Shooting a massive, heavy puppet in the actual elements under a thick forest canopy on Eastman Kodak 100D was an absolute trip ha. The Kinor's is heavy as hell but pretty robust … I know cause I dropped the thing at least once.

The crunchy grain of the 100D captured the mud, the scales, and the forest texture beautifully.

Would love to hear from anyone else who still shoots practical puppets or physical builds on film. How did you deal with the logistic? Why do we make everything so hard for ourselves lol.

Heya everyone, wanted to share the build behind Boris, the animatronic dragon I made for Grayson Gilmour's "Minus Times Infinity" music video. The whole thing was hand-built and and most of it came together with hardware-store materials and recycled bits... (it is a bit silly looking but that was part of it). See it in motion here.

The eyes were the most fun part, remote-controlled using the little servo motors pulled out of a cheap RC toy car. I could operate them live on set from a few metres away. My next build will have more face movement.. a snarl would of been nice.. but I learn as I do..

The skin was bathroom sealant mixed with green dye, layered over the form. The sealant gave it this incredible reptilian shine and texture once it cured, that finishing was what I was most happy with... and it held up to mud and rain on location.

The rest of the mechanics were super old-school springs and pulleys (laid out in the schematic I've included). Two operators worked inside the body to drive the larger movements. Again, it is pretty lurchy and limited.. but that is kinda part of the vibe for me..

The smoke from his mouth was an emergency marine flare. Worked beautifully on camera. Slightly less beautifully when we realised the smoke column was visible above the tree canopy from a long way off (obvious in hindsight) but lucky no one called in a rescue mission.

Happy to answer questions about any part of the build and would especially love to hear from anyone else doing practical creature work on a budget..

Heya everyone, I wanted to share a look at the madness behind shooting the video for Grayson Gilmour's "Minus Times Infinity" .. I built a massive, fully physical animatronic dragon puppet (we named him Boris) and hauled him deep into dense, remote Australian forest to shoot the whole thing for real.
I don’t think Game of thrones is contacting me anytime soon, but I love how silly he looks. He ended up being about the size of a small car, operated by 2 people inside.. Building a creature this scale and then actually getting him to perform in the actual elements was an absolute trip. The forest swallowed him up in the best possible way. Anyway… I thought you might appreciate Borris 🐉

Heya everyone,
Wanted to share a look at the madness behind shooting the video for Grayson Gilmour’s "Minus Times Infinity".

See the process / result here

I built a massive, physical animatronic dragon puppet (we named him Boris) and we hauled him out into dense, remote Australian forest alongside a Soviet-era Kinor 16mm camera.
Shooting a massive, heavy puppet in the actual elements under a thick forest canopy on Eastman Kodak 100D was an absolute trip ha. The Kinor's is heavy as hell but pretty robust … I know cause I dropped the thing at least once.

The crunchy grain of the 100D captured the mud, the scales, and the forest texture beautifully.

Would love to hear from anyone else who still shoots practical puppets or physical builds on 16mm. How did you deal with the logistic? Why do we make everything so hard for ourselves lol.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a look at the madness behind shooting the video for Grayson Gilmour’s "Minus Times Infinity". I built a massive, physical animatronic dragon puppet (we named him Boris) and we hauled him out into dense, remote Australian forest alongside a Soviet-era Kinor 16mm camera.

See the process / result here

Shooting a massive, heavy puppet in the actual elements under a thick forest canopy on Eastman Kodak 100D was an absolute trip ha. The Kinor's is heavy as hell but pretty robust … I know cause I dropped the thing at least once.

The crunchy grain of the 100D captured the mud, the scales, and the forest texture beautifully.

Would love to hear from anyone else who still shoots practical puppets or physical builds on 16mm. How did you deal with the logistic? Also.. why do we make everything so hard for ourselves lol.

We took a Soviet-era Kinor 16mm out into the remote Australian bush to shoot a medieval showdown for Grayson Gilmour’s "Minus Times Infinity".
The premise centered on a massive, fully handmade animatronic dragon puppet that I built.

Here is some of the footage

Has anyone shot with the Kinor before?

It is crystal sync and electric but has the feel and robustness as the K3. I had a 400ft mag fail on me on location tho, which was a reeeeal drag…

Would love to hear from anyone who has used this rare(ish) camera before

Thought some of you might be interested..

I shot this music video on a Soviet Kinor 16mm on Kodak 100D in a remote Australian forest for Grayson Gilmour's "Minus Times Infinity".

Here is a little process clip and a quick edit

The star of the show is a massive, handmade practical dragon puppet I built for the video. Wrangling a giant physical creature (about the size of a small car) through the dense bush while operating a vintage Soviet camera was a nightmare, but the way real film emulsion captures physical materials, light, and shadow makes the hustle completely worth it… like Game of Thrones is not calling but I’m kind of into how ‘school play’ the dragon looks.

Heya everyone,
Wanted to share a look at the madness behind shooting the video for Grayson Gilmour’s "Minus Times Infinity". I built a massive, physical animatronic dragon puppet (we named him Boris) and we hauled him out into dense, remote Australian forest alongside a Soviet-era Kinor 16mm camera.
Shooting a massive, heavy puppet in the actual elements under a thick forest canopy on Eastman Kodak 100D was an absolute trip ha. The Kinor's is heavy as hell but pretty robust … I know cause I dropped the thing at least once.

See the process / result here

The crunchy grain of the 100D captured the mud, the scales, and the forest texture beautifully.
Check out the clip / breakdown

Would love to hear from anyone else who still shoots practical puppets or physical builds on 16mm. How did you deal with the logistic? Why do we make everything so hard for ourselves lol.