The Designers Scenery and Costumes First lets consider

The Designers: Scenery and Costumes

First, let’s consider the basic elements of design. Some 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. elements of design: Line Mass Texture Color Composition Unity, contrast, balance, emphasis 2

Line Our eyes respond to line…we follow lines up and down and across Line can help create verticality or horizontality Line in nature: 3

Line 4

Mass refers to how heavy or light something seems to be. 5

Mass Compare the weightiness of these two historic men’s fashions. 6

Texture How things feel (or how we think they might feel)… this is a visual response to our memory of how things feel to the touch. 7

Think of how you respond to the textures of these fabrics 8

Color This can be a highly emotional area of design. It is amazing how many associations we have with color. Some of these are culturally specific. 9

Color How much does color influence our recognition of these figures? 10

Color How much does color influence our recognition of these figures? 11

Color How much does color influence our recognition of these figures? This is the Russian Santa…in BLUE!! 12

Composition This is the deliberate way all of these elements come together… remember, an artist makes decisions about how to put it all together. 13

Do you recognize this play? Have you seen Hairspray? 14

Can you identify the time period for the next drawings? The women’s outfits on the left and right represent two different decades. 15

1870 s 1880 s

g

g 1930 s 1920 s

1940 s

Costume Design Related elements of costume design Makeup 22

Costume Design Related elements of costume design, continued Hairstyles and wigs 23

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Scene Design The scenery provides: 1. Mood and spirit of the play 2. Locale, time of year, and historical period 3. Design Concept 4. Central image or metaphor 5. Socio-economic status 28

Scene Design Establishing locale and period A stage set should tell the audience where and when the play takes place A stage set can tell us what kinds of characters a play is about 29

Look at the set designs in the following pictures… what do they tell you about the characters who will inhabit these settings, about the time period, and about the socioeconomic status? © 2010 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, all rights reserved. 30

Scene Design 31

Scene Design 32

Scene Design 33

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Scene Design 36

Scene Design Developing a design concept Design concept: a unifying idea carried out visually Should compliment the directorial concept © 2010 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, all rights reserved. 37

Scene Design © 2010 The Mc. Graw-Hill Companies, all rights reserved. 38

Mini Design Project For This Unit- Examples 39

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Chapter 10 The Designers: Lighting and Sound

Stage Lighting in theatre history- First 2, 000 years of theatre history, it took place mostly outdoors during the day Playwrights used the imagination to suggest nighttime, or shifts of lighting Playwrights also used language in place of lighting Around 1600, theatre began to move indoors ▪ Candles and oil lamps were used for illumination 1803, theatre in London installed gaslights 1879, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb 45

Stage Lighting Objectives of lighting design 1. Provide visibility 2. Help establish time and place 3. Help create mood 4. Reinforce the style of the production 5. Provide focus onstage and create visual compositions 6. Establish rhythm of visual movement 46

Stage Lighting Elements of stage lighting Intensity Color Direction Form Movement 47

Stage Lighting controls Lighting changes, or cues, are arranged ahead of time ▪ Black-out: all the lights are shut off at once ▪ Fade: lights dim slowly ▪ Cross-fade: one set of lights come down while another comes up ▪ Split cross-fade: lights that are coming up are on a different fade count from the lights coming down 48

Stage Lighting The lighting designer’s collaborators Assistant designers and others who help create the light plot A master electrician Moving light programmer Lead spot operator 49

Sound in the Theatre Sound reproduction: advantages and disadvantages Amplification ▪ Should it be used for singing? ▪ How loud should it be? ▪ Should speech be amplified? Sound effects 50

Sound in the Theatre The sound designer Responsible for arranging and orchestrating all the aural aspects of a production Consults with director to determine sound requirements, including sound effects and amplification 51

Sound in the Theatre Understanding sound reproduction and sound reinforcement Sound reproduction: use of motivated or environmental sounds ▪ Motivated sounds: a sequence that announces the arrival of a character ▪ Noise of a car crunching on gravel ▪ A car motor turning off ▪ Environmental sounds: noises of everyday life that help create verisimilitude in a production ▪ Street traffic in a city ▪ Crickets in the country 52

Sound in the Theatre Understanding sound reproduction and sound reinforcement, continued Reinforcement: amplification of sounds produced by a performer or a musical instrument 53