Station Epsilon
Orbital Research Platform — Short Film
- CATEGORY
- Film
- CLIENT
- INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
- ROLE
- Environmental Mechanical Designer, Set Dressing Supervisor
- DURATION
- 20 WEEKS
Station Epsilon required a decommissioned feel — functional machinery that had been running for decades, slowly failing. The brief was to design infrastructure that communicated a specific institutional aesthetic: Soviet-era functionality combined with near-future retrofit. Nothing looked new. Everything looked repaired.
The work divided into two streams: physical set construction and digital extensions. Four corridor sections were built full-scale using CNC-cut MDF cores with vacuum-formed ABS panel faces. Remaining environments were modeled in full 3D for digital extension compositing.
Panel tile systems were designed as modular grids — 14 variants that could repeat without obvious pattern matching across any camera angle. Every prop had a plausible function; the prop bible documented each object's in-universe purpose, material, and maintenance state.
- SET MODULES
- 9 distinct environment sections
- HERO PROPS
- 23 individual items
- PANEL SYSTEMS
- 14 tile variants, tileable
- SCALE
- Full-scale physical build, 4 sections
- BUILD MATERIAL
- MDF substrate, vacuum-formed ABS faces
- PIPELINE
- Design to 3D to CNC to Physical
- SCREEN RATIO
- 2.39:1 anamorphic
- SHOOT DURATION
- 12 days principal photography
Studied real orbital station infrastructure (ISS, Mir, Tiangong) for mechanical logic: cable management, fluid routing, structural bracing patterns. Cross-referenced with production design archives from Alien, 2001, Solaris.
Developed a tile grammar of 14 panel variants across three functional types: structural, access, and utility. Variants designed to read as belonging to the same system while providing visual variety across 20+ meters of corridor.
Designed 23 hero props with full production documentation: orthographic drawings, material callouts, aging/distress notes. Each prop has a named function in the station's operational manual — a document written as part of the creative brief.
Produced CNC toolpaths for all physical construction elements. Supervised 4-week build period. Final set elements received distressing treatment based on the station's documented maintenance history.