Curious about how we made Sting?
Director Kiah Roach-Turner and Producers Michael Pontin and Chris Brown were set on creating a creature feature with classic practical effects. We were thrilled they wanted to partner with us for a specialty creature puppet, and landed on the concept of Sting, a horror that revolved around a bloodthirsty spider wreaking havoc in an apartment building.
Recent technological innovations enabled us to produce a physical spider as an entirely 3D printed creature - a huge ask considering the scale of it, the complexity of the mechanism and how much action it was going to see on set. The new 3D printing medium has a resilience that makes the construction possible. This included a fully moveable 3D model of Sting’s face. We designed an animatronic head that was fully controlled by remote, and the jaws could move for the hero version of the prop.
Our team worked on different models of Sting, from when she was tiny to a full-grown spider. We also made moveable spider legs on a body rig. In scenes where you can see her crawling and coming around the corner, this prop was used in the film. This includes incredibly detailed work, like adding individual hairs to her legs.
The director also wanted Sting to spit venom. So we had venom pipes 3D printed into the creature's internal head structure to make its teeth run with venomous drool and fangs 3D printed with their own plumbing - no bigger than a needle diameter - as well as a spraying mechanism that shoots venom from its mouth.
As well as the different sizes of Sting, we made a hero version for her close-up shots, and a ‘stunt’ version which is softer and durable, as Sting is a high action spider. We worked closely with the director to make sure the puppet versions were functional and could be filmed in line with their storyboard. As part of the project we had two puppeteers Kailah Cabanas and Tanya Drewery rehearse for us before working on-set with the crew in Australia.
Sting is out July 11 (AUS) and July 18 (NZ) 2024
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