Roadside Romeo Out!

[furtech]

I've been waiting for a while for this film to be released in the US. I don't think the previous foreign Disney film (Mexican?) was ever released. Roadside Romeo looked like a lot of fun from the "casting call" preview they had out. Thanks to brerandalopex, I found out that it's out on US DVD!

I found the film on Amazon and I've already ordered it (film night, Tracy? Roz?).

Brer mentioned that there was a cute extra on the disk, showing a music video with the costumed characters they made for it. They're neat costumes-- I'm almost sure they were made by Custom Characters here in Glendale.

Comments

[furtech.livejournal.com]

R0ndo stamp! Glad you enjoyed the card!

FYI, Custom Characters has a distinctive style because they vacuum-form their heads, allowing for greater detail and more expressive heads because they can really pull the fur/fleece over the rigid surface. (They sculpt the heads out of oil clay, make a mold of that and then from there they make the vacuum-form bucks to burn from.)

The mix of NFT and Monterey Mills furs is also clear from the pics and the video: Romeo is mostly MM, while Laila is mostly NFT (you can see how her costume hugs her body, while Romeo's is a little baggy). Short fur on faces is likely Antron fleece.

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

I was actually more impressed with the legs and forearms which seemed to be done in a shorter fur. It was easier to see on Romeo than Leila. It makes it look a lot closer to a real dog since the hair is usually very short and skin hugging except in the fluffiest of breeds. And that actually has to be harder to do then the vacuum formed head since it has to withstand flexing and moving.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

The short fur on the arms/legs (mostly Laila) is likely National Fiber Technologies 4-way stretch fur: wonderful stuff, trims down beautifully. Works beautifully-- it's just very expensive. It's all custom-made: for a short-run fur, it's actually cheap (as compared to what a mill would charge for a minimum run of several hundred yards).

Vacuum-formed heads like theirs requires a decent sculptor, several molds/casts and a huge vacuum-forming machine (at least a 2'X2' machine, more likely a 4'X4'). But it's great for making multiple copies of something (like a theme park would need).