Final outcome development

After the first few workshops of the module, I knew I wanted to create a 3D piece inspired by the work of Fraces Glessner Lee, and I was very excited about the idea of making a large scale dollhouse depicting come kind of macabe scene. 

I've worked with 3D miniatures and dioramas before and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I'd never made something on this scale, so I was very excited about the prospect but had a lot of logistical aspects to work out first.

I looked at a few different artists and representations of dioramas for inspiration and insight into how to portray these kinds of scenes.

Being a horror fan, the miniatures used in the film 'Hereditary' instantly came to mind as a reference not only for constructing dioramas, but for how they can be used to strengthen certain narratives in film and photography.

Initially I planned on building the house myself, as I had a certain layout of rooms in mind that I thought I would need to construct myself to achieve, however I found a pre-cut flat pack dollhouse online that had the exact layout of rooms I was looking for, so I would simply have to put it together and then decorate. This made the process a lot smoother.

I began collecting materials and scraps that I could use to decorate the house and make furniture. I tried out a few different techniques, some that I had already tested while making my 'Rats in The Walls' diorama for the storytelling working, for wall coverings and floorings. 

I really liked the effects of using cut-up pieces of egg cartons for stonework, and lolliopop sticks for woodwork like floorboards and pannelling, so these ended up being techniques that I used throughout the piece.

I created a little test room while trying out different wall and flooring techniques, to get a better idea of how these textures would look across a larger surface, this also allowed me to start making furniture and small details while I was waiting for the dollhouse to arrive, as I could use this room to get the correct scale.

I made all of the decorations in the house; including beds and sofas made from sponges and lollipop sticks, tablewear and ornaments made from air-dry clay and other details like books, plants and details that would be narratively relevant like overdue bill notices and bloodied knives. 

I wanted to inlcude a level of detail that would allow viewers to act like detectives; so they could investigate each room for clues about the kind of people that lived there and what might be going on in their lives that may have lead up to the crime scene depicted.

Once the dollhouse arrived I began covering the walls and floors, as well as the outside with stonework, these aspects were possibly the most time consuming part of the making process, but I'm pleased with the outcome. I then started putting in the furniture and decorations to build the scene. All of these can be seen in detail in my final outcome blogpost.