As my daughter was sharing with me the “joy” of working on a college group project recently, it was strangely comforting to know that things haven’t changed that much since deep into the last century when I was in college.
So, yeah, it's crooked. I'm trying this underwatery, wavy-type thing. We'll see how it goes.
Seems like the key working parts of the group project are still pretty much the same. Still have your Slackers, bent on doing as little as possible. And you still have your Tyrants, whose job is to bat down all ideas that aren’t theirs and do whatever they can to make the other group members their minions.
Katie was struggling with her group project thing and wishing that the whole concept would just go away, a sentiment I think she inherited from me. I was always so much happier doing my own little thing. Group projects always felt like a way for those in charge of the whole college experience to inflict additional kinds of pain (as if the costs of textbooks weren’t enough).
I’ve been working recently on the closing credit sequence for Jonah. And as I was pouring over the list that I’m sure would take an 8 1/2 x 11 foot piece of paper to hold, I couldn’t help being struck by the irony of this group project hater (me) being involved in work that is pretty much the ultimate group project (making movies).
But there is a difference. A BIG difference. And that’s this: we have a little more say in who our group partners are. It’s a bit like being in a group project without any slackers or tyrants. Instead, there are only people who are talented at what they do. And not only that, typically they are a pleasure to work with. No oversized egos. No thin-skinned types who can’t take a note. Just people who know all the limitations we face, and simply dig in and do their part the best they can with what’s available.
And it’s not just a matter of needing to replicate ourselves in order to get done everything done that needs to be done. It’s better than that. It’s about people who bring their own package of talents and experiences and use them to make the project better than what we could have done alone, even if our resources weren’t as limited.
Nephi/Ken Eklof's cave.
I remember encountering this early on in the Liken process, when we were working on our first foray, “Nephi & Laban.” Part of the script called for a scene to occur in a cave, where Laman and Lemuel would pummel Nephi and Sam. I knew our budgets were modest, so I proposed to set designer Ken Eklof something figurative that would suggest a cave. The characters would step through this large archway thing, and our narrator would tell us they had stepped into a cave, and then the story would continue. Not great, but what options did we have?
Brian Higginson's concept sketch for The Crabelles
Then I remember coming up from California to see where Ken Ekof was in the set-building process. And when we visited the warehouse where he was working, I saw these giant structures – several of them – covered in chicken wire while they awaited their covering of foam. This cave was not going to be figurative. Ken was going for the literal. The end product was amazing and huge. Score one for the group project approach.
Janna Larsen's hair creations for The Crabelles.
Since then, the group project approach has yielded many more major enhancements over the original concept.
One that comes to mind from Jonah has to do with the development of The Crabelles. In my original draft, they didn’t exist. As Aaron was working on the song where we first meet Jonah, he proposed a trio of fish girls would come up out of the sea or a river and sing back-up. Not long after, mostly to save us from having to build an additional water feature, the fish trio became The Crabelles who would sidle into frame.
The delightfully charming Crabelles, Josephine Scere Dinnell, Marissa Smith, and Brittni Bills Smith.
Designer Brian Higginson helped bring their look to life through a series of sketches. Wardrobe designer Carla Summers and Clark Schaffer fabricated their costumes. Janna Larsen designed and built their wigs and makeup. Brittni Bills Smith, Josephine Scere Dinnell and Marissa Smith brought the elements together with their fabulous performances. Even our Liken supporters got into the act when their feedback from our staged readings called for more from the Crabelles. So we found a way to include them in a third song.
The finished crustaceans.
Score another one for the ol’ college group project approach. Now, if only those college types could do something about the price of those textbooks…
Notes to Self 