From Newbury with Love: Part Two.

Last week I returned to Lewes to help work on the set for From Newbury with Love. As the get in for the show is next week the pace of the work has picked up dramatically. When I arrived I spent the first few hours wiping down the metal frames that had been welded together with white spirit. Although an increaibly, mind numbingly boring job it was still an important aspect of preparation for the set as the cast will be moving amoung thee structure and obviously can't get covered in grease, especially on their costumes.

Although I didn't at all enjoy the task I felt it was still an important process to go through as it gave me an understanding of a wider varitey of the the construction process as a whole.


After I had spent the morning rubbing down the metal I began work sanding down the shelves that had been coated partially in poly filler to give a seamless finish. I then began painting the shelves once it was completely smooth and the saw dust had been wiped off, starting from the top and working my way down.

I found the work I did in the afternoon much more rewarding than what I had experienced that morning, mainly because I much prefer working with wood than metal . As my time in Lewes has progressed I have began to gain a very good idea of what I enjoy doing and what kind of work I prefer to be involved in. In terms of the construction element of set work I much prefer working from designs and cutting and building structures to a specification, as opposed to monotaniously repeating tasks such as cutting metal bars for someone else to assemble. However, it is all part of the process.

This week I will be travelling down to Newbury where the set is being delivered to and be involved in the assembly in the theatre prior to the productin week.

Sweeney Todd: Part Three.

During the last week I continued working back into the steampunk oven for sweeney todd, touching up the surface detail and improving the overall look of the set piece. I also continued organising the other aspects of the set in preparation for the production week. In terms of the oven I attacher the feet, gluing the backs of them and securing them in place with masking tape whilst they dried.

With the feet in place I then secured more smoothly the Victorian motif, as it had only been attached with LX tape at this point I used papier mache to smooth the surfaces and attach it to the main oven better. Although I would eventually be cladding the sides in card to make them more rounded and fit the shape of the oven, I did this for the time being incase the tape came lose whilst it was left in the workshop.

At this stage I started working on the rest of the oven whilst the feet and newspaper dried. I began smoothing down the sides of the corrugated cardboard with builder's cork to give a more realistic look to the oven.

Once I had worked on the frame of the grill I concentrated on the general surface of the oven, creating a smoother, more realistic surface detail. As I had attached the feet earlier I made them more secure with the poly filler and also worked into their surfaces. Having done that I painted the rest of the structure with white emulision.

After this I worked on the top chimney section, as the victorian motif had altered the shape of the top of the oven I used card to reshape the chimney. Giving it a more circular look again.

As I had secured the card with masking tape I instantly painted over it with emulsion as the tape would have only stayed stuck down for so long. As can be seen below.

Although not perfectly smooth and with still a little work to do the oven is close to finishing. All that remains is to finish working on the surface detail, paint, and reinforce the interior to prevent from burning by lights.

The oven so far.



The Visit: Sign painting and Construction.

For the last two weeks I have been focusing primarily on the signs for The Visit. Having already cut out the sizes roughly from hard board I began work on drawing them out and painting them up in advance for the show this coming week. My first task was to accurately draw out each of the signs. As they will be quite close to the audience it was important they were perfectly drawn out.

As I had a short time in which to complete the signs I often worked on several at once. As I had to wait for one coloured section to dry before I continue painting it I would work on another while waiting, speeding up the whole process.

I worked on the signs at home as the light in the workshop was not suitable for gauging what colours worked well together and create the right style. As the play is set in post second world war europe the look of the signs was crucial in setting the time frame. Furthermore, the choice of colours I used, as well as the fact I didn't undercoat the signs in white first, meant they had an aged look to them; approptriate for the delapidated setting of Guellen town.

 

 The Golden Apostle Hotel is the most prestigious place in what is essentially a run-down, boarded up town. For the sign I wanted to create an impression of ornate splendour but still give it a worn down look. The picture here shows the colours before I gave them a second coat, as they are far too bright here. I think in the end it achieved a mood of faded grandeur, that hopefully will be communicated to the audience. The other sign here is for Ill's shop, I imagine he had painted the sign himself and, as a popular figure in the town, takes alot of pride in it. The look I wanted to achieve is one of simplicity, but proudness. These back stories I imagined, having read the script, helped me massively in me designing of the signs.

Finishing off the signs.

The signs completed.

Having finished work on the signs the only thing I had left to construct was the railroad signal. This was easily built out if three pieces of wood and required little work other than sawing the ends into arrows and painting white with black stripes, as can be seen below.

Once the signal was painted white with emulsion I decided to use black spray paint to finish the sign as this was quicker than using paint to complete it. Using masking tape I was able to get a quic an accurrate line across the tips of the arrows.

 This completed my work on The Visit. Overall, I found it a good opportunity to hone my painting skills and improve on working to a deadline.

From Newbury with Love

I spent the best part of last week travelling down to Lewes daily to help build the set for a show in Newbury, just outside of Reading. Despite the show being in Newbury the production company had rented out a warehouse in Lewes as it was more affordable for a show on a strict budget. My main job was cutting all the plywood sheets and metal tresses down to size so the set could be constructed.

The metal was alot more of a task than the wood. Where wood is a nicer material to work with, as it can be shaved and sanded, metal is alot more of a struggle. We therefore had to be dead on with our accuracy so that we did'nt waste the supply of resources the company had bought.

As the metal was being welded together, and the plywood fixed on top, the accuracy of our measurements was crucial. We would measure a length, move it into position over the saw, re-check the measurement, bring the saw down to the mark, check it again, tighten the metal tress into place and check the measurement again. We were advised to not mark a line on the metal/ wood as this gave a small chance of inaccuracy. Therefore we laid a tape measure over it and brought the blade of the saw down to the mark to be certain.

Once we had cut the metal we would check

the measurement again and, if necessary, shave off any unwanted millimeters. This was particularly difficult for metal that had to be cut at an angle. This was an incredably tiring and time consuming task but completely vital.

After a while we began to get into the rhythm of the routine and picked up speed, but the first hour or so was pretty gruelling! We spent the majority of the first day just cutting the metal and getting used to the chop saw. All though the tasks we were set were very repetitive, I really gained alot from simply using a tool over and over again. As well as the chop saw and circular saw I also got very comfortable with using a jigsaw and angle grinder. Tools that I had some experience with in the past but not to the degree I had during last week. It was a brilliant opportunity to not only become skilled with a number of different tools but also to become more experienced at dealing with the stress of having to get measurements spot on every time.

Here you can see the plans for the flooring of the stage. Each sheet of wood had to be scaled up from the drawing on the plans and marked out before being cut with the jigsaw. Again this helped me massively improve my skill with power tools as well as drawing things to scale and working from a design plan. By the end of the week I was exhausted but satisfied with what I had achieved and learnt during my time in Lewes. The next production week isn't until the 21st of february so hopefully I will be free and able to travel down to help out again.

Sweeney Todd: Part Two.

Last week I continued working on the oven as well as attending a run of the first half of the play to get a feel for the performance side of things (having focused on the technical side of the show so far). This hugely helped me keep up to date with the show, I could look at the blocking of different scenes as well as what was still needed. Back in the workshop I began cutting out the back of the oven so it can be lit from through the grill.

In order to not cut into the oven itself I began by cutting a small hole with a jigsaw, I then made it progressively bigger until I was pleased with the over all look and size of the hole. As this exposed the loose underside of the paper layers I initially taped down any that weren't secure. Next I began to use more papier mache to secure them further, as well as laying them over the wood rim. This was because I was worried lose pieces of paper exposed to a strong beam of light for too long might end up catching alight, which wouldn't be great.

As I layered the paper down I became concerned the mass of glue running down the sheets into the bowl of the oven would make the grill soggy and warp. I decided therefore to paint the grill to prevent it from becoming too wet and disfiguring the front of the oven.

After I had done this I stopped working on the main oven for the time being and concentrated on the victorian motif I had yet to build for the crest of the oven.

I had sketched the design a number of times but as the play's theme was Steampunk I altered it slightly. What I came up with was a more complex design, perhaps to hard to build in 3D but one that incorporated both the flowing curves I had originally considered with a more man-made, artificial design.

Here you can see as well as the ornate detail, the design also includes more rigid structures such as the gears and wheels. I thought this was more fitting but would be too complex to make. Not only that but I didn't have the time to dedicate to it, and from the audience's postiton they wouldn't see it very well anyway, especially if the lighting was dim. However, I still used it as my main design and would construct its outline, if not the interior detail.

Using air drying clay (I thought this was the most practical) I rolled out a sheet, roughly an inch thick, with a empty wine bottle. While doing this I noticed the surface of the wine bottle became cloudy and dusty-looking.

I thought this would be a perfect method for creating antique, old bottles for use in the scenes or on shelves behind the counter, etc.

Once I had done this I used a photocopy of my design to trace the outline of the motif with a scalpel. This however proved very difficult so I cut out the design with a pair of scissors and followed as best I could. Although the overall piece I finished was different to what I had drawn it worked just as well.

The clay prior to carving.

The design starts to take shape...

The completed piece.

To add to the three dimensional look I constructed an oval disc for the centre of the motif, which I then carved a border into. I then allowed it time to dry on a curved piece of card on top of the wine bottle, this would allow the curve of the oven to sit perfectly between the motif and surface of the oven.

Once it had finally dried a spent a good few days appying glue to the card so that it was completely secured to the clay and would be able hold on when placed upright. Once I was convinced there was no chance of the clay falling off it was ready to be taken into uni and attached to the main oven.

When I took the clay piece in this morning I used a huge amount of LX electrial tape to secure the clay to the oven. Although this might not sound like the most practical resource I find it is ten times more reliable than masking tape, and easier to paint over than the surface of selotape.

 After attaching it I realised it would take alot of work with papier mache to get the piece looking as though it fitted against the oven smoothly. However, due to the curve I had let it dry in it sat quite happily on the oven's surface. This completed my work on the oven for the week.

The oven so far.

The Visit

Last friday I had my first design meeting for the second year physical theatre group's production of The Visit. As it is a physical theatre piece the set is pretty minimum, however, the director decided he would like a number of signs made that would mark different scenes on stage. These signs would be hung from the rig, placed over the front of tables, or even held by a member of the cast. As the play is set in the delapidated town of Guellen the signs are intended to represent different areas or buildings of the town. For example, the largest and grandest of the signs is the Golden Apostle Hotel, which will be hung form the rig as it much more important than the others but also it would be too large to be held by actors.

During the meeting we talked about the different aspects of the play and the layout of the set so that I was brought up to speed with the show. I discussed with the director what he wanted from each sign and went away that weekend to draw up designs for the meeting on monday.

As the show is on at the beginning of march it was crucial that designs were developed and approved of as soon as possible. Over the weekend I devised a wide variety of designs for the director to decide on. By doing this it sped up the process of getting the designs picked so that no time would be lost actually drawing up and painting them on time. Above are my designs for the railway station, general store, wood carving and police station. They all follow a style fitting to the 1950s, post-war setting of the play. Below is my designs for the hotel sign, I also included another option for the geeneral store to add to the variety.

Having presented my ideas to the director on monday the designs have all been chosen and sizes decided on. Although the size we agreed on are slightly smaller than they would be in reality, due to the lack of time, we felt it would be better to have smaller, more accurately and detailed signs than larger, more rushed versions.

Today I spent the best part of the morning clearing a space in the workshop to start building the signs. Once I had done that I drew the outlines of their dimensions to get a better idea of the their scale. This also gave me a sense of how long it would take to complete them all. Tomorrow I will be starting to draw up the lettering so I can concentrate on painting next week.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

By the end of October our Drama Society, a group formed by students to produce shows independent from our degree, had began holding nights in which students could pitch shows they wanted to direct. These were to be performed just before Christmas or in the new year. One of the shows chosen to be produced was Sweeney Todd, although it isn't to be performed until the beginning of April. The reason it was pitched so early on was to get casting out the way, put the vast number of costumes together, and build the set, to name but a few. Not only this but as the shows produced by the society are not part of our degree any work we take on board is in addition to our studies. As the set designer I realised before taking on the role that alot of preparation would have to be done way in advance. Not only so I wouldn't be swamped by the combined work load of university studies and society demands, but also so I could develop the set to a standard that I was pleased with. Furthermore, it would take a good deal of planning to make sure the set construction didn't eat up the budget of four hundred pounds for the whole show, as it easily could given the very nature of the play. I began to do rough sketches of the different elements of the set I had discovered on reading the script.

Above is an early concept for the set. As the show is to be performed in studio 3 I obviously took this into consideration when developing my idea, as shown by the curtain rail that frames the set. Here you can see the design is focused on the barber shop, the pie shop and the oven. The three boards mounted on wheels in the foreground are to be used for 'sub scenes' that are based around locations that pop up only once ortwice. They therefore don't require as elaborate sets and would be too costly any how. The barber shop is raised on steel decking four foot high which not only gives the idea of an upstairs shop but also allows the oven in front to form a different location without taking up more space. I realised the main sections of the set that would require time to build by myself were the sign for Lovett's pie shop, the screens that move around displaying different scenes (a book shelf, street wall, market stand, etc), and the oven. 

During one of our production meetings an idea was pitched to the tech team that would transform the show. The costume team had been discussing Todd with a lecturer who had suggested we change the style of the play from straight victorian to steampunk. Although open to the idea I didn't have a very good understanding of what exactly steampunk was so I went away and researched it. After googling steampunk and looking at a number of artists work I began to understand how steampunk stems from victorian styles of fashion, architecture and culture, but in a more futuristic, fantasy style. With this information I began to re-work my design for the set, still keeping the same 'shell' but changing the overall look. For instance, making the oven more elaborate, and changing the walls of the barber shop from delapidated wall paper to sheets of iron.

Above you can see how the steampunk theme altered my designs whilst still keeping the orginal layout of the set. I also decided to include a twiriling barber's pole sign. After this was approved I began considering how I would go about building the set. The steel decking would be easy to get hold of, as well as the counter for Lovett's shop. Sourcing  The three main features of the set I will be building are the 'Lovett's' sign, the barber's pole sign and the oven.

The first and most elaborate design element of the set is the oven and I have spent the last month constructing it. Back at the end of Decenber I got hold of a piece of hard board from the theatre workshop at uni and drew out the basic design for it just before I went home for Christmas.

I decided the most logical way of building the oven would be to create a three dimensional facade on the surface of the wood. I started building it up with cardboard tubes, plant pots, even coke cans...



I initially began securing the tubes with masking tape. 



I decided to reinforce the structure I had so far built using papier mache, as it was cheap and effective. By using wood adhesive instead of PVA it also hugely increased the strength and durability of the piece overall. Using a Pimms pitcher (appropriate i know) i mixed together the glue with about five parts water and (having tore newspaper into long strips) dipped the newspaper into the glue and laid it across the surface. As the materials I had used were not sturdy enough for practical wear and tear it was crucial I improved the strength of the oven.

Having built the outer structures I started to think about how I would build the main belly of the oven. Using a medicine ball covered in tin foil as a mould, I again soaked strips of paper in glue and laid them over the surface. After doing this a number of times and allowing it to set I then cut strips out of the mushroom shaped structure, leaving them attached nearer the centre. This allowed me to stretch the shape to the edges of the oven i had drawn out. I then laid two rings of garden wire over the centre to act as a frame, and keep the shape of the oven.

 Left you can see how I built up the structure with paper.

One difficulty I had to deal with during the layering of the dome was that as the oven is completely made of paper, so adding to much glue to the surface weighed down and loosened its structure. I was constantly having to prop up sides before they collpased but this was a minor proce to pay for constructing the oven cost free. I used the techniques of scrunching up balls of paper to pad out the steeper sides although I eventually changed this to strips of scrunched up paper as they made the job quicker. As a result the thickness of the oven was greately improved as well as its surface look.

Here you can see the main belly of the oven prior to me evening out it's surface.

Once I was happy with the surface of the oven I added a few more layers to the top as well as coating it with PVA for additional strength. After finishing the building of the oven's shape I moved onto the surface detail. First i painted all of the flat spaces inbetween with blue paint just so I had a clearer idea of the shape. Then I began work on the grill.

I experimented with a number of different designs for the grill and the surface details, e.g. hinges, locks, etc. I wanted it to look intimidating and bold but almost have a natural, organic look to their design too. The designs I chose have a sharp, gothic look to them, with sharp repeptitive angles. They also imcorporate smother, more flowing shapes that are more celtic in their origin. This use of a variety of different styles drawn them different cultures was important as it created a new theme that was more suited to the steampunk look we were after.

The oven begins to take shape.

Once the designs had been decided on and I had built the grill, I began to cut out the front of the oven. One thing i realised was how thick it really was, this was reassuring as I was less worried about damaging it. Using aa bread knife I cut out the rectangular shape of the openning.

 I then dressed the walls of the hatch with more paper to secure it and neaten it up. While this was drying I started to think how I was going to make the lion's feet that would hold up the oven.


Orginally I had considered carving them out of wood or polerstyrene but as this wasn't available to me I thought about using paper (yet again). Cutting up newspaper into small squares I mixed them with alot of glue and some water to create a pulp. I then used this to mould the feet onto the wooden sheet where they would be.

                                           While the feet began to dry I went back to the grill and, gluing the back of it, I taped it down so it would bend to the shape of the oven. Below you can see the grill and foot attached, the oven was really beginning to look more impressive by this stage. My next step was to work on the surface detail of the grill, it's hinges, frame and latch.

 

To make the grill stronger I used the sections I had to cut out the improve the thickness of it's bars. I also built a boarder for it and began drawing out the hinges and latch, as you can see below.

With the hinges and latch attached the oven was complete in terms of its structure. I still had the victorian motif around the base of the chimney to carve but as I had achieved everything I could do in my room I decided to take it in to the theatre workshop at uni. There I could paint it and finish any work remaining on it.

Once in uni I began undercoating the oven in white and neatened up the wood at the back in black as it will be for the show. I still havent decided on the colour scheme for the oven yet and so have left it painted white.

 As is obvious from the photo above the feet have been removed. Having taken much longer than I expected to dry I left them in my room next to the radiator.

With the hole still to cut into the back, colour schemes still to decide upon, the motif to mould from clay, and little touch ups here and there to do this completed the main section of the build for the oven. So far I am pleased with its progress, I have managed to save a bundle on the budget by building it cost free out of newspaper, and, more importantly, finally got my bed back!