Signs for a movie

[Rick Janzen]

Here's are some signs done for a movie I worked on. I had another sign painter working with me, as the volume and time frames are to demanding for a single painter. We had 4 days to do all the signs for this set (Wall and board signs). There was also an alley across from the main set that had more signs. All the signs are hand painted.

[Dave Correll]

amazing work there Rick!

[Wayne]

Thats just fantastic!

[Chunkie]

What a fun way to spend the day!

Great work there my man!

[Mike Meyer]

Wow....That is fantastic...I'd love to get my hooks into a job like that....It looks like a great time.....The only bad part is the people you work for are under the gun with time constraints and it's push push push..right Rick?

Makes you wonder with all the time and energy for something like this, that only has to be up a few days, maybe weeks, and the non-effort, really lame structures out there that are meant to be up for many years, are very blah and mundain. I just shake my head at the possibilities that a sign person could encounter if given the right person, place and oppurtunity. Keep up the great work!!!

[Mark Fair]

Great Work Rick!
The 4 movies I have worked on have been, "Sit and Wait" or "Work Late".
I would rather work as a subcontractor than work for the movie company on an hourly rate.

When I worked for a CBS movie, "The Rosa Parks Story" the set decorator called me at 10:30 pm on sunday night and needed hand painted signs for a shoot the next day.
I drove to my shop at 11:30 pm and knocked them out and had them ready by early monday morning.
(i got paid well for them)

[Mike Meyer]

Mark i thought you should have gotten an Oscar for the work in Big Fish!
Bubba, is Tom Cruise really that small....

[Mark Fair]

Oscar who? .....................HIC

[Rick Janzen]

Hi Gang,
Now that I know how to upload photos, I'll do some more. Mike hit the nail on the head when he mentioned about the pace at which we have to produce. Some shows will stack all the signs together, so you have to fly like the wind, also they don't have to keep you on for the run of the show. On the big shows, I'm usually hired to head up a sign dept. (those are the ones I prefer. If I'm not going to be on the show for long, I’ll charge by the sign. After working on 25 Feature films & TV series and god knows how many TV commercials, I’ve found a way to work with the system. Mark, as you know it can be a very demanding at times, but its neat to see your stuff on the big screen (or on the editing room floor). I'm posting some pictures of the things they ask me to do. The first picture is of a Buffalo I had to paint white for a TV commercial. I used kids watercolor mixed with baby shampoo for the binder and Soya sauce for a toner (god forbid its eyes start watering as it turns me into a floor mat). The Helicopter was for a beer commercial that was hand lettered and hand striped over a removable paint job. The last picture is a typical day of painting for two guys. I'm still working on getting the order of the photos right, but I'm sure you can figure it out. Hope you enjoy.

[Mark Fair]

WOW! I have never painted a buffalo before! hahahahahaha
Great work Rick. It amazes me how many signs are left on the cutting room floor. I worked on Big Fish and only a fraction of the work showed up in the movie. I would like to show photos but I was unable to take photos because I signed an agreement not to with Sony Pictures. They were very adamant about this.

Your work rocks Rick!

[Signoholic]

Fantastic!

[Chunkie]

Now that's good work. Did the Buffalo make it easy or was he wandering around?

[Rick Janzen]

Hello,
Chunkie; to paint Buffalo you need a good pair of running shoes and an awful lot of luck! Actually I worked with some great cowboys who put him in a squeeze chute to keep him still. Not to say he wasn't major league ****ed! I'm sure if he would have had a chance you would be hearing about me in the news, not on this site (I’m sure I would have ended up in the Darwin Awards for most foolish paint jobs ever.) Mark, some films are fussier about taking pictures and showing them than others. I've never had a problem taking photos because I'm usually working directly for the art dept. and they take pictures all the time. What they worry about is the photos turning up in the tabloids. Once the movie has been out for a while nobody cares anymore.

[flyingfish]

Just found this place, never seen so much fantastic work in one place, I will be back, the buffalo is someting else, I thought it was a wind up, that is awsome!