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Peter Pan without a fly system
Hello all--
I'm set to direct a show at a local school this spring and they foolishly selected Peter Pan, thinking it would make money but not thinking about the special effects. We don't have enough money to enlist the services of a fly system/rig and operators. Any ideas at how we can create the illusion of flying? I have some that might work, but I wanted to hear what you have to say. Thanks for the input!
A.B.
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Replies to This Discussion
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I have to Willy Wonka this year without flying rigs. I saw one performance where they constructed BLACK metal poles coming up from the stage with basically a black bike seat on it. The actor simply "backs up" and stand on their toes to sit on it...then, by lifting their legs off the ground, moving their arms in a swimming or flying motion, and coupling this with moving light effects, it gives the illusion of flight....a simple, and cost effective way.
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Permalink Reply by Terry Nelson on -
Hello A.B.
Do you have a video department? You could 'film' Peter against a Blue/Green Screen in flying mode and project him onto a backdrop. Just 0.2c worth...
Best regards,
Terry Nelson
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Permalink Reply by Brice Wiliams on -
we did a production a couple of years ago of the non musical version of peter pan (less flying) in a theater with no way to fly. Here are few things we did that worked. I put a small trampoline on the other side of the bedroom window with some practice Peter Pan was able to leap onto the window sill looking like she flew in. For the other flight scenes we recruited 4 fathers of the cast, made them matching tee shirts that said neverland flight crew and they "flew" the kids on the their shoulders. The audience loved it and we were able to "fly" out into the house.
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A.B.:
Interesting challenge and I would not write to tell you I am an expert on stage design & technology but I have been working for a while with our local school and youth theater. When discussing this same question about a flying pan we discussed the use of shadows and light. We did not do this in the end but I thought that using a light projector and some forms you could have a rather large Pan flying as a shadow on stage. My thought was to take the individual cast in that role and create a siloutte/cutout of them and then use that as the basis for then he/she "flies"...So the actor would be Pan until he needs to fly and then transform into a leaping, flying shadow. Given the importance of Pan's shadow, I thought it made sense also...
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Permalink Reply by April B. on -
Some options that have come to me over the past few months include roller skates (or having actors on just one skate so they can push themselves around but still have control). And a shadow play segment. What do you think about these? Do you have any experience using either medium?
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Permalink Reply by April B. on
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In case you all were wondering, we ended up doing a shadow play. A local church lent us a scrim they use to do a stations of the cross shadowplay, which we fastened to a rolling frame. This was set behind the nursery flats in the opening for the "window." It was about a foot behind the opening so that actors could climb over the window seat when "landing" in the room (I'll admit it didn't look like they were landing from flight, but it worked ok). Then, at the appointed time, Peter took the children to the window seat, they prepared to jump out with a "one-two-" and there was an instant BLACKOUT. With music the actors moved behind the screen which was pushed closer to the walls and a rear light was turned on (this was a standard clip lamp in a purple gel to diminish intensity for audience) they they did the song and it was as if you were seeing them through the nursery window, with the window seat hiding their feet. Of course, the audience was well aware that they actors weren't flying, but it was still a magical moment, and we got lots of compliments on it.
For other moments when actors were supposed to fly, we either had that occur offstage (Wendy falls into Neverland after the lost boys shoot her, Peter arrives) or had Peter run around (when he fights Hook at the end) rather than fly. This worked well, and I don't think many people missed the flying. Thanks for all of your input! :)
P.S. I'm sorry to say we never got a photo of this sequence.
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Permalink Reply by Davin on -
A lot of good ideas here: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/special-effects/9338-making-peop...
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