Final Lighting tests: Dress Rehearsal

Photos taken after the final set up of both flats and props.
About half an hour was taken to set up lighting and cameras to the point where filming could begin. Being able to watch the set and props in use, both with TV crew running about before filming and actors in character pacing across the set was really rewarding! The blue and red lighting brought the set to life and gave the impression of three different sections of stage, supported by the three angled walls themselves.
Seeing the TV Production students carry out their part in the project now ours was finished was also really interesting, and we were able to see both teams work combine to create a really cool finished product that was fun and satisfying to watch.

Transporting Set; Tv Production

To move the set from where it was being worked on in our workshops to the TV studios in Maidstone, each flat had to be disassembled and packed up separately. This meant cutting through the paper that the chalk set was painted onto, unscrewing the supports and wheeling each one out to a van. These would then be reassembled in the studio where it would go on to be filmed.

The above images firstly show one of the five panelled sides in preparation of being taken apart after being lifted to the ground. The second image shows the finished separate panels getting wheeled away.

Completed Flats: Teach Em' a Lesson

With the design hand painted on by the design team, the 'Teach Em' A Lesson' flats are complete.

Recap: The design team decided to suggest changing the Victorian school house concept to a simpler, but very effective 'chalkboard' drawn backdrop. This meant less time spent sourcing, buying or building things for us, but the production students still got the immediately recognisable school environment that they desired.

Further prop work; Teach Em' A Lesson

Further props that I worked on collaboratively are pictured above. These are historic props that people either started and didn't have time to finish or were simultaneously working on other projects at the time.

(Top two images) The chest was a box made to contain all of the historic props so they could be brought onto set easily and quickly during a quick break. To go with the historic theme, we decided on an old chest or trunk design, and used the technique of base coating, then a rocker to create a grain in a darker colour.

(Bottom left) The Medusa head was left painted and with hair pinned in. With the prop being handled on the show, glueing the ribbons down to the head would be a safer alternative to sharp pins. Someone had already tried this using the wrong adhesive, therefore beginning to melt through the polystyrene.

(Bottom right) The rocket needed 'fire' coming out of it as a finishing touch, so I made a paper template before finding off-cuts of light lilac and sparkly red fabrics.

Oversized chalkboard props.

 Chalkboards x2 were requested as part of the school themed oversized props for a game planned to be in the 'Teach Em' A Lesson' gameshow.
As these are props I knew I could get done in a day and to a good standard, I opted to the this mini-project on solo, especially at this point the deadline was quite close. Getting props done efficiently without lacking in quality or safety was priority.
To the left shows the measurements on a piece of MDF for the chalkboard and the borders.

 Once cut out on a bandsaw, the separate pieces were painted. For the grey chalkboard base I made sure to use the same paint that was being used for the set itself, so the colours would match up. These were then left to dry, but as MDF is quite porous this didn't take long.

Once all dry, washes were brushed over the borders and then a rocker was used to create a 'grain' through them, emulating real wood planks. The pieces were stuck together with wood glue and left to dry, then the corners were rounded by eye on a belt sander.

 

 The finishing touches included making the chalkboards look used by drawing on them in actual chalk. A glaze could then have been brushed over to stop the chalk from rubbing off but I went without in case the Production students would prefer them to be blank or have a different image on them, in which case the chalk can simply be rubbed off. The backs and sides were also painted as I realised these props would be getting picked up and moved, so the front wouldn't be the only angle getting seen, so every angle was covered and patterns just incase.

Henry VIII's axe; Teach Em' a Lesson.

 For the history quiz round of 'Teach Em' a Lesson' several specified props were commissioned, one of these was a props to represent Henry VIII. As a group we decided that a small axe to symbolise the execution of his wives and his ruthless attitude would work well. I decided to make this out of foam and wood, as opposed to MDF alone, as this way it would look slightly more cartoonish and match the rest of the set and props style. I feel if it looked very realistic it could have looked out of place.

Marking out the width of the handle and the shape of the blade was the first stage. The diagonal lines in the image above represent where there would be an angle carved into the foam to begin creating shape.
To the left shows the final measured lines and the arrows indicated to me which lines to follow.

 Once carved and hand sanded I also hollowed out a hole in the base for the handle to stick into later on. To get the axe symmetrical was the hardest part of this process. Once I was happy with the shape a few layers of white paint were applied as a base coat.

 After a few failed attempts of trying to carve out a shape for the top of the handle, a technician introduced me to the lathe. This fixed up my errors and produced a channel to use as guidance for shaping the handle further.

After buffing with graphite powder, glossing and staining the handle, the axe prop is finished! I'm pleased with the coloration of the 'metal' and the introduction to the lathe machine. However, if I do something similar to this again, reference pictures of every angle would be something I bring with me rather than just ones from the side, as these would have been very useful. Further research into blade shapes and widths would also have been handy, but for a small prop seen on a TV screen for a few seconds, this amount of detail wasn't necessary with a project so fast paced.

Preparing Flats: 'Teach Em' A Lesson'.

As I was filling a support role in this project I focused mainly on preparing the old flats for refurbishment. This would mean that by the time the main design team had finalised their plans, the flats would be ready to be painted and have the designs transferred to them. Myself and Mel used a corded hand sander to remove all of the thick, dried paint, else the paper laid down with wallpaper paste would be uneven.

Leigh and I then spent a few evenings wallpapering the smoothed flats with paper and till roll. Under our supervisor, Bruce's advice, he suggested that till roll would neaten the edges that had to be cut when the flats had to be disassembled to be transported to the TV Studios.

The wallpaper itself was used to paint the design over, rather than paint straight onto a second hand flat that had a variety of paints and textures on them already. This was altogether a quicker and neater method.

Photos taken by Carmela McCarthy, Leigh Osbourne and myself.

Final Design choice

Uploaded to the Facebook group by Tara Dunne on the 25th February 2016.

Having revised that it was not a historically accurate Victorian school house that the students wanted but instead simply something instantly recognisable as a school environment, the design team pitched the above mood board.
This design meant a much simpler ask for us as builders and sourcers, as all furniture/ windows/ wall texturing could be painted straight onto a dark grey background. Even though it meant we were limited to a black and white colour scheme, the mood could be changed instantly with use of coloured lighting.
As a whole, this design meant a lot less construction, therefore more of a budget to spend on other aspects, as well as presenting a far quicker method of creating the set which was vital in such a fast paced project.

Maidstone Studios Briefing

The day following the specialist pathway deadline brought us the first briefing at the TV studios in Maidstone. Having the opportunity to see the space we will potentially be working in gave an insight to the size and structure of the set that the students running the project had in mind.

After touring the building and rooms we would be working in, we also discussed the project brief. The proposed idea from the TV Production students was to create a half hour long program aimed at children called 'Teach Em' A Lesson'; A Victorian classroom set where two group of actual school children will participate in a series of challenges and quizzes, with strong themes of educational history.

The details that were of importance to us as the design and making team were aesthetics of set, an idea of dimensions and any props and costume required. With the budget of £600, some adjustments and compromises had to be made, but by the end of the meeting there was a good general idea of what was needed and the next steps to be taken: Initial designs, assigning roles and beginning making and sourcing. As this is the quickest hand in date to come around, the making and planning had to happen right off the bat.

24th February 2016