scenes as pages in book
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
Forum Discription: For how-to's and where-can-I-find
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4803
Printed Date: 5/12/25 at 2:46pm
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Topic: scenes as pages in book
Posted By: okla-hs-drama
Subject: scenes as pages in book
Date Posted: 9/08/10 at 6:18pm
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Need help! We are doing Emperor's New Clothes, wanted to "turn pages of book" to do scenes.
The thought for the set is to make a huge book where the pages turn. Originally we were going to borrow a hanging rack from a carpet store that rugs hang on and put the painted canvases on the racks. However, that arrangement fell through. I am now trying to come up with new solutions on making the book. My backup plan is to construct wooden frames (10x10 or 10x12) on wheels and then stretch muslin canvas across the frames and paint the scenery onto it. These frames would somehow attach together and make a book.
Here are my problems with this design –
1. I am unsure of how to connect the panels to turn the pages (we need 8 pgs that turn total) 2. The entire set has to be transported in a u-haul to each location that we compete at 3. I am afraid this construction will look flimsy and not result in the effect that we are going for ANY AND ALL ADVICE APPRECIATED! We're willing to buy something, just need to know what & where!! |
Replies:
Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 9/08/10 at 10:21pm
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Besides you rug rack idea, which is quite good.
You could consider producing a set of Booked Flats, skinned with calico [muslin] or panel board on both sides, as with soft flats or hard board 'studio' style flats, making it four double skin flats, +/- the front & back cover. [the back flat could be fixed & french braced [jack type stage brace] to give stability & anchor to allow the books page movements.
http://theatre.sjsu.edu/~culley/PartsFlat.html - http://theatre.sjsu.edu/~culley/PartsFlat.html
http://theatre.sjsu.edu/~culley/LashHardwareTypes.html - Further the use of the slip pin hinges, will help with putting the flats together during bump in/out [get in/out] at each venue http://www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/cgi-bin/trolleyed_public.cgi?action=showprod_T61700 - http://www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/cgi-bin/trolleyed_public.cgi?action=showprod_T61700
Also instead of castors it would be far easier, that is if the stage decks are flush, is to apply strips of old deep pyled carpet to the bottom rails of the flats.
The old carpet strips are fixed with the pyle down, to face the deck surface.
This would make it easier in paging each page of the booked flats, without the hastle & bulk of all the castors for each of the pages.
There again have a think about using http://cortecscenery.com/ - Cortec Scenery cardboard flats, which would reduce the the thickness of the book. ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: bnk01
Date Posted: 9/19/10 at 11:02pm
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We did this for a production of "The Christmas Princess" at the Promenade Playhouse in LA. We used a thin wood frames (1 by 2), with luon siding. I originally tried with teflon furniture sliders under it, but ended up replacing them with castor wheels. It worked, but it was heavy as a beast - a real pain to move in its entirety. A canvas stretched frame would be much lighter, but one of our pages had a 3D castle (thin styrofoam panels) effect.
To attach them, we used gate hinges, and built a "spine" - a flat panel 10" wide, solidly constructed. With a couple of inches between each page, they can fold together or open. Here's pix of the set & show: %20 - http://web.mac.com/amoy/Theater/Xmas_Princess_Pt_2.html |
Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 9/30/10 at 12:00am
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When I designed a low budget children's after-school production of "A Year With Frog and Toad" recently, I built a simple "storybook" set out of flats that opened up to reveal the different seasons of the year.
1) Spring. First they played a scene in front of the cover of the book, center stage. (Plus my periaktoi each side were preset to the "interior" sides). 
2) Summer. Then the child actors opened the book-flats to reveal the pond with lily pads and stones. We had stock styrofoam stones on the floor that mirrored the ones on the flats. (The side periaktoi were rotated to the "pond" sides). 
3) Fall. Then the kids opened the next flat, revealing a scene with pumpkins and leaves. (The periaktoi were rotated to the sides with exterior doors). 
4) Winter. The final set of book-flats were a Winter scene with snowmen. (Of course I had to blast the place with every Winter gobo I could find, too!) And I built a little red toboggan, with hidden wheels, for the kids to ride on. 
5) The Kitchen. There was also one point in the play where we needed a quick interior of a kitchen. So I just flew in a large broadway-style flat that was left over from our earlier production of "Honk!" The kids built the stove out of random stock crap, (and I later burned it in the homecoming bonfire!) 
Storybook Construction My storybook flats were simple to make, at zero cost. I just recycled stock hollywood-style flats from other shows. They were made of lauan paneling on both sides, with 1" x 2" framing, (and back-painted as flame retardant). I used very large hinges between each set of flats because they had to carry accumulated weight. I also had to install a tiny caster wheel under the outside edge of each flat to prevent sagging as the "pages" opened. The entire book unit was braced on the back with two stage jacks that I put 50 lb stageweights on, AND that I toe-nailed into the stage floor with 3" drywall screws. The storybook gag worked pretty well for a kiddie show. After strike, I saved the book-flats in case the director recycles that script in a couple years...which he often does! (And since the two periaktoi were slapped together from random stock crap, I recycled them after the show...which for me means that I cut up lumber into tiny pieces for the pottery teacher can burn in his kiln!) Anyway, long-story-short, that was that. Good luck with your project. -Dana ------------- Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School |
Posted By: bnk01
Date Posted: 10/07/10 at 1:01pm
Here's a photo of set for The Christmas Princess - you can see the castor wheel on one of the "pages."
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Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 10/07/10 at 2:01pm
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The problem becomes much easier if you have a material that works like paper. I work with a scrim material that behaves like paper--you would not have to build a frame around each piece (just a fabric sleeve at the top that had a wire in it) The material is paintable and printable and is incredibly light weight.
Take the straight wire running through the sleeve at the top edge of the material and bend it at a right angle at the end. Slip that end through a hole in the 'binding' of the book. Now the page turns. You have eight holes drilled in the binding so each page turns.
The binding is built like a tall skinny flat. (you can attach regular flats to be the covers to the binding). At the top edge you have a horizontal board surface mounted with the eight holes in it for eight pages.
The material --and thus the book, can go up to 16 feet high. BTW-- it is a scrim so it can still do special effects, so dramatic entrances can be created.
------------- _____________ http://www.studio-productions-inc.com 1-800-359-2964 The theater scrim people |
Posted By: mlew
Date Posted: 11/09/11 at 11:28am
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Hi, Would you happen to have a photo detail of the gate hinge and spine structure you created to mount the pages of the storybook? I am helping create a similar structure for a Nutcracker production. There will be four 8'x8' pages made from 1x2 and faced with luan with castor wheels mounted on the bottom. The stage is fairly small (converted church), and the book will need to be mounted upstage near the back wall. I worry about the cumulative weight of the pages as they are turned to one side. Thanks for any assistance you can offer. ------------- mlew |