The Messy Little Artist: Adaptation project Sept 2015

The Borrowers adaptation.

Week One

Originally published in 1952, Mary Norton's "The Borrowers" follows the Clock family and their adventures from their more miniature point of view. The borrowers, averaging out as 15cm (6") are a race of beings who live in the floors and walls of a typical countryside English home. They have only one rule, not to be seen by the humans whist heading above the floor boards to collect items for their home, clothes and as food.

Set in the early 1900s.

Concept sketches - Amy Akerman

In this project, I will make a modern day adaptation of Mary Norton’s “The Borrowers”. This adaptation will have a darker emotional resonance, where these modern borrowers’ hearts have been hardened by fear of the unknown. In my original idea from May, the three borrowers were living under the living room of an avid 24 hour news watcher. In the last few months my project has advanced from its simple beginnings of wanting to work with scale, now the Borrowers live under the floor of an addict to War related first person shooters, these games are violent and loud and close the hole in the idea that the news isn’t always bad. This constant audio bombardment of war, gunshots, and explosions makes their hereditary over wariness turn to paranoia and fear of humans. This will be set in 2010 in a terraced house turned into flats.

The Borrowers - cover

This adaptation would have references to the original story. The modern day borrowers have the same conventions as their ancestors, to never be seen by a human, but the innocence is gone. Instead of borrowing, they take to supply for the defence against what they believe is the inevitable attack from the human above them. Having never left the converted house they made a dwelling in, their first time in the flat above and their first sight of the outside world through the window is a life changing experience for them all at the end of the play, as their beliefs that the world is a savage, worn torn place is turned on its head.

This adaptation changes a family friendly book, into a hard hitting, emotive production for young adults and adults.

I chose this idea after the initial desire to work with scale, something I have struggled with in the past and would like to improve on.

http://londondance.com/directory/venues/theatre/rose-theatre-kingston/

Possible outcomes:

• White card model of set 1:25.

• The use of set painting techniques as I would like to improve my skills further.

• Maquettes of characters, props and set elements.

• Technical drawings of set and props.

I have chosen the Rose theatre in Kingston as the stage for this project, the building will really push my scale set building skills.

Concept art - Amy Akerman

This is a scanned in and enhanced preliminary sketch. it depicts the three main characters of my adaptation, Boian, Marcella and Cedric,

Concept art - Amy Akerman

I added content and shading,now the image is of the last scene of the play when they finally ascend from their small underfloor home to the flat above they feared for years.

Concept art - Amy Akerman

Here I added colour using the overlay layer option in Adobe Photoshop. Its a fast way to get colour on without loosing the image.

Possible props

Themes in "The Borrowers"

Prejudice – Without really knowing each other the humans and borrowers have a strong dislike toward one another. Some of the humans see Borrowers as stealing vermin, infesting their homes. The borrowers have a fear of the humans and believe them to be bad news. As the story progresses, the boy and Arrietty help to break down the prejudice, at least on the Borrower’s side, Pod and Homily see that the boy means them no harm.

Rights and freedom – The first part of the story shows Arrietty seeking to be free from the confines of the Borrowers home to explore and learn above boards. Freedom to Arrietty is a good thing, to Pod and Homily, who have known family members hurt and killed when borrowing (Eggletina eaten by a cat), it’s a dangerous notion. There is also the question of rights, as living things Borrowers have the right to have the basic things to survive, water, and shelter, food, and clothing? Should the borrowers have different rights to those of humans, and do the humans themselves have the right to evict them from their home or even kill them like vermin?

Age, hierarchy and class – In this story, and certainly at the time the book was written, age is a determining factor of authority. As the eldest and the most experienced, Pod is the leader of the Clock family, for many years he is the only one to go above boards. In the human household, Mrs Driver is the authority over the boy, locking him in his room at the end of the story and threatening to call the police and exterminators. However out of all the characters the youth seem to have the most drive, pushing the story forward and choosing not to listen to their elders. In terms of class the human house seems to be a well-kept, upper middle class- to upper class, with household staff, a doll’s house and mentions of the vicar coming to tea. Homily clock also sees herself as a cultured classy lady, very proud of her living room of fireplace, letter wallpapered walls, and knight in the corner. She also loves Arrietty to write (self-taught) in her diary, despite never learning to read or write herself.

Fear- As well as being afraid of the humans, there are many other dangers the borrowers have to deal with, rat poison and cats being but a few. The fear of these things and of the unknown is what keeps the borrowers hidden in their under floor house. Not being seen by the humans is Borrower rule no. 1, because they don’t know how the humans will react.

Story Analysis - My adaptation (possibilities)

In the years after the Clock family lived under the floor in an old country house, technology has evolved, as have humans, and although they are not widely believed in, so have Borrowers.

In a house abide both, human and Borrower. The house in question is terraced house in the south east side of London. The Hall family, known as that because their ancestors used to dwell under the hallway of the upper landing before the house was converted into flats. Below them lived a keen sower, a woman of 70 who when she is not out bowling with her church club, she’s at home making a hand sewn quilt she’s been working on for the last year. The flat above is home to the owner of the building, an angry man, who stomped around the building reminding its tenants about rent. And in the middle of the two, is the man to whom the Borrowers live under, an unhealthily avid 24 hour news watcher, other than that little is known about the man they live under, he is the most feared and none of the three Borrowers have ever ventured up to his flat.

The Borrowers live between the man and the sower, her ceiling, his floor. The light from the television is the constant light source to the borrowers through the cracks in the worn floorboards above. The light pollution is mirrored by the constant audio bombardment of news; politics, terrorism, and war. This spread over years makes the borrower’s hereditary over wariness turn to paranoia and fear of humans. The Hall family consist of mother Marcella, Father Boian and 12 year old son Cedric. Any other borrower would call them Warrior Borrowers. Their dwelling is basic, guarded against the humans (Human beans in borrower speak) by rows of sharpened pencils pointed up towards the floorboards. Walls and doors from various items such as flat cheese graters to protect against rodents and other unwanted guests.

Scene:

They cautiously venture upstairs, they come out of a hole in the skirting board and gain higher ground by climbing a bookshelf. Upon reaching the top shelf they see for the first time the man before them they had feared for years. A man of about forty, wearing an old worn jumper and jeans, he is surrounded by empty takeaway containers and newspapers, just staring at the screen in front of him. The borrowers look at each other in confusion.

“This is what we've been afraid of?” Marcella said quietly.

“He doesn't look angry or scary like I thought, he looks sad.” Said Cedric.

“We've been wrong this whole time.” Stated Boian “This is no monster.”

End scene.

Themes

The other/ Fear- This is a big part of the story because the borrowers exist in fear of the humans, while the old lady downstairs presents little threat to them, the man they live under is an unknown. Hearing the news all the time leads them to think he is a monster so they never venture to his flat. They resort to hiding and building their defences, never leaving for long periods of time in fear of being seen.

War and child soldiers – War has always been a part of the world, inner-self wars to full blown world wars have been fought since the beginning. It is a sad fact that in certain countries children under the age of 18 have been recruited for many roles such as front line fighters, porters, couriers, spies, guards, suicide bombers or human shields. And although no war is fought in this story, it does provoke though on the morals of war and child fighters. Should Cedric be involved in any attempt at fighting the humans, being only 12 years old? Is it his choice?

Concept art - Amy Akerman

Setting.

Set in early 1900

“The Borrowers” is a framed narrative, this means it is a story within a story. The outer story is set later, in a London home of a girl’s parents, where she is being told the story of the central narrative. The London home’s setting is in the breakfast-room just before teatime where Mrs May is teaching her to crochet.

The central narrative is set in Great-Aunt’s house where Mrs May’s brother was sent to the country as an ill boy. Mrs May says her brother told her he had seen the Borrowers. The house itself is barely described, I imagine it as a Gothic revival style of the late 18^th century. In England, the Gothic revival was an important statement of national pride. This style was very popular for houses in the early 19^th century. Architectural details evoke the Gothic style like pointed arches, irregular chimneys, and tracery windows.

The Borrower’s home is first introduced as a hole under a grandfather clock, the entrance. However their home is not directly behind the clock, there is a series of passageways with many makeshift door to keep mice out. Wooden doors and metal gates, like a flat leaf of a folding cheese grater and wire fly swatters. The locks were complicated, made of safety pins and hair pins. The house itself is a miniature version of a typical English home of that time, stores of food, kitchen living room bedrooms.

Pg 28 and 59 , Mary Norton - The Borrowers

Week 2

War zone Image board - Amy Akerman

Props image board - Amy Akerman

Stage making

Double A0 Ground plan - 10 pence in the centre for scale!

Making 1:25 model box of The Rose Theatre Kingston.

Before making the stage, I traced the stage area from the plans onto A1 tracing paper, this made it more simple to mark and measure the single element I was creating. Placing the paper over an A1 piece of black mount board using the edge of the board for the largest straight side of the stage.

Using the point of a scalpel, I marked the corners, from there I drew between the marks with a sharp pencil and metal ruler. Once cut out, I checked the height of the stage using the elevation plans and built up the height with small supports.

H&S - Remember to take care when using a scalpel. A sharp blade is necessary when making something like this, to get a clean cut so extra care should be taken. Dispose of blades properly. if possible wear eye protection as blades can snap.

For the back wall, I measured the elevation plans, from the stage to the line just before the lighting rigging. This is the very back of the stage, just before the stage balcony.

The plans for the stage balconies, I luckily found some dowel from a project that was in the process of being binned and it was exactly the right size for the scale. What are the chances?

The rods I found, while being the same size, were made out of two different materials, one lot was solid wood, one lot was a lighter wood composite. The lighter rods I used for the across beams and the solid for the column supports.

I cut them to size using a scalpel and the Ban saw, painted them all black and assembled the structure. At this time I don't know if the balcony floors need to be made yet as the final set plans are not on the table.

H&S - When using a Ban saw or any other heavy machinery wear overalls, tie long hair back and wear eye protection and steel tow capped boots.

The completed model box with balcony structure, All that's left to do is a few supportive aspects.

Sudden costume design detour.

I'm slotting in costume here, it was in fact done throughout the project but I wanted it to be all in one lump as it is not essential to the set build itself. The costume research, is the relevant bits picked from the story and set research including prop elements, colouring and war images.

Here are the three best designs from the book, these are for the character of Boian. The designs start simply, with little embellishment and simple fabrics. As it progresses, it becomes more complex, with patches and utility belts. Further still and thinking of the practicalities and the war-like nature of the situation, protective gear was added.

These are the designs for Marcella, they are similar to the designs of Boian because they would have the same materials at their disposal and may chose similar designs. However if I were to pursue the costume route I would make each of the three characters costume's unique but in fitting with each other and the set.

Cedric's costume is also based on the other two's, for the same reasons. For the next project I would like to further develop these ideas and make certain elements for example the walnut hat and the utility belt.

The final cleared up designs. I chose these to fit the characters as best I know them. Marcella with her utility belt would be ready for all occasions. Cedric, the youngest is protected. and Boian is minimal and strong.

These are silhouettes of the designs, like how I imagined them in the very beginning of the project.

Week Three

This little guy is Boian, he's my 1:25 scale borrower character. He is made of 0.5mm wire, and super sculpey modelling clay.

He has a Button shield which would be a 4 cm button in real life, he has a pin dagger, which would be 3 cm in real life.

Today I played around with very basic models from cartridge paper.

Cheese grater door, it fits well in the space, I would like to work out further how things fit in the spaces.

I think I'm thinking too minimalist, its a huge stage,

When making this I realised that a single 15cm matchbox is not big enough for a bed, however three matchboxes together is the perfect size for a makeshift bed.

In trying the roof out I realised I was never going to get an idea of the shape and size needed with paper. My initial ideas for the roof are that the light on set would be very controlled, the light from the flat above caused by the TV would stream through the gaps in the floorboards. In the final set the boards could be painted wood, etched into soft wood, KAPA foam board, it could also be a frame set up stretched with a painted calico canvas, or another stretched fabric.

The roof is also going to move, in the final scene when they ascend to to flat above, the roof moves from hinges from the back wall from an upward slope to a downward slope, then this is what they climb to the flat which is visible from the bookshelf.

Using my 1:25 scale model gives scale to the whole set.

This is an initial sketch of what I think the roof could be, Initially the roof was going to be in the centre, this sketch shows the idea that he roof could fill the entire space

Week four

These are sped up video of my challenges to myself, I set myself the task to make as much set as possible in a certain amount of time. As you can tell, ten mins was not enough time and was not nearly as prepared as I should be, however it did serve as a good introduction into moving faster in these early stages.

The time felt a little better, I wrote a list of what I wanted to make. I started experimenting with the space more, which is something I was struggling to capture in drawing.

Here I worked on the roofing, doing this really helped me see how I will have to design and make this with great care.

Thinking about how the Borrowers get water was a tricky one. When researching the underfloor space of a typical house, I found that the typical size of that space is two foot, this space was used for ventilation to the house and also to hold the various pipes of the house. this could be one of the ways the Borrowers get the various things they need, in this case water. Materials commonly used to construct water pipes include polyvinyl chloride (PVC plastic), cast iron, copper, steel and in older systems concrete or fired clay. Now each of these has their pros and cons, with PVC,the borrowers could cut into the plastic to get water, however depending on the water pressure of the water this could be difficult to keep control of. The metal pipes are the best for this because the pipes can rust away in places causing drips that could be collecting. This also makes the water dirty, meaning this is more in-keeping with the theme of War.

Week five

This is a video of making a basic card staging, here I was just testing out the sizes and seeing how the thickness's affect the step height, and if it needed to change. In the end I found that a 10 cm height in 1:25 was ideal.

In this video I measured and made the cheese grater door, this made me think about scale a little more. Now the grater measurements from a simple box greater, my thought was that the scale should be increased to the size of the space.

Here is a close up video of making buttons and screws in the exaggerated scale then turned 1:25.

Here is a close up video of the making of the 1:25 scale Walnut hats. Simply done with super sculpey, using a coiling technique around the top of my little finger.I flattened and shaped it with the end of a paintbrush. I also made little scale berry pins, which would be daggers to borrowers.

I painted each piece. With the screws some of them I painted fully, with others I painted to look rusty.

Week six

This week is all workshops and no work! Monday I started working on the roof framework for the set in between my Welding, Plasma cutting and angle grinding workshops.

H&S - Note the protective gear, Welding masks that block out harsh light, overalls, thick gloves and steel tor capped boots.

I have found, I very much prefer painting...

Most of the week was prosthetics, an awful lot of information to take in. We created face casts of each other,sculpted and cast out ideas before filling those casts with silicone to create the final piece. My prosthetic was applied and painted. I was very happy with it seeing as it was a first cast and they are often the hardest,

Terrifying.

Week seven

After a minor stress, thanks to the lack of model box making last week, I talked to my tutor who as ever is the voice of sanity in my perfectionistic overcomplicating mind. After trying to make the roof through various techniques.

Thinking about the roof supports, I started building the structure of what would effectively be the lighting rig or support beams. Pictured is the initial structure with a tester roof piece to see the angle and sight lines.

Here is the lightly taped finished structure, I found that sticking the wood together with just PVA glue was not strong enough to hold itself together when attached. I decided to make the structure out of square wooden dowel. The ones I chose were of a light nature, this means the light structure will keep the set box light, the frame will be able to support itself, whilst being strong enough to hold up a KAPA foam board square.

To strengthen the structure I used a hot glue gun on all the joints then after painting it black, I attached it to the balcony uprights. The centre piece of wood is a temporary strut to help hold the structure while I was gluing. I chose this shape to mirror the bottom floor of the set, although it wouldn't be like this in the real theatre, its nice to keep the set box pleasing to the eye.

In trying to decipher angles, lengths and widths, I taped string in the places I wanted the boards to be and measured from there.

From the side.

I decided to put making tape between the string to emulate the boards, although its not much good for this project, I really like the effect it gives with the light and transparency.

From the side

Close up

I also tried, from those measurements, to make 6 rod frames, these could frame paper, fabric, wood, card. To create this I got 1mm copper coated steel welding rods, because these are light and inexpensive for a tester. Then talking to my tutor, I as making to far to complicated and that it didn't have to be as complicated as I way making it, less is more. The eye doesn't need the whole picture to accept the scene. For these I used the spot welder, this machine creates strong links a specific points.

H&S - Remember to use protective gear such as overalls, goggles, gloves and boots.

This is an A3 sheet of mount board in a portrait orientation, its just slotted in the structure.

I tried it the other way around, it fitted better but needed the corners clipped for the descent.on the shapes stage. In the landscape orientation it also covers a good portion of the upstairs set, this will become important when the design for the flat above is completed, as it should be hidden throughout the play.

Decent 1

Decent 2

Decent 3

Decent 4

Decent 5 -final.

View of sheet from below. With the wood effect and textures added it will be 3-4 planks of floorboard with a gap between each to allow for light to pass through. Notice here there is a slight gap between the board and the set, this gap may let too much light through and may need addressing when lighting experiments happen later on.

Making wood 1

Making wood 2

Painting wood 1

Painting wood 2

Painting wood 3

Three colours used, on top of white board, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Burnt umber.

Here you can see the difference between the painted and non painted sections, the textures and colours makes the space feel smaller and darker than the white.

In the real set, this could be made in a number of different ways. It could be made from printed or painted black-out material on a metal or wooden frame, this would keep the weight low and manoeuvrability smooth However it would mean that the borrowers could not walk up it to the flat above and would perhaps need a set of stairs on or off stage to be built. Alternatively it could be made from a hollow wooden structure, a frame (with inner supports) for each of the four boards covered in a thinner sheet wood over the top that would be painted. Of course anything of this size (well over 8 meters in length) will be weighty, however this would be heavy option, but could be varied on choice of woods. Along the same lines it could be made of a singular layer of wood for each board, this would be lighter but will so little support it would bow and possibly snap under the weight of itself.

Another work shop! Today was the lathe workshop, have some highlights.

H&S - Wearing eye protection and sensible clothing and footwear.

Brick backdrop tester painting.

I've struggled with painting stone in the past with emulsion and acrylic, so this time I used watercolour. Using water colour allows a better build up of layers than most other paint media. this is the base coat of reds and yellows.

Then added browns and oranges.

I added some darker shades of the above and dark brown shadows.

In the real set this background could be made in two ways. the main build would be plaster board sections with a wooden frame and brace supports. This could be finished with straight paint with the illusion of depth, like this here. Alternatively real texture can be added through Artex then painted over.

Making the Matchbox bunk beds.

I printed out the front of the matches boxes, I was going to paint them, then I realised it would be a waste of my time for something that can be done quicker and better with a printer.

I measured the sized of the beds (made up of three matchboxes each) and attached the print outs. In my initial designs it was a singular match box, but after measuring everything I realised that it would be far too small.

See here my 1:25 scale model and the bed put side by side. This makeshift bed would be a semi- available resource as the downstairs neighbour has a gas hob. The match boxes should be painted in a mixture of ways, some should be heavily aged while others remained new. This is because the match boxes have been handed down through the generations, like the original borrowers they could have been used for a different purpose such as storage,

Here I am painting the edges of the match box with the striker.

Once dry, I taped off the yellow edges and created the striking patch with a burnt umber/burnt sienna mix, applied with the end of the paintbrush.

Whilst waiting for the side to dry I cut out the 1mm match sticks, and painted them.

Assembling the box was simple, I used more of the blank edge sizes, measured to the right lengths and attached the lid on.

I left the edges open for the draws to fit.

The matched now become the frame for the bunk beds. The reasons for bunk beds is that they are space saving, and that Cedric (the 12 year old boy) could have more of a sense of safety being on the bottom.

The last two images are of the finished bunk beds, they may need more stabilising.

In the real set, this could be completed in a few ways. If sourcing is more to the directors liking, a real bunk bed could be bought and adapted to fit this design, and as most items like this come in flat pack form it would be simple. for example the sides being covered with boards with painted match box colours and information. If this were to be made from an initial wooden structure for the beds themselves and them lengths of wooden supports for the match sections. If a singular match size is not supportive enough, thicker piece could be carved out to resemble multiple matches attached together.

Week Eight

I made Marcella over the weekend, she's a sitting 1:25 scale figure. I made her look dejected and tired, with bowed head and slumped shoulders. As an essentially British creation, borrowers have always been portrayed as middle class British characters with variations on first world problems (Homily complaining about not having nice tea set). However this play is set in modern day London, a culturally diverse city with many different nationalities, I wanted this to be sown in the characters I made for the set. This adds realism for the play as well as allowing the audience to relate to the characters.

For the pencil fence, I tried super sculpey and card pencils, in the end I think using real pencils for the set box. As they do not move, or supply any support to the set, in the real set they would be carved from polystyrene (for weight) and if necessary covered in plaster bandages or coloured card strips.

This one of two sections of the on stage platforms made of "cardboard", I made the initial colour from Yellow ocre, burnt umber and white. Now the idea behind the cardboard floor is that the Borrowers have scavenged scraps of cardboard boxes over the years and pieced it together to form these shapes. The uneven surface is made from strategically ripped mount board.

Painting up the stage. I used sponges to create the desired textures, applying different shades as necessary.

Close up of the piece, the texture of the ripped card and painted texture gives the illusion of dampened old worn card.

Full view. In the real set the stages would be made of a wooden structure, a frame them a surface board. For ease this would be made of several different sections as well as the top and bottom being separate. Alternatively to keep the continuity of the flooring, the plain sections of flooring could have a lino covering this may however loose the textured element of the flooring.

The background should be done in the same way, the plasterboard would be painted together and put together on set. Where the entrances and exits on stage are on the far left and right, the sections of board in that area would be set in front of the rest to allow for the cast and crew to enter and exit.

This is the start of the final roofing section, its a piece of KAPA foam board, roughly A3 size. KAPA is lightweight foam boards with a polyurethane foam core, its perfect for this set, its lack of weight allows the roof to be manoeuvrable, but the core is perfect for carving into once the top layer of paper is peeled off.

Simple carving into the board, created by using the scalpel at an angle. I wanted the the cuts to be long and deep, making them more ominous to the borrowers below.

I used three base colours, various combinations of white, burn umber and burnt sienna.

Unfortunately the pictures of the final roof painted, were lost due to unforeseeable circumstances the completed roof can be seen in various images in the future.

Week Nine

Unfortunately initial the photos of the making of the coins was lost in a technological malfunction, it happens. Essentially I cut out the circles in Super sculpey, and added a inside circle, without cutting all the way through. In the image above you can see the shapes, which at this point have been cooked and painted copper colours.

Initially I wanted to paint the coin design onto each of the coins, however, I realised after a first attempt that with would not only waste valuable time, but have a lack in detail. In the end I drew the pattern on each coin using a 0.2 fine-liner pen. The black ink draws the eye whilst also informing it of what the shapes are.

The coins in the space the will inhabit. I chose to make the coins the same size, this makes it better for mass production, it is also less of a distraction to the audience, whilst being clear what they are the focus can remain on the play. If a director decides later on that the coins should be different, this could be completes by painted wooden shapes, alternative moulded resin, the latter would be a faster and detailed technique.

All coins, painted and placed. Ready to be glued when the floor is completed.

This photo shows the last step for the cardboard stage. I added lines to show the separation between the segments of card. This also accentuates the damp old look of the card. Here you can also see the painted QR code and Amazon logo in better detail. Those are added to further confirm to the audience what the material is.

I had an image in my mind of the colour of the floor, although I felt ready to paint, I decided to test out the colour. turns out this was a good idea. The initial colour I mixed up (on the right) had far to much yellow ocre in it and looked more like sandstone than the plasterboard I had imagined. The second attempt was much more successful, I used more of a grey adding in very little yellow.

I continued testing colours and mark making techniques to see what effected the aesthetic. I also did these on black card as this is what the final result would be on.

This shows the finial in the testers, I used a straight brush stroke with the grey on the first layer, allowing some on the surface underneath to show. Then using dabbing, flicking and dry brushing techniques, I added browns, yellows, greens and blacks on the top.

I placed the tester under the pencil fence to see the effect it would have against the rest of the set. Its a little light, this would be rectified when the set is lit, and also as I will be adding further shading.

This image shows the same, but in shadow. This gives a better idea of the the effect and colourings. you can also see better the speckle effect.

Newly finished cardboard in its place on the stage. You can also partially see the finished roof. It's darker and has a richer colouring to the tester roof, The central roof draws the eye down to the centre while the the floor is set asymmetrically to the left and the background to the right.

For the floor under the stage, I decided to add it in as a separate element, therefore it can be removed at any time, it also allows my set to remain clean and clear when necessary. Using a roller allows for a controllable smooth texture, free of brush marks.

Close up texture.

I also painted the back side of the board, this prevents excessive warping.

The line is where the cardboard staging finishes and the visible floor starts. From that point onward I started to add the remaining colour.

Using paintbrushes, sponges and towel, I created the textures of damp

I stuck the cardboard stage onto the floor and avoided warping by holding it down with heavier items.

Here is the floor in its place. The asymmetrical quality gives and interesting set, I would like to continue this throughout the play.

Close up

I stuck on the coins in the circled shadowed areas.

Here is the full floor with the attached coins.

Close up

Week Ten

More attention needs to be brought into the centre of the stage. Here I'm testing out what it would look like if there was less of the background on the edges, I id this just with scrap pieces of black card. I think this is an necessary part of the set, however I think it can be achieved in a different way.

In this photo you can see the first layer of darkening the edges of the background. I'll see what this amount looks like before adding more. This was achieved with a synthetic sponge and black acrylic.

I started thinking about the eye of the viewer and how I want to start drawing it into the centre of the stage. With the pencil fence, previously a straight-ish line. Here you can see the taped up pencils from the highest possible height to the lowest I thought was feasible (in terms of how usable a pencil can be). I cut the pencils to their sizes using the ban saw and sharpened using a craft knife.

Here you see the Pencils taped together. I sanded them down individually , this gives them a worn look.

I did another set of pencils, longer this time. You can see how the right hand side draws the eye to the background.

On the old pencil fence, I experimented here with darkening down the pencils from one side. I'm not keen on the results, it makes it look like it's caked in mud.

Thanks to the test above, I knew that too much paint makes it look strange, so here you can see that there has been minimal colouring, using watered down acrylic, a sponge and paintbrush.I think they are possibly still too light.

Something I have been battling with for the last two weeks or so, is the idea of shelving. The problem has been I didn't know what they should be made of, where they would go and if they were really needed. What they could be made of are match sticks (there are already some on the set), matchboxes (ditto), cardboard (again, some on the set), suspended on string lines. However with the placement of everything else on the set, where they could be placed is at the back, which is barley visible. When taking photo's of the set I popped some of the props on the pencil fence and I think it looks great there. They props break up the shape, add colour, and bring it closer to the front of the set so the audience can actually see it.

Shot of other side.

Lighting experiment- Using a wide white light I shone it through from the back of the floor boards. Most of the light went through to the background instead of the intended effect of shining through the floor boards. This could be due to the angle of the light in this photograph, the angle of the floorboards. In the real thing the stage will have to be lit from the front, as a normal production would be) with stronger lights between the floorboards. The light can also be accentuated by adding dust (dry ice/ fog machine or small particles in the air such as sawdust of flour(this could be irritating and messy to the set and cast). The fog machine would be strengthened from low when the man upstairs moves around. The light in the background can be prevented with a flat piece in that area or diluted a little with a canopy hung in that space.

In this picture, I lit the stage from the front, it certainly looks less dramatic like this. This combined with the fog and lighting from above the floorboards could achieve the right look.

This picture shows the attaching of the pencil fences, this was done with sewing thread and then a bead of UHU run along the back for extra stability, then the tape can be removed.

Basic drawing of the pulley style contraption used to raise the roof of the set. The nature of the set, being round, means that a section of card has to be built from the set outwards to make the rotating section parallel to the roof in the set.

This is the built out section of the pulley system, I used empty cotton reels to allow the wooden dowel to spin with ease.

Once attached, you can see that I added glue gunned string to the dowel to stop it from falling or moving too much. For the upending material, I tried packing string, which was far to thick and noticeable, fishing wire, which curled too much due to the lack of weight holding it, finally I used black sewing thread , this was strong enough to hold the roof, and is practically invisible. In reality the roof would be raised using the existing flying points of the theatre.

This video shows the movement of the roof from three different angles, showing the simple mechanism. I really like how the light coming through the slats moves as the roof is elevated. In the play the roof will be descending from the highest to lowest point, revealing the uppermost set that it had been hiding throughout the majority of the play.

Upper set background.

This piece is roughly the right size for the maximum space the main focus of the upper set can take up, in terms of eye lines for the viewer. I also drew around the balcony bars to see how much space these could take up. The idea of the upstairs is that that the borrowers finally brave the climb up to the flat above, and gain higher ground by standing on a bookshelf overlooking the main living room. They see a large television, the back of a sofa and the back of a man's head wearing headphones and playing a first person shooter. They realise that this man, who they have feared for years is no real threat to them, thus crushing the themes of the play such as the other and fear of the unknown.

I drew out the design I wanted onto the paper and reattached it, here you can see Boian, I used him to adapt the drawing until it looked the correct scale. Unfortunately maths could only take me so far (within my capabilities at least) I worked out the size the sofa and head would be in 1:25 scale, but from there in terms of perspective and distance I honestly didn't know where to go from there, so this what my final result.

This piece of board illustrates how little space I have to work with, I'm thinking the background may have to curve with the back of the set to utilise the full potential.

I cut roughly around the drawing and transferred it to KAPA foam board and then cut it out.

I used KAPA foam board so that I could carve into the surface to give a sense of perspective and also detail.

Here you can see the cut out shape in it's place, the cut out areas hold the shadows.

I gave the board a black wash to break up the shape before painting the rest.

I painted up the head and headphones with acrylic, working from lighter to darker shades. The headphones ended up being completely black, I realised that there needed to be a strong visible distinction between the hair and the headphones as well as the background.

The sofa is a gross mushy green colour. it's the colour I image would belong to a cheap well used sofa that a man would buy.

The frame for the Television is KAPA foam board off cuts.

I added a temporary roof to the set to show how it would look with the controlled light of the theatre. I masking taped the sofa and TV to the set to see what it would look like. I'm happy with the overall size and appearance of it but I think that it needs a background with a lighter to darker gradient from the centre. The Television in the real set would be a real screen or projected onto screen that would itself produce the light enough for the the upstairs set.

Week 11

To get the appreciation of size and the appropriate sight lines for the set, here I am making the Seating area as well as the highest seating point. Here I am tracing the outer shape into tracing paper to them transfer to black mount board.

I marked out the shape using a scalpel through the tracing paper and drew a connecting line to follow when cutting.

The completed seating area, you can see the entrance/exits.

On the far right side it fits snugly in the space .

This here is what you call a avoidable mistake. I missed one of the markings from the tracing paper and cut a straight instead of curved line. I will have to fill this in.

Here is the elevation, from this I took the sight lines I needed to create the highest point of view for the top layer of seating.

This is the completed highest tier of seating, I can use this as a guide to see what the audience would see.

This is the beginning of the background for the upper set. I measured and cut this elongated rectangle and tested it out in the space.

I rolled it a little to help it better fit in the space without damaging other pieces. You can see here the curve.

To get the effect of the television's light, I started with black at the edges, sponging on the paint adding more and more white each time up to the centre/

Here you can see the gradient from dark at the edges to lighter towards the middle.

The sponged on paint gives a more natural effect than a paintbrush, it also allows the paint to blend more subtly to each lighter grade.

I placed to television over the top of the background to see how they work together. I added a little grey sponged onto the edges to better depict the light is being emitted from the set without loosing the shape.

Here it is in its final place, I stuck it down with double sided tape to keep its curved shape flat to the back of the set.

This the finished upper set, it needs a top roof to have a better control of the light in the set.

This video time lapse of painting onto a flat board using wood techniques.Starting with a base of a light yellow colour, using a sponge with various shades to create the lined grain. Then adding darker colours and knots.

Starting with Artex base made wood grain texture with a rocker. Using the same techniques as before.

Starting with an textured layer of Artex in the brick pattern. I started with quite rich undercoat of red and yellows then a wash of brown. I then added a light yellow colour to the mortar areas, more shading then general ageing colours and speckling.

The same brick techniques but on a much later scale, these bricks are a quoter of the size they would be in a full size set.

I traced the roof from the ground plan. This cut out of for the strip light to show through.

I then built up the sides of the space with more black card to house the light there is a space enough for the wire to come out the side and for the switch to be operated from the front.

I added three small strips of card to the bottom to prevent the light from falling.

Lit set.

This is a quick imposed image of the costume designs in the set. To see how the colourings and the designs would fit in the space. Overall I think they fit well, however the brightness of the images make them look a little out of place.

This is a roof decent video with the an example audio track of snippets from the popular first person shooter Call Of Duty. I do not claim to own the audio.

Screen shot from the making of the video, I simply muted the video's audio and added an audio clip from a COD play through selecting the best audio sections based on content and loudness.

Concept art of the final Set's lighting, with dust motes.

Preliminary final images including samples, props, and final lit and unlit set photos.

January 2016

Its the final two weeks of the project, so its making sure everything is photographed propery and documented. I got a set of soft box lights over Christmas so I came back and did more photos in a more control lit area without a big black sheet and wires in the images. There may also be time to so some little extras!

I made this little animation in a 1 hour lunch break. As there isn't any movement of the characters in this project, I just wanted a little illustrated animation to have a visual reference. Thanks to my stunning time management I will have time to do a stop motion with my set later this week.

This is the finished stop motion, compiled from over 300 images. It is not a masterpiece but it is really good to see the set being used by the characters. In this version the visuals are accompanied by a lighter audio. It conveys my pride in what I have created, as well as enhancing the basic quality of the animation.

In this second version has a darker audio, provoking more of a sense of unease with this silent movie music. Everything becomes a little more sinister.

During a second photo shoot I re-filmed the descent of the roof, now from different angles. This version has no audio, but allows you to see the full effect of the transition.

This is the second version of the roof descent. The audio is taken from the popular first person shooter Call Of Duty. I do not claim to own the audio. Using the audio with the visual is how I imagine it to be done in the real life play. The audio would increase in volume as the borrowers actors would ascend to the on stage balconies whilst the roof was descending.

All images can be clicked on to see it at it's original size

With the addition of the soft box lights the I was able to get a better quality image and make more of the image visible. 1- full image with full lights on. 2- mid range shot

3- Close up of main set. 4- This is the lit set, with the majority of the light coming from the light behind the light, in this image, it is also lit from the front similar to how it would be throughout the play.

5- a lower level of light on the set. 6- change in the colour, this had more of a softer white light. The light would change colour and intensity in relation to time of day, emotive quality of the activity happening in the flat above.