Q. Your ideas are so interesting - how do you decide what you are going to build?
A. Thank you! The good Lord has blessed me with creativity, ideas pop into my head at the weirdest times and places. I have to write them down so I don't forget them. When it comes time to start a new build, I pick one from my list and just start building.
Q. What is your background? Tell us about yourself.
A. I'm an Electrical / Mechanical Engineer, so building and fixing things come naturally to me. Even as a kid growing up in Ukraine I would build things out of toothpicks, sticks, rocks, anything I could get my hands on.
Q. Tell us about filming? Do you have a filmmaking background?
A. Before starting a YouTube channel, I had ZERO filmmaking knowledge. This is something I got better at the more I did it. My first miniature build video was so bad that I was thinking about not posting it at all. My camera settings were all messed up and I didn't realize it until I started editing the video. Nonetheless, I gave it a shot and posted the video. Sure glad I did, that video now has over 200 Million views and is my most popular video so far.
Q. Any advice or tips on filming miniature builds?
A. Don't be afraid to experiment with different shots / angles. If you can imagine a certain shot or sequence in your mind, 99% of the time you can make it with a little bit of effort.
A tripod and a set of decent lights are your best friend, learn how to use them. When revealing the build, take it outside to use natural lighting and natural background (trees, bushes, grass, etc.)
Q. What are some future projects you have in mind?
A. I have a few in mind, but don't want to spoil the surprise ;-)
Q. Do you like working with bricks? Any tips on building with bricks?
A. I love miniature bricks, who doesn't?
Before you start building something, lay out the first 2 layers of bricks WITHOUT mortar so you can catch any mistakes. If it looks good, build it with mortar.
One tub of mortar goes a long way. Scrape any excess mortar back into the tub, and if the mortar is drying out too quickly in the tub while you build, just add a few drops of water and mix well.
If you want your project to look realistic, use real materials. MINI MATERIALS does not disappoint.
Q. What was the hardest part in making the "Bird Apartments" video?
A. The most challenging part was to actually get the birds to come to their new home. I think they were afraid of it at first because normally we have many birds come to our porch all throughout the day. I had to get creative so I put on bird call sounds on my phone and hid it in plain sight, within a few minutes there were no less than 20 birds in our yard, some of them made it into the video. That part of the video took about a week to capture.
Q. Anything else you’d like to share with us?
A. You won't make mistakes if you don't try. Just start building, the mistakes will add character to your project.
