Colin Robinson's housemate popularity chart
Developing this graphic installation was a six week labour of love. I don't typically get so much time, even for something with this many components, but there was some rescheduling due to actor availability and this gave me the opportunity to really sink my teeth into this project. The idea was that the character Colin has been charting the housemate's popularity over the decades that they've all lived together. There were very few specifics indicated by the script, so that gave me a lot of freedom to flesh this out.
In the photo above, the chart moves chronologically from left to right. Each string represents a different housemate, and moves up and down, depending on their current popularity. I had a lot of fun coming up with events and actions that I felt would affect a housemate's standing, and those actions are indicated with index cards at each point. The surrounding papers are all evidence that support each point, to help Colin keep track of it all.
But before developing any of these graphics, I started out with some rough sketches to indicate the overall layout, in order to have those approved first.
After the overall layout was approved, I started working on the graphics. I've categorized them a few different ways. First were the index cards indicating each point on a housemate's time line, a selection of which I've included here. I was a fan of the show What We Do in the Shadows long before I joined the crew, and I think that passion for these characters really aided me in brainstorming various foibles and hijinks for each of them.
Secondly were the various photos. Most of these were of the housemates, but I also included portraits of every familar they've had. I've highlighted four in particular below, one of each of the main vampires, because they involved some fun editing.
I then worked on a number of documents that support all the different points along the timelines. Some of these involved editing an existing vintage document, and some involved building the graphic from scratch. There are even a few traditionally handwritten items, since I can't help but put pen to paper when the opportunity arises.
I also included a number of easter eggs from past seasons. The credit for the designs belongs to other graphic designers, but I wanted to include them as I think they're a really fun and important element to the overall chart. These include things like the invitation to the Nouveau Theatre des Vampires and a pamphlet for the wellness centre Nandor joins in season three.
pamphlet for the wellness centre - season 3
guest list for Nadja's club - season 4
Laszlo's letter to Nadja - season 2
invitation to the Nouveau Theatre des Vampires (in sections, and heavily distressed)
campaign sign - season 5
paperwork for Nadja's club - season 4
Nandor's love letter from a banshee
The chart was initially assembled on the corkboard behind my desk. Once all the pieces had been approved, I packaged them up by decade range so that they could be aged by the Scenic department with different levels of intensity. Then I worked directly with the Set Dec department to reassemble the chart on set.
