Set Construction

 

The Meadow Amphitheatre
in
Tamenend Park, Southampton

   The photo above was the stage I built in Tamenend Park and used to start a Shakespearean Troupe called The Shakespeareans of Tamenend Park. That stage is now gone, I disassembled it because vandals kept damaging it and I got tired of fixing it. I lot of other things happened there, but I won't go into that now. The title above is linked to that page. 

   So, for The Gnomes of New Hope, the first tangible construction effort for the stage show will be an aspect of the stage design, not specifically sets but rather backdrops.

2/25 Update

Here's an early version of this page.
(this low resolution copy is a little dark)

ILLUSTRATED STORYBOOKS

   If you've been watching this blog, you know we've gone through a lot up ups & downs, in terms of thinking the books are almost done. Egads! 

   So, the result of this is that; it seems like it is taking FORVER to get the Illustrated Storybook Collection finished. The truth is that, we cannot force it to be finished. We have taken great pains to represent the story with artwork that express' the text. In some instances we have generally highlighted the text, but in most instances the illustrations are specific to the page.

   Sometimes ago, we began illustrating the components of an illustration separately. What this means is that if an illustration has a crowd of Gnomes in it, we have illustrated each Gnome separately, so I have the flexibility to assemble an illustration as I see fit, being able to move the Gnomes around in the background.

   As you can see, approaching the artwork in this way causes the process to be quite a bit more lengthy. But the end result is - better illustrations, with more clarity. More than that, having the characters separated from the backgrounds, sets us up to do animation. I do expect that once all the Illustration panels are completed for these books, then we will move forward into animating some of the artwork in "old-world" fashion. I have explored 3D CGI. I'm not sure how all this will fit together yet. But I have some ideas.

   That being said, I have counted the pages remaining that are lacking color illustrations.  The number is 60. But, we have a three inch binder full of color illustrations, which are waiting to be scanned and inserted into the book pages.

   So, I don't know the actual status yet, but just guessing, I think there are less than ten pages that need to have the sketches made and turned into color paintings.

   I will be cross-referencing these materials, because I need to ascertain what Jency needs to be working on. 🎬

SET DESIGN

   One other aspect of this is the set design for the stage presentations. There are numerous versions of the musical. So, with this in mind, I will be constructing three of the primary settings for the show using a design I have that involves shifting the borders and legs as part of the backdrop design. I believe I will fly the blacks to reveal the variable hard props that will exist in those positions. 

   Overall, I am designing the staging to fit a 20' proscenium width and 18' depth. This is a smaller stage setting, but it allows for a wider range of venues.  We'll trim a larger stage for this width. We might be able to expand the design and I expect to take that into consideration, should it be required for a longer run is a theatre with a larger stage.  Of course, if the show goes into a union house, everything will need to be rebuilt anyway, so that doesn't matter much. My focus of attention will be smaller, non-union theatres, as a way to build the audience and do a tryout run.  There's also a mobile stage, which I mention below, so the design will need to service that stage too. 🎭

 Revisiting the e-Storybook

This is a sample of the e-Storybook. It's an older experiment,

but, toward the end there is a song we did, which is pretty nice.

It's a duet and it's kind of fun.

Publishing

   Well, our work on publishing is nearing the end of completing the illustrations. We still have quite a bit to do, but compared to what we have already done, it's a drop in the bucket ! The difference is that we started breaking down the illustrations into more parts. Although the paintings get reduced down to fit on the page (an sometimes they end up pretty small) we started painting the characters individually from the backgrounds and doing so on  watercolor paper sized to 8.5" x 11". The reason for this is twofold. Firstly, there needs to be enough detail in the paintings to make them higher quality, so when they get reduced the detail remains.  Secondly, I intend to produce a gallery exhibition of the Artwork. It really is good quality watercolors. Some are better than others, but it is an amazing feat to have gathered thousands of watercolor paintings for this publishing project. The watercolors are absolutely worthy of being shown in a museum or gallery. The interesting thing is that; I can print the artwork and you would be hard-pressed to distinguish the original from the print. That makes it possible for us to sell signed copies of the artwork at an exhibition.

Computers

    Another part of what is happening is that ;I need to upgrade my computers again. The systems I am using are quite fine for the work I am doing, but they are outdated when it comes to the internet.  In fact, I have numerous computers, all of which work fine for what they can do, but (as usual) the technology is changing more rapidly than I am. So I am somewhat forced to upgrade my computers. I am looking at the new Mac Studio M4. So far I found out what I need to do to upgrade my programs, because that also is required. You know how that goes.

Music

     That has led me to explore what needs to be done to set up up to get busy working on the music again. The work on music has been put off until the Storybooks are complete. Little did I know just how many years publishing the books would take.  But in regard to the music, one thing I have in mind is to build a recording studio large enough to accommodate a pit orchestra. Since I am setting up a stage in my studio, I will design it to be used as a sound-stage, green-screen and rehearsal space. I also intend on applying video to that stage, in particular producing "Nunc Licet' for the cameras.

   But in regard to the music workstations, the one I am using for Publishing will be repurposed for music composition ,once the Illustrated Storybooks are finished. The main reason for the delay is that I do not want to interfere with the publishing functions until these books are completed. I can and will set-up more than one workstation for music. I still have the G4 & G5 that we used, I just don't have the time to address setting them up while I am engaged in publishing. In addition to these things, I am working toward setting up an in-house network that will also serve as a test case for the touring needs of the stage musical.

MORE LATER

Puppetry Stages

Mobile Stage

 Below are two photographs of the trucks I have available

 to service mobile stage concepts under development.

1962 International CO1600

 I am now considering this vehicle to carry a

Complete Proscenium Puppetry Stage 

I will be an interesting project, to design and construct the stage 

that will fit the size of this bed, with removable legs, whereby  

the stage can lift up, so the truck can drive out from under the stage.  

This is becoming a very real project, which I am now considering as a tool 

for the puppetry version of the show; The Gnomes of New Hope.

Of course, this cannot happen until after the publishing is completed and 

also in the context of other aspects of the project that are underway.  

This truck is being renovated, in that it will be receiving 

a larger rebuilt engine  and rebuilt hydraulics for; 

 the dumping stake-bed, crane arm, brakes and clutch.

1963 Corvair Greenbrier

The above truck was purchased for the frame and powertrain. 

The intention was to remove the body for the purpose of constructing 

a self-powered 

Parade Float with Animatronic Puppetry 

for use in promoting the musical stage show of 

The Gnomes of New Hope: Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure.

Clearly, this will be a smaller, different stage than that described above.

Here is what the chassis looks like without the body. Imagine a flat stage stop this chassis, with a cockpit constructed in the center-front under that stage.

As it stands now, this truck may be preserved for restoration, 

as I have more than one of these trucks and I am looking at third parts truck,

which would better serve the purpose of a Parade Float

and allow this Greenbrier to be preserved.

I thought this might be interesting to you.

AG