FEATURED GUESTS

FILM MAKERS

MODEL MAKER

OLIVIA RAMIREZ
&
MR. WINKLE THE CLIENT

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Olivia's client, Mr. Winkle played a cameo role in the HBO Series " Sex in the City"

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OLIVIA RAMIREZ: Despite her childhood conviction that she wasn't 'interested', as a native born Southern Californian, Olivia nevertheless gravitated quite naturally toward her home town's major industry. FILMS.

Her entry into the Motion Picture Industry was so subtle that she has no real recollection of how it happened, or for that matter exactly when it began, or even why? Olivia's grandfather was an artist and obviously her talent has a genetic link. She managed to blend her artistic nature, sensitivity and traditional art training into a comfortable career of Model and Prop Making.

Model Making is a field not noted for its female participants. It often requires heavy lifting. For example the huge skyscrapers in New York scenes weighed a ton and are difficult to move around. And Ms. Ramirez is petite. However, she laughs, "I specialize in miniatures".

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"My earliest memory of growing up in Los Angeles, was going to grade school with spoiled children of celebrities. This Introduction to the film industry, left me with a bad taste in my mouth. So with no interest in a film career, I entered college as an art student and worked part time at a small ad agency. I had an almost guaranteed career in advertising and marketing, or so I thought. Twenty some years later, I look back, trying to figure out how I detoured from a 4.0 art student and became a Model Maker and Prop Maker.

"My first job of any notoriety, was Flight of the Navigator; I was just a 'grunt'. I did everything from making patterns for vacuum forming to gluing on detail for spaceship interior. Through model making, I eventually crossed over into other jobs for theme parks, album covers, prototypes, print work, you have it, but it always came back to film. I think of myself as a film person. Ironic?

"Between films I sometimes go back into advertising. My favorite project is the Mr. Winkle line. Winkle is a toy dog. He's one heck of an actor. He's photographed in various costumes and sets, I've created especially for him. I enjoy fabricating costumes and sets for this little critter. I've done literally thousands of costumes and sets for him and my work can be seen in his many calendars and greeting cards, and his book: "A Time in Winkle World".

"But Films are my passion. My most memorable were: Fifth Element, From the Earth to the Moon, T2-3D, and I guess the most exciting was, The Passion of the Christ.

"I had turned down the opportunity to work on the Titanic to be on Fifth Element. I was the 'model lead' for the miniature Brooklyn and New York Cityscapes. My reason to go with the Fifth Element was based on the fact that I wanted to work with a visual effects supervisor, and a visual effects art director I knew and that I had worked with several times before. King Kong Lives. for one. . .

"For HBO's ~ From the Earth to the Moon, I wasn't hired to build the models from scratch, but instead was asked to modify models, already built, to make them historically accurate. (Apollo Space Missions). And the work had to be done right on the set. That was very challenging. Very demanding. But very exciting too.

"As for Universal's Theme Park Ride's movie T2-3D: It was the crew once again that helped synch the deal. They made the project memorable. The chemistry between us all was perfect. Very professional. Very expert. Very friendly. I had wanted to work with the Producer/Director and Visual Effects Supervisor Chuck Comisky. The crew was great. Work associations turned into deep friendships, and those friendships continue to this day. Although I must say that most of the crew has not seen very much of Arnold these days.

I must say that most of the crew has not seen very much of Arnold these days.

"But I guess I have to say that the one film that sort of topped all of them for many reasons, was The Passion of the Christ. It combined all the very best elements of working on a film along with something else. A very unusual certain something else. We all felt it.

"Most of "Passion" was in the makeup effects, and so the part that I worked on (miniature effects) was an extremely minute part of the movie. However, this part took several weeks of labor. It was a very tough assignment. And it only lasted a few seconds on screen. Still it was a thrill.

"The miniature effects were built and filmed in a relatively small shop, just outside of the suburbs of Los Angeles County. (North Hollywood) The job was an adventure. And with all its many usual obstacles (all highly publicized) the end result was very rewarding. My work is seen in the scene where Christ on the cross on the mount draws his last breath.

"It takes place when the camera cuts to the temple full of the Jewish elders that turned him in. God's hand smites the temple, the floor trembles like an earthquake and splits open all the way to the altar. We built a complete miniature of the interior of temple in our workshop in North Hollywood, and later it was then combined with live action in Italy.

"On a project as dynamic as this one, I wouldn't want to have changed anything. It was perfect. The crew was dedicated.

"The films that I've listed are just a few that I've worked on, but they were each memorable in their own way. They are projects where I may have worked the hardest, but of which I am the most proud.

"Working in the movies is not always glamorous. In the last two decades, most jobs I've done are not worth mentioning. There were lots of “B” movies and commercials, that no one would remember (some even I don't remember). The film business is an industry of World-Wide proportions. It has thousands of workers who do tasks not all be know to the general public (Neither the tasks not the 'experts'.) But the pay is extraordinary. I'm definitely not one of those who worked on a “Star Wars”, or side by side with Jim Cameron on the “Titanic". And Dino de Laurentiis wouldn't consider flying me to London to work on Flash Gordon. But I've had fun.

"There are so many variables that go into making a movie, that just because it's the latest “Batman”, and you happen to be hired to do the special effects, it still doesn't make it the best film you've ever worked on. With the demands of extremely tight schedules, unfinished scripts and changes that occur on a project daily or minute by minute, you need the best possible team work. The crew counts.

"Occasionally I have had a couple of doubts about my decision to work in films. Or did I? Sometimes I've wondered if I should have stuck with advertising and marketing. Clients like Winkle are fun. But, then there are the people I've met in the movie business and all the special projects, where everything is perfect, and the world gets excited over it and I know I wouldn't want to change anything I like where I am. "

"Working in films is a job where every ounce of creativity is called to the surface. A film involves every part of you. You have to focus. .

"I like the work and I like the people. It's never been boring." ~ OLIVIA RAMIREZ

OLIVIA RAMIREZ
Contact:Oliviajin@hotmail.com

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