My Thesis! (with photos)

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 12:42pm

Hey gang,

Just thought some people around here who were interested in design might like to see my thesis that I completed yesterday (I'm done school FOREVER!). My project was to design the set for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and storyboard out the entire show in model form for a director. Here are a select few images:



















I'd love to hear comments (both positive and negative) and thoughts.

Akiva

[bschneid76]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 12:56pm

Looks quite exciting! Would love to be in a production with these production values! Very nice!

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 1:01pm

Beautiful job! I love the stylistic approach, and the simplicty of it all at the same time.

[Mr. Peanut Man]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 1:03pm

Really interesting. I love the simplicity of just changing a few things to create a whole different area in the building.

[Shakespearean]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 1:05pm

Bravo! If the proportions are right, you don't have a very large stage to work with, and have certainly made the most of it. I like the forced prospective, and hope your choice of floor tile colors (the color of money!) were intentional. Some comments:

Consider a backdrop for the washroom, (nobody gets to wiz in a corner office). On that note, if you keep the buildings of the backdrop in silhouette, consider making them modular so the outline changes behind different offices.

Backdrop for the TV studio please, offer a visual break.

If you can make the dutch angle on the building exterior work, it will be awesome, just means you need tracks for the window washing platform, but it would be stunning.

The WWW is a fixed element in all the scenes except the reception area, where the middle W is part of an alcove. Why? Consistency makes for a happier budget.

You may have made too much of the ceiling over the elevators.

Overall, I'm loving the concept and the look, and your effective use of space and playing areas. I hope your Professor feels the same way. Nice job!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 1:25pm

Very nice....very, very nice.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 1:36pm

Thanks guys!

Shakesperean: Your comments were so spot on! Hah I adressed almost every single one of those in my design breif that I handed in with it. For the bathroom scene, lighting would play an important part in isolating only the front of the stage. I was considering a backdrop for it, but since the space is so vertical, it is hard create a drop that isn't drowned with ceiling (as I learned from the elevator landing scene).

As for the windows exterior drop, the window washer unit doesn't actually raise or lower, it is solidly attatched to that drop. Finch swings down from it (it is under 6' from the floor) and it raises up to reveal the lobby set as he removes his washer's uniform.

My dream for the buildings in the background were that there could be another layer behind that them that could lower and raise and make it seem like we are rising up in the building. I didn't have time to try and emulate that in the model though.

Hah...while the yellow and green weren't intionally referencing money (I'm Canadian...we have colourful money, :P ) the opening drop was subtley referencing the American flag, as the show is very much about the new "American Dream"...aka..rise to the top quickly, while managing to do as little work as possible. Also all upwards perspective in the show was very much showing the upward climb that Finch is trying striving for.

Akiva

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 1:52pm

Akiva! Wow, your accomplishments are astounding. It's a beautiful design that seems to be very well thought out. Will it ever be constructed on a full scale? That would be awesome. Where did you study? I'm Canadian myself. Yay for colored money!!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 2:05pm

I have been going to school in Toronto, so I have been here for the past 4 years...but I grew up out West in Alberta.

Akiva

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 2:13pm

I really love the design, especially the angle of the exterior. The whole thing is very effective and enjoyable to look at!!!

I also agree with shakespearean's adjustments.

also, consider a backdrop for the tv studio, becuase it would look weird to the tv viewer to look out the window. a beach backdrop with a huge sun might be nice.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 2:18pm

Hah,

My plan was definitely to do a ocean/sky backdrop for the TV studio...I just ran out of time. I was up 42 hours straight yesterday, and was not a pretty sight.

Akiva

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 2:20pm

haha.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 3:44pm

...blatant bump?

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 3:45pm

...blatant bump?

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 3:48pm

wow. that is pretty amazing. will the set every be used?

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 3:52pm

can the side doors be put anywhere else? they look randomly placed right now, as if they are out of the picture of the set. Do you get what I'm asking? Is there anyway to hide the doors, or make them look like they belong with the set?

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 3:56pm

Love the stylistic and colorful approach and the use of 3-D imagery is awesome!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 4:06pm

Pippin: are you talking about the caliper doors downstage of the proscenium? Those are part of the theatre, so they can't be moved, and frankly aren't part of the audience's view unless they are lit up. But yes I designed a piece that goes around the door frames of them that uses the WWW theme, since they are used as the doors for the elevator landing and Biggley's office scenes.

Akiva

[Pippin]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 4:12pm

oh, sounds good.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 4:13pm

I love it. They're great!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 4:39pm

I love the models as well! I agree the TV Studio needs a separate backdrop. Possibly tied in with the "treasure" theme. Something simple and cheesy that reeks of 60s kitsch.

I would also go with a separate backdrop for Bigelow's office. It really needs something that reflects the obscene pompousness of an American top executive and suggest a sense of ridiculous wealth and opulence. Depending on the direction of the character, you could go with something hinting at the old-school Ralph Lauren-esque executive using dark blues and greens with faux dark wood or, as I would prefer, take a new bent on the character who painfully strains to maintain his youth and keep up with trends and go with a 60s minimalist mod look, which I think would blend quite well with what you already have. I just think Bigelow's presence should always be placed on a pedestal high above everything else in the production, to represent the unrealistic ideal that is commonly known as "the American dream". Finch is the personification of the alleged determination (or lack thereof) for the ideal, but Bigelow is the personification of the ideal itself.

Am I making any sense?

Updated On: 4/12/07 at 04:39 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 5:02pm

I think your design is super! Great job!

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 5:11pm

Wow!!!!!! That's all I can say!!!!!

[Tag]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 7:01pm

Great work Akiva!

I'd like to post pictures of my designs and models but I prefer internet anonymity! (I too graduated from a theatre design program recently in Toronto)

I'm assuming you worked in 1/2" scale? If so how did you create the lighting instruments in Act II, Scene 6? Are they 2D or 3D?I've struggled with that myself and found that random parts picked up at Active Surplus (on Queen) work really well!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 4/12/07 at 9:21pm

Thanks guys!

Mister Matt: I totally get what you are saying, I just logistically couldn't have a backdrop for that scene due to real estate. There was just no flylines behind the trap that the desk rises out of and the wings aren't wide enough or tall enough for a backdrop to come in from the sides for. Again I would depend on lighting to isolate the space.

Tag: You are a Toronto designer too! I don't think I knew that. Its funny that you mentioned Active Surplus because just the other day a friend of mine screamed at me for never going in there, saying it was a store I was born to go into. For some reason I thought it was a clothing store like Black Market or Exile. I love the random guy they hire to scream at people as they walk by.

The lights in the studio scene are flat, just with a touch of highlight. I think if the show were actually built though, I would want real lights. I don't like excessive flatness in theatre.

Akiva