You’ve Got a Friend in Me

Steven Hall from Journeychurch.tv in Norman, OK brings us this stage design playing of the Toy Story movies.

In the spring of 2014, their team had been leading the church through a study on Biblical friendships. Their study title was “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”. Their visual themeing stemmed from the awesome Toy Story series of movies.

In the lobby, they created a Pizza Planet Facade for their Cafe. They also served breakfast pizzas. They had photo stand ups for their congregation too. One was a Buzz Lightyear Spaceship and the other was a box for Stinky Pete.

The photo booths were printed on heavy duty cardboard. Their friends at Boss Print Design printed it. They used 1x4s to frame a box that held them up and covered the back with black fabric.

They also built an Al’s Toy Barn facade on their indoor playground. It was framed with 2x4s and sided with 8″ wide strips of red Coroplast. The barn was framed with strips of white Coroplast and topped with an Al’s Toy Barn logo that was printed on Coroplast.

Most of their graphics including the ones for Pizza Planet were printed on expanded PVC. They also had a bunch of clouds cut from white Coroplast hung in the ceiling to help tie the atmosphere into the entire lobby. Printed Coroplast cut outs of Buzz, Woody, Jessy, and a few others also graced their presence on the walls. They also had lots of different costumed characters including Buzz, Woody, and the awesome plastic army men.

Another element they used was Iconic Kids Play blocks. They hung a bunch above their kids check-in, made some plastic print outs of some, and built some onstage.

In their children’s worship room, they setup Woody’s roundup which was made from expanded PVC with a 2 x 4 frame.

Lastly, in their main auditorium, they made a scene from Andy’s room. They built 8′ wide cardboard boxes from 2″ x 4″ frames and 4’x8′ cardboard. One of their outstanding volunteers (Shelly) painted the boxes fabulously to look like buildings from the opening scene of the movie.

They also had Mr. Potatohead, Slinky Dog (he also had a PVC pipe slinky), and the pig printed on Coroplast. They had a bit of a time seeming the Coroplast, but what they came up with worked out pretty well. They used 1x4s attached to masonite as a backer, then used contact cement to glue them together. Then they built 1×4 braces to hold up their characters.

Behind the scenic pieces they hung a White Cyc. They used Par 64s hidden behind the set and some LEDs to light the backdrop blue. They lit the set with a few breakup gobos to give it some more life.

More details on Steven’s blog.