How to Make TREES for Theater - Set Design, Lion Witch Wardrobe
Vložit
- čas přidán 13. 11. 2017
- An inexpensive, low-budget way to create TREES for a stage/theater set. Set design for Lion Witch and Wardrobe.
On a minimal budget for community theater, I show how to build these lightweight and inexpensive trees using a wood/ 2X4 inner structure with cardboard CONCRETE FORM tubes (made for putting concrete inside, around fence posts). Everything is screwed together on a wood base. Then I use BUTCHER PAPER (cheap, brown) and wrinkled and folded and twisted that paper up (stomp on it, twist it, paint it and get it wet for more texture). This makes the butcher paper look like tree bark.
See my other video about using spray foam to make LIFE-SIZED Human stone sculptures for Lion, Witch, Wardrobe: • How to Make HUMAN SCUL...
I wrap that brown paper around the wood/concrete forms, up the trunk, and swirling and spreading it outward. I tear the paper, tear it in half (width) and twist it around all the forms, up and up. Getting it wet with paint allowed me to mold and form knots and hollows in the trunk/bark.
Then I put old branches in the topmost smaller cardboard tubes (concrete forms) and secured them in place with spray foam. I tied twine around the trees to hold the paper in place and screwed a bunch of screws through the paper and into the concrete forms. This held all the paper in place.
I sprayed EXPANDING SPRAY FOAM (brand: "Great Stuff") into every nook and cranny of the tree/paper to cement it all in place then removed most of the noticeable twine after all that dried.
LAST: I used very watered-down house paint (acrylic), a very cheap paint that I got in the discards pile at Home Depot. I poured all sorts of darker, unmixed paints into a big plastic roller tray (any large tray will work), and started with these unmixed and watered-down dark colors: painting deep in the cracks, crannies, and holes in the tree bark/paper. Do this FAST, don't be orderly. Nature is much more random than we tend to paint it.
After creating darker shadows and almost paper-pulpy wetness all over the tree trunk/ butcher paper, I put highlights/whiter paints only on the outermost edges (leaving the cracks as a darker paint). This created a marvelous depth to the bark.
We screwed the trees into the stage floor so they would not fall over. A ton of fun making these trees.
TOTAL BUDGET PER TREE: about $200 per tree.
$40 for 2 X 4s (wood) and screws
$80 for a roll of butcher paper (brown) to form up the bark.
$40 for concrete forms (cardboard tubes to hold cement - or any other stiff cardboard tubes).
$40 for spray foam
FREE old paint
FREE old branches for the top
$5 for twine - Jak na to + styl
They turned out great. Just the info I need going into Halloween. Thank you for posting.
Look great!!
Thanks for the video!
Thank you for this it is very helpful for shows
Thank you for your video...
Thank you for the video looking forward for more set production related videos.
I really appreciate the feedback, I'm going to try to make more videos in the next few months related to this!
omg!!!!! thank you!!!!!!!!
Nice
Thanks for posting. Worked stage crew in college, do Halloween past few years. Nice use of materials and good effect!
thanks for the feedback, now that things are slowing down in this crazy world, I might actually be able to make some more videos again!
Looks amazing .Well Done
Thanks so much!
tree is beautiful. received compliments from the whole cast of my show. however i lost a piece of myself creating this that i will never ever get back. great video.
Oh no! What happened? Hope u r ok!
This was my Aslan moment..
Absolutely fantastic effect. Love it. My only question is, “Does this create a fire hazard?”
I guess just about anything could create a fire hazard. I'd def keep them well away from lights. Could be made from some sort of fire retardant materials??
Is there a way you would recommend putting wheels on this so it could be mobile?
Only if u had a nice wide base that could be locked down well.
I need some idea from theatre stage designers. How to make props Bonsai plants to use on stage and could be handle easily and fastly
how big does it need to be? I think you can use the same technique I'm using in these trees, just take thinner strips of the paper and twirl them using a drill for example, make them about as thick as your thumb. loosely spun so that they look sort of like rope. then spin those around each other, about 10 or 20 of them. those could also be wrapped around a base of thicker wire, or some sort of cheaper metal which can be bad into a shape and mounted on a wood board. from your trunk you will spread the branches outward, spreading each branch out going from about four thick down to two thick down to one thick. then you could just glue gun some fake leaves on to it. that might be one approach. I like using paper wrapped around a solid foundation. if you start the trunk with 20 rope like loosely wrapped papers and then divide that into four per branch then down to two then down to one for branch. hope that makes sense!
Can you tell me how to make it?
Showed most of the steps in this video BUT message me here if you need more specifics too. I'm happy to help where I can. -v
What was the height of the tree? About 8ft?