Whisperer in Miniature

The Miniature Vermont-Set Sets Built for the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society’s The Whisperer in Darkness Have Their New Home… in Vermont!



Photo ©2011 Joseph A. Citro, posted with permission; the Standing Stones of Round Mountain Whisperer miniature set photographed on temporary display at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction, VT. The set will soon be on display as part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

Whisperer Miniatures Donated to Main Street Museum!

The following The Whisperer in Darkness miniature sets have been donated by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society to the Main Street Museum.

These incredible miniature sets were constructed for the film by Andrew Leman, Fred Manchento, and Jason Voss. The non-animation miniature plastic model of the Mi-Go was prepared and printed from the CGI Mi-Go in the film (those were built and animated by Jon Gourley and Chris Peterson and the Dilated Pixels team, from a design by Andrew Leman) by the 3D printing lab at the Savannah College of Art & Design, facilitated by Darrell Tutchton. FYI, the SCAD/CCS connection only adds to the uncanny geographic reference points in the Whisperer chain of events. In any case, the Mi-Go model a remarkable miniature being, quite unlike any film-related model work I’ve ever seen (but hey, I’m old-school); it has a surface detail almost like fabric, when studied closely.

They arrived shortly before the Vermont State Premiere of the film on October 20th, 2011, and will soon be on permanent display at the Main Street Museum…

Producer/co-screenwriter Andrew Leman offered the following descriptions: above:

“The Mi-Go Cave: 53″ x 63″, and about 4 feet high. Also has a lighting system built into it which, if used, needs an electrical outlet.”

Above:

“The Standing Stones of Round Mountain: Roughly 3′ x 3.5′, and about 27 inches tall. Has a plasma sphere built in which requires an electrical outlet, should you wish to turn it on. Also comes with a miniature airplane flying overhead, which is certainly optional, but adds a few feet to the height of it.”

Above:

“The Cliffs: Roughly 66″ x 33″, and again about 4 feet high.”

Above and below:

“The Masterson Barn: A replica of an actual barn in Spofford, New Hampshire, where we filmed on location. It is on a platform that is 4′ x 8′, and is about 8′ tall. The legs of the platform could certainly be shortened, but that would make it more difficult to look inside, which is part of the fun.”



The above photos were provided compliments of Andrew Leman, and are ©2011 The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society; posted with permission.

The miniatures debuted on temporary display at the Main Street Museum at 5 PM on October 20th, as the opening event of the evening’s festivities

The following photos were shot prior to the 5 PM event, and they are ©2011 Rachel Foss and the Main Street Museum, and are posted here with permission.



Closeup of the exquisitely detailed miniature Mi-Go figures, constructed to work to scale with the sets. They’re shown here unpainted and still in the protective stands they arrived in, packaged for safe travel.

Above: The Mi-Go cave set suffered minor damage, including loose rock faces (out-of-place now and lying at rest, at right) and some crushed miniature trees. Repairs will soon be underway.

Below: Of all the miniatures, the most unexpected and frustrating setback was the fact that the incredible Masterson Barn miniature simply will not fit through any doorway into the Museum!

In any case, there’s more to be done before the Masterson Barn is displayed or relocated. More on this incredible piece of work in the near future—keep your eyes on announcements here!

In the meantime, elements of the barn miniature are on display at the Museum, including a few of the hay bales, the barn steeple, and more.

Below: The Masterson Barn weather vane is a really remarkable creation, lovingly crafted from matchbooks. One of the vanes (South) was lost in the packing/unpacking, and will have to be reconstructed. That ‘S’ will be a challenging precision cutting task.



Below: Just as Ray Harryhausen constructed the “giant” crab model from a real crab’s shell, claws, and limbs for stop-motion animated life for his production of Mysterious Island (1961), the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society miniature team used actual crustacean parts for some of the fleetingly-glimpsed Mi-Go limbs shown trying to enter the barn in The Whisperer in Darkness—and one of those Mi-Go parts will be on permanent display in the Main Street Museum.



The following photos are ©2011 Joseph A. Citro, posted with permission. Joe shot these a day or two after the October 20th event, capturing the miniatures in impromptu rest at the Main Street Museum in broad daylight… this does not reflect the final manner in which the miniatures will be displayed, this was a very temporary setup.







As you can all see, the miniatures arrived for the most part in excellent condition.

Thank you!



We’ll share more about the Main Street Museum‘s plans for these incredible The Whisperer in Darkness miniatures in the near future. Stay tuned!

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