In the gap between our Dreaming + Making and the upcoming Showing part of the ArtPlay New Ideas Lab, Jason Lehane (Designer) and Penelope Bartlau (me - Artistic director and puppet-maker/designer) met to discuss what we need to have prepared before/ready for the Showing - which is coming in about a month.
We discussed the structures within the space that we provided - the tree and the flying tent, and the idea of having “discoverables”. The rivers Jason made are fantastic and we want more of this kind of thing.
Penelope & Jason pondering….
THE CONVERSATION
Jason - what about big cardboard pieces on the ground that fold up - they are hinged. Like a pool.
Penelope - I think that the shapes need to be uggestive of the thing but not itslef. And would the cardboard, tripping hazard.
Jason - I’m thinking of the ground in front of the platforms?
Penelope - what if they are smaller ? Painted black on the exterior and sit against the black curtain and fold down - maybe velcroed, and the interior is a shape that is white but hints at a thing…
Jason - I think these limit the kids choices - too predetermined.
Penelope - I didn’t mean a predetermined think - amorphous.
Jason - I’m really having to drill back into where we were…
Penelope - Me too.
Jason - I think thinking about in tech elements. Lights? We need a DMX cable - so we have control the change in colour. Maybe just two more lights? Just have 4 lights in the room, and the colour wsah is the alteration. But - the rear projection. If we film the back ground change…
Penelope - Masking an animation?
Jason - Yes - in a similar way to how we made it at St Mary’s - Old Lens New Light. But how do we change the light? Do we film the light and then ad slides later? We left the animation table at St Mary’s
P - we could borrow it back? How much time do you think?
J - It would take a day - for me to do a trail and shoot. But it needs duration in it. How long does it go for?
P - what if it goes for 15 minutes, but if we need to alter the length we shift the playback speed
J - Yes, and we go across the day and into night time - and it will be paper
P - So it wont have the luminosity of the cellophane…
J - Yeah it might - tis like we are doing a faux overhead projector (OHP)- Or maybe we just film the overhead projection?
P - …and edit that. We could use the dark room here…
J - …we could do it at night time - but we need a proper screen and we don’t have that. We can’t project film onto/from the OHP - just what it’s filing onto. We film a minute, and fill it with a crossfade…
P - …a series of images and crossfades…
J - We could go int to the nighttime effect and have the stars there - which means wouldn’t need a star curtain.
P - ArtPlay has a data projector - so we don’t need the desktop overhead projector…
J - …Yes, to shoot.
P - Good, we have the budget for this and we need to go and look at some when we are next in Melbourne.
J - Good.
P - I wonder too, if we could film at night at ArtPLay?
J - No time. The background image is going to have to shift from a murky background image - at the start, I had a bluey, cold wash on the overhead projector and I added colours as elements across the time, and then I added the images - grasses, water, leaves on the trees, sun, birds, fish in the water, sun rose - and after this Endling appeared. Which will be tricky - how to time this…
P - I wonder if we need to have different films - like you have sound cues. Fade or transition from one to the next…
Jason - …As long as you don’t pause in the middle of a transition. We want to keep it steady, but it has to…
P - …be flexible…
Jason - Yes, and we need to work out how. Justin might know - how to store those files.
Penelope - On what platform?
Jason - I don’t know. I’ll do some research anyway. I think we make one state, the build to fecundity and daytime, and then we transition to the night time sequence. Three cues but with the same framing.
Penelope - I think the 3-step filmed sequence should be daytime to fecund, to night time, to…
Jason - …Endling coming in (lit by a full moon - have a different feel to it). Should be able to run this through QLAB.
Penelope - I think that the final image, with stars and whatnot, this is where we can have baby Endlings flying off into the sky - like bubbles. They don’t need to be clearly defined baby Endlings - more like tadpole eggs or embryos.
Jason - Yes - Need to experiment with that.
Penelope - How many i-pads will we need? Justin will be working with kids on sound in the space using one, which I need to purchase.
Jason - Just one. He is excellent at QLAB and will know what the cues. The lighting would be on this Ipad too - or I can take lighting as I am not on the floor.
Penelope - But how - from what device?
Jason - From a laptop wiht an interface. Light a lighting dongle - the DMX does all the conversions and you run it from your computer. The computer is the trigger system.
Penelope - So Justin on the i-pad and the computer and i-pad are not using the same QLAB program? How does this work?
Jason - How does the laptop talk to the lights? We need to set up a wireless system, and if not we need to run wires. Probably a wireless transmitter and receiver. I can set up a wired system for lighting.
Penelope - But I need to know what we need from a producer viewpoint…
Jaon - It’s pretty complex, we need to talk this through with Justin.
Penelope - Great. I will set up a meeting with Justin and Charlie. Cool - what about the things in the space - the pop-ups?
Jase - I don’t think I am going to have time to create extraordinary things. I just won’t have - and don’t have time now. The low-fi solutions are going to work. But are there simple things I can create. Something to open up - so children can lift a hinged panel and there’s capacity to dress it - attach things. Also I think we need our own netting - Black netting attached to black curtains.
Penelope - I would like to get some semi-speherical balls.
Jasom - I dont know how they’d work in the space…
Penelope - I think we test this out…
Jason - I don’t even know what they look like….
Penelope - Yeah - ArtPlay had some. Let me Google and show you. They will work. I know it. We only need 3. I know these will work. We don’t want spheres - kids will roll them and they will be a distracting play thing. Oh (insert expletive) I need to leave! I have to take the dog to the vet!
March 4th - More chats and decision making with Jason
Lighting and other design
Jason - As children families move from the welcome area to the create space, let’s light that differently.
Penelope - What do we need? Let’s put the wish list together.
Jason - Ok. I think I am making it too complex.
Penelope - Tell me what you’re imagining - let’s simplify.
Jason - The issue is that there’s too much light bleed with those the blinds. We don’t want the overhead lights either. We have two lights on the balcony. We need a winch up stand in the welcome space, plus another one…
P - …Push up or winch up?
J - Winch ups are good - they are solid. But it’s just so complicated! We could chuck the idea away, but it means we won’t have the magical effect at the end. As long as we don’t change the set too much. But we need some black netting on both sides that we weigh down with sandbags.
P - Both sides?
J - Yes.
P - So that goes on the list.
Jason - If I can winch up Endling’s caboose I can dress that
Penelope - That’s a me job - and we don’t want it too dressed.
Jason - And the flat things, the hinged pop-ups, these are relatively easy.
Penelope - What do we need for that?
Jason - Cardboard painted white? Like little ice-bergs.
Penelope - What about coreflute? - But it won’t paint…I have the old Barking Spider signs in the barn that we won’t use again.
Jason - I could use ply, but it will create a little lip.
P- But so will cardboard. I think that it should it should open from top down.
Jason - I mean more like a book - it becomes double what its footprint is.
P - If they are on the floor, how can we hang things on it?
J - You can’t - it’s more for assemblages.
P - I think it’s pretty busy in there. Max 1 pop up, to start with. It’s not as discoverable as the rivers either, or as flexible.
J - Ok - just the two black nets on the side and one of these pop ups
P - It’s just to experiment with. I am keen on the half domes - and Jeany said you pump them with a hairdryer.
J - Is there a next time with this?
P - I have already been getting emails about it. Also, becuase we are experimenting with capacity next time, going from smaller to bigger to smaller - that’s going to impact space. It may means that the “in-between” space…
J - I suppose that’s really the entrance to the world…
P - Ok - let’s call it the Entrance. So we have Welcome, Entrance and World spaces. And with bigger capacity, we might use the entrance space, and that could be good for the pop ups. So - where are we at lighting thinking-wise.
J - We use ArtPlay’s existing stock, quad pack, and I’m uncomfortable to bring in more equipment for a bunch of reasons - capacity. Does their quad pack dim?
P - Need to check the ArtPlay stocklist. Ok, so, I think we need to keep it simple…The problem is that we want to achieve magic at the end, but light bleed is problematic. If we have the blind brough down as part of Endling’s return to the rejuvenated world.
J - We need to make sure that the Welcome and Entrance have lighting if we dim the lights blinds. Justin’s sound will support this.
P - Last time we were improvising this, but we can cue it. Laura can cue SFX and LX, and that we will be between me and Laura. Then to light and sound. Maybe Justin operates from the balcony and Charlie is on the floor interacting with kids on the i-pad doing the sound creation that Justin suggested.
Jason - Yes - Also, it doesn’t have to be night…
P - ..I like night. I think it rounds off the experience for children, to say goodbye and Endling after the rejuvenation.
J - The blue lights were behind the puppet - problematic. I think we need two more pixel bars and two push up stands - and the extra pair will illuminate the Entrance space.
P - We should use those LED tubes we bought - the ones in the barn. I think we can hang them. They can go into the Welcome space and will illuminate that space when the blinds go down.
J - If the lights change, should we have additional colour? The light is not reflecting the change in the world. Should the materials on the projector the world should be blue - or in the palette?
P - That father that made the suggestion of more colour - we all dismissed the idea. I think we stay in our colour palette.
J - The lights could shift to green light as the world begins to flourish, and then the moon comes out - maybe Endling is nocturnal?
P - That’s a great idea!
J - So, we do need DMX control - with cables to link them.
P - It ends in moonlight. That’s nice bookending.
J - Should Endling react to the light - encouraging us to make more suitable/nocturnal?
P - I think the light and sound should do the work. The puppet doesn’t have capacity to react to light, and children simply need to see the effect of their world-building. Too much. I will put some EL wires into Endling that I can operate before her return/re-entrance into the rejuvinated world. She’ll look magical!
(Screenshot of EL wire and components below)
J - Great. Should Endling come from where you brought her in?
P - I don’t think so - too hard to get the puppet through the kids and into the new environment. Hang on - are we talking at cross-purposes? Do you mean that Endling comes from the Entrance space, not from behind Laura?
J - Yes. Means we don’t have to build the block wall.
P - Keeps it super simple.
J - And you can get through to the Entracne from behind the curtain.
P - But I don’t need to even be in that space…
J - …We don’t really need introduction for the Showing.
P - Charlie might. If she’s front facing/interacting with kids with Laura, then audience need to know who she is. I might need to too, but, let’s see if we can stay out of it. OK - shopping list:
J - Hire 2 more pixel bars and DMX leads, and two push up stands.
P - Two black and nets and cardboard (hopefully we can source this from somewhere).
J - They have a data projector?
P - Pretty sure they do.
J - hopefully there’s a long enough lead to op from the balcony
P - I will ask Jeany.
AT THIS POINT WE MADE LUNCH & CONTINUED THE DISCUSSION OVER LUNCH…
Summary of lunch convo: we are buying EL wires - not borrowing stuff from a contact of Jason’s, and we are going to hire the lighting and cabling that we need, ideally from Monash Uni Student Theatre. In terms of the animation, I (Penelope) am going to see if I can create the animation using Canva - rather than having to do a whole stop-motion animation which is extraordinarily time consuming…. Stay tuned! This is the design brief I will use as my guide:
Endling animation
Empty steely blue with a sense of where the ground might be with the outline of trees - like dead trees
The sun starts to appear
Blue steely wash fades to a warmer blue colour
Leaves on the trees
Bits of grass + Water comes in.
More foliage so whole trees become green
Birds fly across
Fish
Nest & bird settle
Moon replaces sun - night +stars
Mama Endling appears
Orbs with baby Endling blobs appear
STYLE - Like stills, where moment are captured. Not actual animated characters/assets. Cross fades between states.
ENDLING’S INCEPTION
People have asked where did the idea for Endling come from. The very first inspiration came from an episode of the podcast Radiolab, back in April 2022. CLICK HERE to go to the episode. The transcript of the Endling section of the podcast is below. The other point of inspiration draws from a conversation with friend of mine, Susie Burke, a climate psychologist. Susie spoke at the Powerhouse Museum’s 100 Climate Conversations. Here’s the link to Susie’s talk: Dr Susie Burke - Climate Psychology.
WHAT HAVE WORMS GOT TO DO WITH HOPE!
Regeneration - that’s what…
This is the coolest, weirdest, fun science-nature discovery, that gives hope for regeneration by making the impossible, possible. For more info, have a read of this article from The Scientist. Endling is not alone! Ever!