This shot was achieved by animating a puppet-scale car across 34 ft of tables and then compositing that animation into an 8 ft-deep scaled set.

The original vision for this shot was for the car to drive straight back in space, disappearing over the horizon. Due to the limitations of the space, we changed the plan, adding a curve in the road and something to obscure the car as it turns.

I worked out the plan for this shot through cardboard mock-ups. This included a plan for the camera to pass through the car. I started with the puppet-scale car set, then made the background set match the car set’s specifications for the space’s capabilities.

Construction

I started laying out the ground of the scales by mapping a plan that matches the curve of the cardboard mockup.

After I had the curve mapped out, I carved the road and the roadside from a 4’x8′ sheet of 2 1/2″ insulation foam. I separated it into three parts: the two sides of the road and the road.

After the parts had the shape I wanted, I glued them to an MDF and birch frame. Then I textured the road and shoulders with Durham’s water putty. To create the illusion of receding in space, I added more texture to the first portion of the model and tapered it off as it went back.

Then gave it a first pass at the paint.

I also carved the mountains out of pink insulation foam and covered them with Druham water putty to create a base texture.

As well as making the telephone pole and the first iteration of the firework stand.