Time to offer an Option

For those Industry Professionals who may like to become involved by investing, I suggest reading this post on IMS Management.

The Stage Musical

I found this post saved as a draft, so I'm going to post it and update these thoughts.

I thought I'd address the subject of the Musical. Shawn and I have been discussing the music, on and off for years. We stopped just shy of having  completed it for a few reasons; the stress of our debates over scoring was one reason, scheduling our work sessions was difficult, but on my end, the realization that an Illustrated Storybook needed to be finished and be put in a position to be sold, before any stage musical could go into production. All these reasons are critical elements that must be addressed  Little did I know that it would take over ten years, closer to fifteen (maybe even more) to complete that task. 

Update 4/12/23

The Illustrated Storybooks really do stand on their own, they just happen to be based on the Stage Musical. I am certain that once the publishing layout is finally locked in and finished, completely ready for mass publication (meaning no correction, additions, or modifications) and the printer's files are totally locked in, then, and only then, will I be completely free to do the same with the music compositions and scoring.

I spent six months working on the music. I was doing time signatures and modifying the beats to accommodate vocal delivery, while also crafting divisi, only to have been stalled by having hard disc failure steal my material. I put everything on hold after that. I will need to seek out and implement disc recovery. If I am lucky I can get those files back. But I'm not going to get involved in any of that, until after the publishing files are completely finished. 

Once that has happened and my mind is free to focus on those music issues, then I will build a new music workstation, which will incorporate both the older systems we were using, along with a new processor to run the upgraded programs. I think in that way, we will have the best of both world; the old established methodology running adjacent to the new systems that will tie more effectively into our use of video, but also into the stage control systems. I will address those control systems elsewhere. Suffice it to say, I'm looking into a lighting control panel, but one system I'm very interested in will run off my Mac laptop. I do think we need a hard board that will sync with that as well. I'm looking into that.

So we (Shawn & I) have discussed getting back to the music and it's almost time to do that. However, I am building a sound studio and sound stage stage in the studio with "a green screen".  The stage will be a normal 16' deep by 20' working area. The wings and upstage area are 6'-10'. I think this size stage is sufficient for our in-house development work. I have a few other dramas in addition to the Gnomes musical. Right now, I am upgrading the video capabilities to a three-camera shoot and concentrating on making sure the editing suite is functioning properly.  So, working on the music is not quite happening yet. 

All the computer systems are older, although not too old. I do have work stations that go all the way back to OS9 and I would like to review all the work stations to make sure they work properly and are networked properly. The workstation we originally used to compose the music was OS10.4 and that worked really well. It did develop a problem, so I switched over to OS10.5 and I maintain a 10.5 workstation, even though I'm now up to 10.15. I am working on networking my storage space through numerous systems. It's not an easy task, but it needs to be done so that an array of workstations can service both old and new systems. This is important because I use programs that require different operating systems, but I need to be able to upgrade the files into newer systems where that is required. It's very tricky trying to figure this out.

Basically, in terms of the music, I'm working on setting up a new set of upgraded programs, which will also need to tie into the video editing suite. My problem is that, I am afraid to disturb my current workstation to upgrade, or even open the music and video programs, because I simply cannot afford to have anything infract my publishing layout (ie: hard disc failures). 

I do have other machines available, but frankly, the shift in thinking that is required to set up these other functions (music and video) cannot happen yet. I'm almost finished with the publishing end of things and I need to hang in there until that is all finalized.

But I am endeavoring to upgrade the video equipment (done) and move forward with staging preparations, because doing that will not interject itself into the publishing workstation.

I'll continue with this at another time.

AG

Sculpting Garden Gnomes

    As it turns out, Jency's granddaughter is a very talented young person. She is sculpting Ferny Reading. I don't have a copy of what she is sculpting for us right now, so here is the Constable Warren Garden Gnome. The Garden Gnome line will begin with seven characters being released, one with each book. The initial release will be signed and numbered, although the format is yet to be determined.

   You see below the mold that was made from the original Constable Warren, made by Elsa Acton. That mold is a number of years old now, and it's condition leads me to believe that I need to make new molds, out of different materials. I'm thinking that we should create the mold in a digital 3D environment and then we can print out new molds as needed if and when the working molds get destroyed. So I will be working to scan Ferny Reading and go from there for this, the second Garden Gnome.

  Ferny Reading is mainly intended as a display sculpture used to market the books in book stores. But I am thinking along the lines of resin sculptures instead of concrete. We can certainly make concrete, but the distribution of concrete will either have to be pick-up at the studio or delivered to garden centers. Direct mail order of concrete is out, due to the weight and the risk of damage. With resin, my design will include a plug on the bottom, whereby the purchaser can fill the Gnome with sand to give it weight.

Elsa and her little buddy Constable Warren

   As we proceed with this end of the project we will be sculpting at least two collections; The Garden Gnomes (designed for, well, gardens) and Figurines (designed as smaller souvenir items).  I will be updating this post and adding to it as things proceed.

Here is "Ferny Reading" a sculpture by Serena King. It's a work in progress, but it looks great so far!

UPDATE 7/26/23:

   We have acquired the supplies to set up a casting operation. The puppet shop has been used for casting faces (for the puppets) and the first "Constable Warren" Garden Gnome. Having advanced to this next Garden Gnome "Ferny Reading",  it is appropriate to focus on improved mold making, since we will be creating numerous Garden Gnomes and figurines from "The Gnomes of New Hope".  Besides the fact that IMS is principally a prototype shop, setting up for manufacturing, with a kiln, is a good idea, to give us latitude. Clearly, unless we find a supplier to produce the figurines and such at a workable price, our best bet is to set up to do this in-house.  I certainly am willing to discuss these sculpture with an outside agency, so if you do this kind of work, you are welcome to contact me via email. In the meanwhile, we are setting up the sculpture studio to include mold making and casting these figurines in various mediums. 

LINKS to previous posts;

Garden Gnomes, Articulating Figurines & Puppets

2/24/23 UPDATE

 Oaky doaky. Well, we have advanced very near to the completion of the sketches for the entire Book collection. The plan is to complete the sketches, then shift over to refining them into line drawings, which are printed out on watercolor paper for coloring. Then I rescan the watercolors, detail the scans with an array of processing and effects to match the already finished artwork, then replace the sketches with the finished watercolors. There are around 350 illustration panels that need to have this done. Then - It's all finished. YAHOO... in another two years.  It's very slow going, for various reasons, which I can't discuss here. But we are on the right track. We could start working on the stage show or the cinema aspects any time now, because the Illustrated Storybooks will be finished first, absolutely.  But before we can pitch it to investors and producing organizations (presuming we do) all the artwork needs to be done, at least the sketches and then the registrations. That's about it for now. AG

Here's a sketch. More detail on this one, almost ready for watercolor.

Zach thinks about his Ancestor and namesake

Zachary the Great

IMS Design Studio

 A new blog titled

IMS Design Studio

has been established 

to serve as a portal to the IMS Shopping Cart.

This blog will also serve as a gallery of products

which are available for purchase

to both 

Wholesale Buyers

and

Retail Customers

Since this site under construction

I invite you to review it for future reference.

Animation

   Even though the e-Storybook will be accessed via an online subscription, it will also be available as a collection of DVDs (probably as a collectable gift to our crew & investors), since I have a DVD Publisher. Of course there are also SSD drives as well, which may turn out to be the prime method of delivery, due to the size of the files.

   So, I recently acquired another laptop, a Mac Pro, of course. I've need another portable, since all my other ones are basically dead. But the real reason for another computer is that I am building an animation workstation and I will be moving my Mac Mini over to that workstation. I am building a monitor into one of my drafting tables and this will allow my artists to access previous art and also use the built-in screen as a light table. This allows us to craft movement from any of the images, in a conventional fashion using art panels. Of course, we are still introducing digital animation techniques, but I want to make sure we have a foundation in classic animation methodology (albeit, somewhat upgraded by using computer imagery to create underlays)

   Now, I am also constructing a sound stage, with a green screen, so that we might be able to introduce puppetry into the background scenery, which we are creating and using in the Illustrated Storybooks.

   It's interesting how layers can be applied to this process. For instance; if we create animation of a character (CGI or manually) we can insert that character and it's movements in any background as an upper layer. But here's the beauty of it - that animated character layer can be replaced with Digital Video of the same character portrayed with a puppet, captured on the sound stage in-house. 

   I was amazed to find a copy of Adobe Character Animator on this new laptop. I didn't even know this existed. Here's what I found out; Character Animator uses the car my era in the computer to monitor the movements of my mouth and interpret them in into the animated character. That amazes me. I was even more blown away to discover that the program ties into MIDI. If I understand that correctly, I can then tie the animation into our music midi files.

  The music for the Gnomes of New Hope had been composed using Digital Performer. We have a total of 70 musical numbers. Some of those numbers are bridges, backdrops and instrumentals, so they are not all lyrical songs. But the point is that; if the animation can be tied to a MIDI track, well, then we can sync the action, including the lip sync. Clearly, with Character Animator, I can sing the song and the animated character will react in like kind. I have not explored that program yet, but I believe we can scan our characters (artwork) into the program and build functional files for each character.

    All in all, I'd say we are on the right track for creating not only excellent artwork for the  Illustrated Storybooks, but an Animated e-Storybook as well.

AG

Puppetry

   I woke up thinking about the future of The Gnomes of New Hope after we finish the Illustrations for the books. I said to Jency that we will still need to paint the drops for the "shows".  Well, "shows" means the various kinds of shows that we need to present. Yes, The Gnomes project (overall) is a stage musical and the one difficulty that presents (for me) is the actors. After a spending time crafting the books and doing a production breakdown for the stage show, I came to realize that finding actors that are of the appropriate size to portray gnomes, may pose a difficulty.

   So, that being the case, one version of the show is a puppetry presentation. I am building a green screen/sound stage in the studio, in part for that reason.

   I have been building IMS since 1977. For a time I was making films, using 16mm, which was followed by video, and writing a number screenplays, before or almost at the same time as I was writing for the stage. In addition to this, I spent much time gathering the supplies necessary to build a theatre.

    Without going into depth on this subject here, I now have sufficient warehouse space to install a stage, which is in process. I will discuss this further on the IMS Virtual Studio blog.

   All this leads me to say, I am looking for people who are interested in building and operating puppets. One aspect of this is that I am also in the process of buying a machine shop. My plan is to engage in animatronics and robotics with the machine shop and to apply that to the puppetry of The Gnomes of New Hope. So if you are interested in being involved, send me an email at; image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com and we will engage is discussions on this subject. 

  I will address this subject again in the future.

AG 🎬🎶🎭

Main Printing Files - January 2023

Here's a caricature

 (of me back in the day)

 It's the "Never-Ending Journey"

I think I'll write a film with that title. 

   So, the journey to reconstruct the working files of The Gnomes of New Hope has reached a plateau. I just had a conversation with someone, whereby I explained how the process works. It is really very complex and the complexity is founded in the fact that there are seven books (777 pages) that must be coordinated, so that all the elements are the same. I never imagined that doing this would take so much time and effort.

   To someone who does not, or cannot, know what that means, it is this: imagine, if you will, that each page is composed of three primary elements- the background page, the text and the art. That sounds simple enough. However, two of those components are, quite literally, constructed from a hundred or more of layers, with protocols that must be either matched or adjusted to appear to match. You see, just because a setting looks good on one piece of artwork (example; a shadow) does not mean that adjustment will look right on another piece of artwork. Size, shape, color, resolution and proximity effect how any any given protocol effects that particular piece of artwork (for the illustrations). Relativity is not interpreted automatically, it must be set-up in the layout. 

    The background alone took years to design, construct and structure properly. It progressed through minute changes, which were effected by, and because of, other components and processes that came into play. That background has finally settled into, what I now consider to be, the ultimate of what it can be. Although, even now, I have discovered errors that have occurred between files. Just yesterday I found that a portion in one layer of the background in a section of book four had accidentally gotten erased, apparently when the layer I was working on switched in the middle of erasing anomolies in a piece of artwork. The layer switched because I accidentally hit the wrong key on the keyboard. These are the things one must be aware of and correct before going to press. It was very fortunate that I found that, because the error was very subtle. The thing is, now I need to check all the other files to make sure that mistake has not been transferred over to those files as well. I say this because; when a change happens to the background layers, that background file (which contains many layers) needs to replace the previous background in all the files. This layout consists of at least 60, if not 80 files. That is a big part of the complexity.

  You know, people have said to me "you could make changes forever, why not just call it finished?" and I did that as best as I could... until, a change was required. Here's the thing, particularly in regard to the background; four primary components. Those four primary components have been created using hundreds of layers that have been shaped and reshaped, with countless EFX and adjustments, to create the final look of those components. There are sub-files that allow me to go back to any component and change the look, but in the main working file those primary components are simplified down to a few layers that can be adjusted as necessary. I say this because I have found that different printing presses produce different results. Hence the need to make adjustments to assure that the final printed product will be consistent if the printing press changes. This would be the reason I am looking into putting a press in the studio. Of course, that will depends on what kind of quantity I can get with orders for the finished books. Also that depend on whether or not the press is leased or purchased. I may be able to shift assets around in order to secure the press and supplies, either way.

   OK, well, the initial layouts have been converted over into a layered scenario that gives me full control over adjusting all the components, as needed for printing, but also design adjustments, because everything now is in PSD, whereas it originated and grew in a DOCX environment. The reason for this is that - the narrative story was originally written in DOC and gradually changed into an Illustrated Storybook, so converting the text over to the present format occurred in DOC with artwork inserted, which became DOCX.  As the artwork came about, going from TIFF, experimenting with JPG, requiring PDF, and creating backup files in PNG, the ultimate editing format for the art has been and remains PSD. But storage is another matter. As well as resolution.  There has been size issues with all the files, issues that have been effected by RAM and processing speed, required lowered resolution storage and caused hard disc failure (multiple times) resulting loss of a great deal of material. I have rebuilt all this material, literally, countless times. Looking back I can say those rebuilds resulted in improvements.

   As insane as it sounds, my working files are up to REV 463. I am now going back to inspect the artwork in the earlier books of this updated edition, being that by the time I reached the end of the series, although I started by simply updating the background, I made improvements to the EFX on the artwork that need to be reflected consistently throughout the series. I am finding that much of the artwork which was satisfactory for (what I now view as ) the preliminary layout, is not acceptable for the finished artwork that has EFX attached to it. I am inspecting the artwork for clarity, but I also am finding a great deal of artifacts that need to be removed. Those artifacts were not apparent without the EFX. So I've actually taken to adding a bright blue stroke which reveal any artifacts and clarifies the edge of the artwork, whereas a black or gray stroke does not isolate the anomalies the way bright blue (or hot pink does), the reason is that those colors are not present in the artwork. So this needs to be another tool for inspecting the artwork in order to gain the maximum resolution, clarity and separation in the layout.

   In the meanwhile, Jency is coming in on a weekly basis to continue with the artwork. We are basically only working one day a week on the artwork, although she is drawing the remaining sketches at home in her own time. It won't be very long before we switch over to refining the sketches into finished line drawing and then begin creating the watercolors. I may be able to entice her to work more often with an increased budget, but that MAY only happen with an external investment.  Possibly a license for the film or theatre production?

   Of course I have a great deal of work to do, in order to prepare the finished watercolors for publication and then insert them into the layout. So I have no real clarity as to how long it will take to actually finish the publishing end of things. But we are closer than ever to the finishing line. In fact, three of the seven books are completely finished and three others are almost finished, while one other book (about 156 pages) has virtually no watercolors, although the illustration panels are approximately two thirds filled with sketches (not even line drawings yet, let alone watercolors).  The "somewhat unfortunate thing" is that - that book is number five, which contains "The Gnomic Tales",  a completely separate set of stories.  That was the reason for the hang-up. We skipped illustrating "The Gnomic Tales" because they were not originally part of the project.

     "The Gnomic Tales" comprise the Back-story of "Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure. It became clear that a backstory needed to be inserted into the stage play, in order for the characters to advance with justification of their motives, so a version of "The Gnomic Tales" were created as a mechanism for that and, of course, they ended up in the book series.  I say it's unfortunate because being in Book Five they become a roadblock to releasing Books Six & Seven.  But we are working on it, so hopefully we can get it moving faster. 

   There's a lot of other things to talk about, but not now. I welcome any serious inquiries from producers or investors. I am not producing this with Loans, nor with Venture Capitalists.  Industry Professionals,  Theatrical & Cinematic Investors, or Studio Operations only.  We are setting up to produce things at Image of the Mind Studios in Southampton Pennsylvania. In case you are interested.

"That's All Folks".  (as they say)   AG

Studio Expansion

 Check out 

Image of the Mind Studios Virtual Studio

A Dragon puppet that was redesigned and reconstructed in the 
IMS Puppet Shop

      I have posted some thoughts about the expansion of IMS and will continue the discussions on that site. Keep in mind that I also have a blog called "IMS Producing Partners", which is a membership site for our investors and vested business partners, requiring permission to view because it contains classified material.

    As it turns out, the opportunity to expand is before me and doing so seems likely. Such an expansion, will be in regard to opening up opportunities to produce the Broadway Musical, Dramatic and Cinema (which includes Episodic Television) versions of "The Gnomes of New Hope" (including The Gnomic Tales), "Nunc Licet", and " Am Alpha & Omega". Of course, these are only three of the numerous other projects that are "on-the-bench". 

   One of the projects in the studio is to set-up the green screen stage 20'w x 16'd, with upstage and wing space that closely matches (the working space of) The Bucks County Playhouse (and other small theatre houses). I have now concluded to add a fifty seat "test audience" gallery. With the expansion opportunity comes two possibilities. Of course these are contingent upon renovations to the building, but my thinking is to install a sound studio, because we will need to be recording a pit orchestra for the gnomes and to record the songs in a studio anyway. I already have an array of  recording equipment and I am running Digital Performer 3 thru 9,  along with Mach 5 and Reason, so that will serve for all mixing and digital orchestrations quite well. We only need the right sound proof environment, which is really a minor aspect of that scenario. I do have an excellent design for the recording studio, which will also serve as a rehearsal space and will basically match the size of the (green screen) stage (less the wing/upstage space. So that is basically in the drafting stage of design/budgeting.

   Another opportunity is to set-up a printing operation to meet the needs of the Illustrated Storybooks and that would give us better and more cost effective on-demand capabilities. The real issue there is that in order to bring the price down, when using a service vendor, the production quantities need to be high. Those high quantities require high outlay. For now we seek on-demand capabilities, which of course, we do have with service vendors, but using outside sources bring a plethora of issue (that can become problems). I do believe installing a printing operation is a key element to being effective. This is not only for the books sold to the public, allowing printing quantities on-demand, but also internal operations requires publishing and distributing scrips and musical scores, not to mention management documents. So that would be a practical expansion of IMS Publishing, a division of Image of the Mind Studios.

   In addition to those opportunities, such an expansion will give us more office space, where we can improve our Production Management, A/V Editing Suite and Photo Stock Library capabilities, set-up the Animation Studio, increase our metal working capabilities with a Prototype Shop and move our Puppetry and Animatronics operation into a new space and kick it up into a higher gear.

   It's a challenge and a risk, but it's worth it. Obviously the cash flow needs to increase. I expect, in one degree, to do that thru licensing. Keep that in mind if you are part of an organization that participates in producing and utilizes Licensing.

   I am certainly interested in speaking with anybody who would like to participate and add talent to what I have described here. But I will add that the people who do come to contribute, need to be self-starters, who want to be committed to Image of the Mind Studios as an operation, with an eye on the long term.  I do not want any "flash in the pan" situations to occur.  That is too distracting and counterproductive. I've seen far too many wifty, non-committal, people who don't know what they want, in my years as a Theatre and Film Artist.  I would be looking to involve dedicated, talented people who do know what they want and how to get it and how to apply that for the benefit of IMS as an organization, not just their own advancement.

IMS is a growth opportunity, not a stepping stone.

The IMS Virtual Studio will serve as the hub for other posts in this regard.

AG 🎭  🎬  🎼  🎤  📷  📺

Publishing from the Top of the Mountain

     That seems like an appropriate title. The endeavor to publish companion editions to the Stage Musical seemed like a good idea. More than that, it falls under the category of essential, in terms of building an audience. But the truth of the matter is that; these editions are stand alone Illustrated Storybooks. 

An early prototype 

of one version.

   I have described this project numerous times in this blog, so I won't do that again. Suffice it to say that publishing this collection of Seven Books, combined with the goal of producing the Stage Musical, is very much like climbing the tallest mountain you can find. Of course, when one starts out on the climb, one is energetic, enthusiastic and the task does not seem to be as daunting as it clearly is in reality. The trap is that after one passes the halfway mark it becomes "six of one and a half a dozen of the other" only one choice ends with success and the other ends with failure. With one choice you have the hope of recovering your investment while the other ends up in a write off. 

   So there really is no choice. One must endure, and endure is the right word for it, because what started out as a joyful expression of creativity has turned out to be a battle of the Will to endure the challenge of reaching the finish line.

    It's sad, really, that such an effort becomes a burden. I know that I cannot allow myself to get distracted from the mission, otherwise the effort will end up sitting there, unfinished and eventually forgotten in the ravages of time.

   I'm feeling this way because, as I near the end of the collection, publishing it only as an Industry Review document, I see how much I have yet to do. The artwork that was installed into the pages of the books are clearly unfinished, although they looked just fine, having been placed there with the intent that they were finished.

   But now, after refining the layout with certain embellishments to the artwork,  returning to the previous work, to add those embellishments, it is clear that there is still much to be done to that artwork to make it acceptable. It brings about the epitome of frustration. But one must go on. I am nearing the end of this stage, which will bring about the numerous registrations that are required to place the product lines into the hands of professionals and investors, but also posture the finished products for the marketplace.

   The other day, we were watching Disney's "Tangled". What a wonderful film that is. I don't quite imagine "The Gnomes of New Hope" in that light, but it might be nice.

  So, onward and upward, to reach the summit. It's not far away now. But I think I need to set up camp, rest awhile and regain my strength for the last leg of this massive endeavor.

AG 🎭🙏

Thoughts on Theatrical Production

 Currently producing 
The Gnomes of New Hope: Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure
through

    From the time I began writing The Gnomes of New Hope, the intention was to produce as much as possible through Image of the Mind Studios. The writing process, which is really a development process, incorporates numerous aspects, which are known as The Ancillary Markets. In large part, these markets are revealed as the development process advances. Some of those ideas are within the realm of possibility, in terms of creating or fabricating the prototype materials,  others are not practical to develop, due to the amount of resources that are required. It's not so much that resources are not available, rather, the existing resources need to be assigned to where they will be the most effective.

   So it is that, numerous prototype materials are in various stages of completion. It has become essential that the published products be completed to the degree that they can be placed into the consumer marketplace. This has to take priority over all other production, because those products develop the audience for the show. However, in the meanwhile, a focus of attention is (and has been) to refine and develop the available work space into the tool it needs to be to, implement production at assorted "Regional Theatre" levels.

   Having served as a Technical Director on many productions, including serving in that capacity for The New Hope Arts Commission for nine years, as well as two years in the New Hope/Solebury School District, and also in other schools from time to time. I  spend years doing freelance set, lighting, production work and acting with well over 350 productions under my belt (before I stopped counting), I am well aware of what it takes to do the job.

   What I didn't count on is how extensive this Illustrated Storybook would come to be and how complex a proper layout for the publishing would become. The real dilemma comes when one realizes that the cost of publishing and distributing the material absolutely disallows mistakes in the text, artwork and the layout. For any, even the smallest, error will stand out and degrade the public's perception of the product, thus impairing your markets across-the-board. I have endured the fine-toothed-comb of refinement and the utter distress of loosing your work to failing computers, many times.

    It seems as though I am actually nearing the end of this overwhelmingly taxing mission to complete the publishing of a Seven Book Companion Edition to the Stage Musical.  You can read about my foibles in various posts herein. I suggest you use the blog archive to the left to locate other posts. Admittedly, we are still faced with a great deal of work to complete the artwork, but the publishing layout refinements, corrections to the material and the final redesign of the layout is nearing completion. However, the work is sufficiently completed that I can publish the Industry Review Package, which comprises all of the material necessary to pitch the project to Producing Partners and Investors.

    Even so, the Musical Score still needs to be addressed, as the scoring is incomplete, even though the songs are written, with only somewhere around ten numbers needing to be arranged. Time signature and Key signature need to be added, as well as Divisi and individual sheet music in parts for the Orchestra need to be refined and in some cases created. A lot of work, to be sure.

   Once the Three Volume Set of the Industry Review is published, assorted registrations will take place, and then the material can be pitched and I can focus on the music, all the while continuing to refine the Image of the Mind Studios production space at 1325 Industrial Boulevard in Southampton, Pennsylvania.  

   You may read herein about some of the other activities that are in need of attention, particularly animation and puppetry, but more on that later as we progress into those arenas.

  So, in the face of all this, be it known that I will be seeking hands-on Producing Partners and ultimately I will be looking to develop at least one Board of Directors to implement The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture which is part of the Business Plan. Another Part involves IMS Management, Inc., and yet still another involves The Gnomes of New Hope Productions. These are the primary Production Management components of this project, but they also stand as a prototype for other productions. 

   I have to say that ultimately I will be selling Image of the Mind Studios, as I am approaching that time in life where that will need to take place, sad as it sounds to say. With that in mind, I will be developing a game plan for that as well.

   So there you have it. I welcome legitimate investors and Producing Partners in this endeavor. 

Just send me an email; image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com to talk about matters.

AG

Moving Forward

 

It looks messy, but this is my workstation. Four computers, each with a different function.

     The work of preparing the Seven Book Collection is far more complex than I expected. But I am moving forward none-the-less.  We had been advancing with the artwork by creating the sketches, which are the first stage for creating the finished panels. I know Jency has been frustrated with being limited to sketches, but I need to have all the sketches finished before we move into the more refined line drawings and watercolors. Even after the watercolors are done I still need to scan and process those paintings to conform to the layout requirements. I have the procedures all down, but implementing it is time consuming, in a far greater degree than I expected.

     I'm in the throws of reorganizing numerous aspects of the studio, including setting up another art workstation in the back offices and changing the function of the front offices. I'm in the process of owning the entire 20K sq ft building and will be setting up various aspects of the Gnomes of New Hope in the front buildings, including renovating and adding office space as needed. For instance, I will be moving the Animatronics and Puppetry up to Building One along with setting up a machine shop to do the prototype work for that and for exploring other work in robotics. The machine shop will be a reduced version of RCKletzing Inc.; the company that my grandfather started and that my father built up. I will be reducing it down to the size that I need for IMS and focusing strictly on limited production for IMS purposes and prototype work for clients. I cannot compete with shops that offer production, so I am loosing all the CNC equipment. I'll discuss this further on the Image of the Mind Studios blog.

   In regard to the expansion just mentioned; I have for some time been desirous of constructing The Theatrical Development Centre.  Well, being that I am pushing 70, I'm seeing the likelihood of constructing a remote studio compound as becoming increasingly slim (based solely on my declining physical abilities and concerns about dying before I can finish it) but I expect to continue to work toward that goal, none-the-less. I have concluded that; since I am about to own the building at 1325 Industrial Boulevard in Southampton, it is best that I implement the TDC at this location. Interestingly, I conceived that even with a facility "in town" there is no reason why the other remote studio compound could not also happen. So, again, I'll discuss this on the other blog. I only wanted to add that as things are developing, I expect to install a sound studio in Building Two. We will need this anyway to record the music for The Gnomes of New Hope.  Since I am installing a stage in Building Four, and I have a developing Scene Shop in Building Three, I am making the staging area in the scene shop match the size of the stage in Building Four, and will make the sound studio match the size of the stage also. Conveniently (or planned) the stage in Building Four matched the size of the Parade Float we are going to build, but also, that stage is approximately the size of the space in an orchestra pit and a little theatre space. So the sound stage will accommodate our pit orchestra for the music of The Gnomes.  I might mention that the Parade Float will also serve as a mobile stage and be able to match the Meadow Amphitheatre that I built in Tamanend Park.

    You might wonder why we might need to record the orchestra music, since we have pretty good renditions using MIDI?  The funny thing is that: when we were discussing having The Bryn Athyn Orchestra play some of our music, the President of the Board of Director's of Bob Zecher, said "Why would you want to wreck it by having an orchestra play it?" I thought that was funny. But the truth is that one Venue of presentation is an orchestral concert, separate from the Musical Theatre presentation.

   The point being that: the sound studio can also serve as a rehearsal space if the size of it matches the stage. Understand that the size of the stage is a bit smaller than one would like, but there are a number of factors involved here. On factor that comes into play is that I would like to see The Gnomes of New Hope premiere at The Bucks County Playhouse. There are a number of reasons for this, besides the fact that I worked there, that I was the Technical Director for The New Hope Arts Commission for nine years, that it is convenient to my Southampton studio, and that the theatre has been recognized for a almost a century as a premiere Summer Stock and Tryout theatre, it just seems to make sense, since the title is The Gnomes of New Hope. But also, I can emulate the stage of the Bucks County Playhouse in my studio.

   The Playhouse has a turntable. When I worked there it was not functional. I tried to pitch the idea that we get it working again, but at the time, that did not go over well. However, since then there has been a new management group and they got the turn table going again. Yahoo!  So in that regard, the turn table is 25" in diameter. The proscenium is 29". the upstage space from the turntable is no more than 15" and the wings are about the same. Not much room for set storage. So my plan is to play the show on the apron and add a thrust if necessary. The plan is to cut the stage in half as to depth, across the centre line of the turntable. That way the upstage space can be used for set storage and positioning on the turntable. Boom, we have the play set down front on the turn table, with the next scene being staged backstage on the upstage side of the turntable, with a drop or a traveler dividing the two scenes. The beauty here is that I can match that working scenario in my scene shop. My stage space (being matched in size with the other staging and rehearsal areas, will all match the presentation space at the Bucks County Playhouse. The advantage here ia also that numerous other theatres are configured in the same way across the country.

   You might wonder about the state of the theatre in today's social climate. It's true that depending solely on the theatre going audience is no longer possible, but the beauty of the studio setup that I am building, is that it takes the other markets into account. Take for example the puppetry aspect of the show. Not only does the stage in Building Four match all the staging scenarios as to size, but it also can become a green screen for film and video production. I will discuss more of this on the IMS Blog.

  So overall things are moving forward, but I am clearly swamped and other matters are crying for attention, which is why I am anxious to finish the layout aspects of this, get busy on the watercolor degree of the artwork and cut any number of deals that will kick this into a higher gear and I might add, doing so without the onus being on me to make it happen. Frankly I'm getting old and tired, if truth be told. 

Oh well, onward and upward. AG