What Is It?

Nobody knows for sure what the creature is. All we see is a big, heavy-looking crate, stenciled with warnings. From the look of it, some dangerous and terrible animal is locked within the crate - being shipped to some institute for study ... or extermination.

From the crate, you can hear ominous sounds, like the snuffling and clawing of some fantastic predator. Sometimes a howl of passionate rage splits the night. It doesn't like being locked up. Heaven help the poor soul who happens to be around if it gets loose!

Sometimes, wisps of smoke linger about the box. Occasionally, a burst of fog shoots between the boards of the crate. Does the creature breath fire? Or is its breath cold like fog?

And there is a flickering light, visible between the boards of the crate, orange and sinister. Is that the hellish Beast's glowing eyes?

Suddenly, the lid of the crate rattles, as if the Beast is trying to get out. After a moment's startle, you realize that the crate is stout, and you are safe. Then - the Beast crashes through the side of the crate and devours you!

Design Process

Communication Issues

Usually, either David or Dennis falls into the role of the designer. One guy has got the vision. He knows exactly what it should look like in the end. The other guy contributes ideas and offers feedback. Sometimes the work is evenly divided. Often the designer does more.

Some Issues

• size:
  • "Two feet by one foot by one foot is too small. Any monster that would fit in that would be too small to look dangerous."
  • An hour of argument ensues.
  • One of us takes the rubber mask that will be the Beast’s head and puts it on. "You could hardly get my head into a box that small!" Then he crouches on the floor like a dog. "This mask fits my head, so the Beast body would be about my size."
  • "OK, it needs to be bigger. But how much? We don't have much room where we're planning to put it."
  • "Let's go measure!"
  • "There is plenty of room. We can make the crate much larger."
  • "If we make it 2'x2'x3', we can make the whole thing out of one sheet of plywood."
  • "OK!"

• how the ends fit on the crate:
  • "No, the panels that make the ends of the crate mount just inside the sides. They don’t get nailed on the ends. Didn’t you understand that’s what I meant?"
  • "Where will you mount the hinges?"
  • "Outside."
  • "But they’ll be visible! It’s supposed to look like the Beast is breaking out of the solid side."
  • "We could mortise them into the frame. And paint them."

• handles:
  • "How about handles?"
  • "What for?"
  • "It’s a big, heavy crate with a dangerous animal inside. It looks like it would take at least two guys to carry it. Where do they pick it up?"
  • "I don’t know!"
  • "Well, it needs something! I'm not getting close enough to that thing to just lift the bottom!"
  • We decided not put on handles at the moment. When we do, they will be rope handles.

• top hinge:
  • "How is the crate supposed to be closed?"
  • "Does that matter?"
  • "Yes – In order for people to believe that there is some Beast in the box, the box has to look like you can put something in it and close it up."
  • "They could nail it shut."
  • "Takes too long. The Beast could get out. You want to shove the Beast in and seal it up fast!"
  • "We’ll put hinges on the top. We have to do that anyway so the mechanism can make the lid bang up and down. Piano hinge, along the width of the back."
  • "Nobody seals a rough packing crate with piano hinge! If they have a hinge at all, it should be a big, clunky metal thing – cheap, effective, and not delicate."

• chain:
  • "I think that we need to chain it shut."
  • "Metal or plastic?"
  • "Plastic chain looks good, but feels fake and won’t jingle like metal when the lid rattles."
  • "Any metal chain that looks real enough will be too heavy and expensive."
  • We ended up spending an hour in Home Depot's chain section, jingling and rattling them. We'll do chain last this year, if at all. We'll start with plastic chain and upgrade to metal later if we think it really needs it.

• board orientation:
  • "Of course the boards on the side should go up and down. You might be thinking that they go side to side, just because I happened to draw them that way in my sketch."
  • "I somewhat prefer the boards running side to side. Let's ask Diana's opinion!"

• door opening:
  • "I would prefer that the doors on the end consist of interleaved full-length boards (even ones on the right, odd ones on the left). When the door opens, it will look more like the Beast crashed through the wall."
  • "I think that we should just cut the end panel in half, down the middle, making two doors that swing open from the center. We may have a problem disguising the cut."
  • "Since we just agreed that the boards should go up and down, the center cut is just where two boards come together. We only need to worry about hiding the cut in the 1x3 frame."

• door framing:
  • "I think that the 1x3s for the frame on the door end should be permanently attached to the end of the crate. The actual part that opens should be set within that frame. The opening will be smaller, but the end will be stronger."
  • "No, we should make the end solid, just like the other end, and then cut it in half and mount it with hinges."
  • "Hmmmm. Either way, it's the same amount of wood. The question is whether to make the 1x3 framing part of the door or part of the frame."

• cutting the door opening:
  • "Before you cut that in half, you might want to temporarily screw a piece of wood to it to keep the pieces in position while mounting."
  • "Good point, but if that's the idea, it would be better to cut the door after the end is mounted to the rest of the crate."
  • "Sure!"

Successive Refinement

• phase 1 - The basic box.
  • Might not have anything inside it.
  • Might just look creepy!

• phase 2 - Something inside, but you don't see the Beast.
  • CD sound track of animal noises.
  • Perhaps occasional bursts of fog seep between the boards of the crate - as if the Beast breathes smoke.
  • Some flickering light seen between the boards of the crate - as from hellish red eyes, or perhaps flame from his mouth.

• phase 3 - Action, but no Beast.
  • The lid of the box rattles.
  • If it is chained down, the chains rattle.

• phase 4 - The Beast crashes out of the crate and eats the trick-or-treaters.

Incarnations Of The Beast

2005

Materials

Wood

Our first thought for crummy wood was old shipping pallets. Nowadays, most companies that ship things on pallets reuse them. The pallets are well marked, and picked up when the next truck makes a delivery. We found some broken pallets at Home Depot that were not marked with a vendor name, but the manager said that they had to be destroyed for liability reasons.

We ended up making what is probably the most expensive beat up old shipping crate on the planet by taking nice new plywood sheeting, ripping it into planks, and fastening them together!

Lessons Learned

Related Pages