Where does one start

So, I had had Next to Normal on my mind for almost 12 months.  I really loved the material and (despite the challenges with placing a significantly larger band) the design came together quite smoothly.  I was inspired and excited by the whole thing.  I back burnered Bukowsical more than I usually do, because I wasn't as inspired by the music and the story, and was a little clueless as to what to do with it.

However, as we go into rehearsals on Monday, I am forced to turn my attention to the design question for Bukowsical.  As always, where to start....where to start....well.  Tonight I think I listened to the recording like 5 times (and having read the script a week ago) I had to get the story and the music and the energy in my mind.  So I went to the wonderful world of the internet for research imagery.  I found a couple of Bukowski's book covers that are really cool.

And I always start with Band placement.  Fortunately, Buk is only a 4 person rock band, which poses fewer challenges.  Scott Miller and I have thought about approaching this show as a classic musical comedy with turrets.  So, there are notions of proscenium arches, show curtains, bright colors, and of course beer bottles going on in my head.  Using a 3d modeling program, I generated three different sketch models to send to Scott to see what shape he likes before further developing the design package. One of the below versions will become the framework for the design of my next design project with Newline Theatre.

putting it together

The set started going up yesterday.  With the help of Don and Alex, we got 90% of the curved surround built and installed.  I had to make a few adjustments to solve some placement problems.  I also had a few issues with squaring up the flats.  Dealing with curves adds a different challenge to making things square. Fortunately, the out of square portion will be behind a flat.  So, it's all good.

Today, I will be building the counter and the record racks.  If I have extra people, the cassette tape will start going up today too!  It's exciting!

choices, choices

I know it's been a while since my last post.  Life has been quite hectic, for the good.  I had a couple of design projects I had to complete, leaving Hi Fi percolating in the back of my mind.

I am currently at my least favorite part of the design process.  Technical Direction.  Basically, I have to decide the best way to figure out how to build the design and keep it within budget.  While in grad school, we had discussed that all making art is affected by three things: time, money, and quality (and you can only ever have two of them).  Something cheap and fast won't really be good, or something cheap and good will take time.  So, this is the part of the design where I have to make choices balancing these three elements (always with good in the equation).  Well, good and safe.  Fortunately, the design for Hi-Fi is simple enough that making it safe isn't a huge problem.  So, the challenges for this design.

The first one: how much can I pre build for this show (and where to build it).  Pre-Building is always the best strategy for a show as you can give yourself the time you need to add all the details.  But, when you pre-build you need to have a shop to build it in.  And, you have to think about door ways.  If I were to start building the parts of the circular surround, I'd have to think about how to get it from where I build it into the shop.  Will these parts fit up the stairs and through the doorway?  I worked on a production of "Big Love" and the director really wanted a claw footed bath tub in the set.  However, the space was at the top three flights of stairs with a narrow turn radius and no elevator.  From the get go, I discouraged the use of the tub as I wouldn't be able to get it into the space by myself and at previous load ins there was not a lot of support.  However, case in point.  How will thee parts of the set get into the space if they are pre-built.  I prefer to build sets on site, as that provides me with the most amount of space.

Second: engineering.  How are these pieces going to fit together?  I'm building a curved surround.  Do I want a genuine curve or a faceted curve.  A genuine curve is cooler and more complicated, but it shows a level of craft and quality of design that automatically puts you at a higher level of design (basically, low paying community theatre doesn't do curves).  I don't like to work with stock sizes a whole lot as it feels a bit like, well stock scenery.  However, sometimes it's how you put the stock pieces together that make the set not feel like stock.  For example, the flats behind the band for cry baby were stock flats, but I stacked and staggered them to make them have a bit more of a custom feel.

Third, and concurrent with every step: budget.  How much will these things cost to build them in the way they are engineered.  Can we afford to build it they way it is engineered?  I had one set of engineered plans for the surround that I think would work, until I priced and realized I was going to spend about 40$ on only one part of the surround.  It'd be cheaper to do if it were build in a different way.  But not as attractively.  So, I have to price out everything to see if I do expensive and good or do I make the sacrifice and apply a different kind of finish to make the choice look intentional.  I think intentionality is the most important aspect of making choices.  If I can't build something or paint something the way I really want to, I have to make the choice look like it was the intention all along and not a mistake.  Because I don't like mistakes.

And the fourth challenge is time.  It is extremely important to create a schedule and stick to it.  You must know how long it will take you to do something so you can budget your time accordingly!  I currently have three projects on my board and in order for me accomplish them all, I must stay organized and scheduled!  Calendars and lists become my best friends.  One of my former professors gave me the advice, that the best way to spend the first fifteen minutes of every work day is creating your list.  Organization is the most important challenge.  (I wonder what he would think about spending my time blogging about how important time is)

It's all about choices!  So, it's time to go make some.


Back to the drawing board!

Scott

Pencils have soul, but computers have copy and paste

A designer's primary job is to communicate the intended design to the director, actors, and production team.  The key word is communicate.  Meaning not only do the ideas need to be clear in the mind of the designer, but clear in some more tangible way.  As design is a visual form, this communication needs to be visual as well.  So, in your minds eye picture a 4x8 flat with yellow paint...and know that no one else has the same picture in their mind.  We use drawings, draftings, renderings, and models to communicate what is going on with the design.  However, how those things are made and look are unique to the designer's own style.

I prefer to do things with pencil.  William Moser, one of my design professors, instilled in me the notion that pencils have soul.  This is a pretty abstract concept.  Pencils create minor imperfections in the drawings which can be used to  the designer's advantage.  Smudging can create depth and texture, cross hatching can differentiate surface details.  Also, you can really begin to see what the designer is thinking about in a hand drawn sketch.  You can see moments when they make a decision, as well as when they change their minds.  I personally think better with a pencil in my hand than with a mouse in my hand.  The draw back to pencil work is time, specifically in drafting.  It takes time to copy an image from one plate to another plate.  Lettering and notes take more time, as the writing needs to be legible, clear notes that still have a unique style (my hand lettering is still not quite what I'd like it to be).  So, some software guy some many years ago thought...let's make a computer program to do this: the birth of CAD (computer aided design).  Which doesn't have the same character but is clear and fast (God bless copy and paste...).   I will probably do all the design aspects by hand and the technical aspects by computer for this show.  Sometimes, I find myself limited on time to do all the work by hand.  But like I said earlier, it's about communication.  You must do what is necessary to communicate the ideas.

Now what does all this mean, I'm in drafting/drawing mode for High Fidelity.  I have already gone through six or seven different ground plans (hand drawn and sketched), continuously refining my ideas.  My first few were far to literal for my liking and sense of style.  But, I find it interesting how my ideas kept evolving to abstraction and you can see a real progression and thought process when you look at the whole family of sketches.  This thought process is what I really love about design work! I also think graphite pencil is the right media (as opposed to ink, paint, marker, or color pencil) for High Fidelity as my design will be fairly gray scale monochromatic with a few pops of color.  My design is more about texture, which is what pencils do really, really well.  I can't wait to do some renderings (but I have to finish another project- lighting design for Vinegar Tom @ SLU) before I can get back to the doing a set of graphite renderings...

Well, back to the drawing board (to finish a light plot)!

where do you come up with this s***?

The scenic designer is, typically, the first member of the design team to be chosen and it's the first part of the overall design process to be established. There is a lot riding on the tone set by the scenic design. What style will the show be, how will the play move from scene to scene. Believe it or not, the scene designer is responsible for setting up all the blocking and staging for key moments in a play. Now, I'm not giving myself a huge ego, because, any good design will happen collaboratively with the director and other artists.

I have been chatting with Scott Miller about the overall design ideas for High Fidelity. One of the key elements that has inspired me from our conversation is the notion of "collection". Rob is a collector, but not only does he collect things, he collects "dead" things. He clings to a musical format (vinyl) which is no longer has mass appeal. He clings to the memories of his top 5 break ups. These are the things that, in a sense, haunt him. So, my general idea is that the play takes place within his record collection. This is a rock style show that happens within his music collection. I'm very inspired by these music formats and they will feature very prominently within the design of the show. The challenge now, is to find enough CDs, records, and cassette tapes to play with. Hello, craigslist, here I come!

I have already amassed like 300-400 records...but knowing me, I want more...I have a whole box of cassette tapes (of which, I will only be using the tape, and not the case). CDs shouldn't be a huge problem. I'm really excited how these different elements will be used to create the scenery itself! The installation will be time consuming, but significantly easier construction-wise. I also apologize in advance for strike....I am finishing some sketches, which I will be posting too.

There is still one design challenge that I'm working on right now. And that's movement. There are two scenes that need to feel like there are in a different place from where the rest of the play happens: the apartment and the funeral. When approaching a musical, it's important to understand one thing: what does the production need (not want) in order to function. For this play, these two locations need to feel somewhat different and unique. They don't need to be dramatic scene changes, but they do need to change...but how....that's the outlying question. I'll let you know what I come up with. I just need to remember to keep it simple.

Well, I think I need to get back to the drawing board to figure this s*** out.