Nice Peter’s “Monday Show” Original Set Design
Custom collage created from hundreds of pieces of fan mail for the set for Nice Peter's weekly web series "The Monday Show"
OBJECTIVE
Create a custom, hand-made collage using all of the fan mail sent to Nice Peter for use as a set on his weekly web series “The Monday Show”.
CHALLENGE
Design and build a set that is eye-popping, cohesive and showcases the hundreds of pieces of viewer mail Nice Peter receives from fans in hopes of being featured on his Monday Show “viewer mail” segment. This collage solves Nice Peter’s problem of not being able to feature every single piece of mail he receives.
The collage also needs to be mounted on the upholstered wall without permanently damaging the wall or the acoustics of the room. Additionally, the collage needs to exhibit a completely matte, uniform finish for optimum filming results.
BACKGROUND
“The Monday Show” is Nice Peter’s weekly web series on his 2nd channel NicePeterToo where he reads mail & answers questions from fans, muses about life and plays original music.
Nice Peter Too Channel Stats
Subscribers: 343,000
Views: 39 million
PROCESS
Discovery and Research: During this stage, I reviewed ALL the source material for the collage. I read and looked at every single piece of viewer mail and sorted into 3 piles: Envelopes, Written Letters and Pictures.
This process allowed me to gain insight into the personality and branding of Nice Peter, his channel and most importantly his viewers so I was able to intuitively edit and arrange the viewer mail in a way that would best complement Nice Peter and delight his viewers.
Materials Planning & Sourcing: The collage material needed to be easy to transport and mount onto a wall. The material had to be durable but also easy to remove. I chose to use industrial foam core as the base for the collage.
I also sourced materials to prime the foam core, apply the collage art and a finishing agent to create a uniform finish. Lastly, I sourced the hardware to mount the collage.
Set Creation and Build: After acquiring all materials, I completed the following steps to build the set by hand.
- I took meticulous measurements of the portion of the room that could be seen on camera. We didn’t want the set to be too large and therefore cut off some pieces of the collage. Measurements were particularly challenging because there was a door right in the middle of the set.
- Create a grid diagram with measurements for each piece of foam core.
- Cut the foam core to size.
- Prime the foam core with 3 coats of white paint and press it to prevent warping while applying the collage pieces.
- Cut out all of the letters and artwork in unique and interesting shapes that suited the overall composition of the collage
- Create a bottom layer of written letters and envelopes on which to overlay the most colorful art.
- Arrange the images purposefully to create a uniform composition of various recurring themes in the art such as: Characters from Epic Rap Battles of History, Nice Peter’s trademark yellow and green sunglasses, his pet Ralph the mouse and visual interpretations of his most popular song, Super Man socks. I took care to create a composition that was bright, bold and evenly distributed colors and types of artwork so that no singular piece stood out. I also played around with the artwork to mimic the interaction on YouTube by doing things like putting sunglasses drawn by one viewer on a unicorn drawn by another viewer. This helped the collage have a fun, anything goes feel to it.
- I used Archival Acrylic gel medium to secure the artwork to the collage. This medium is acid-free and therefore ensures the collage will not yellow or fade over time.
- Once all the artwork was secured, I sprayed on 3 coats of clear, matte shellac to give the collage a uniform and non-shiny finish. There were so many different types of crayon, marker and pen used on this collage that spray on finish was the only way to ensure none of the artwork would bleed.
- I applied adhesive velcro to the back of each piece of foam core and applied the corresponding strip to the upholstered walls in the Monday Show studio. Then I simply secured the collage to the wall with the help of Nice Peter himself.
Watch the Monday Show here!
About the Client: Nice Peter
Nice Peter aka Peter Shukoff is an award-winning musician, comedian and personality who creates original songs and music videos online. He is best known for his creation of YouTube’s most watched web series per episode, Epic Rap Battles of History, he also creates original songs and music videos on his main channel, Nice Peter, and weekly interactive vlog series “The Monday Show” on his 2nd channel, Nice Peter Too.
Nice Peter was named Best Online Musician by the 2013 Streamy Awards and received multiple Streamy awards & nominations for his work on Epic Rap Battles of History in 2014. He is also a 6 time gold record recipient for his original singles by the Recording Association of America.
Credit for production stills: Nice Peter
Melissa Judson is my design hero, I’ve thrown every kind of creative problem her way, and she always comes back with a solution that truly works. Her eye for detail is present in all her work, there are no points missed, no shortcuts taken, just excellent, clean, effective designs. She has been a lifesaver.”