T3 India – August 2019

Horizon

40 T3 Tomorrow ’s Technology TodayAUGUST 2019 WWW.T 3 INDIA.COM

conceptart,mostoften– wetryto
puttogetheranassortment.
“Usually, whentheystartfilmingw
areinvitedtovisitthesetoften. So
we’llbein PinewoodStudios,seeing
the setsandseeingthe costumes,
whichis,ofcourse,very, verygood
inspirationforus.Butit’schallenging
becauseif therearelatechangesto
themovie,we’realmostreadyfor
productionwithaproduct.Andthen
it’s,‘Okay, can wechangethis?’”

WHENYOUMAKENEWMODELS
BASEDONTHEOLDERFILMS,IS
THATDRIVE NBYWHATEVE RYOU
GUYSTHINKWILLBEFUNTOMAKE?
“Wealways havesomeclassicitems.
Andthat’ssomethingthatI thinkwe’ll
always have.[TheX-Wing]is like,as
wecallit, theFireStationin LegoCity.
Youknow?It’sjustsomethingthat
needstobeavailable.Typically, we’ll
haveit workedout,andthenweletit
restfora while,andthenwe’llmakea
newversion.Everythingis,ofcourse,
in cooperationwithLucasfilm.Butthe
classicassortmentis veryoftenus.
Whatfits intotheportfolio?Whatdid
youhaveinlast year’s assortment?”

HOWCOMPLETEARETHESKETCH
MODELSYOU SHOWTOTHEKIDS?
ANDHOW MUCH DETAILDOYOU

we

g

HUNKHU OFJUNK

TheMilleniumfalconhasgone

througha fewguises.Top-leftis the

veryfirstversion;leftis Jens’big

Ultimateversion;above is the current

Ultimateversion

PUTINTOTHEMBEFOREYOU LET

PEOPLEPLAYWITHTHEM?

“Almost from theearliestdraft.And

welearnsomuch from thesetests.

Firstofall,whetherthekids

understandthemodels.Butalso,

stability. Doesthemodelfallapart

whenthey’replayingwithit?You’ll

probablybesurprisedifyousawa

sketch,becausein mostcasesthere

isn’treally, visually, a bigdifference

fromtheearliestdraft tothefinalone.

Whattakesa longtimein thedesign

processis workingaroundstability,

forinstance,andplayability.

“Anotherthingis thatkidsshould

beabletobuildit – it mightbeethatthe

firstsketchmodelis a super-complex

buildthatcan’tbe madebykids. But

visuallyit looksprettyclosetowhat

thefinalproductwouldlooklike.

“Sometimeswegetbig surprises

when testing something. I remember

onecasewhenweweretesting

theSlaveI. Wewereliftingthemodel

[fromthefront]andtherewasno

problem.Thenwhenwehadthekids

testit, a kidliftedit andpressedit,

andthemodeltotallydisintegrated

in the middle. It totallycollapsed.

“That’sbecauseIhaveabigger

fingerthana kid.Soa kidisgrabbing

themodelat a differentplaceandit

couldn’tholdtogether.That’swhy

thekids’testsaresuper-important,

becausethey’rehandlingand

playingwiththemodels in a very

differentway.”

HOWDOYOU FINDTHEBALANCE

BETWEENWHATYOU THINK

PEOPLEWILLWANTTOPAYAND

HOWMUCH DETAILYOU’DLIKETO

PUTIN?

“That’swherethedesigner’sskills

are really being tested. Because