Hooper & Co Diorama

[Anglia105E]

This is the 1:24 Revell 1930 Bentley 4.5 Litre Blower, almost completed and photographed alongside the 1:24 Franklin Mint 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Sedanca de Ville........ the Phantom was one that I converted from a 1929 version diecast to represent the motor car that was owned by the great Fred Astaire, and finished in Brewster Green.

Some diorama setting photos will follow shortly, and the Bentley Blower is undergoing some finishing touches.

David

[Anglia105E]

Currently working on the assembly and painting of the 1:24 scale ICM figures, ' 1910 American Gasoline Loaders '....... there are two figures and three gasoline cans. Actually, in the box I found two sets of gasoline cans, as they had put in an extra sprue by mistake, so I can have six cans for the guys to load. These figures will be displayed in a diorama setting that features the Bedford OLB Dropside Lorry by EMHAR, and it will show these men loading or unloading petrol cans in a London street scene. The petrol cans for this scene will be flat red in colour, whereas the jerrycans that appear with the Bedford OLB Tanker are dark green in colour, as they are ex Army. The ICM figures are really good, and I probably have as many of these as Shapeways figures.

David

[Anglia105E]

Due to the corona-virus restrictions it is not possible for friends to view the scale model dioramas at my house, so I thought I would put together a short introduction to my project, in the form of a YouTube video presentation. Please excuse the dubious audio quality, and the shaky video camera work, but keep in mind this is the first video that I have ever produced in my life, and I am 66 years of age. Although the Hooper & Co project has been three and a half years in the making, this video presentation was put together and uploaded to YouTube within one week. This has probably been done much too quickly, and it is rather amateurish on the whole, but I do hope that the video gives you some idea of what this project is about.

This is not the finished version of the video presentation and others will follow, that will show the actual cars in more detail. My voice is not really suitable for the narrative I'm afraid, and maybe I should simply have music playing in the background throughout the video film, with perhaps a few bits of information as lettering on the screen. The music is from a Chinese film of ' Mulan ' as opposed to the Disney version, and it is the work of Stefanie Sun.

The link to the YouTube video appears at the bottom of this email message, and I hope that you can find at least some of the visuals interesting.... with my apologies for the poor audio content. 

https://youtu.be/H60gcSmndp4

The video is 11 minutes in length, and I hope you manage to see it through to the end.....

Many thanks,

David

[Anglia105E]

On 4/3/2020 at 1:10 PM, Anglia105E said:

Due to the corona-virus restrictions it is not possible for friends to view the scale model dioramas at my house, so I thought I would put together a short introduction to my project, in the form of a YouTube video presentation. Please excuse the dubious audio quality, and the shaky video camera work, but keep in mind this is the first video that I have ever produced in my life, and I am 66 years of age. Although the Hooper & Co project has been three and a half years in the making, this video presentation was put together and uploaded to YouTube within one week. This has probably been done much too quickly, and it is rather amateurish on the whole, but I do hope that the video gives you some idea of what this project is about.

This is not the finished version of the video presentation and others will follow, that will show the actual cars in more detail. My voice is not really suitable for the narrative I'm afraid, and maybe I should simply have music playing in the background throughout the video film, with perhaps a few bits of information as lettering on the screen. The music is from a Chinese film of ' Mulan ' as opposed to the Disney version, and it is the work of Stefanie Sun.

The link to the YouTube video appears at the bottom of this email message, and I hope that you can find at least some of the visuals interesting.... with my apologies for the poor audio content. 

https://youtu.be/H60gcSmndp4

The video is 11 minutes in length, and I hope you manage to see it through to the end.....

Many thanks,

David

Forgot to mention...... the following photograph in B&W is taken close up within the 1:43 scale diorama, and in this instance, the 1:24 scale Hooper building in the background does not appear out of scale....... another forum member has previously experimented with three different scale models, which I think he was able to display correctly in foreground, middle ground and background, so it can be done.

David

[Anglia105E]

I would politely suggest that you have a look at the 10 second video clip, before viewing the two photographs that follow.....

Harold Brown is standing on the corner of Duke's Road, waiting to cross over to the other side of Western Avenue, when the reckless driver of an Austin 7 motor car arrives on the scene at too great a speed. Losing control of his automobile, the reckless Austin 7 driver has abandoned the scene of the accident after he realises that he has knocked poor Harold down onto the ground. Fortunately for Harold, there is a London County Council ambulance waiting at the junction of Dukes's Road and Western Avenue....... The ambulance immediately turns onto Western Avenue and attends to Harold's injuries. This all happens in not much more than ten seconds and the bewildered Harold never saw the approaching Austin 7, until it was too late.

David

[Anglia105E]

1 minute ago, Anglia105E said:

I would politely suggest that you have a look at the 10 second video clip, before viewing the two photographs that follow.....

Harold Brown is standing on the corner of Duke's Road, waiting to cross over to the other side of Western Avenue, when the reckless driver of an Austin 7 motor car arrives on the scene at too great a speed. Losing control of his automobile, the reckless Austin 7 driver has abandoned the scene of the accident after he realises that he has knocked poor Harold down onto the ground. Fortunately for Harold, there is a London County Council ambulance waiting at the junction of Dukes's Road and Western Avenue....... The ambulance immediately turns onto Western Avenue and attends to Harold's injuries. This all happens in not much more than ten seconds and the bewildered Harold never saw the approaching Austin 7, until it was too late.

David

100_6730.MOV

Sorry, guys...... clicking on 100_6730.MOV is downloading the file, rather than playing the video file as I intended. Apologies for this mistake.

David

[landman]

Its OK, we can still watch it.

[Anglia105E]

14 minutes ago, landman said:

Its OK, we can still watch it.

Thanks, Pat.

David

[Anglia105E]

The 1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I has just been restored, as this model car had suffered some minor damage during transportation between exhibition venues. Here we see the car, which was the first Silver Cloud ever produced in 1955, parked outside the Hooper & Co showroom building sometime in 1958, with the original registration number plate ' UTU 486 '

David

[Anglia105E]

Work on the YouTube video presentation is now at an advanced stage, and I will shortly be able to post a video link on this forum topic. This part of the project is to show the Hooper & Co dioramas on YouTube, with background music and some text explaining what is being viewed on the screen. There was a delay while I was awaiting the delivery of an alternative video camera..... and sadly, this new video camera has fallen off the tripod yesterday, dropping onto a concrete floor from a height of at least 3 feet...... the video camera is damaged beyond repair, but it was only a cheap one from Ebay.

Moving forward today with an early start, and now using one of my two KODAK cameras on the large tripod. The video format is converted to .MP4 and the audio format is .MP3......... the idea is to make this video available to view on the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts Club website, so that members can see what would have been exhibited at the International Annual Show in June, as this event is now cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions of course. Currently working on test video number 10, which has been uploaded to YouTube but not yet published. Further testing is required before I am happy with the presentation.

David

[DonW]

15 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

Work on the YouTube video presentation is now at an advanced stage, and I will shortly be able to post a video link on this forum topic. This part of the project is to show the Hooper & Co dioramas on YouTube, with background music and some text explaining what is being viewed on the screen. There was a delay while I was awaiting the delivery of an alternative video camera..... and sadly, this new video camera has fallen off the tripod yesterday, dropping onto a concrete floor from a height of at least 3 feet...... the video camera is damaged beyond repair, but it was only a cheap one from Ebay.

Moving forward today with an early start, and now using one of my two KODAK cameras on the large tripod. The video format is converted to .MP4 and the audio format is .MP3......... the idea is to make this video available to view on the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts Club website, so that members can see what would have been exhibited at the International Annual Show in June, as this event is now cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions of course. Currently working on test video number 10, which has been uploaded to YouTube but not yet published. Further testing is required before I am happy with the presentation.

David

Sorry about your tripod disaster. Made me think of a scene from War of the Worlds....?

Thankfully it didn't land on the Hooper works.

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, DonW said:

Sorry about your tripod disaster. Made me think of a scene from War of the Worlds....?

Thankfully it didn't land on the Hooper works.

Thanks, Don...... yes, the scene from War of the Worlds.... I see why it would make you think of that! ? It could have been much worse, such as an expensive GoPro video camera !

David

[DonW]

20 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

Thanks, Don...... yes, the scene from War of the Worlds.... I see why it would make you think of that! ? It could have been much worse, such as an expensive GoPro video camera !

David

To go even more off topic - we saw Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros at Glastonbury - there was a massive overhead camera on a boom above the band, filming for the big screens around the stage, which kept getting closer and closer to Mr Strummer 'till in the end he picked up his 'mike stand and smashed the base into the lens. All the big screens fickered and went black...

He had warned them...

Still. looking forward to your presentation!

Cheers,

-Don.

[Anglia105E]

6 minutes ago, DonW said:

To go even more off topic - we saw Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros at Glastonbury - there was a massive overhead camera on a boom above the band, filming for the big screens around the stage, which kept getting closer and closer to Mr Strummer 'till in the end he picked up his 'mike stand and smashed the base into the lens. All the big screens fickered and went black...

He had warned them...

Still. looking forward to your presentation!

Cheers,

-Don.

Wow! that was an extreme reaction from Mr Strummer, but understandable in those circumstances..... our daughter was a steward at Glastonbury twice during recent years, around 2016. What a shame that the best music festival in the world has had to be cancelled.

David

[DonW]

2 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

Wow! that was an extreme reaction from Mr Strummer, but understandable in those circumstances..... our daughter was a steward at Glastonbury twice during recent years, around 2016. What a shame that the best music festival in the world has had to be cancelled.

David

That must have been an eye-opening job!

Yeah, I heard that the camera was (was being the operative word!) worth £40k. The audience loved it of course. The show carried on with feeds from the other cameras that were at a more respectful distance.

[Anglia105E]

Here is a link to the finished version of the Hooper & Co video on YouTube, if you have time to watch it...... it is only 3 minutes and 39 seconds in length, and it is best viewed full screen, with sound on.

https://youtu.be/XMKfVhR2mZE

 

I have used one of my KODAK cameras with the large tripod, and I bought some video editing software from the Microsoft Store, which was only £8.39. The music was purchased from the Amazon site for only 0.99 p.

 

David

[DonW]

Very enjoyable, the perspective is very well managed.

What's the music? It fits rather nicely.

Cheers,

-Don.

Edited April 25, 2020 by DonW

[landman]

And so, Mr.Watson is also a cinematographer. What is next?

[Gramps46]

Thank you for sharing your video with us.  That must have been quite an undertaking for you to step out into new territory.

[Anglia105E]

2 hours ago, DonW said:

Very enjoyable, the perspective is very well managed.

What's the music? It fits rather nicely.

Cheers,

-Don.

Thanks a lot, Don..... and as you mentioned, the perspective is tricky when filming or photographing the two scale models side by side. This is the only space I have in my house to display the dioramas and really they are too close together. Perhaps it would be better to produce two videos, so one for the 1:43 scale building and one for the 1:24 scale building..... the music is ' Mayn Rue Platz ' by June Tabor, who is the partner or wife of Richard Thompson, both of whom are famous in folk music circles. The song has been recorded by many artists, and most notably by the great Leonard Cohen..... this song has Jewish origins I believe.

David

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, landman said:

And so, Mr.Watson is also a cinematographer. What is next?

Thanks for the compliment, Pat..... but I don't rate myself as a cinematographer just yet, as this is my very first amateur attempt at producing a video. The next short film will be longer, and will show the model cars in greater detail....... I would like to explain more about each individual car, such as the year and model, the history and how it might be a diecast model or built from a kit.

David

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, Gramps46 said:

Thank you for sharing your video with us.  That must have been quite an undertaking for you to step out into new territory.

Thanks very much, Gary...... I was rather apprehensive about venturing into the video film aspect of this project, not least because I do not have the equipment or the resources to do it properly..... a model builder friend of mine suggested that I must have a GoPro video camera to even think about doing this at all. As it happens, I dropped the cheap video camera onto the concrete floor, which is where everything I handle ends up at some point ( clumsy ) so thank goodness it wasn't an expensive camera! The KODAK camera is doing a fantastic job really, but it cannot produce the higher resolution required by YouTube.

David

[Anglia105E]

Update:   The Hooper & Co. Dioramas 1958 -1959 video presentation on YouTube was previously ' Unlisted ', but has now gone ' Public '

                                                  by David J. Watson

                                               25th April 2020

                    Stay At Home  -  Protect The NHS  -  Save Lives

                                                   Thank You

[Anglia105E]

Using the sepia filter on the KODAK camera, these images were produced early this morning, when I found myself sitting at the Victorian Houses diorama and unable to sleep. I am constantly trying out new ideas, and always on the lookout for an interesting element within each composition. There is no special lighting in use for these photos, so only the fluorescent tube light immediately above the diorama.  This is a short break from video filming work, which has taken up most of my free time during the past week or so.

David

[Anglia105E]

Over at the Hooper & Co. factory in Acton, it is late afternoon and a couple of Rolls-Royce motor cars are being dispatched to their respective customers. The factory foreman in the long brown coat is checking off the details on his clipboard, while a senior admin manager is making sure that everything is satisfactory. One of the motor cars is a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I, which is finished in Shell Grey over Black Pearl, and the second motor car is a Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn finished in Silver....... Once the factory foreman has completed his checklist procedure, by ensuring that each vehicle has a full tank of petrol, they are both cleared for delivery. The senior admin manager will personally drive the gleaming  Silver Cloud to it's new owner, and the foreman will task the delivery of the Silver Dawn to one of his more responsible engineers. Hooper & Co. pride themselves on this high level of personal service to each and every one of their distinguished wealthy customers. Furthermore, their customers can expect an after sales service that is second to none...... and in the unlikely event, should a Rolls-Royce motor car ' fail to proceed ', and regardless of which country anywhere in the world the customer should require assistance, the Rolls-Royce company would of course send a fully qualified engineer directly to the customer's location.

David