A Soldier's Tale: "Ground Control to Major Tom"

Ground Plan: The Problem

After giving the ground plan to John for the studio mark up, John emailed me bringing to my attention that the dimensions given to me were wrong. Rosie's model box states the acting space is 11,800mm wide, but it's not. And the floor cloth in place is 10,000mm x 10,000mm.

I had an emergency meeting with John Camble, and after ringing the Pavillion and getting the Ocean Room re-measured we can confirm that the space is 11,200mm. We worked out the set only just fits, but the concern is how it is going to look in the space. There is a Production Meeting happening tomorrow where we can clear things up before the set gets built this weekend.

It's so important to check measurements yourself and to be able to contextualise your work into a space; stupidly I haven't been to the Ocean Room yet, but I think John and I are going tomorrow. I have to stop relying on information from other people because their mistakes become my mistakes. This has been the first major hiccup of SP, hopefully will be able to get it sorted.

T-minus three days till build...



A Soldier's Tale: Ordering and Sourcing

Today I placed an order with Columbia Timber for the building materials needed for the build at the weekend. I needed some delivered to Uni and some delivered to the studio so I have arranged that.

Delivery Date: Friday 2nd December

Delivered to: FAO: Amber Dernulc, AUCB

Ordered: 6 sheets 6mm MDF (4' x 8')

Price: £11 + VAT per sheet

Delivery Date: Saturday 3rd December (8.30am)

Delivered to: Studio 3, Poole, BH17 0UG

Ordered: 130m 3x1 PSE Redwood

               40m 2x3 PSE

               8 sheets 6mm MDF (4' x 8')

Price: 3x1; £1.14pm + VAT

          2 x 3; £1.99pm + VAT

          £11 + VAT per sheet

John will be processing the Purchase Order for me as the money is coming out of the Acting budget, which is great! 



A Soldier's Tale: Ground Plan

One of the things on my to-do list for today was to submit the ground plan for a solider's tale ready for mark up at 9.30am.

I have drawn up a rough ground plan, but at the moment I'm having a few concerns over the placement in the space according to the design, and the size.

Will give my tech drawings to Rosalie, and make sure she knows how big the space is, as it would be better to iron out any problems with dimensions sooner rather than later.

I am getting quicker on AutoCAD and I have managed to do this groundplan in a few hours. Although it is not highly detailed, I can now create a detailed plan to build from. I have had to make a few executive decisions regarding the sizes of the pallets in front of the pros, as they were a bit uneven, which is easier to amend when they are made. I wanted to get some straightforward angles and dimensions to build from before applying a creative touch!

A Soldier's Tale: Production Meeting with Rosalie

Today Rosalie and I decided to have a quick meeting to discuss everything that needed doing at this stage. She had a list of things that she needed to acquire, and it was good to be able to go through it and take some weight off her shoulders as I am trying to do as much as I can in order to prepare for my EMP role where I will be taking on the role of "Project Manager" for The Road.

We discussed the things like scheduling the build, I said I wanted to do it. Rosie told me which people had volunteered, and I was worried that if we have too many people it would be more of a hindrance than a help so I suggested having Richard leading the build, with myself assisting alongside Rosie and maybe Ellen. I warned Rosie that it is hard graft, long hours of physical labour!

I told her I would take charge of building materials and ordering those as my knowledge of timber is now at an adequate level! Rosie also asked me to source black matting to go underneath the pallets, and black lino to go under the two stages in order to protect the floor of the Ocean Room.

Rosie is now sourcing most of the set dressing pieces such as chairs, the cabinet door and other pieces. I told her good places to acquire things from; curtain rings from In Extremis and curtain poles from Wilkinson.

The only thing I insisted to Rosie was to get the corrugated iron pre-cut to size in the university workshop as I don't think we'd have the means over at the Studio in Poole.

I will organise the equipment list of what John and I will take over on Friday, and the schedule of what needs to be done. I will also be responsible for refreshments for everyone over the weekend as an army marches on it's stomach; and good biscuits will keep a build team going. (Pink wafers and chocolate bourbons anyone?!)

I had also discussed with Rebecca about having a camera recording the entire weekend's process, as sped up it would make a good film following the building process, and the Get In/Get Out. I'd really like it as a reference on my showreel/blog.

It felt good to know that Rosie and I were working with each other, not against each other. Rosie needs my prior knowledge and [small amount] of expertise to be the best we can both be. I feel that we are going to be supporting each other through this a lot more than Rhiannon and myself. Rosie seems to try her best at helping me out with the technical side, and I don't mind it when she doesn't know the answer; we're all learning! Organising who was doing which job was also good and made me feel like I had responsibility with it.

Tomorrow's To Do List:

- Have ground plan ready for the mark up in Studio Theatre

- Order timber from Columbia Timber

- Source black matting

- Source black lino

- Schedule the build

- Create and equipment list for the build

- Organise for some petty cash for weekend refreshments

- Discuss with Lindsay at the Media Equipment for a camera to film the build.

All systems are go!!!

In Extremis: The Get Out

As I knew precisely every join in the structure I was an integral part to the get out in being able to dismantle the timber ready for re-use for A Soldier's Tale.

The first step was to free the steeldeck from underneath the rostra so the guys from the steeldeck company could take it with them along with the rest of the seating. John and Pete took headway with this once I told them how it was put together, and the treads were removed complete and ready to go into the Prop Store ready for re-use. We de-clad the rostra so we could recycle the timber for the pallets used in A Soldier's Tale.

Next, along with Jake the actor, we pulled up all of the floor planks, some screws coming out easier than others! We ended up taking a crowbar to some of the planks we had nailed in or where the screw head had ran off the screws; rendering them unusable and irremovable.

After that was done, the next step was to start dismantling the structure. We started at the downstage-right end, first by removing the aesthetic "support", then the bracing from the wall, then using a team of us to lower the leg to the floor. It was a very quick process, much quicker than getting it up there but there were a lot more of us than there was when it was being erected. We went section by sections keeping the rest of the structure attached to the wall to keep it secure and reduce the risk of it falling on us. We kept the back piece attached to the wall till last, bringing down the A-frame first with one person footing each leg so it didn't slide away from underneath us. The last piece to come down was the first to go up, the rear section to the structure; this came down very slowly with a lot of us walking it down.

We disassembled most of the pieces but as we were running out of time we chose to leave most of the longer legs still in their construction, John and myself deciding that we would disassemble them as and when we needed them at the Studio where we are building A Soldier's Tale.

What became of the wheel I hear you ask?! Well, as it is such an impressive part of the set that everyone enjoyed and appreciated it, we have put it in the university grounds as a sculpture that demonstrates what the School of Performance is capable of!

It felt very cathartic to take the set apart, and it feels nice that it has come round full circle and also, that I was involved in every step. It also feels good that I ended up being an appreciated member of the team, integral to the removal of the set.

In Extremis: Evaluation

I found the whole of In Extremis a very valuable and educational experience from start to end. It have given me wonderful opportunities to work on something not usually associated with my course and to carve myself a niche for future employment potential. 

Drawing the set was fairly challenging in itself, as Rhiannon didn't know the exact measurements of her set and I had to do a lot of work from the model box, and also change a few of her measurements to make it work structurally. I feel I put in a lot of hours into the digital drawing for this, and my trial and error system has made me fairly confident in AutoCAD and able to work quite quickly. Having Richard going over my drawings and telling me where I needed to improve I felt was very important, as my tutors in the department aren't experienced in digital technical drawings and the advice they could offer me was limited. This isn't anything bad against the course, I know I'm bringing something new to Costume.

I think that when you look through my drawings from version 1 to version 2, you can definitely see an improvement. I'm learning all the time with AutoCAD and I will be for as long as I use it so my drawings will constantly be improving. Ideally what I would've done is to have redrawn everything as we made it after the build so I have almost a set of blueprints for In Extremis, but because I went straight into A Soldier's Tale I couldn't.

My favourite set of drawings are for the Wheel, and even when you look in the file, you can see my complete working progress (not printed in full) and my trial and error, going down different pathways with the drawing. It didn't take as long as I thought it would do, only a couple of days, and I was very proud of myself. The only frustrating part was that I sent Richard the CNC ready file so he could cut it, which was millimetre perfect and he didn't use it. If we had used mine, the wheel would have been equilateral!! 

My drawings were referenced constantly throughout the build for measurements, angles, and construction and being a valuable part of the whole 2D to 3D realisation because of my knowledge of the set meant that I was always involved in the process, despite being left out of a few meetings at the beginning of the unit (which was frustrating but I overcame that). Richard understands the role I want to take on and so pointed me in the right direction all the way. 

Working with Richard on the set build was great fun, whilst being highly educational. During the build we deviated from my drawings slightly, due to things like problem solving and making things more structurally sound. For example the wheel is completely different to the one I originally drew, but the end result is still the same. I'm really proud of what I have achieved, especially as I'd never picked up a power drill before the build and but the end I was tying the structure together 4 metres up in the air!

It was a long and tiring build, but I made a conscious effort to keep morale up, to keep motivated and to work quickly and efficiently. Yes, I made mistakes, there is a knack to drilling and I need to work on my interior spirit level as I was drilling wonky, but that just comes with time and practise. I didn't make any drastic mistakes that affected the build, which was great! I'm always scared of ruining something. 

The feedback I received from the actors and my tutors was all really positive which felt great, I think I've found something I am truly good at and fortunately, I can make a career out of! 

Rhiannon and I before the structure came down.

A Soldier's Tale: The Ocean Room in Bournemouth Pavillion

20th November 2011

"A Soldier's Tale"

The Ocean Room in the Pavillion

Rosalie Tyack, the designer, sent me these pictures of the Ocean Room in the Pavillion where the play was being put on as I didn't have access to visit it.

It is important to know what the space I am building in looks like, for contextual purposes.

A Soldier's Tale: Drawing the Proscenium Arch (Part 3)

24th November 2011

"A Soldier's Tale"

Drawing the Proscenium Arch

Take Three.

Ok, I'm struggling. The shape it drawn but now I need to think about construction and how it's going to be built. I know from a previous discussion had with Rosalie and Richard on the 3rd November that it was going to be 18mm ply backwith with 3 x 1 on edge timber but it was exacrly how these supports will be placed on the back of the pros that is giving me a headache.

Do I space them evenly? Do I not? How many is enough? It's just a big puzzle to me now. I emailed Richard to ask and his advice was...

"Draw how you think it should be done and so we can compare"

Frustrating!!! I will muddle through and try and get this done asap.

Also... Do I draw the detail on top?! Ie; the polyblock, the timber, the corrugated iron?

I'm starting to worry now because time is of the essence and I cant work over the weekend.

A Soldier's Tale: Drawing the Proscenium Arch (Part 2)

23rd November 2011

A Soldier's Tale

Drawing the Proscenium Arch.

Take Two.

10.59am

So yesterday I gave up. I had a headache and the crazy angles got the better of me. I did however find a solution. I photocopied the model so I had an actual size of the 1:25 scale model to work from. I purchased a protractor and measured all the lines and angles for myself. Like so...

I however, am STILL having problems.

I'm using a new technique to draw my angles, which is to array from the point of the last angle (Polar Array) and select "Angle Between" and type in my designated angle. It's made the whole process a lot quick but it's just still not right and I cant work out where I am going wrong!!!

This is now the third time I have drawn the perimetre of the Proscenium Arch and I am about to embark again.

12.56pm

I've only gone and done it! I've had my jubilant Eureka moment and here is the evidence...

Now.... my next challenge is the interior perimeter. Wish me luck.

1.58pm

Well, it's finished. And I stayed as true to the scale model as was physically possible but I had to deviate slightly but checked with the designer and made sure she was happy with the decision.

It was hard work creating this, and it made me realise the importance of having the correct information, and that it's always better to collect the information yourself, double check it, and not rely on someone else as their mistake will just hinder and delay your work.

I also perfected using the "Polar Array" tool to create angles around a central point. Every cloud?!

A Soldier's Tale: Drawing the Proscenium Arch

22nd November 2011

"A Soldier's Tale"

Drawing the Proscenium Arch for Construction

Rosalie has designed a beautiful Cubist style proscenium arch for her set that is very angled in the way that Cubism suggests. I have come up with a problem with drawing it up to be built because the measurements she gave me are not consistent, some are in centimetres, other are in millimetres but she doesnt say which is which! Also, I dont think the drawings I've got are to scale.

Lesson Learned: Make sure your references are correct.

Once I confirm that all measurements are in centimetres, and corrected the ones that weren't correct (I understand that we are creative people, not mathmeticians) I set to work drawing it up. I have to rely on the measurements that Rosie has written down as the drawing's she has given me arent to scale. If this is a problem I'm going to have to cross that bridge when it comes to it as this is all the information I am provided with!

I start by drawing a 6000mm horizontal line as a "base" line for the proscenium arch, and am going to work through her drawings, angle by angle, line by line to make sure it is as true to the information I was provided with.

I have turned on my polar tracking for this, as I need to be able to read the angles as I work round. I am having to measure each angle (using keyboard shortcut: "DAN") from either the vertical or the horizontal and using a system of measuring angles, and adding or subracting to the angle desired by the design I am managing to get through! I'm sure there is probably a quicker way of doing it, but my skills are still only so good.

So I drew it up from Rosalie's drawings but I think there is an error somewhere...

As you can see, the line of the right of the pros extends over the baseline.

Things are never easy are they?

Ok now look here AutoCAD... This doesnt even make sense.

Surely 107° plus 3° equals 110°... not 109°? I simply don't understand.

It was at this point I gave up for the day, posted the screenshot on Facebook and managed to stump friends of mine who use AutoCAD professionally.

In Extremis Construction Journal: Laying the Floor

Day One

The last job to do was to lay the floor made up of 6 x 1/2 timber cut into sections of 2440mm in various divisions. I cut the wood up on Build Day 5 so they could be painted before being set down. We couldn't lay them last week due to restrictions with the space and rigging the lights so John scheduled me in for an hour at 5pm today.

Firstly, the floor took a long time to get into position. After giving the painters strict instructions to not paint over the numbers that help us match the corresponding pieces and put them into sequence, it took us about twenty minutes to just put the planks in the correct order.

The next struggle was finding the centre of the stage, which is offset to the centre of the seating but it made more sense to make sure they were in the middle of the floorcloth. We laid the centre plank which is not in the correct place according to the plan because the courtinerie for the curtains has moved approximately 300mm upstage from the original plan.

We had about fifteen minutes left of alloted time before the stage crew came in to start plotting the lighting.

I was given the drill to make pilot holes through the planks to the floor, and the drill bit wasnt long enough to be effective. Then, the screwdriver was running the heads off the floor before they could be completely flush with the timber. Finding the right screws, the right torque and the right drill bit took a long time and using various processes it took a further two and a half hours to get half of the floor down.

The best crews we found to use were 1 1/4" inch black screws, of which we didnt have many so John made a plan to go to a hardware store in the morning to buy more screws to finish off the job.

It was frustrating that a quick job turned into a three hour long saga... but hey, that's theatre.

Lesson Learned: Have enough screws for the job

22nd November 2011

Day Two

John had been to a hardware store and bought 1 1/2 black dry wall screws which were fantastic. It took less than an hour to lay the other half of the floor but when we finished we realised there was a difference between the amount of floor cloth remaining on either side. this could mean a number a things, such as the centre point we marked wasn't off center or that the gap inbetween the timber was collectively larger on stage left than on stage right.

Lesson Learned: Do the measurements yourself, never rely on someone else's judgement
Lesson Learned: Use matchsticks in between the planks for spacing continuity.

There I am, laying the floor!

In Extremis Construction Journal: Day Six

Arrival: 8:00am

I arrived nice and early to make sure that the last day was a full productive one, but when I arrived on site Richard nor Debs were there. Instead of waiting around and shirking off, I busied myself with making the medieval saw for Sean as one of his props. John had dropped off a saw for me to take the blade off, and I made a frame for it to go in. Here are some pictures of it after it was painted. 

Everything else Richard and I did that day I sadly didn't take a picture of, I was feeling the strain and I admit I was a bit grumpy but I pushed through. I sensed that Richard was itching to get home so made myself as useful to him without being too much of a hindrance. 

We braced off all the structure, which was a pain because when Richard was drilling into the wall, apparently the screws weren't biting, so as usual a job that should have taken an hour took four. 

Richard and I also made the mechanism for the grass to be raised and lowered by making a frame with a runner, and legs on hinged then on bungee cords so it could be easily moved up and down. We finished around 2pm, and I was exhausted. I was a little desperate to go home and get some rest so I didn't help out with the painting, I felt I had done my bit as it was. It was a hard end to a tough but enjoyable week and I had an absolute blast working with Richard. I've learned so much and I think I have finally found my niche! Looking forward to working with Richard again on A Soldier's Tale. 

Next time I see the set it will be fully painted, curtains hung and waiting for me to lay the floorboards!!

In Extremis Construction Journal: Day Five

Arrival 8:00am

I knew Richard was keen to be finishing the build so I wanted to be in nice and early to get things done. The first taste of the day was to create a platform for the wheel to be mounted on with castors so it can be moved around the stage to be more dynamic and versatile during the play. We made a simple roller box (not the technical name) with 6 x 1 reinforced with some joints and then attached the heavy duty castors.

A lovely rollerbox.

Bolting in the castors with enough room to fully rotate. 

The wheel in place on its rollerbox.

The next task that needed doing was to clad the perimeter so the MDF was hidden, this was an easy job but took time as each piece had to be measured and hand sawn then draw knifed then attached. It was worth it though because it really tied everything in together and it looked brilliant when we had finished. 

Clad perimeter

Finished wheel!

Detail of the lovely joints.

We then put on some really long arms for the bucket and rope to go over. 

Tying the pieces together

Breaking down detail

I was so proud once we'd finished the wheel. It felt like we were really on our way to finishing the build and it looked great. It is fully transportable, nice and big and spins! It even makes a lovely heavy creaking sound when it rotates. I really hope the director, Sean, uses this to it's full potential. 

The next job is Richard is going to make a lovely rustic ladder, and I'm going to start cutting the 6 x 1/2 down for the floorboards using simple maths and a tape measure. The floorboards wont be laid until Monday because of the lighting rig, so I have numbered each piece so I do not have to waste time putting a jigsaw puzzle together on Monday when I need to be working on  A Soldier's Tale.

Richard is going to make a ladder. 

Looking pretty good!!!

We also had Debs Mitchell, the scenic artist, in to start the paint team off. The first thing they did was the rostra, and it looks absolutely brilliant! Exactly like the model. It's really coming together now. 

The rostra painted with some of the floorboards. 

Alice and Julia doing a marvellous job painting the wheel.

Brilliant!

Richard's ladder (which injured my hand!)

Housing joints

Paint detail on the wheel

Progress on the wheel

Rhiannon testing out Richard's ladder, it's secure!

Richard and I also put up the courtinerie wire for the curtain to be hung onto, and making sure that was taught enough was hard work. It was also very nerve racking securing the dog clips as I was very high up! I learned about the difficulties of dog clips and Richard taught me how to secure a wire into them. 

It's the end of Day Five and I'm really starting to feel the strain. Every muscle in my body aches from all the physically hard work I've put in but I'm still really enjoying myself. I'm learning so much, and it's the kind of work that just makes sense; I think it's because I'm quite logical and mathematically minded. I'm picking things up quickly and really enjoy making myself useful and keeping busy with it. You can see from the picture's below that Richard and I are nearly done with everything we need to do, just a few more finishing touches to do tomorrow. Having the painter's in has really made the set come alive, the realisation from model to structure is unbelievable! I'm very proud of Rhiannon and all her hard work to make this come together. 

Stage Left (unpainted)

Stage Right (painted)

Nearly nearly there!!!

In Extremis Construction Journal: Day Four

Arrive 8:30am

When I arrived on site this morning, Richard was already squirrelling away with one side of the wheel. As you can see he is applying cladding to join the CNC cut pieces together.

 The thing is, Richard didn't cut the pieces from the rather beautiful CNC ready drawing I emailed him, so he drew one up from memory. Richard says he was very tired when he did this and as you can tell because when the four pieces are together, the lines do not meet up. What has actually happened is the radius is 1000mm on one side, and 900mm on the other, so the wheel is not an equal diametre all the way round. Also, the diagonal lines that need to meet up are not central to the pivot point so they shall never meet up. Not in a month of Sundays. 

The CNC cut pieces of MDF that dont quite work...

But Richard was already putting them together before I pointed this out to him...

He didn't quite understand why it wouldn't work.

Luckily my maths skills are quite good so I had to explain. I dont think he was too happy...

So I came up with a rather wonderful idea (if I say so myself), that we should remove the diagonal struts that don't match up. Richard told me I was a genius (I may be paraphrasing here...) so we got the panel saw out and promptly removed them.

If it doesn't work... saw it off. 

Putting the steel tube in for the irregular wheel to pivot around. 

Attaching the joiners to one side so we can simply put the other pieces on top.

Coming together nicely

Lovely.

The discs to support the pole and cover the messy joins. 

Cladding the interior with 4mm ply (reclaimed)

Putting some more timber for the cladding panels to sit against.

Inside the wheel hammering them in.

Oooh.

The workbench then got in the way...

So we had the better idea of putting it on the floor.

Made the whole process a lot easier.

All clad!

Putting the wheel into context.

We added some non-structural diagonal supports...

Then realised it was going to be much easier to do it on the ground. 

Looks like the model!

 Once we had put the diagonal pieces back on, we decided it would be much easier to do the cladding once the wheel was together as we could spin the wheel round as we went. We decided to make the base for the wheel. We discussed our method of attack, and we could make it roughly look like the model, but we had to change it a lot to make it able to take the weight of the wheel. We decided to make it out of 3 x 3 then clad it nicely to look like the model. Richard then showed me how to do a housing joint!

Housing joint. 

The housing joint I did. 

Putting the base together

another housing joint?

Richard

I put some decorative cladding on the wheel support.

Richard did some more housing joints

It's nice and strong. Housing joints are structurally very sound. 

This cladding is decorative, but will also improve the structure.

The next job was to drill a hole big enough to fit the steel rod through that will hold the wheel in place whilst allowing it to rotate. To do this Richard got a special drill bit, and a really big drill and it took him a fair while to do this. I had to support the structure with an opposite force and I ended up with sawdust all over me.

Checking the steel pipe fits

After fitting the wheel into the supports

It spins!

Reinforcing

More reinforcements

After cladding the outside

So we ended the day with the wheel mounted in it's base, the exterior clad in bits of 6 x 1 and the structure fully stable and able to take the weight of the wheel. A very productive day, albeit very frustrating. It's a shame that the CNC cut pieces that made up the frame of the wheel weren't correct, but you have to take into account that Richard is very busy. It's getting very tiring now, especially as it is just me and Richard doing all the building. Very nearly there though, last few jobs to do!