Creating a City scape

[satinslipper]

hi guys new to posting but have been following for years. I am part of a mummers club in philadelphia which puts on elaborate shows. If you havent ever heard of it please take the time to youtube and see how great of a thing it is. But anyway this year we are doing an escape from the zoo type thing and need to build a cityscape. New york/metropolitan kind of how Hollywood studios Streets of America is. Please leave comments about ideas of how to go about it. thanks in advance.

the floor we can use is 60 feet across 120 feet deep and there is a 23 foot height restriction.

 

[JohnD]

More information would be helpful. How big a budget, does your group build the show, or do you use a scenic studio. Does this need to be ground supported or does the venue have overhead rigging? How three dimensional does it need to be? Does it need to appear as different times of the day? Do you want to use forced perspective?

 

[StradivariusBone]

Lots of questions, with 23' overhead, I'm guessing you can't fly or hang anything without great difficulty so a backdrop rental might be out. Without any more information my gut reaction would be to start planning out several different heights and shapes of Hollywood flats that would make up your skyline. If you go with hard flats you could even cut out some windows and add lights for certain openings, a lot of that look will depend on having a decent scenic artist and a competent electrician.

If you're unsure about what flats are (and I mean no disrespect, I don't know your breadth of knowledge here) there is a great wiki on this site that will get you started.

Also the lighting you have will make a big difference too. If we're talking 4000K fluorescent tubes in a meeting hall, it may be harder to achieve the realism factor when compared to a stage lighting system which would help you create time of day and season. But even with simple lighting, you can always rent some fixtures to run static colors if need be. Answers to all of John's questions above will guide the discussion from here.

I've actually researched the Mummer tradition for personal interest and find it fascinating, though I've never had the fortune to view an actual performance. It seems to have come a long way for wassailing for free booze and shooting off firearms.

 

[kicknargel]

Some pictures of past productions might help us get a sense of scale.

When you say "city scape," do you mean a skyline (i.e. scale version of an entire city) or more like a full-sized street scene (think Sesame Street)?

 

[satinslipper]

ok sorry it took a while to respond.

the way it is done is everything is on wheels. usually the bigger props are built using scaffolding and or trussing. each performance gets unlimited time to set up usually average is around 5 minutes. but once the show is over you only have 4:30 to clear the floor.

nothing can be hung. we usually have a production cost around 10k. but need to create 3 scenes.

the way we'd like to create the scene is more or less how Disney created their city scapes.

watching a few performances will give you an idea as to how most of the brigades build the scenes. and also the space and way we need to build to make it work in the guidance of rules.

below is our performance from last year and the following two are other examples of other brigades. just to show you an idea of space allowed and height and whatnot. any questions please ask I appreciate the wanting to help by you guys here

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