The Fly telepod, scaled replica

[E=MC2]

Yes, the Fly figure was sculpted by Joe Laudati at 1/24 scale for me.
Kits are available for purchase if interested.
Also Joe sculpted the Snake man for me as well.

 

[miniatua]

I finished programming the telepod lights. I designed a custom PCB for the base light since I wanted it to be as 'flat' as possible like in the film, didn't want any LED showing through individually, I wanted something super smooth. So, I design a PCB with 33 LEDs on it, arranged in a circle. I tested different acrylics until I found the proper balance of transparency with different thickness.

I ended up using a 3mm thick #7328 acrylic at about 5mm distance from the LEDs to diffuse the light properly.

There are 8 sections of LED plus a single on in the middle. I can address each section independently, as well as the center one using an atTiny85 micro-controller directly on the board. I'm at my third version of the board, started with green but realized it had too much contrast with the bright LED, the white board helps smooth out and bounce the light under the acrylic base.

Also, I wanted to have animation in the pod, since just standing there lit up felt a bit boring, I added a mode where all the LEDs would pulse slowly in and out to make the miniature more alive. Also, a second push of the button triggers the 'teleportation' sequence. In the film when something gets teleported there is some postproduction vfx light applied on the object that swirls over the object, looks like it might have been hand drawn frame by frame, I wanted to simulate that effect the best I could with lights coming from under the white floor.

https://imgur.com/EtorpUh

not sure why this media doesnt play for me in the forum, if you click it it will play properly on imgur

https://imgur.com/5cNCoSg

It's a bit hard to capture on camera because of contrast and rolling shutter, it looks way better in person

 

[Gregatron]

Fantastic.

And, yes, the effect seen in the film was a two-part process: An array of flashbulbs inside the pod were set off, resulting in a cascade of popping light bursts. Then, in post-production, hand-drawn lightning/particle/interactive light effects were shot on an animation stand, and optically combined with the live-action footage. There’s an initial “scanning”/particle effect, as verious mattes and light effects sweep around the subject inside the pod (as well as dissolve mattes, so you can partly see through the subject), then the lightning “zap” effect.

 

[publiusr]

Also Joe sculpted the Snake man for me as well.

A wonderful sculpt, by Yig’s scales.

 

[joberg]

Wow...you're going all in with that lighting effect Fantastic for sure!!

 

[miniatua]

Fantastic.

And, yes, the effect seen in the film was a two-part process: An array of flashbulbs inside the pod were set off, resulting in a cascade of popping light bursts. Then, in post-production, hand-drawn lightning/particle/interactive light effects were shot on an animation stand, and optically combined with the live-action footage. There’s an initial “scanning”/particle effect, as verious mattes and light effects sweep around the subject inside the pod (as well as dissolve mattes, so you can partly see through the subject), then the lightning “zap” effect.

View attachment 1904441

Seing it in a loop like that, I realize the flash come from different directions, Ill have to replicate that for my flash. I can make a few LED flash semi randomely to make it feel like the lighting happen in different directions. Really cool information you have. where do you get that from?

Just to note, I updated my first post in the thread with some close up pictures I took of my telepod.

 

[Gregatron]

I have both of the vintage CINEFEX and AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER magazines that covered THE FLY, which are also included in their entirety as bonus features on the FLY Special Edition DVD and Blu-Ray releases.

And, of course, the film tests and raw dailies included in the various DVD documentaries feature plenty of behind-the-scenes Telepod footage.

 

[Gregatron]

Also, the deleted monkey-cat scene (and the film's trailers) features the motion controlled dissolve between occupied pods/empty pods, with the on-set light effects, but without the animated lightning VFX, since the scene was never finished.

The motion-controlled camera dolly was rigged to trigger the flashbulbs inside the pods in exactly the same way at exactly the same time for both camera moves (occupied pod vs. empty pod), so that the shots could be optically dissolved together with no visible jumps or judders in the pattern of light pops inside the pods.

It's a brilliantly seamless on-set effect.

 

[Gregatron]

...y'know, a random thought occurs to me:

Aside from the Telepods in THE FLY, and the simplified recreations seen in THE FLY II, there's also a kissing cousin which only came to my attention just last year, and that not a lot of people know about.

For those who don't know, in the 1990s, Geena Davis had an idea for an alternate sequel (which would ignore THE FLY II), in which Veronica goes on the run and gives birth to twin boys. She takes the hard drive from Brundle's computer (which contains the blueprints and schematics for the original Telepods), and flees to an island. There, with help from a local man (who has tech connections and a tech background, and becomes her love interest), she sets about building new Telepods in a rented barn to try and filter out the fly genes from her sons.

Meanwhile, Bartok Industries agents are hunting them, trying to acquire the hard drive, and, after a few action setpieces, Veronica succeeds in removing the fly genes from the now-mutating boys by merging the two of them into one being who possesses the untainted human genes from each twin.

Flies - Unproduced Screenplay by Richard Jefferies (1993) : Richard Jefferies : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Logline: Veronica Quaife gives birth to twin boys. Within years - the boys grow as teenagers, Veronica fears that the boys will begin developing fly-hybrid...

archive.org

It's an interesting script, although some sections strain plausibility, such as the homemade Telepods.

ANYWAY, while no production art was ever made based on this unfilmed script, it would be neat to see what these homemade pods might have looked like. Probably something recognizable as the Telepods we know, but much, much cruder.

I'm sure some of the artisans here could have fun with something like that.