Building a giant fan
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Set Design and Construction
Forum Discription: Post your questions or suggestions about designing or building a set here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2610
Printed Date: 11/27/24 at 9:47am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Building a giant fan
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Subject: Building a giant fan
Date Posted: 8/27/07 at 11:52pm
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any thoughts on building a very large working fan as a means of changing a scene ... closed for one scene and open for another look
needs to be about 6 ft tall ------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Replies:
Posted By: Joan54
Date Posted: 8/28/07 at 8:03am
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More details.... Do you mean a floor fan like propellor blade type? A folding Chinese paper fan? A large person eating hot-dogs and wearing a ball cap? How does it end a scene and start a scene? How are you going to get it onto the stage? Is it actually going to have to move air or just spin around?
My first idea was to get a ceiling fan and turn it on its side and mount it on a stand......they are heavy though so the stand needs to have a big cross brace on the floor to stop it from toppling over..... ------------- "behind a thin wall of logic panic is waiting to stampede" |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/28/07 at 11:10am
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This one has me stumped a little as well Joan. I think it might be a Vegas style or folleys type, which opens up from a ground row & closes off the scene, similar to a chineese or spanish one. Swinging back to closing, thus opening the scene. When it is closed the scene is open & when it's open, the scene is closed! I hope that's in line with your thinking  Dramamamastill?------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Date Posted: 8/28/07 at 1:18pm
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sorry kids... I meant a chinese type fan... it would be stationary for the first scene... sort of looking like a pillar and then fold down accordian style to change the look of the room as other set pieces are pushed into a new spot.
it is my husbands design, but he has not ever done this
he intends them to be 7' 4" and use muslin as the filler... 1x3 boards for the supports.
I hope this explains the idea ------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Posted By: Joan54
Date Posted: 8/28/07 at 3:26pm
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I love to hear about new ideas for set changes...and this one sounds like a very interesting one. Consider how this fan will be opened and how much space it is going to use. How do you get it off when you are done with it? How do you stop it from falling over? Does it add significantly to the story or is it a large distraction to the audience.....no matter how unique and pretty it is? I don't want to discourage you but there is a reason why most set changes ( from elementary school to Broadway) are done with a quick black out and a change of props. One of the pitfalls of amateur theater ( and I am as guilty as the rest) is long, drawn out set changes. If the audience is left in the dark for even 10 seconds they are detaching from the story, getting bored and thinking about other things. If possible make one scene flow into the other as simply as possible and don't be afraid to leave some of the background to the imagination of the audience. They know this is the theater and not a film.
That being said...if you go forward with this please keep us posted on your progress and let us know what you learned from building a giant fan. ------------- "behind a thin wall of logic panic is waiting to stampede" |
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Date Posted: 8/28/07 at 4:58pm
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thanks Joan... he plans to build two of them actually :) sometimes he just makes this stuff up and prays They do not ever need to leave the stage thank heavens. I think the biggest problem is keeping the fabric in place as it gets unfolded and folded back up.
we have found that our audiences have enjoyed watching well rehearsed stage crew move set pieces around. I hate to sit in the dark listening to stuff going on on stage. It is so rare that anything needs to be a big surprise and the unfolding of fans would be interesting to watch I think ------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/28/07 at 10:06pm
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With the fabric & attaching the ribs/slats, I would think just make
up a milky solution of white wood glue & water. But this depends on
the type of material to be used, cotton products would be fine. But you
will have to find an adhesive that suites a man made fabric &
didn't melt it. There are a number of spray on glues that could help, try it on a sample first, do a squirt before you buy. There again velco can work great, as an alternitive. The biggest thing to me would be the pivot mechanism & I believe he may be better thinking of of two half fans, one on each side (U/S OP & PS) slightly off set so the sails over lap or the outer edge of the fan could be squared off to close completly together. Which would be easy to operate by haul lines off stage, masked by the Legs. However with the centre stage pillar a dual pivot, working in the oposite direction may be needed. The opening & closing could be worked from the Fly's on one dropper line. Using a counter weight on a slide rail, attached upstage behind the pillar. When the fan is opened, the dropper line pulls up the counter weight to the head of the pillar. Then snotted off [tied] to hold the counter weight & when it is to be closed [folded back to the pillar], the counterweight is lowered. One other thing with the fabric is find some similar to parachute silk, which folds easily & offers little or no surface resistance. With the pivot, one thing that comjes to mind, is a short stub car wheal axle , that can picked up from a wreckers. Using the wheal studs to bolt down a boss, that holds the rib/slats. is an easy way to go. as there would be a fair wieght hauling in the fan sails. There again a bicycle fixed axlw wheal may work just as well] The last time I worked on something like this, was when I was a wee one working on the Folleys Bergere, except they used nude Follettes as the rib/splats, covered with see thru gauze fabric. Using the transposition of lighting, it was innovative & revealing.  [remembering I was very young & innocent at the time?]This is interesting - keep us informed Mamma - it's great to be regarded as one of the 'kids'.  ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: drose
Date Posted: 8/30/07 at 1:10am
| I must admit that I am terribly intrigued by the fan idea and have been mullng it around in my head. Is it completely out of line to ask what show it is for? |
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Date Posted: 8/30/07 at 9:49am
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It is part of a design for a high school production of The King and I
oh and thanks for all your input everyone... any thoughts at all are appreciated :) ------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Posted By: drose
Date Posted: 8/30/07 at 8:08pm
| How funny is that? I posted just the other day asking questions about costumes for our upcoming production for The King and I. Everyone has been a tremendous help. Hope all goes well for you. I'd love to hear how it turns out! -d. |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/30/07 at 9:48pm
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I just had a thought, as it is for K&I, tather than it becoming a
fan with ribs. How about thinking along the lines of free flowing
flags style, They could still come out from behind the pillar, but
would onlyneed to attached on the standing edge to a pole & allowed
to loose fly at an angle, enough to give coverage to upstage. This
would make it easier to furl back behinf the pillar.
------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Date Posted: 8/31/07 at 10:29am
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Shoot I just sent two replies to REPORT by accident... dang glasses well anyhow Thanks Gaafa that sounds like a very interesting idea and I will send it along. It is always fun to pick your brain :)
Drose I noticed your King and I post and thought the same. Just a couple days ago the costumer of the dang show asked for my help so I may be coming back to you for ideas ------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Posted By: drose
Date Posted: 8/31/07 at 1:59pm
| If I manage to come to any costume conclusions in the next few days, I'll let you know. Right now I'm really fascinated by the fan idea, I think its fabulous. I was playing with craft sticks and fabric (laugh if you want to) and I really like the look. The more vanes (veins?) the fan has, the more the fan extends upstage, and it seems the front facade needs to be a bit wider than expected to "hide" pesky, unruly fabric that won't fold back up neatly. More vanes seem to reduce that problem, but then your dealing with taking up a ton of stage space. another problem I'm noticing is masking the side(s) of the column when the vanes are not extended. Looks a bit funky, especially if the fabric is being unruly. So far I've only come up with having to turn the column when you open the fan so that the fan, when unopened is facing upstage and when opened, opens only to one side. I realize that this is probably not a lot of help, but I'm just so excited about the fan idea, I can't seem to let it go! |
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Date Posted: 8/31/07 at 4:01pm
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Oh I should have mentioned that the fan will only fan out to one side from the front column on each side of the set
I am not certain if he intends to turn them. I do know that parts of the the orginal platforms will be moved to the back for that scene, which of course I cannot recall at the moment.
I am only peripheral in this production. I was asked last year if I would costume it since I have been costuming the fall plays for the high school, but knowing how much work a musical is and especially this show I declined. My husband, of course, was not as smart as me
 He seems to have a very nice basic clean set which adapts to the different scenes of the show. The dock and boat are a bit of a problem, but he is solving the bedroom with a nice spindled footboard he found scrounging on trash day and the mosquito netting we have hanging over our bed.
His other big new idea is two very large urns (8 ft high) made from lathing and canvas (I envision them as open toward the backs). I am a little concerned about how he will keep them smooth. He made some fabulous greek columns in a similar way which have been used over and over again.
------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 8/31/07 at 9:25pm
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Just a bit of trivia for you ladies. The first Lighting Techies in theatre were actualy the costumer/appareler, who's job was to tend to the lighting & trimming of the candle & oil wicks on the lamps. So wardrobe people were the orignal lighting crew technicians, brfore us sparkies were ever invented! The urns remind me of set piece used in the G&S Mikardo, which had casters & moved about by the warm props. There was a door which was cut into the side & the luvvies had great fun with them. With the dock & boat, if he is using rostra, they could form the poop deck with a bulwark ground row set behind the US rostra. Along with a sylised mast & ropes. Or if there is enough space between the cyc/backdrop & the US rosta, mount the mast & side of the ship on to a truck, moving it on & off. With the rostra as the dock, the mast & rigging could be completly stylised & made as a profile flat. Using 'french braces' on the flat. will stablise it, on the flat instead of trucking it. Attach some strips of deep pile old carpet, glued on the back to the under side tail rail of the flat, with the pile face down to the deck, the flat will run on smoothly. Then swing out the french braces & sand bag/counter weight them. I hope everything is alright after the accident & the glasses were not completly full dramamama?  As the fan halfs are on OP & PS pillars, using eye scres on the ribs, a cord line could be used thru the eyes, on the US side. To haul them up & let them down, He would only ne need a small single sheaved pulley at the head of the pillars, this would also assist gathering in the fabric swag to behind the pillars. ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Date Posted: 11/06/07 at 7:01pm
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http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7055&page=1&id=664292179 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7055&page=1&id=664292179 well he finished the fans and actually got the plaster cut.. the link is to my first attempt at loading pictures onto facebook. I think he did a pretty good job with only a 400 dollar budget  The fans look fabulous and I think I sequenced them so you can see how well they fold up and hide ------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 11/07/07 at 2:41am
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Sorry Dramastill all I got after login was this;- This content is currently unavailable The page you requested can not be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page. * Return home * View Lori's Profile * Search Facebook It is probably me. I have yet to get my head around this facebook thingy. I have the same problem on there with the 'amdram.co.uk' group one understanding it? I'm glad you got it sorted & so is gaafa! ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Date Posted: 11/07/07 at 7:33am
gol darn it... it works fine when I click it... I will have to figure out some other way of posting the pics... you probably need to have a facebook account or some such thing although I set the pictures to be viewed by anyone... apparently anyone does not really mean anyone 
------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 11/07/07 at 9:53am
I do have a facebook account but as usual "I'm not young enought to know how to use it"? ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: DramaMamaStill
Date Posted: 11/07/07 at 7:45pm
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http://dramamamaforever.blogspot.com/ - http://dramamamaforever.blogspot.com/ OK I had to create a whole blog for the dang things, but here are the pics... Like I said he had a $400.00 budget for the whole show and only went over by 5 dollars... and even that was only because the drama club stole a can of his gold spray paint for their homecoming float LOL unfortunately the plaster pillar broke last night when one of the stage crew got a little careless and it tipped over. Puck was pretty despondent, but I convinced him it could be salvaged with a little white glue and plaster craft I had lying about... We wont know till tomorrow if it was a truly successful repair, but I think it will work. I helped him paint rocks tonight and untangle foliage for the wall. I think I might get some more pics tomorrow ------------- Life is Mysterious don't take it too serious |
Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 11/08/07 at 1:09am
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You & puck did a fantastic mise enscene job, I can magine what could be achieved with a bigger budget. Fans are well worth the over spending, but could it be have been recovered on an insurance claim, for the spiral column repaire? ------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |