9 Scenery © T Charles Erickson Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Scene Designer The visual and aural elements of design provide an audience with an understanding of time, place, mood, etc. –Scene designer—responsible for the stage set –Costume designer—responsible for the outfits and accessories worn by the performers –Lighting designer—responsible for the light, illumination of the stage space –Sound designer—responsible for the aural world of the play and the sound system 09-2

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Scene Designer Designers make connections between symbols and ideas, creating the world of the play in which the performers interact. They deal with the practical and aesthetic concerns of the stage production. 09-3

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved History of Stage Design Originally created simply by physical space for performance—no “sets” Some special devices to create effects –Greeks—facade of the stage house –Medieval—“mansions” The beginnings of scenic design The evolution of the proscenium stage The growth of realism as the predominant stage style

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Scenic Design Today Everything we encounter in real-life can be considered a scenic design. The architecture of the room, the furniture, the color, the fabrics, the details—all work to create a unified whole that provides a sense of place, time, and mood. How does this translate to the stage environment? 09-5

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Scenic Design Today The designer must ask: –Questions of scale –Performer relationship to space –Specific choices of what inhabits the world of the play in regards to symbolic meaning as well as practical implications 09-6

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Objectives of Stage Design Creating an environment for the performers and for the performance Helping to set the mood and style of the production Helping to distinguish realistic from nonrealistic theatre Establishing the locale and period in which the play takes place Evolving a design concept in concert with the director and other designers Where appropriate, providing a central image or visual metaphor for the production Ensuring that the scenery is coordinated with other production elements Solving practical design problems

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Realistic and Nonrealistic Scenery Realistic theatre –Settings that resemble the real-life counterpart (traditional western theatre) Nonrealistic theatre –Uses imagination and symbol to evoke meaning and spatial ideas (traditional eastern performance) Regardless of the style, the designer must indicate locale, period, and a sense of the play. 09-8

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Design Concept The design concept: –A unifying idea carried out visually Important when shifting the play in time and place—allows audience to know when/where the story occurs (this happens most often with Shakespeare or with Greek works) –Establishes central image or metaphor –Provides the means to coordinate the whole design—all the design elements 09-9

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Design Concept The design concept must be unified with the director’s concept to insure that the audience receives the same message in the production

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Process of Scene Design The six elements of design: 1.Line 2.Mass and composition 3.Texture 4.Color 5.Rhythm 6.Movement Designers commonly use these elements in discussing design choices with the rest of the team and the director A common language to communicate artistic ideas 09-11

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Practical Aspects of Scene Design Stage design is determined by the physical space of the performance. The scenic designer develops a “ground plan” that lays out the location of walls, furniture, etc., from a “bird’s eye view” of the stage. Space is determined differently by the types of stage spaces

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Ground Plan

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Stage Area

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Materials of Scene Design Elements and terms commonly used by scenic designers: –Turntable –Wagons –“Shifting” scenery –Fly –Flats –Cutouts –Scrim –Screen projections © T Charles Erickson

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Special Effects Special effects have become more important in “spectacle” productions to allow theatre to compete with film. Special effects can include: –Fog, ghosts, knives, swords, breakaway props and furniture, etc. Often special effects are created by all the design team working together to create a single effect.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Steps to Scenic Design 1.Read the script 2.Meet with the director to discuss ideas and concept 3.Develop rough sketches (thumbnails) 4.More meetings with the director 5.Complete sketch of the design (rendering) 6.Upon director approval, make a 3-D scale model (white model vs. color model) 7.Develop the ground plan and elevations This is a mutable process that changes with every director/designer relationship as well as different production needs

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved The Collaborative Process The scenic designer does not work alone in the theatre process… And this is only a basic crew with no special effects… Director Scenic designer Lighting designer Sound designer Costume designer Props designer Technical director Make-up designer Costume shop manager Stage manager Master carpenter Scene shop Running crew Sound technician Master electrician