05/13/13

So now is the point were i have to figure out what i want to say in my 30 minute presentation. Im just going to write.


I've always been a builder and i always worked with my father as alittle boy and i've built up my technical and machanical skills. This year in senior research i really had no idea what i wanted to do but i knew i wanted to do something artistic and something that is a physical project. Then i was a sophomore a kid named Cory built the set for thoroughly modern millie and he did a great job. I desided that since I love theatre and building this would be a great way to give back.

I wanted to get my feet wet in the process of set building and designing so i worked with Hirschfelt on the fall play. We were doing a christmas charol. After my first meeting with gargus i was set oput to draw a blueprint of our stage which is a rough 25ft by 50ft. Quickly after this hirschfelt and I saw how much misalanious stuff was needed. One of the first rules to building anything is if you can use the wheel, why re-invent it? We ended up renting the majority of the peices but our main set was built by Hirschfelt and we quickly came to an agreement on a simple design. my project was the time machine and I started with a very complicated design requiring many pullies to operate its wheels and clock. When building something it is easy to see how an idea will chanc=ge one put into reality. First I made a chassis using all independent rolling wheels, the shape was much like a wheel barro and the reasoning behind this was to make it possible for a human to push pull and drive this thing. My chassis was made out of 2x3s chosen because thats what i had to work with and 2x4s i deemed alittle bit of overkill for the project. I cross braced the sides to reenforce the cockpit and made a ladder frame, much like an original ford model T. Mrs. Gargus told me that this was set in old London, before cars. So i couldn't base my machine off a car like the delorean time machine from BTTF and i didn't want to make something like what we see in Dr. Who with the phone booth. This had to be original and accourding to the script steam powered. The way i enterpreted this was a steam locomotive, which is the main vehicle to be powered by steam so the design was heavily based off a train. Next for color. In this time period black 1 stage flat was the only color available redily and to me whould be the only color tio make sence on someones homemade time machine. In this time, brass fittings and bronze allows we used in pluming and i used this as my accent color.