An update of proceedings

So I am officially out of town for at least a week now. Unfortunately there has been a death in my family so I am back in Edinburgh, unexpectedly. Despite this, production time is ticking over and I want to keep the memento going on my project. This week I have been concentrating on the construction of the model. The action on this beast needs to start soon (in fact our first build day was supposed to be tomorrow) but as I am not in Bristol I have spent some time researching methods of model-making and the like.

LONDON

I was staying at my uncle’s house in London and we were talking about the model, and how best to go about making it. Even this raised a few important issues, ones that have been brought up in the past, but I thought it best to make a formal record of them.

1    1.        How best to construct the simple theatre structure best, so that it can be taken apart and moved.

    2.      What sort of scale to employ, as if it was rigidly based on a real theatre then the stage, by rights should be relatively square shaped. But I was planning on a rectangular shape as if it was deeper it would be able to contain more detailed sets, with more levels/layers.

3.       Deciding exactly what kind of materials to use; where to buy them etc. Methods; i.e. casting, painting, treating, staining etc.

4.       How to light the set. For example, I want to have a realistic street-lamp, like the one in my ‘one poster’. Small lights and circuits could be used, or the effect could be achieved in post production.

5.       Although my original plan was to composite the animation onto the set using after effects, I would like to try out using a projector as well, as it might be easier and more effective.

He also advised I speak to his friend and neighbour Francis, who is an artist who has worked on many big-budget films. Francis was very helpful and might be able to put me in touch with a professional model maker, as they work a lot in film and theatre.

Francis lent me a book called ‘Theatre Craft’s’ (very old book, couldn’t even find it online) which had some good tips for theatre set designers (as they almost always have to make a scaled down model of the sets) and diagrams of the general lay-out of the stage. He advised that I go to a shop called ‘French’s’; a book-shop specialising in theatre. 

Got a great book in this shop. Expensive yet impressive. Its called Model-making- Materials and Methods by David Neat. Its got everything. Step-by-step guides to various processes, examples of good quality models and directories of materials and suppliers. On the same street (Warren Street) was a modeling materials shop called Tiranti. Had a wee deek at all the materials and prices. A couple of streets over is the Pollocks Toy Museum http://www.pollockstoymuseum.com/history.html to look at all the old toy paper theatres. There was loads; every size imaginable. One thing I noticed that I hadn't previously thought about including is the audience, in the box seats on either side of the stage. Could be something worth considering. On the same street as Pollock's was a massive, sleek and professional architectural model-shop. It struck me how, structurally the models were perfect. I want the model to be so but also concentrate more on detail.

 

Like this one. But also like this one

 And a toy theatre with audience.

And Pollocks Toy Theatre Museum.

Ah London. Very useful things here indeed. The book is my new bible. It is truly the helpfulest!