October already???
I can't believe it's October already, and I haven't had a blog post since September. Since I promised myself that I wouldn't let this blog lag too much, I suppose it's time to dig out what's happened in the last few weeks.
We produced the MANIAC premiere red carpet for Netflix in New York City earlier this month. I love it when I hear that a client wants to invest in something a little different for their red carpet event. In this case NETFLIX wanted a little dimensional element to their main press banner. We went through some pretty crazy iterations before settling on something slightly more reserved. And while I love doing the crazy, outrageous designs I was still pleased that the client didn't just abandon everything and go to a flat banner.
The final scenic turned out nicely, especially considering our challenges with building it in Los Angeles and shipping it to New York City. The set also has to install quickly, with minimal crew. I was hoping that our faux tv frames would come out a little smoother; but they decided to go with a carved foam rather than a vacuform. The foam was just not dense enough to stay smooth through the painting and sealing process. The scenic was clean and tight, though. So I can't complain too much. And the client was very happy.
On the same day, in New York City, we did the red carpet premiere of FREE SOLO for National Geographic. Same challenges with the scenic and the load-in; but still a success for the clients. Again, the foam-work could have been a little better. (Ironic that this time the carving should have been rough, but instead was too smooth.) The final stone effect just didn't read from a distance, and there were some odd gashes in the carving which really didn't match anything in the research or renderings. My big lesson from this one was to monitor this stuff a little closer during construction. This project happened so quickly we didn't get to see the set mocked up in the shop; all we saw were pieces of the whole. Foam carving is never easy, and anyone who has had to use a lot of foam will attest that a good vendor/partner is incredibly valuable. You'll notice, in the actual photo below, that we went lighter with the overall paint treatment. That was intentional, in order to better see the show logos. Unfortunately we also lost some valuable contrast in the scenic painting when this was put into effect. I was assured that the effect of the wall, when seen in person, was very convincing and impressive. So, with happy clients again, I will refrain from nitpicking too much. (But I'll still push it next time we do any work like this.)
