Scenery helps the audience understand and enjoy a play by providing a physical reinforcement for the design concept.
Was this always the case? – No, greek/roman outside with minimal sets, stock sets (meaning all castles and woods were the same), etc…
Scenery as we know it today only been around for the last 100 years or so.
Things to consider:
1. Mood and Spirit of the play.
* Mood refers to? Emotion.
* Spirit? Production concept… how the play is going to be presented.
* For example – a romantic comedy might have soft lines and use pastel colors… while a tragedy might have bold solid/jagged lines and dark colors, red
2. Historical period of the play
* Only if design concept is realism…
* Look at furniture, rooms, knickknacks and buildings of the period
* Scenic design is not a reproduction… create something that mirrors the essence of the period
3. Locale
* Geography – Before AC, climate affected how buildings were designed and laid out. Example – Pitched roof in the north for snow
* Season of the year - Ex. How might you show heat?
4. Socioeconomic level
* How much money do the characters have? Do they have a position in the community that makes them special or would be reflected in the scenery?
* High or low roof?
* Plain or wallpaper walls
* Ornamentation in the wood working – moldings
* Furniture – plan or fancy?
* Study types of period furniture and adapt it to use of blocking in the play.(Example – jumping on a sofa)
* How much furniture? What is called for in the script? Blocking? Good rule of thumb – enough for all principal characters to sit at once
* The Floor – can provide the foundation for the color scheme of the whole set. Dominates stage especially when audience is seated above the deck. Usually covered in masonite and can be painted to represent stone, wood, tile, etc… Rugs can be added to change scenes or add wealth, etc…
5. Personality of the characters
* Good taste versus gaudy
* Clean versus cluttered or messy
* Stream line or pack rack – determines amount of furniture
7. Elements of Composition
a. Line
b. Shape
c. Mass
d. Measure
e. Position
f. Color
g. Texture
8. Practicality of the Setting
* Needs of the director – blocking – Ex. Grand entrance on a staircase means it needs to be placed in a prominent location
* Needs of the actors – Safety and ease of use
9. Available Resources
* Construction – How can it be built? Is there enough time? Man power? Skill set?
* Does it need to be transported? If so, how can it be broken down and put back together?
* Budget - How much money can you spend?
Presenting your Designs -
How do Scenic Designers make the visions in their head come to life and show their ideas to the rest of the design team?
Ones we discussed before -
* Ground plan – mechanical drawing showing the top view of the set in scale!
* Center line section - mechanical drawing showing the view left or right as if you were standing on the center line of the stage.
* Front elevation - How the set will look from the front
* Painters elevation – For the paint crew – show colors and paint techniques to be used.NEW TERMS:
* Thumbnail sketches – rough drawings, usually in pencil, that show composition of the set, but little detail
* Renderings – finished color sketches, normally drawn to scale in mechanical perspective. Accurate depiction of size, location, and color. Quality renderings also show lighting ideas.
* Models -
1. Bash model - quick and easy. Usually created early in the design process to show multiple options/solutions to your design problems
2. White model - No color. Show size, proportion of the set and how it can be moved
3. Finished model - With color. Miniature version of what the set will look like on stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment