All go! Almost there!

No Pasaran!

With the filming day only three days away it is onto the last of the logistics - checking the equiptment is all ready, that everyone knows their call times, keeping fingers crossed that the weather will hold (despite some nasty rumours their is going to be a storm!) Roy has passed on to me that the costumes and props will be arriving tomorrow and Saturday and that he has notified the police, and Douglas our cameraman is all set. It is now the last bits chasing up emails, equiptment, contact details and the last details making sure that any extra equiptment that we may need is available.

The cast is raring to go.

Big change and all go!

GI Joe
After the latest production meeting we have found that;

• the file format works with the projection
• the distance we need to project a good size image is in excess of 6 foot, which means that there is more chance of using front projection due to the size of some of the performance spaces
• one of the current designs needs alterations but the rest are good
• with the time between scenes more images are needed

So, six new designs are needed and the others need the dates and captions altering and there are two stands that I will be beginning to build tomorrow! I am also going to be hunting for the 'blackout' material on Saturday, so the schedule is going to be tight over the next few days but I am confident that I will be able to get it all done and in good time and good condition - made better and easier by the good fortune we had in using the University as the location for our production meeting!

 

While we were there the acting department were throwing away some set pieces from the last years productions due to lack of storage space, they were more then happy to let us raid what would have otherwise have gone in a skip! This has had the tremendous bonus of helping with finding things for set-dressing for our prologue and in finding the timber to build the stands in what they were getting rid of.

 

So now it is on to getting the designs done and finished and the stands built and getting the fabric!

The new style!

GI Joe In Dorset;

After having tried to chase up more of the copyrights, I experimented with creating an image using a style different style giving the overall effect that Tony and I wanted to achieve in the backdrop and after sending a couple of basic images over to Tony, he has approved it. With one week to go, it is all go with the designs and building the set starts at the end of the week! For the designs, the very lovely Wendy at Barrie Pictures has agreed to let us use the image for the backdrop of the Camp scene for free in exchange for a thank you in the programme! Thank you again Wendy we are tremendously greatful. I am overlaying it with a light layer of sepia to carry through the stylised effect of the other scene designs, and like the others it will have a border and the date added.

 

We have 8 scene changes, so there is still a lot to do but I have until latest tomorrow night to get them finished and sent off to Tony before we check the projector on Wednesday, with the set build and painting starting on Friday! I will be building wings for the set so that where we are back projecting the actors will have a place to change without effecting the projection. For this we will be using blackout cloth - which is something that I am currently hunting for! It is all headed to be finished in good time for the show.

 

I will I believe be building the set over the weekend with the exception of Sunday which is the filming day for ;

 

No Pasaran!

With the final tweeks done to the call sheet by Roy, the filming day is fast approaching! The footage that we are aiming to film this weekend will be played during the show and as well as setting the mood it will also have some major plot points included in the footage so this is an exciting and crucial day, but with the location set, the cameraman arranged, lifts organised to the location and costume on the way it is all (fingers crossed touch wood) set to be smooth sailing from here.

One month and one week to the show!

No Pasaran! Filming 1 week to go!

With the filming day fast approaching it has come down to the last of the organisation. The final call sheet has been written up, ready for send off, the transport to the site is being arranged, the crew are set and organising the final details. The last pieces to be organised are the last pieces of equiptment, being organised by our cameraman, the costumes Roy is organising to be picked up and brought to the site by him, and making sure that any last minute problems can be dealt with quickly and effectively.

The cast are going to spending the day in the new forest, it is going to be an interesting day with woodland trecking, picnic food and either blankets and heaters or sun cream!
 

State of Play - chasing the copyrights!

As is the problem when using historical photographs, invariably the copyright belongs to someone else! With copyright laws curently being what they are I have found the images that we want to use and am currently chasing up if they are copyrighted, if they are by who, and if they would be willing to let us use them (preferably for free as we have a very small budget!) Unfortunately it looks like a rethink is in order for the dance scene as the images that we were hoping to use are copyrighted and, while one copyright owner I have been unable to hunt up the contact details for, the other would like to charge us £200 for its use and with a limited budget this is not affordable!

 

With this in mind I have had a rethink and am going to try creating an image for it using a style of image used commonly during the war for posters and postcards when photographs were not used in the hopes that this will achieve the same look that we are after.

State of Play - production meeting!

Today was a wonderful production meeting where I got to see the projection screen and meet co-director Sharon. With less then three weeks to go and a lot to do, a lot of decisions were made reguarding the overall visual effect of the production and the set logistics, including the physical aspects of the set and where the build and painting will be taking place, which I discovered today will be four days at the Arts University - an interesting way of going back after graduation!

Set designing! State of Play Arts

It has been an interesting and busy few weeks - I have been taken on by the State of Play theatre company as their costume designer for their touring production of GI Joe in Dorset, written and addapted by Samantha Muiruri and Tony Horitz about when the American African American GI forces were stationed in Dorset during the Second World War and how the locals reacted and interacted with the white and african american troops. This production originally comissioned by the Development Education in Dorset (DEED) as part of the We Were Here Heritage Lottery Funded Arts and History project.

 

This has been an incredibly interesting and challenging production to design for as the set design needed to be interesting and strong visually, but easy for get-ins and get-outs, light weight and durable and able to be packed down as small as possible for transport.

 

For this production, we have after some design experimentation decided that what suits the production and the quick turnaround in scenes is to use projection to create the backdrop for the performance. After playing around with different idea's in terms of a cohesive visual, and in the end have decided to use a kind of 'postcard' feel to the images. This suits the production as the troops would have been frequently writing home, and we are trying to use images from the era and the local area and locations to where the performance is touring to - in particular Wimbourne, Dorchester, Weymouth etc.

 

Here is one of the earlier set designs of a physical set!

 

 

This was a composite of images from the era and the local area, overlaid over a stylised image of a Dorset church and pillbox - a WW2 defense building - done in black, white and sepia.

 

For further information on the production please follow the link below to the website!

 http://stateofplayarts.co.uk/core/gi-joe/