Technical Theatre- Working From Home

We tasked some of our technical theatre learners with recreating a prop from a favourite film or TV show.

Here’s how Jen created a replica hover board:

This week I have been tasked with using resources around the house to make a prop from a show or film of my choice. After a bit of pondering, I remembered that we had an old skateboard in our garage which I could paint to make it look like the Hoverboard from ‘Back to the Future 2 and 3’

With excitement, I ran out to find the skateboard and discovered that it had in fact been sitting outside for the last 4 years. The wood on the skateboard was cracked and chipped and it had moss growing on it. With no hesitation I cleaned the board as best as I could with bleach and soapy water. To make it easier to clean, I used an abrasive sponge that got rid of majority of the gunk.

Once clean, I allowed the board to fully dry and painted it white with some leftover emulsion paint. Painting it white gave it a clean base for acrylic paint later. It also filled in any cracks for a smoother finish.

The white paint would take some time to fully dry so I went out to buy some cheap acrylic paint.

I bought yellow, green, white and red. I couldn’t find a pink that had a good match to the board. So, I can easily mix the white and red together to create a desired colour.

To begin with, I placed masking tape on areas that I wanted to keep white and mixed a small amount of white with the red to create the main base colour.

As you can see, the lines left were not completely straight as some paint had bled underneath the tape, but I wasn’t concerned as I can always go back over the lines with white paint later.

Next, I painted the green stripe. At first, I attempted to place masking tape along the lines so I can paint freely, but this ended up being impractical as it still left white space. As a

result, I carefully painted the green areas freehand. Again, the lines were not perfect, but this is easily corrected.

Then I continued to paint the white areas according the colours on the original hoverboard.

Finally, I painted a red/brown border around the skateboard and wrote the words ‘Hover Board in the centre two stripes.

I am very happy with the final outcome!!

Things I would have done differently if I had the chance:

· There is a large chip at the end of the skateboard where the wood had rotted away. I would have either replaced the wood completely or purchased a new skateboard for a professional final look.

· I would make the colours neon to match the final aesthetic (but these paints can be expensive).

· I would use branded painters’ tape to get a cleaner line instead of using cheap masking tape.

· I would use some sort of varnish or clear gloss to seal the paint in and give it a shiny look.

We think Jen did an amazing job!