Sketch Up

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

We have been assigned to build a model based on a theme of a book or film that was made before the 1970s. For this project, I have decided to chose Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This book first came out in 1964. Later on, there were two films made based on the book. Willy Wonka is a man who owns a chocolate factory and creates so many different sweets and good treats. He sets out a competition for 5 lucky kids to come into the factory and explore. Little did they know, he was on the look out for the right kid to take over his factory.

I watched both versions of the film and read the book before I started the project and took notes of things I may want to include into my model. I am very excited to start this project, I have a lot of ideas that I want to experiment with and cannot wait to go and make things such as furniture. I like being creative and making things with items I no longer need.

I will use sketch up and draw a scale drawing of the floor plan of my design. I will then start on my 1:50 scale and when I happy, I will move on to making a 1:25 scale.

Making my Model

When making my 1:25 scale detailed model, there were a lot of things and ways I wish I had changed when making my final piece. Most of my furniture was not accurate to a 1:25 scale and looked a little odd when put together under the same model. Another thing I realised when making my model was that I painted the walls after putting them together but an easier way would have been to decorate and paint each wall however I wanted and putting them together in the end.

Some of the problems I encountered was being too ambitious. I attempted to add a chandelier to my model from adding extra foam board attached from the top. However, I realised this would not hold well so I had to tone back some of my ideas. I wanted to add more accents of gold so I added gold curtains, gold stairs and golden eggs. Most of the things I added were originally gold but for the bathtub of golden eggs, I spray painted Chocolate M&Ms and put them together. I made my posters which I attached to a golden frame that I put up on the wall.

I put together a box and attached two studs on the top as the door handles. This box was his experimentation box where he would go inside and there would be a little office/lab where Wonka works on new experiments. It is quite huge, so I added a ladder which he would use to get up to the experimentation box.

I wanted the room to be simple and extremely high-tech looking with modern designs. It felt too empty and not enough warmth was felt when I analysed my model. This is when I decided to add a plant. I used an old foundation lid as a plant pot and glued in a stem with several smaller plants on it. It made the room look a little more homely. My favourite experiment, was the door. I spray painted foam board gold, very lightly and I then brought it closer to buldge up and build a little more depth to the colours. It leaked all through the middle and I continuously moved around my piece for it to create different patterns. This was a success and the effect looked amazing. I then added a small ball of strong glue as a handle and wood for the top of the door.

The main colours for this model was white, purple and gold. After watching the film, I realised the most dominant colour was purple. I wanted gold to add class and as he was the king of chocolate I wanted to enhance this effect into my model. The white was used to keep it modern and clean looking which In my opinion, was successfully achieved.

With the carpets and little bit of marble in the room, I spent a lot of time experimenting with. I wanted to find the perfect flooring for my model so I painted a piece of fabric and placed it like a small rug. I then removed it and decided to replace it with a larger bit of Vinyl. I liked the marble look but it didn’t go well with the original colour pattern so I decided to cut a piece and put it on the top of the wall to match.

Overall, I am very satisfied with my model and think I have achieved everything I initially planned. I am happy that I have experimented with different materials and ways in which I could create things whilst not spending any money and using sustainability. I am happy that I have been able to use the theme of the film of Willy Wonka and adapted this to a modern room.

Some things I regret, is not making it look too much like how Willy Wonka’s room would look like. If I had managed my time better I could have experimented more and added more sweets and actual chocolate related decorations. I feel like I could have experimented more with some of the walls or even the floor. Originally, I wanted to design a room with two floors but again, me being ambitious I was wasting time in designing what was required from me and decided to focus on building one room.

If I could change anything, it would be the process in which I made my room. I would start things and end things differently. Overall, I am very happy with my model and know what to do when making more models.