Our production, Two Gentlemen, featured the Sky Line of New York from the 1930s as its backdrop. We attached nine strings of Christmas lights to its back, with almost all of the little light bulbs sticking through small holes. Each string had 100 bulbs, which added up to almost 900 bulbs in total. To make the Sky Line, we used 1/4″ Luan plywood and 1″ furring strips laid flat. We started by drawing the designer’s front elevation, which was in 1-foot scale, onto the plywood. We had to increase the size of the drawing to 1 foot on the plywood for every inch on paper. For more information on gridding and scaling, please refer to the relevant pages.
A view of the Sky Line as it looked under actual lighting. This is a scene set in a night club.
A view of the Christmas lights inserted into the back of the flats
Robert is measuring the the needed length for one of the vertical styles needed.
Craig is using the chop saw to cut the 1″x3″ furring strips. Notice that Craig is wearing the required safety goggles. Robert can be seen holding the long end of the wood as it rests upon a bench. The bench is set on its end to provide a support for the 1×3 so that Craig has safer control of the lumber.
Here we see the framing laid out on top of the Sky Line. It will be attached to the back of these cut outs after our cut list is finished.