Scenic Design Unit Notes

Scenic Design Unit Notes

• Scenic design involves creating locations to support the story of a play. A person (or team) works on this.
• The director, scenic designer, technical director, and stage manager all collaborate to ensure the set supports the play's story.
• The director shares the overall storytelling vision for the play.
• The technical director determines how the set will be built.
• The stage manager communicates information from rehearsals about the sets and props.
• Props include: scenic props (tables, chairs, tree stumps), hand props (pens, books, cups, knives), and set dressing (curtains, books, pillows, pictures). Set dressing are items the actors don't touch, but decorate the space.
• The design process includes: reading the script, taking notes, sketching, talking to the director, updating sketches, research, finalizing design, creating a ground plan, rendering drawings, and building a model.
• The designer and director communicate frequently throughout the design process.
• The lighting designer creates visual lighting looks concerning things like atmosphere and time of day. They need to know about the set and the costume design before setting lighting colours.
• Costume designers create costumes based on character, vision, and time period. Costumes need to work with characters and the set.
• A ground plan is a bird's-eye view of the stage space. An important detail in the ground plan is to remove the fourth wall, and to angle the walls outward to support audience sightlines.
• Scale in the design can shrink down a large space on a smaller area. For example, 1/2 inch scale means that 1-foot of space is represented by 1 1/2 inches on a piece of paper. Drawings to scale are imperative in scene design. Likewise, 1/4 inch scale represents 1-foot length by 1 1/4 inches on a piece of paper.
• Rendering is a colourful front view drawing used during design.
• Designers typically create stylised renderings.
• Designers may include drawings of characters or people standing in the rendering to show how the final design will look.
• In perspective drawings, items closer to the front of the stage are usually drawn larger and more prominent than those further back.
• Important technique to note for perspective is to ensure furniture, etc., remain in line with the ground and do not float.
• Drawing symbols are necessary in scene design, including for door depictions, window depictions, and for depictions of furniture on the stage. For example, staircases have arrows to show direction.

Explore the intricate aspects of scenic design through this quiz, focused on the collaborative process among the director, designer, and technical team. Learn about the vital role of props and set dressing in enhancing the storytelling of a play.