Sawyer Reid - PG DMA Blog

This is my blog for my post-graduate program at the University of Hertfordshire! I am honored to be able to earn my masters in digital media arts, and to log my inspirations and activities here :)

[drawyer-reid]

Post Directory

►Intro Post◄

◇──◆─Practice 1─◇──◆

Project 1 - Self Portrait

Artist Research

Concept Development

Tools and Techniques

Making

Reflection

Project 2 - MoGraph Journey

Artist Research

Concept Development

Technical Research

Making

Reflection

Further Development

Project 3 - Making it Real

Artist Research

Technical Research

Concept Development

Making

Reflection

Project 4 - Playing with the Machine

Artist Research

Technical Research

Concept Development

Making

Reflection

Project 5 - Hacking as a Creative Method

Artist Research

Concept Development

Technical Research

Making

Reflection

Project 6 - Media and Performance

Artist Research

Technical Research

Concept Development

Making

Reflection

Further Development

Project 7 - AI and Generative Media

Artist Research

Concept Development

Technical Research

Making

Reflection

◇──◆─Sources and Significance─◇──◆

Reader

Critical Analysis

Blogs

Narrative and Stories

Tools and Mediums

Sources, Questions of Authorship

Depiction and Realism

Signs and Semiotics

Visual Culture and Identity

Politics and Diversity 1/2

Politics and Diversity 2/2

Emotions

Pushing Limits

◇──◆─Practice 2─◇──◆

Interdisciplinary Project

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

St Albans Museums – Digitally Reinterpreting the Hypocaust

Artist Research

Concept Development

User Research

Artist Research 2

Technical Research

Technical Development

Budgeting Research

Technical Development 2

Preparing to Present

Revisions and Reflections

Works in the Field

Storm-Cloud

Matter of Time Tour

Trans+ Outernet Exhibit

73 Seconds

Last Days of Pompeii

Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour

◇──◆─Major Study─◇──◆

INITIAL DEVELOPMENT

Initial Concept Development

Artist Research

Concept Research

Style Research

Concept Development

Prospectus Development

Pitch Development

SEMESTER C

Conceptual Rework

Initial Concept Development 2

Concept Research 2

Style Research 2

Concept Development 2

Technical Research

Artist Research 2

Concept Development 3

Planning Document

Technical Development

Hallway Illustrations

Hallway Animations

Bathroom Illustrations

Dirty Girl Animations

The Old Waylon Place Illustrations

The Old Waylon Place Animations

Gym Illustrations (WIP)

Gym Animations (WIP)

FIELD FOREFRONTS

Beetlejuice the Musical

Harry Styles TOGETHER TOGETHER Tour

(WIP)

(WIP)

(WIP)

(WIP)

(WIP)

(WIP)

(WIP)

(WIP)

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: the Old Waylon Place Animations

I started right away by adding my typical texturing embellishments in After effects! Shape layers fit to each shape with the roughen edges effect under a gaussian blur, and this grit gets added to my scenes.

Next up I looked at the big moments. The scene starts with the cast walking offstage to act as if them walking back onstage is them entering the house, accompanied by a door creaking and all.

I added an adjustment layer to make each flat darker before they enter and to have it slowly fade in to be bright when they open the door.

Next was the lightning flash! I used that same adjustment layer to time brightness alongside the sound of the storm, and then made shape layers that matched the shape of the windows to really make that lightning CRACK.

I also made the tarps, which were meant to act as an omage to the original set, slowly wave warped as if pushed by a breeze. I wanted to really enhance that abandoned building look with them.

I talked with Ian about potentially making the exterior of the house, but after taking a few days to think about it I decided that if given the chance to go back I would add rain in the windows to give the added effect of the ongoing storm outside.

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: the Old Waylon Place Illustrations

I was SO excited to work on this scene! The Old Waylon Place is your typical haunted house that our main cast of characters decides to prank their high school bully, Max Jagerman. But things go awry and Max ends up falling out of the highly unstable building and falling two stories to his death, where he swears that "Nerdy Prudes Must Die!"

I will only be designing the interior of the Old Waylon Place, and luckily for me it's really a short sequence that would loop in the scene.

I started in my favorite spot, a mood board!

In my inspiration, the main inspiration I found was actually Scooby Doo! Something about it's silly nature and the time period of it reminds me a LOT of this show, and I found this helpful article that details how the team behind the recent Scooby Doo iteration (Scoob!) worked on transporting the world from a 2D to 3D space. They discuss the use of colors, and even in the photos they use in their analysis of the specific scenes I can't help but draw comparisons to the tone of the scenes in NPMD. They even add to the Scooby Doo vibes by having the actors walk offstage as if they are entering the house via the porch.

I looked at more Scooby Doo art from the different variations, like Cartoon Network's Mystery Incorporated show. I found the background painter for that show, Stephen Nicodemus, and dove even deeper into the haunted house vibes before I started my sketches.

The other artist I found that inspired me was Aaron Becker, who worked on Monster House production shots. I really am drawn towards the feeling of scale of the house in contrast to the characters, especially since the scene is supposed to be very impactful to the central conflict.

The other inspiration I want to take is from the book House of Leaves, which I recently read and had a horrible time reading! Truthfully, I am a weenie in terms of how scared I can be of horror. Specifically in visuals. I tend to read a LOT of it, since it is only as scary as my mind allows it to be. But House of Leaves gave me nightmares just from reading it... there is something about a house that carries that uncanny feeling that I wanted to capture when thinking about this design, since the house in House of Leaves acts as a force throughout the plot.

In my sketching, I knew I wanted to incorporate a staircase with an older banister, some torn paintings, and COBWEBS GALORE!

Because of some spacial unawareness in relation to the staircase, I decided to use the best building simulation I had at my disposal to make a reference for myself...

While I have been actively boycotting the Sims 4 due to some very unfavorable decisions the higher ups in the game are making, this was the best way for me to get a sense of realistic scale in relation to my actual work.

And then I realizes there was an issue with it... Max has to fall down at least one flight in order to fall to his death. So I opted to scratch the staircase entirely in favor of setting the mood in terms of creepy atmosphere. At risk of contradicting the continuity of the show by adding stairs, I decided to find other ways to set the scene! This made my updating the Sims 4 truly pointless, but regardless getting that specific perspective is helpful for my progress moving forward.

I wanted to go for an older wallpaper, which would also let me play around with endless patterns.

I took this photo of a peace hybrid tea rose, and wanted to incorporate it into my wallpaper because of how beautiful it is.

This rose was planted and cared for by a man who grew into his 90s alone because of the pressures of coming out as a gay man in an era of war and scrutiny. The generations before mine have not been kind to the queer community, and the toll that took on him led him to what I could only describe as an extremely lonely life. Something about seeing where he lived made me sit back and feel a lot of mixed emotions. Gratitude. Grief. Heartache. There is still a world where people cannot live authentically, and it breaks my heart.

I took this photo just before his passing as I accompanied one of his cleaners to the property, and sometimes as an artist you just have those moments where something calls to you and begs to be made into art. I think that feeling is exactly why I felt inclined to take this photo. The incorporation of this rose will act as my omage to him, as the show's content pertains to both death and the consequences of repressing your own desires.

For my UpFlat I learned how to make a repeating pattern in Illustrator and ended up with a wallpaper that screamed 1910! I decided to do more detailed shading in AE for this one.

For the MidFlat, I wanted to focus on the age of the space by adding cobwebs that resemble the ones from Scooby Doo! I was also inspired by the ceiling from Beetlejuice, when the indents are animated to wiggle and warp as the world around the actors turns into Betelgeuse's playplace. I wanted there to be some windows so I can flash some lightning through them as the cast approaches the stage to "enter the house." Since the house is described as being abandoned after being built in 1910, I definitely wanted to go for an older look.

And the finally the UpFlat! I decided to just make it a very high ceiling with the intention of adding some crooked wall details and a creepy chandelier with tarps hanging from the wall in reference to the original set choices.

Now that all my flats were designed, it's time to animate them!

WORKS CITED:

Becker, A. (2013) Aaron Becker » monster house, Aaron Becker. Available at: https://www.storybreathing.com/monster-house/ (Accessed: 25 June 2026).

De Wit, A.D. (2020) How to create a ‘scooby-doo’ haunted house: Step-by-step with ‘scoob!’ production designer Michael Kurinsky, Cartoon Brew. Available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/how-to/how-to-create-a-scooby-doo-haunted-house-step-by-step-with-scoob-production-designer-michael-kurinsky-192777.html (Accessed: 25 June 2026).

Nicodemus, S. (2012) Stephen Nicodemus: More scooby doo mystery inc background art ‘shrieking madness’, Stephen Nicodemus Animation Background Art. Available at: http://stephennicodemus.blogspot.com/2012/08/more-scooby-doo-mystery-inc-background.html (Accessed: 25 June 2026).

Sung, M. (2026) The $55b deal that has Sims players worried | KQED, KQED. Available at: https://www.kqed.org/news/12088640/the-55b-deal-that-has-sims-players-worried (Accessed: 25 June 2026).

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Dirty Girl Animations

After deciding the base of my scene, I went into After Effects to add movement and effects.

I started by animating the tiles changing colors. I wanted the switch into Grace's fantasy to be a bit more obvious than it actually is in the show, so I leaned into some dreamy pink fractal noise effects with the tile trim and grout and changed the bathroom to be a much more vibrant purple color. The trim moves kind of like a lava lamp, which I really love for the tones of the song! I wanted to make sure there was movement in it to make sure I was still doing video design rather than still illustrations. The next step was to add the bubbles floating in.

I had a couple options, but at the end of the day I decided I wanted to play around with the foam simulation in AE. I've worked with particles before, but I wanted to play around with the feel of this song and a simulation was the best way to do that. After messing around with it on my upmost bathroom flat, I decided that it would look better if the bubbles acted on all of the flats rather than cutting off at one. So I made the foam effect apply to a layer that had visibility aligned with the flats in my "BathroomFULL" composition.

Next it was time to work on the mid flat. First I found and played around with the glass effect on my stained glass to add some depth. Then I decided to make the daisies spin in my stained glass only when a specific synth played, as to not make the stage too busy. I wanted to create a momentum of the chorus, since that's also when the bubbles show up, and it felt right to put that momentum in the rotations of the daisies.

I gave both flats the same adjustment layer to make sure the hue/saturation changes stayed consistent, and paired with the bubbles it turned out to be a scene that I'm really proud of! I also gave those rough edges to the walls to give it more depth, and those details are starting to become a consistent part of my style! They're just shape layers with similar colors to the original flat layer with a gaussian blur set HIGH and a roughen edges effect. It adds texture and depth in a way that appeals to the tone I'm going for, and is starting to become a consistent part of my style!

I went in for the whole song with this one just to demonstrate the subtle differences happening as the song goes on. When it's just Max singing the chorus the bubbles start small, but as Grace joins him the bubbles become bigger!

I have to admit, there is something quite silly about me presenting such vulgar content as my masters thesis project. But truthfully in this line of work the odds are high that I will have to work with all kinds of different content, and in the more playful sexual nature of this moment in the show it let's me enhance those feelings in a way that isn't too invasive, but also adds to the feeling an audience would get upon viewing it.

When getting feedback it was suggested to me to make the bubbles have more of a popping animation, but due to using an After Effects simulation and not having time to hand animate them popping I decided not to do it. Instead I went back and added a nice glow effect to my already existing bubble simulation and re-rendered it.

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Bathroom Illustrations

This week has been pleasantly slow in terms of my workload! I have family in town visiting, so I spaced out the amount of work I would be doing in the weeks of traveling and exploring this beautiful country.

But despite my peaceful break, I did my best to stay on track! And that involved focusing on the illustrations for my bathroom scene.

I wanted to use a lot of purples and blues so that pinks and reds could be added during the animation portions, and I knew I wanted the back flat to involve some purple tiles.

In researching 90s style American bathrooms, I found some interesting additions I could throw into the other flats as well!

A google search led me to find a photo that includes stained class windows, which I think could be made really interesting with additional animations and would fit the vibes of Grace Chastity and her family very well.

I did make the decision to not include the most downstage flat in the scenery. A bathroom is supposed to be a more confined space, and I felt that only using the midstage and upstage flats would support that feeling. Then when she starts singing, the top flat will be incorporated in the animations as they begin to add to the surrealism of her daydreams.

While working on my sketches, I found this photo of stained glass that really stuck with me. Not only do daisies represent innocence and purity, but the shape involved are a bit yonic, or representative of feminine divinity and sexuality. Grace Chastity as a character is a young woman who is severely repressed in almost all ways, and truthfully the entire conflict of the show is spurred on by how her sexual temptations become misplaced. Rather than admit that she is attracted to Max Jagerman, she pushes those feelings down because of her religion and then thinks that hiding his accidental death will work just as well as hiding her accidental attraction for him. Without this character device, the plot doesn't move forward. That's why there is some irony in the subtle yonic symbology being scattered around the bathroom as she sings Dirty Girl, and it also coincides with the theme of repression not being an effective method of making something go away.

These are the sketches I ended up with for the Chastity bathroom scene. I plan on cutting the tiles off and leaving the wall around the stained glass windows a plain cream color to allow for more interesting lighting effects. I also plan on not really adding detailed hand drawn shading to this one, since the illustrator files will be more efficient in my vision than any hand drawn shading effects.

This was the stained glass panel I decided on! I opted for multiple small ones rather than one long one to maintain simplicity and because a family like the Chastity's is not likely to have one massive stained glass piece in a bathroom. I imagine these are little stickers on their bathroom windows, honestly, but they probably pretend that they're original glass pieces.

After a few days I ended up adding shading to the tiles in After Effects to make it easier to manipulate, then kept the initial Illustrator files in tact so I could edit each of them separately as the sequence went on.

This process also let me start on my animations!

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study Field Forefront: Beetlejuice the Musical

Since my focus and attention has shifted to video and projection design for the stage, I had the absolute pleasure of shadowing Peter Nigrini in his work on the West End production of Beetlejuice. After just two short days, I understood what feels like infinitely more about the industry than I did beforehand. I know I've got so much to learn, but sitting behind such an experienced team was really enlightening for me and my career aspirations. Not only was the team amazing, but I felt like I really opened a door for myself by wandering into this awesome opportunity!!

After seeing a bit of the behind the scenes, I had the pleasure of being able to see the full show! And I was AMAZED.

The way the sets worked was that the physical set would come out in unison with a pre-designed projection meant to enhance the space. From adding glowing sketch patterns, to fully fledged animations that completely transformed the space, the projections were meant to enhance the visuals to the nth degree. The first full minute of the show even involves an animation sketching in the ominous Nightmare Before Christmas inspired scenery.

This show is easily in the forefront of projection design, since very few scenes from its 2.5 hour long run time didn't include some sort of projections. If I hadn't sat behind the team while they worked on them, I wouldn't have even known that most of them weren't a part of the physical set!

I couldn't take pictures during the actual show, but I will do my best to point out the kinds of work the projections did for the actual performance.

In this scene if you look to the back wall, there are physical indents made to look as though the wall has been warped and folded. While those indents are there and are real, the blacklight/purple streaks enhancing each of those folds are a part of an intricate series of projection designs. The glowing trim along the door frames are also a part of that projection design, and for this scene in particular sitting and watching them line up the pieces of the projection to the door itself was a fascinating process.

Every iteration of the set (there are 3) had dozens of alterations made depending on the context. Even in the scene above, what isn't shown is that on one of the upper parts of the back wall in a blank space there were animations of the silhouettes of furniture being sucked out the door to add to the intensity of the sandworm entering the house.

The projections were extremely useful when Beetlejuice started manipulating the world around him. There was clearly a choice made to go heavy on the projections when he was around causing chaos, since it added to the surreal and chaotic nature he brought to the scenes. There were other moments where the indents in the ceiling grew teeth and started biting, and characters "drew" lines of chalk on the wall to create doors to the netherworld. All of these decisions were intended to create an immersive space where the audience could see the effects of the underworld AND of Beetlejuice as an agent of chaos to both the characters and the scenery, and after seeing it myself I can confirm that the intended effects were successful!

WORKS CITED:

‘Beetlejuice the Musical’ (2026). London: Prince Edward Theatre, 11 June.

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study Field Forefront: TOGETHER TOGETHER TOUR

On June 12, 2026, I had the pleasure of attending the Harry Styles TOGETHER TOGETHER tour. While it may seem a bit silly to blog about a concert, I have the privilege of using opportunities like this to actually treat it as research in real time.

As the show went on, the music brought me in and the video design made sure my attention stayed. The video design was done by Silent Partners Studio in Montreal! They've worked with Harry before in his last tour called Harry's House, and they specialize in various projects within the music and entertainment industry. Their projects have moved from artists like Katy Perry to productions like SNL, even to marketing campaigns for various Google products (Silent Partners Studio, 2026).

In terms of the work for TOGETHER TOGETHER, I found it fitting my interests far more than most of their other projects.

For starters, they managed to incorporate the actual stage into the designs themselves. A large square catwalk that wrapped around Wembley stadium displayed visuals that would mirror what was shown on the jumbotron, which allowed for a certain amount of cohesion and "vibe setting" for the music.

WARNING: BELOW VIDEO CONTAINS FLASHING LIGHTS

As seen in the video above, both the big screens and the stage screen maintained specific visual motifs throughout each of Harry's songs. As they would play out in unison, moments would allow for the singer to take center stage as real time tracking allowed for Harry to stick out against the flashy effects.

Those effects included motion graphics, filters, and various real videos that I can only assume were taken by Styles' when planning for the show to take place. The use of mixed media for this performance really gave it a patchwork feel, which fits with Harry's younger audience in their preference for upcycling and his playful energy.

The ability to incorporate artists into the video design in real time seems like a compromise between the world of theater in the world of music, in knowing that while most things are rehearsed, the artist wants to put on a show that can be as unique as a set list can be. This choice allowed for specific beats in the music to really let the visuals shine, while others played alongside Harry in an effort to add intensity and energy to the performance.

On the otherhand, it's clear that due to the timing of these moments alongside the songs, they are all stretched out to various timecodes to allow for them to carry moments of music without giving the artist much freedom at all. While this makes perfect sense in terms of how a venue needs to make sure the artist only performs for a specific time slot, it does potentially restrict that performer to those moments. Again there are certainly pros and cons, the pros mostly relating to really interesting visuals being possible with planning and planning alone.

In the choice to incorporate the stage itself into the video design, Silent Partners Studio actually managed to maintain multitudes within the performance. There was always something interesting to look at even beyond the big screens, and the audience could certainly tell that Harry and his crew had fun running around the massive playground of a stage they'd been given. Giving the part of the audience that sat higher up their own additions to the show that the floor viewers most definitely couldn't see felt like a nod to those of us in the nosebleeds, and the amount of thought that went into that choice really gave the audience added excitement.

While I am extremely lucky to have been able to attend this concert for the quality of Styles' performance alone, the addition of video design into his performance at Wembley stadium had me looking more toward the future than attending any other show ever has. It is easy to say with a record breaking 12 shows in London for this tour that is nearly sold out, that Styles has brought video design for the stage to the forfront of his performances in a very vibrant way.

WORKS CITED

Styles, H. (2026) ‘Harry Styles TOGETHER TOGETHER Tour’. London: Wembley Stadium, 12 June.

Work (2026) Silent Partners Studio. Available at: https://silentpartnersstudio.com/work (Accessed: 13 June 2026).

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Hallway Animations

To begin I decided to download the show so I could properly time my audio and visuals to be side by side with the actual animations. I decided to just go ahead and do this for the every section I'm animating, since I already have the timestamps written out and it will help me move more efficiently next time.

I went in and triple checked that all of my layers were labeled efficiently to help the animation process go as smoothly as possible, and then I brought my PSD files into After Effects.

I started out by arranging my layers appropriately so that they lined up with the initial markings of center stage, and so I could see them properly play out all together in my composition for the entire hallway scene.

Then I went in and did some recoloring purely for the aesthetic of being able to change it in motion. The goal in doing this is to make the distinctions between colors more vivid to the audience, and because making these changes in After Effects is just generally easier to manipulate. I got rid of my illustrated florescent light layers and changed them to shapes in after effects so they would be easier to manipulate. I used the camera blur effect to make them resemble more of what the original illustrations were, and then I started animating.

Literal Monster Pt 1

The lights used in this number are bright green and blue. So I decided to add a short sequence at the beginning of the song where the lights change from their bright hue to a matching green and blue. I also added them swinging around in the intro, since the song is about the nerds hiding from the big bad of the show, Max Jagerman, and how he is going to find them and potentially beat them up. The song's purpose is to describe how awful he is from the perspective of a very likeable protagonist that we have already met, Peter.

The swinging lights help in the frantic energy of trying to find a place to hide before he finds them. For this scene I wanted to leave the nighthawk alone, so that the shock of it moving could happen later and have more of an impact on the specific scene I make it move. For the mid flat, I decided to change only a few of the text boxes at specific beats of the beginning of the song. Since the signs are based on signage from the original production, it was obvious to me that a few of them were meant to make the audience afraid of Max before they even meet him. So I snuck all of the signage that implies "he's gonna get you" into this number to add to the anxiety of the nerdy characters singing this number.

I'm actually really proud with how this one has turned out already. While I do think it needs something extra, I am open to coming back and adding it later as I continue to learn throughout this process. For now I think it matches the mood and tone without detracting from the actual number it is entering. The intention of this number is to introduce a character, so it's important to focus on that aspect of the animations rather than going all out right away. I also am thinking about the present lighting design, and how those green and blue lights changing colors would add more dynamics to my projections.

I really want to play with the outlines in the illustrations, but I also know I need to save that for when we enter the more "supernatural" scenes. I think in the other hallway sequence that I am calling Literal Monster Pt 2 after the number it transitions into, I am going to hint at such changes, but for now since this number has no association with the paranormal I am going to leave it as is.

Literal Monster Pt 2

After LM part 1, the scene switches back into the normal hallway. This gives me another chance to do an interesting transition into Max's version of the song that maintains visual motifs of the first one, while upping the anti a bit.

As I was going through the audio, I realized that I will definitely be going WAYYY over the initial timeframes I marked down. This is to give myself proper padding between transitions, and to make sure that the visuals are given enough time to truly shine. Honestly it's not more work, it's just making the things I was going to do in less time last a bit longer. But the workflow started to feel really good when working between sequences and flats!

For the colors with Literal Monster Pt 2, I wanted to lean into the blacklight effects on the promotional material for the show. Max in my projections is going to be represented by the color red, so I leaned into heavy reds and purples for this. As soon as he dies and becomes a supernatural entity, his colors will have more glows and ghostly implications with the actual backlight look. But until then, he is just a high school bully without the undead elements, so the glows are kept to a minimum and the reds are brought out of the set.

I animated in more of the creepy signs without the ones mentioning murder quite yet. My plan is to keep those creepier signs now that Max has been introduced for all of the internal Hatchetfield High school scenes, and to incorporate them for the mid flat in the gym sequences. That way later on when Max kills Richie the more sinister signage can be added, and still tie the scenes that happen inside the school together. Keeping the signs in also continues to enable me to nod my head towards the original set design, while still incorporating elements of that set into this version of the show. I want it to feel like an update rather than an overhaul.

Because the fonts I used to make the signage are fonts through the adobe fonts program, I can even change them directly in AE later down the line when we come back to the gym for the summoning sequence.

I added pulsing red light at the big "HUH HUH"s in LM2 to really emphasize the intensity of Max and his power at the school over the other students. I really debated over whether or not I was going to make the bird do some sort of movement, but again because at this point in the show we have not encountered any kind of paranormal activity (haha). A mural moving on its own would not do anything other than detract from the song itself. I did decide to make the mascot's eyes glow, but even that I weighed over for several hours. I also added the paint dripping down from it's eyes to add some creep factor. Something about it left me wishing I could do more. But as one of my mentors taught me, "A show is never done, we just run out of time."

I encountered an odd issue that made me have to go back and fix my adjustment layers... for some reason, the "base" hallway scene looked different between the sequences despite having the same adjustment settings. On the left from Literal Monster 1 was more blue, and on the right from 2 more red. I opted to take a break before tackling this to avoid getting frustrated... eventually I discovered that it was the curves not staying the same between sequences. I changed them both to the more blue version so the change to red would be more intense for LM2. It's magical what listening to some music and eating some instant noodles can do to help your workflow!

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Hallway Illustrations

Because I had an extra day on my hands, I decided to dive into the logistics of how I was going to design these sets.

I concluded that the most logical thing to do was to root my animations in the current set design, so the scenes maintain the same feel as intended but can have additional elements involved.

The first design I was meant to illustrate was the hallway scenes, so I started with some light research. I had already seen styles that I like, but it was time for some actual reference research.

These are photos of my actual high school! The lockers are exactly what I had in mind, and even though this was maybe the worst photo reference I could find it does the job well enough. So the upstage flat would have lockers and classroom doors, while the downstage flat would have a mural similar to the one above. The middle flat will maintain the school spirit sign look of the original set design, and will transform as the context changes.

On the left is a Nighthawk, the adorable, rotund mascot of NPMD's high school, Hatchetfield High. On the right is a red tailed hawk. I decided to smoosh the two together, since the actual Nighthawk has about as much intimidation as a sock and I want that intense expression for when I add animations to him.

I started off by making sketches for each flat in my IPad, making sure to account for how specific things could be built to animate later in the process. I wanted to keep the general vibes the same for each piece, and needed to maintain consistent colors throughout to make sure they seem cohesive and can be changed in after effects together later.

I decided to maintain consistency within the blacklight palette that the thumbnail and posters for the show maintain. With cooler toned colors that can easily be manipulated, I leaned into blues and purples to be able to easily switch between the ominous and upbeat vives that the high school hallways offer. Working in illustrator was pretty fun, but I was most excited to add my shading touches.

The Nighthawk Mascot is VERY blue in the show, so I leaned into blue with some brown/yellow for the beak while staying in my color palette to maintain the vibe. I also made a creepy alternate version of the poster flat to switch into when Max starts singing his version of the song, adding some creep factor to ease the audience into the horror elements. Most of the phrases are from the original set as both an ohmage and to maintain the source material.

After converting my illustrator files to PSD files, I swapped them back over to my IPad for shading. Later this summer I will have my drawing tablet back from home and will be able to not convert to my IPad as much while working in photoshop directly, but to maintain a smooth transition between the two I will be using brushes that can be adjusted similarly in both Photoshop and Procreate.

I wanted the shading to be really moody, but still fairly easy for me to manipulate in the grander scheme of things. I mainly used a medium soft airbrush to make some stylized gradients, and then for the mural I used various paint brush brushes to create the look of a mural that still fits the style of the rest of the set. I also added little dripping paint details as if the students painted it on a while ago to add to the eerie feel of it.

The next step was to start animating!

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Technical Development

I started my weekend by getting a student license for Cinema 4D, and then began to really sink my teeth into it. The best way to learn a whole new software from my experience is to go to the courses on LinkedIn learning, so I found one by Andy Needham that served its purpose in 2X speed! It went over the basics of the layout and general buttons I would need to use regularly.

I ended up having to switch over to eyedesyn's tutorial, because Needham's were more focused on the camera work of it all, and while I will be returning to those lessons in my own time, it's just not relevant to me in this project currently. I needed to lock in on modeling.

Because I already have some pretty good experience with 3D, I really just needed to go through the process of learning the shortcuts and capacity of this software. Thankfully I have experience doing this, since we had to learn Blender for an assignment in the fall! This means I will have a decent understanding of Cinema 4D, Maya, AND Blender.

Usually I am not one to follow along with the project files given in these tutorials, but eyedesyn's piggy bank was simply too cute to resist. And I figured I could use the opportunity to flex my 3D muscles a bit, which have certainly been out of commission.

After getting a good night's sleep, I realized I needed to be working at a proper scale in Cinema 4D. I decided just to convert meters to centimeters, since cm is what C4D mainly operates in.

For starters, I needed to convert my measurements of the stage from feet to meters to account for the scaling dimensions of Cinema 4D. It makes sense seeing as the theater itself is in LA, but for my purposes it makes more sense to operate this way.

Proscenium width: 39 ft 10 in -> 12.15 m Proscenium height (center): 21 ft 2 in -> 6.45 m

Perfect! For my scaling the proscenium needed to be 1215 cm X 645 cm. I also needed to account for how back the stage goes, which I didn't do initially when looking at the dimensions of the theatre. The depth of the stage is 19 ft and 8 inches, or about 5.99 meters. (599 cm for my purposes).

This was phase 1! The actual stage was in PLACE!!

The next phase of this model involves some guess work. Since the set dimensions aren't online, I needed to go by both the visuals and what I have in terms of projection limitations.

It looks like each of these pieces are fabric that has been designed and painted with the school spirit designs. If they aren't, then I am going to act as if I am collaborating with the set designer to make some changes for my needs.

Since the limitations of the projector are to 10.78 meters (from the projection manual's 35.36 ft), I will cut the top screen to match those dimensions. In fact I am going to cut it to 10.75m to be safe and make sure the edges of my projections could work within reason.

By placing this reference image of the stage on a flat plane with the back wall to scale, I can approximate the height of each of the screens.

It was at this point that I decided to sketch out some diagrams for the document that will accompany my final projection package. And comedically, I got really tired of using my blog as my guidelines for sizing as I was working.

I ended up trying one with colors, but felt that the black and white one felt more professional.

Now I had all of my dimensions of the stage!

The next step was to approximate and diagram where the projector is in reference to the actual stage. After referencing the #PT-D1000U's manual once again to know the projection throw distance, I found myself becoming rather frustrated by the difference in units of measurement... dang Americans. It seems like the projector needs to sit between 20-25 meters in order to fully pick up the screens, and to cover everything it has to be center stage.

After looking at the El Portal Theatre's website (wow it is old) I found this photo that helps me understand the layout of the interior, and subsequently where to place the projector in order to ensure there is no distortion.

Arguably, the most helpful thing about this photo is knowing that the widest camera angle was likely taken from that exact window. This means that as long as I angle the camera in Cinema 4D to line up with the camera angle in the video, I should have a good sense of where we could realistically out a projector. if anything I would likely adjust to the height of the projector as if it was being placed above or below the tech window to avoid shadows on the set.

In terms of which lens would be the most useful on my projector, for the purposes of this project I picked the ET-D75LE2 Zoom lens listed in the PT-D10000's manual. I picked it mainly because according to Broadway Media, the standard projectors to be placed at the back of an auditorium have a long throw ration that exceeds 1, with home theaters having about 1:8:1. The ET-D75LE2 has a ratio of 2.0, which will ensure that my projections can be the highest quality.

Knowing what lens I'm using will help me adjust the settings on my camera in Cinema 4D. In order to better understand the cameras in Cinema 4D for my purposes, I watched this video explaining how exactly the cameras operate so I could try to get as close to the resolution of my projector as possible.

I set the focal length to the highest output of 50.9 to try to get an accurate distance that accounted for the similarities between the footage and the photo of the stage, and then placed it approximately where I think it will be in reference to the most upstage flat.

As I was setting up the camera, I realized that the best way to minimize shadows would be to decrease the distance between each projection screen. I wanted to still maintain the depth of the original set, but backing the upper ones up will allow for less awkward shadowy spots in the finished projections. But to account for the rigging layout of the stage I decided to keep them all at 0.75m distances from the upstage object, because where things hang is usually going to be at a fixed location with similar distances when you're that far upstage. I only know this from my time hanging lights when I stage managed for a bit

I also realized that due to the lack of public information about the height of the stage to the audience floor, getting precise measurements from this point on would not be fully possible.

I had to estimate the height by working backwards, treating 17.61 m as the hypotenuse of a right triangle. The bottom line being the distance from the center point of the projector to the back wall with the tech, and the line on its side being an estimate of the height it would ideally be placed in. treating it like a 60 30 90 I got a base length of 15.25m and a height of 8.81m (rounded from 8.805) above the projector's center focus point onstage. All of this was really to demonstrate that I am thinking about the distance and the technical details while I work, but I also understand that usually these things are the jobs of the video engineers or video programmers on an actual set.

After having all of the details figured out, the next step was to connect After Effects with Cinema 4D. I walked through this tutorial and found that it was strikingly simple! In order to not muddle my quality, I decided that it would be best to render in 4k despite the projector's resolution only being in 1,400 x 1,050 pixels.

By the time I was importing into After Effects, the realization did hit me that I could probably just have taken a still image rather than going through the trouble of using and purchasing Cinema 4D. But truthfully, learning a new software is always a good thing. And on top of that now I am more accurately simulating what the real workflow is like.

If I were to appear onsite for the hypothetical performance of this hypothetical show, anything that wasn't lined up right could be quickly fixed in Cinema 4D in real time.

I decided that the best way to do this workflow is to feed cinema 4D into After Effects AFTER I have some stuff animated, but in order to make sure I'm animating in a way that fits the proper sizes I wanted to do a bit of a tester.

I made 4 compositions that would function as templates, three of them being fitted with the same aspect ratios of the projection screens, and the fourth to function as a projection option that would make it easier to make all of my animations easier to interact with one another.

I overlayed the master in position with the projector camera in Cinema 4D, and made sure that each "flat" (they are in fact projector screens, not flats) would be easy to tell if there was any warping. In my shadowing I remember moments of adjustment where the set would change to these grids and lines, and it totally makes sense now that I see how all of this works!

I imported image exports of each from AE, and then imported them as textures in C4D. I figured out how to up the resolution on my images, and VOILA! They each fit perfectly!

From here I decided to make a test animation with my "masker" surface. The trick to this was going to be to start in the individual layers, and then move to the master to make sure the animations are cohesive. I have yet to find a way for my mask layers in the "masker" comp could be properly converted to the properly sized compositions, but I imagine it shouldn't be crazy difficult in resizing as long as I work in vector images. The test is super simple, but I wanted to ensure that each of the pieces would be able to interact well enough for me to work without switching and guessing the locations of things.

Then I looked at my 3D model to find where I needed to adjust for the overlap in my screens, and found the grid to be even more useful than before! I marked in each composition where I shouldn't animate and then made the shapes in the "Masker" layer overlap where they overlap on the actual set. It does mean I'm losing a lot of working room on the middle and upmost flats, but I also know that working with what I have is what's important! So I will make every centimeter count.

WORKS CITED:

(2006) Audiogeneral. Available at: https://www.audiogeneral.com/Panasonic/ptd10000u_brochure.pdf (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

(2026) The El Portal Theatre. Available at: https://elportaltheatre.com/mainstagetheatre.html (Accessed: 01 June 2026).

eyedesyn (2023) 3D Modeling For Beginners In Cinema 4D, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RlpLEN4xLE (Accessed: 01 June 2026).

Facciani, L. (2021) Hardware: Choosing a Projector, Broadwaymedia.com. Available at: https://www.broadwaymedia.com/blog/hardware-choosing-a-projector (Accessed: 01 June 2026).

Needham, A. (2022) Navigating the 3d viewport - cinema 4D video tutorial: Linkedin learning, formerly Lynda.com, LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-cinema-4d/navigating-the-3d-viewport?autoSkip=true&resume=false&u=49485105 (Accessed: 01 June 2026).

Panasonic (2021) S P E C F I L E Zoom Lens ET-D75LE20, Panasonic. Available at: https://catalogue.lang-ag.com/files/2974/1855.pdf (Accessed: 01 June 2026).

Szymkowicz, J. (2019) Cinema 4D: Camera Basics Explained, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRjmqQaz3mE (Accessed: 01 June 2026).

Tierney, M. (2019) Cinema 4D to After Effects | Tracking Data | Easy, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3wLh7sPcWE (Accessed: 01 June 2026).

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Planning Document

After submitting my planning document and getting feedback, I had some really good goals for what I need to get done.

Add more details about the production

Clarify deliverables (Digital projection onto a model)

Pick a handful of cues to work on instead of doing the whole show

Be more specific in GANTT chart - go day by day

This was great news! I could narrow down the scenes I wanted to master instead of not giving it my best quality work.

I narrowed down the specific cues I wanted to work with, and went in to count how much time each one would be as well as how long the total amount of work I will be doing.

After reworking my GANTT chart and narrowing down the specific cues I want to work on, this is what I came up with:

10 animations that total 7 minutes and 44 seconds. These consist of transitions betwee scenes, some highlights of what my animations could actually look like at their best in the scenes, and one entire song.

I've changed my focus to really be able to lock in and make these perfect, and I am SO excited to get started on it!

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Concept Development 3

After establishing exactly what animations I needed, I decided to start sketching out exactly what I wanted for the specific scenes I had ideas for. This would give me a good base to do research for the style I want to go for.

I started by tracing out the vague idea of the stage layout so I could get a sense of what I have to work with. This would make it easier for me to have a visual on how my animations will interact with the actual set. This was also before I finished the math for how the projections work in my technical research, so it's PURELY meant to draft up ideas for each of my designs.

The first thing that came to mind was how I could interface the original set into the projections. The conclusion I've come to is that I want to change the school spirit signage from being physically painted to being projections, to more easily incorporate them into the other designs. This also allows me the fun style choice of slowly deteriorating the phrases to be more and more eerie as the show progresses, since the original signage maintains an eerie sense to their phrases.

The next thing I wanted to keep in mind was specific transitions. Because a majority of the show takes place in a school, the natural transition in my mind has to be something related to chalk.

This was why the classroom's chalkboard was the first concrete design to enter my head. The thought of the chalkboard writing itself out would add to the paranormal nature of the show.

The next one was actually the design for the gym, since the idea of a haunted scoreboard really appealed to me! It provides a good setting for Richie's death, as well as allowing me to make various spooky versions of it for the other scenes that happen there.

The next scene that came to mind was the hallway, since lockers are a hallway staple of American high schools and I know for a fact they will add to the ambiance.

Next up was the Chasity's house. I knew I wanted it to be symmetrical (ignore the asymmetrical nature of this sketch). The idea is to introduce the perfection of Grace Chastity's life, and then when the song Dirty Girl happens to break the perfection with surrealism through bubbles floating across the tiles.

I want the tile designs to be more vintage as an ode to the more conservative idea of interior decoration.

Another concrete setting that popped into my head was the exterior of the high school, with the traditional chain link fence lining the base and some clouds to indicate that the characters are outside.

WORKS CITED

Team Starkid (2023) Nerdy Prudes Must Die, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3RDdyD_GQ&list=RDPG3RDdyD_GQ&start_radio=1&t=182s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Artist Research 2

To gain a better understanding of the various styles implemented into shows in the ways I want to incorporate them, I decided to look into various art styles that interest me as well as shows with similar themes incorporated into their designs.

It's so hard when I have the feel and look of what I'm going for in my head, but can't quite specify the name of the style itself. So I will do my best by referencing artworks and styles that seem highly unrelated, but that I will fiddle around with to achieve the look I'm envisioning.

For starters, I am heavily inspired by the work of TellTale games in this project. Specifically I am heavily influenced in my visual interests by the specific outline work they did in the Walking Dead games. There is a grit to their colors that I enjoy, but I also like that they don't shy away from a slightly cartoony look while still respecting the realism in their renders. I found these concept drawings on Joyce (Zhuosi) Xu's ArtStation page!

Keeping in the world of ArtStation, I found this specific work by Sylvain Sarrailh that encapsulates more of the vibe of a haunted school. I really enjoy the colors in this and the way they blend with each other.

The main thing I wanted to incorporate is the use of pointalism in my shading. Rather than making cell shaded hard shadows, using a grain alongside thick line art details and gradient colors would add more grit to the visuals. I found this free stipple brush set for Illustrator that I downloaded and am excited to play with!

For some reason game art seems to be really rooted in my brain for this, because two other games also came to mind when thinking through my desired style for this project.

The first one makes sense with the settings and characters. Monster Prom is a game that I enjoy every installment of. While iterations of the game have been made that alter the setting, the original Monster Prom is VERY similar to the setting of Nerdy Prudes Must Die. Supernatural high schools galore!

I think this one hangs in my head for its beautiful scenic artwork. The various glows and details fit with the characters really well, and I will definitely be taking inspiration from the colors in this specific sequence.

The other game I thought of is Monster Seeking Monster from Jackbox games. For some reason both are monstrous dating sims? I think the reality of why my brain associates these with the show is the humor in the way the characters interact paired with supernatural elements. But the background art in this game is going to serve as inspiration for my haunted house.

Looking at other works has proven to be extremely helpful in terms of the artistic direction I want to go with these scenes...

WORKS CITED

Beautiful Glitch (2018) Monster Prom [Video Game] PC, Publisher: Those Awesome Guys.

Jackbox Games (2017) Monster Seeking Monster [Video Game]. Chicago: Jackbox Games.

Sarrailh, S. (2024) School Hallway, background from Danghost, Artstation. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OGJr8b (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

Team Starkid (2023) Nerdy Prudes Must Die, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3RDdyD_GQ&list=RDPG3RDdyD_GQ&start_radio=1&t=182s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

Unblast (2020) Free spray paint stipple brushes for illustrator (AI), Unblast. Available at: https://unblast.com/free-spray-paint-stipple-brushes-for-illustrator-ai/ (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

Xu, J. (Zhuosi) (2018) Artstation - Joyce (Zhuosi) xu. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/joycexu (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Technical Research

In treating the video up on YouTube as my guidelines, I'm going to act as if I am designing for this exact performance. After a quick google search, the show took place at the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles.

Lucky for me, there is a document online detailing all of the dimensions of the actual stage, which I WILL be using for my 3D model.

The document specifies not only the actual dimensions of the stage, but also the kind of projector they have access to. The El Portal Theatre's Debbie Reynolds stage has a Panasonic 10,000 lumen projector model #PT-D1000U. This projector is meant to operate on scales of up to 600 inches diagonally according to its user manual, or about 50 feet diagonally. This gives me a working square of about 35.36 ft for both the max width and the max height of my projections. Taking the dimensions of the stage into account, the width of the proscenium is 39 ft and 10 inches, which cuts a bit off of the sides of the stage. In terms of height I can more than cover it seeing as the center of the stage's height is only 21 feet and 2 inches.

Working with these dimensions, I think I'm going to make sure that my version of the set can fit completely within the bounds of the projector's range. When referencing the original set it doesn't seem like it will be that off, but since the set's schematics are not available I will have to work as though I am "collaborating" with the original set designer to accommodate for my projections, as is done in a real show.

In my Beetlejuice shadowing there were mixed feelings in terms of what specific 3D modeling software gets used in the industry. The Beetlejuice team specifically worked in Cinema 4D, which I have never touched, but would be really good to pick up. My 3D skills from Maya and Blender will still apply, but some technical details would need to be adjusted. Cinema 4D has a student discount going for £66, and after watching a tutorial about how Cinema 4D interfaces with After Effects I think am going to pursue that route for my work.

In order to maintain an accurate scale when I work on my model I am going to follow this tutorial. The hope is that modeling it will make it easier to animate over, and will make creating the scale model even easier.

WORKS CITED

(2006) Audiogeneral. Available at: https://www.audiogeneral.com/Panasonic/ptd10000u_brochure.pdf (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

El Portal Theatre (2017) El Portal Theatre Debbie Reynolds mainstage technical specifications, Debbie Reynolds Mainstage Technical Specifications. Available at: https://elportaltheatre.com/DebbieReynoldsMainStageTechspecs2017.pdf (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

Keith, D. (2021) Cinema 4D R25 Basics: Scaling Objects to Physical Dimensions, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BobRslDWjE0 (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

Panasonic PT-D10000U DLP projector (2026) Expert Projector Reviews, Throw Distance Calculator & World’s Largest Projector Database. Available at: https://www.projectorcentral.com/panasonic-pt-d10000u.htm#hl (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

Maxon (2026) Plan & Pricing for Students, Maxon. Available at: https://www.maxon.net/en/buy/plan-pricing-for-students (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

School of Motion (2022) Mixing After Effects and Cinema 4D, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5gv9DIJTDY (Accessed: 27 May 2026).

Team Starkid (2023) Nerdy Prudes Must Die, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3RDdyD_GQ&list=RDPG3RDdyD_GQ&start_radio=1&t=182s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Concept Development 2

Since deciding to work on projections for Nerdy Prudes Must Die, I decided to treat this as if I was handed the script with stage directions/notes from the director, a schematic of what the set would look like, and ideas for visuals to go off of.

I decided to start by developing a "Scenic Projection Package" that would function as my "Art Bible". This would function as the formal documentation of how my projections fit into a given scene or moment, the value they add to that scene, and the accompanying script with detailed queues.

This meant first and foremost, I needed a script.

It took a long time to reformat the video's transcript like an actual script, but eventually I had structured it in the ideal way for marking. I changed some of the spacing, the fonts, and the way it reads to fit what I needed it for more than a traditional script. I also broke up each scene to be more coherent, and even went in and formatted songs differently so I could distinguish musical numbers from scenes rooted in purely dialogue.

After having a LOT of time to teem through the script while I formatted, I had the chance to begin brainstorming moments that I could create content for.

"Content" is what the pros call the animations that they project! To me it sounds similar to content creation like making YouTube videos or something, but I enjoy that they have a specific term for it.

I decided I needed to watch the show with my newly formatted script in front of me so I could mark what moments could use a projected edge. So I made my partner sit and watch with me while I took notes. Usually when the two of us watch stuff like this he watches for the content and I watch for the animations or the tech, so it was funny to have to literally be taking notes while he got to chill out.

This is the part of the process that had me really excited, and as I watched through the show with this added framework I found that my imagination was REELING with possibilities.

I sketched out some of my ideas in the margins as I worked so I could have eyes on what I was thinking through.

After going through and marking the various scenes and settings throughout the script, I had a good idea of what I needed to start developing. But to make it more specific I went through the script and numbered each line and then wrote down the specific settings, scene numbers, my progress with each of them, the lines that would queue them in, what I needed to animate, and the potential transitions I needed to make.

In order to start making sketches, I needed to start actually making some specific decisions related to how I was going to utilize my projections.

A goal of mine is to not interfere with the original vibes of the set, and to utilize the show's mix of theater of the mind and physical reality in a way that doesn't make the projections fully detailed and intricate sets, but rather to add animated touches and details.

In terms of my surfaces I concluded that I would:

Need flat projection screen

Project elements of the OG set when at school

Use top two flats for specific details

Focus projections onto the more supernatural/surreal elements

It was time to research the way other shows do this successfully.

WORKS CITED

Team Starkid (2023) Nerdy Prudes Must Die, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3RDdyD_GQ&list=RDPG3RDdyD_GQ&start_radio=1&t=182s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Style Research 2

While I watched the StarKid shows that were new to me, I decided to sketch out some mock-ups of each set I had the potential to work with. It would be easier to choose if I could see the span of what my canvas would look like. I also decided to make some vision boards for the imagery associated with each show so I could properly choose which style I wanted to work with.

Firebringer is easily the show with the most amount of potential. Seeing as it was one of their earlier shows, their tech wasn't quite what it is now. This left a lot of moments to be rooted very deeply in the theater of the mind.

BUT, even in their early days this team has proven to make really interesting production decisions through their use of shadow puppets. I took inspiration from that in my style board, looking at various cave drawings, and most importantly - fire visuals. Most of what I would design in this production would be fire and fire related instances, so it is important to keep that in mind as I make the choice.

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals also shows a LOT of potential in its sci-fi themes. Sci-fi in my mind seems the easiest to incorporate projection design into due to the sci-fi nature of projections themselves. There are many moments that happen "in post" during this show that I think would thoroughly benefit from the use of animated projections to enhance the experience and set the tone.

This show would be nice, but one of the pitfalls of it is that some scenes don't have a very specific sense of place. This would mean that projections would have to be implemented as motifs rather than as an overlay for the entire set.

Nerdy Prudes Must Die is distinct in my mind as the first show I watched of the four where I could actively envision what I would do with specific story beats and moments. While the generic set design it implements allows for a variety of settings throughout the musical, I think finding interesting ways to add projection to the existing set would be a very fun challenge.

The paranormal elements of this production would allow for a LOT of interesting potential with projections, and once again the show attempts to offer solutions to these moments in post, but would highly benefit from the real time projection integration.

Cinderella's Castle being a fantasy production is of immediate appeal to me personally. I also had a very easy time picking out which scenes would benefit from projection design with this one. But even in those easier moments, the difficulty of projecting onto costumes or people popped into my head. The set's backdrop is fairly complex, but to my understanding has a projection/screen behind it that overlays text about the scenes themselves. While convenient for my purposes, the added backdrop elements make it difficult for me to rationalize making projections for something that is going to get covered.

After mulling it over for DAYS on end as I researched, I have come to the conclusion that I will be designing projections for Team StarKid's production of Nerdy Prudes Must Die! Next it was time to dive into some serious concepting.

WORKS CITED

Team Starkid (2017) Firebringer, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmVuNlu0LCk&t=199s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

Team Starkid (2018) The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrxKX44qBJ0&t=147s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

Team Starkid (2023) Nerdy Prudes Must Die, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3RDdyD_GQ&list=RDPG3RDdyD_GQ&start_radio=1&t=182s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

Team Starkid (2025) Cinderella’s Castle, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh884gkQaKs&t=6521s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

[drawyer-reid]

Major Study: Concept Research 2

In the initial brainstorming of this project, a couple things need to happen in order for this to be considered a successful imitation of industry practices.

I have to pick a show that has a lot of variation in its music and themes in order to demonstrate various styles

The show I pick should have a set that DOES NOT change, or changes minimally so I do not have to design and model multiple sets

The show I pick should be one that doesn't have any video/projection design elements already, or if it already does I need to alter them significantly in order to ensure that my work is original

In narrowing it down I decided to work based on one of the works of Starkid Productions. Starkid is an independent theater company based in LA that specializes in comedy musicals.

I decided on Starkid for a handful of reasons!

All of their performances are free to watch on YouTube. This will help me in developing how my animations are staged alongside the acting, and will also provide an extremely helpful reference for the look and feel of the set!

Comedy musicals will allow me to have more freedom in my designs. Comedy is all about timing, and that is something that I can hone in on when planning out my designs.

While some of their sets have some really innovative ideas, none of them actually implement any form of projection based material into their sets. This gives me a clean slate that lets me treat the YouTube recordings like a style guide rather than trying to make something knowing that another projection artist has already done something for them.

Now that I had a really wonderful selection pool of what my options were, I decided to watch as many as I could to see what the different vibes/possibilities were.

Firebringer

Firebringer is a prehistoric comedy musical that details the discovery of fire, and the danger that comes with convenience.

I had never seen this one before, but in watching it I realized that the set actually has some interesting moments that would HEAVILY benefit from the use of projection design!

The Night Belongs to Snarl number shows that the flats used for the set have been canvased and painted to be able to produce a back light effect. Members of the cast use puppets backstage to give the intended effects of how intimidating the character Snarl is. There is also a LOT of imagery associated with fire, which could make for some really interesting visual moments in my animations.

Here are the pros and cons of picking this show:

PROS

The set is straightforward and simple

There are plenty of moments that would benefit from projected animation

CONS

The style of the show being primarily within cave art and a world without technology make me hesitate to work with this one. If the vibe of my animations comes across as too techy, then I fear the nature of those scenes would be lost

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is another musical comedy about a guy that matches the description in the title who is faced with an alien invasion that wants one thing... for everyone to be damned to eternal song and dance.

While I had seen this show before, I figured a rewatch wouldn't hurt! Especially rewatching through the lens of my goals within this project.

The lightboxes are used frequently, but I do think they could be enhanced! There are moments with lightning and rain, interactions with the light boxes like as a TV and a police siren, and sci-fi intrigue that can definitely be played with!

PROS

VERY technology centered show that would fit the use of projections very well in its themes

The set is formatted in a way that would provide interesting dynamics with the projections, especially with it already implementing the led light boxes they have

The show is highly relevant right now, since there is a production running in London at the moment!

There are some really good settings within the show that could be interesting in terms of projection design

CONS

I am disappointed as I could not manage to get tickets to the most recent run of this show taking place in London. This means there is a more updated set, which would be ideal to work with

While the back wall of the set never changes and would be ideal for projections, the rest of the set moves in and out which provides some moments that could potentially be tricky

Nerdy Prudes Must Die

Nerdy Prudes Must Die is a horror comedy musical about a group of nerds who face the accidental death of their high school's notorious bully, and what happens when he comes back to life with a vengence.

I had never seen this show, but due to the proximity of all of the cast with other projects I enjoy I ended up really loving this one! It reminds me a lot of Heathers the musical but with more supernatural elements, and it is just so much fun. It is also StarKid productions' newest show, which means they go all out with the tech in a way that I hadn't seen up until this point in my research.

The most eye catching moment in watching this one was the fact that they already use a projection in the show. Right at the opening moment, the message Nerdy Prudes Must Die is "painted in blood" beside a corpse. During the musical number that follows, they fly the projected surface out and reveal the actual set of the show.

There are various moments throughout the show that would benefit from the addition of an extra scenic touch. While I don't think the entire show needs the incorporation of scenic projections, I do think there are specific moments that it would look really cool. Moments like this include the haunted house scenes, various lightning strikes, news broadcasts, the moments where the ghoulish bully makes an appearance, and the most relevant scene I could play with... the one where they summon "the lords in black".

PROS

The amazing lighting design of this show would give me something to play off of

There is SO MUCH POTENTIAL for the scenes I could work with

CONS

It is easily their longest show with a run time of nearly 2.5 hours and a LOT of changes in setting, so I couldn't successfully make projections for every scene within a reasonable amount of time by myself

There are some moving set pieces involved

The base set is actually really fitting for most of the show! I may struggle to edit/change it while maintaining the same vibes as the original

Cinderella's Castle

Cinderella's Castle is a dark reimagining of the classic Cinderella fairytale. This show was imperative in changing my perception of the StarKid production team, since this is the first clear indicator that they are more than just a producer of comedic musicals. There are certainly some comedic elements to this show, but they pair their traditionally vulgar humor with an extremely dark version of the story people are familiar with

The show itself has many different "locations" despite the set not being very complicated. Disco balls are flown in at the party, various bigger are brought onstage dependent on the setting, and the band is actually seated at the most upstage point of the show for its duration.

The set itself is already interesting with its use of LED strips weaving between fabric, fitting the more medieval mood the show tries to set. The thing that has me interested in potentially designing for it is the opportunities for projections all come in the form of magic.

Magic is a perfect opportunity to flex some high end projections. The difficulty is in the fact that the magic is very minimal and is mostly contained to the interesting choice to make a lit dress as if woven by stars. While I think this moment and others like it would benefit heavily from the addition of projections, it would be hard to mix projections into the set with how intricate the backdrop is. Unlike the others it is not a few flats with some detailing, it is an entire curtain-esque shape meant to hide the band. The band's presence onstage is also a huge point of contention in terms of designing it.

PROS

Amazing themes and music

Would offer potential for costume based projections

Already seems to be LED and projection integration

CONS

Complicated backdrop to set that wouldn't be the most ideal for projections

Band is onstage

I have limited myself to choosing between these four options, despite the fact that StarKid is currently fundraising to produce a D&D style musical that will start production in the next few weeks. Alas, my timing barely missed the mark with that one.

Next it was time to iron out my choice.

WORKS CITED

Team Starkid (2017) Firebringer, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmVuNlu0LCk&t=199s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

Team Starkid (2018) The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrxKX44qBJ0&t=147s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

Team Starkid (2023) Nerdy Prudes Must Die, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG3RDdyD_GQ&list=RDPG3RDdyD_GQ&start_radio=1&t=182s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).

Team Starkid (2025) Cinderella’s Castle, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh884gkQaKs&t=6521s (Accessed: 18 May 2026).