The witching month is upon us. And what better part of the year than to now to plant ideas in one's head?
One of the most iconic and technologically advancing movies in all of movie history,
The Wizard of Oz (1939) went leaps and bounds above any movie of its time. From literal smoke and mirrors to a color changing horse and so much more --
"The Wizard of Oz" movie set the tone for films advancing to come. If you're not familiar with the movie (
since you've been living in a void all of your life) the quick and dirty:
A Kansas girl is caught inside of a tornado on her family's farm and bumps her head, she goes to a faraway land called "Oz" and goes on a magical journey throughout to find a heart, brain and some courage all while trying to get home. In the midst of it all, she accidentally killed this evil Witch whose sister just happens to find out... Who then makes the journey a living hell for them all! They find where they need to get the three items [aforementioned] and they all live happily-ever-after...
So what does this have to do with Halloween, you ask? Well, the witches and magicalness of it all. Of course! Honestly, I love this movie as well as
Alice In Wonderland (1956), The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), Thunderbirds (1965), Gulliver's Travels (1996), and so many others outside of those genres! Honestly; Horror, comedy, dark comedy, documentary... the list goes on for me.
Which brings us to "The Red Brick Road", Halloween and what brought me to talk about this here and now. See, a long time ago, when I first watched "Oz" I thought to myself (like many others), "Where does the red brick road lead?" And then I was perusing the interwebs and came across some very DIFFERENT "Oz" miniatures and it hit me, THAT'S WHERE THE RED BRICK ROAD LEADS!! If you're a follower of ours on Facebook, then you've seen the image above and have an idea as to where I'm headed with my thought-process of this.
In our society, we try to live fantasies that we see and hear about.. sometimes, fantasies that we just dream in our own minds. Since the dawn of time, we've tried to make a happy ending in a Utopian filled world that doesn't exist... actually exist. With the advent of technology, we have been able to make strides in bringing those fantasies and dreams to reality. Just like
"Gulliver's Travels" and "
Thunderbirds" [among many others] made me fall in love with miniatures, video games and movies as well as television shows has brought affection to many other genres and worlds that many only read or thought about.
From
Cyberpunk to Diesel and Biopunk to
live action role-playing (LARPing) and
Dungeons & Dragons/Renaissance Fairs/Festivals, you can become anyone you want to be inside any world at any moment in time with others that "live" that life. Although I love each of those respectively, I've always been drawn to Steampunk. Why? Because of the modern technology being set in the middle of the Victorian-age is there. You wear the "top hats" and cumber-buns complete with monocles and bug-eyed goggles for the men (if you have a gender๐) to corsets and neck-line Berthas to cage crinolines and arm length gloves for the women. (
This is all what you wish to wear, obviously. Just so long as you stay with the Victorian dress-code!!) Everything is built with/around copper pipes and cogs along with bits and bobs you find around you. So long as it CAN be "powered" by "steam" in some way. ๐
And all of that brings us to this thought-process; "The Wizard of Oz"'s Red Brick Road, in my own little twisted mind, leads us to an "Oz" of nothing but Steampunk. The Flying Monkeys are in-fact steam propelled robots while Lion is a bad-ass that smokes a fat cigar and carries a handgun. Scarecrow keeps to his name but only on the outside while Dorthy, she's just a lost little girl with her little doggy that stumbled upon the wrong door when her home landed in Kansas.
Yes, I know. Not long ago there was a television mini-series that was somewhat along this realm entitled "
Tin Man" and believe you me, I absolutely fell in LOVE with that three-part series! I love when an artist (in any genre) can take work that has been done over and over then stomped into the ground and make me fall in love with it again. "
Tin Man" had never been done before on that level, not even the thought process of how some of the characters worked. The story of Tinman needing to find a heart and then Scarecrow (
Glitch) needing to find a brain, it was beautiful and beyond well-done story. It didn't even need all of the flashy CGI and special effects in my opinion, they could have done without all of that, done practical effects and it still would've done the same for me.
I've not gotten all of my materials just yet for this project but I will try my best to film some of the process as I work on it. Before it gets started [however] I do have a few other projects like the "
Dark Priest" which you can currently see progress photos of on
Facebook and some on our
Instagram, and I have a "
The Nightmare Before Christmas" diorama I must get started by the second week of October so I can have it shipped to California before Christmas as a present! It's a time crunch, but it's beyond worth the time, effort, a little bit of self-brought stress, and the experience to do it all. I absolutely love doing things like this. My normal "job" is my therapy by day but this, this is something that I've always had a heart for ever since I seen my first movie that used miniatures... I just wanted to build a world that looked as though you could walk right in and be a part of.
What are some worlds you'd like to see built by Entwined Chaos? Is there a movie, fairy tale, or story you've heard that you'd like a different rendition on? Let us know!! We'd love to hear what worlds you all "live" in when you escape reality.