Reflections: A Body of Water
It's cold in January, even at The Station
I learned a lot from this show. What a great experience! The only real bummer was the biggest lesson I learned:
Always have a good grasp on:
- Who is available to help you.
- When they are available to help you.
- What they are willing to do.
When we moved in to the space and started working on this set, I just had it in my mind that I'd be doing most of the work. I was totally incorrect, and I feel I wasted a good deal of Sierra and Aaron's time as a result. Luckily, they didn't kill me.
Other highlights I learned from this show:
Always lay down a primer coat when covering a scene on the floor or walls.
Beautiful floor from Rhino shone through 2 coats of paint
Thankfully, Sierra didn't kill me for this one, either. She painted over Rhino's floor twice with our beautiful watery blue before we decided it had to be primed. She went over that floor 4 times for this show!
Attention to detail
At one point near opening day, we were getting a few last-minute things done. I think I was screwing a board to cover a doorway and painting it. In the meantime, Sierra was taping off the edges of the watery-blue floor and painting the outside freshly black. It looked so sharp! Sometimes I overlook how such a seemingly simple little detail can make the space look so much better for patrons.
Sunday work calls can make a big difference
Rob fixed up this nasty angle
For some reason, I was nervous about the Sunday work call. I was still mad at myself for not making the most of Sierra and Aaron's time from the beginning. So, I prepared specific tasks I could assign to folks for the work day.
Everyone who came was a huge help. We really maximized our time! Amanda painted a bunch of white wall pieces. Rob undertook some carpentry work after stating that he "doesn't really know how to do this," and his work was fantastic. This, that, and the other -- by the end of the day, we really were almost ready.
I need to make a point to attend more work days and strikes for other shows...
Google Sketchup for Theatre?
The problem
A bunch of different people who may or may not know one another, all trying to grasp the same aesthetic concept and build something safe, functional, and beautiful on a limited budget without much time. Oh, and they might be 3 hours apart.
How many times have you seen this?
Visual communications
One of the easiest ways to bring people together and make sure your design is at least close to being understood is to make it visual. Your adjectives and adverbs may differ from person to person, but when it comes down to it, a square is a square is a square.
So we draw it out.
This can be effective initially, but unless you're Joe Pro, you probably won't get the scale right, and you'll think your stage is about twice as big as it really is.
Nota: Just a hack
By the way, since I mentioned "Joe Pro," let me throw in the aside here and acknowledge that I'm just a hack. Every now and then someone gives me the opportunity to work on a set, and I snatch it up, because I love this stuff. I'd do it for free, 12 hours a day. I wish there were some way to make it a career.
Instead, I just keep on hacking, and enjoying every last minute of it.
Holy crap -- that won't fit there
So your pencil sketches rock, and you feel you're half way there, and you start trying to figure out how to actually build these platforms and pieces without asking Sally Struthers to do fundraising charity commercials for you.
Oops. The stage is 40 feet wide, right? Hmm... you have 48 feet of stuff you want to string across it.
Google Sketchup to the rescue
On my current project, I used Google Sketchup to try preventing this problem. The theatre is 3 hours away, I haven't been there for 15 years, and I don't know any of the people who are putting it together. This project is very important to me, but so many aspects are out of my control, I could easily freak out. Google Sketchup let me grasp at least a few known, definite things -- dimensions -- and try working with the director before things get out of hand.
Front view, to scale, with perspective
Our first concern with the pencil sketches was that the stage would be too empty. I'm pretty sure the Sketchup models are putting that fear to rest.
Top view, to scale, with perspective
While I'm not certain, I also think the Sketchups are going to make our backdrop decision, one way or the other. There's a cyclorama in both theatres (Oh, I didn't mention that the set has to be portable so the show can move, did I?) We recently were thinking of nixing the backdrops, but after looking at the front view Sketchup, I'm not so sure.
Free tools that rock
We're out of time, folks. The point I was trying to get at is that Google Sketchup is there, it is free, it is easy to use, and can really help the design process. What would really rock is if each theatre had base Sketchup models already built and ready for download, so set designers could just grab them and go.
However, I suppose the Pros have a better way. After all, remember -- I'm just a happy hacker.