| Children's Features | |||
The Way Big Things Work Sally Lodge -- 10/2/00 On page and on screen, David Macaulay explains some of the world's largest structures, in Building Big
Though PBS has also produced TV programs based on four of Macaulay's previous books, this project marks a departure from those earlier ventures. "In this case, I wrote the book after the TV series was filmed rather than before," he explained. "In fact, this project began without my involvement at all." Very much involved from the start were Larry Klein, executive producer of the Washington, D.C.- based Production Group Inc., and Paula Apsell, head of the Science Unit at WGBH in Boston, which produces the Nova series. "In 1994, Paula and I were standing next to one of England's vast Gothic cathedrals," Klein recalled. "She knew that I had produced a program based on David's Cathedral, so she said, 'You actually know how this building works, don't you?' And I acknowledged that I did. And then she suggested that David and I put together a program on some of the biggest things that people have ever built. Sometimes conversations unexpectedly turn into something, and this was one of those cases." After successfully applying for a grant from the National Science Foundation, Klein spent several years raising additional money for the project, co-produced by Production Group Inc. and WGBH-TV; the final price tag approached $7 million. (In addition to the TV series and book components, the venture entails a Web site, afterschool science education programs and curriculum-based activities for classrooms.) He, Macaulay and film crews then visited structures on four continents over a span of two years, exploring sites as high as the upper expanses of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, 220 feet above the bay, and as deep as the Thames Tunnel, constructed more than 60 feet below this London river. "Our trips were frequent enough and long enough to disrupt life completely," said Macaulay, the father of a three-year-old and a 19-month-old. Though the author did not write the scripts for the five TV shows, he did occasionally rewrite some sections as unexpected changes in settings or perspectives dictated. Primarily, he was cast in the role of narrator and sketchbook-toting host. "Learning my lines and drawing upside down were my contributions to the programs," he quipped. Klein's behind-the-scenes duties were quite encompassing. He served as executive producer of the series, whose five segments each had a different writer, director and producer; and was also the producer of Bridges, the series's inaugural installment. "This project was colossal and daunting," he observed, noting that one of his biggest challenges was balancing the various elements of the films to achieve the right mix. "We had to make sure that we understood how all the pieces would fit together, since we wanted to do a great variety of things in each program. We wanted to have David on-camera, drawing things the old-fashioned way, showing what's inside each structure. We also wanted to include reenactments; highly produced sections with helicopters and the like; and historical background based on archival material. Basically, we wanted to do everything that was both difficult and expensive." Building the Book After returning to his Rhode Island home and stashing away his suitcase, Macaulay, since January, has devoted himself to creating his book, which he considers a stand-alone entity. "To do a book replicating the films did not strike me as at all useful," he remarked. "I knew that the films would provide the big picture and that I was free to operate on a much smaller scale. In that sense, the book is my personality, which is nuts and bolts--that is, focusing on what the problem was that people were trying to solve here, and how did they went about it. When choosing the subjects to include in the book, I dropped some from the film and added others, and, in a way, began all over again. I had gathered materials in my travels. I had done sketches everywhere and had photos to work with. I thought I'd learn by osmosis, by reading the film scripts and actually visiting the places. But when it came time to write, I realized how little I had actually taken in. I really had to start researching from scratch." While working on Building Big, Macaulay was constantly reminded, he said, "of how very different the processes of creating a film and a book are. It's the difference between creating something that washes over a viewer and creating something that sits there, static, in front of a reader. There is a level of complexity that you must achieve when creating static pictures, since people will take time to read them. In a film, you pass by subjects quickly. You know that your viewers have already moved on when the image changes. But the author of a book d sn't decide when the page is turned." Macaulay maintains that he wants to recover from his exhausting schedule of the past months before embarking on another book project. Yet there d sn't seem to be down time ahead for the author, who will be involved in the filming of a program based on his 1983 book Mill that will air on PBS, and will next spring--for the first time in three years--again teach a course at the Rhode Island School of Design, his alma mater. "Beyond that, I don't have a clue," he said. "Well, that's not exactly true. I do have clues about what I might do next. But no book idea has grabbed me yet, which is what happens. I don't make the decision--the subject d s." Given this tireless author's past output, his readers will likely not have to wait too long for that next subject to emerge, inspiring Macaulay to reveal the way something else works. | |||
The Way Big Things Work
Oct 02, 2000
A version of this article appeared in the 10/02/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline:
