Recently, Savvy Productions was tasked with creating a space suit for a gaming platform ad. Our client wanted something that looked futuristic, but also somewhat realistic. Something looking somewhat militaristic, but without guns or weapons. Something that looked form fitting, but not too organic, parts looking like armor, but not robotic. Turns out, you can’t really buy anything like that that would also hold up to the scrutiny of close-up camera angles. So, with that, Nikki and Jeremy set to work researching different stylistic elements and sourcing options. Two weeks later they had a good direction forward with an approved design and a plan for a fully custom-built space suit.
If you’ve worked with us before, you may know we usually shove Jonah into our costumes, but this time around, Stephen happily took the metaphorical bullet. Having our actor “on hand” for fittings just made sense and made building each element a lot easier.
While Nikki got to work gluing things together, Jeremy started building and programming the lighting effects. Once that was completed, everything needed to be prepped for painting. After a quick heat-treatment, each piece then needed to be rubber-coated in order to make the porous foam base a more appropriate surface for painting. After a rubber coat, Nikki and Jeremy sprayed a full base coat of blue over everything. Once that was done, Nikki was in charge of painting the details and weathering effects, and Jeremy got to work on installing all the lighting, wiring, and batteries.
Now, without further ado, have a good look at the full suit.
It was a long process with quite a few learning moments. There was a LOT of foam dust, paint fumes, and a couple of glue spills, but in the end, we are SUPER pleased with how our suit turned out. Our client loved it and it’s been a hit both on and off screen. Stay tuned to see its upcoming screen debut!