Scenic Design Unit Notes PDF

Scenic Design UNIT NOTES A person (or team) worked on designing the location to help support the story being told  Scenic Designer Director Tech Director Stage Manager All ensure the set helps to tell the story of the play  Director: shares vision...

Scenic Design UNIT NOTES A person (or team) worked on designing the location to help support the story being told  Scenic Designer Director Tech Director Stage Manager All ensure the set helps to tell the story of the play  Director: shares vision of the play in terms of storytelling All ensure the set helps to tell the story of the play Technical Director: Director: sharesperson vision who of thedetermines play in terms howofastorytelling set will be built All ensure the set helps to tell the story of the play  Stage Manager: communicates information from rehearsal about the sets and props used All ensure the set helps to tell the story of the play  PROPS Scenic: tables, chairs, tree stumps ○ Things you can sit on or place things on top of  PROPS Hand props: pen, book, cup, knife ○ Items actors carry in their hands and use often  PROPS Set dressing: curtains, books on a bookshelf, pillows on a sofa, pictures on a wall ○ Items actors don’t touch that decorate the space  Design Process Steps in a Design Process ➔ Read the script ➔ Research ➔ Take notes ➔ Talk with the director and ➔ Sketch finalize the design ➔ Talk with the director ➔ Create ground plan, ➔ Update sketches rendering, technical drawings, and a model  Director: shares vision of the play in terms of storytelling These types of questions are similar to the questions that a designer might ask a director Director: shares vision of the play in terms of storytelling The designer and director communicate frequently throughout the process Director: shares vision of the play in terms of storytelling The designer and director communicate frequently throughout the process Lighting Designer: creates the lighting looks (atmosphere, time of day) The lighting designer needs to know what’s going on with the set and costumes before they decide the colors for their lighting plot Costume Designer: creates the costumes based on character, vision, and time period The costume designer will want their costumes to work with both the characters and the set  Design Process Read the script Take notes Sketch Talk with the director  Design Process Next Steps Update Sketches Reread the Script Research  Design Process Next Steps Update Sketches - Why would a set designer have to update sketches after talking to the director? Reread the Script Research  Design Process Next Steps Update Sketches Reread the Script - Why would a set designer have to reread the script? Research  Design Process Next Steps Update Sketches Reread the Script Research - What research might a set designer have to do?  Scale Drawing things to a specific scale is the ability to take something large and shrink it down so that it’s represented on a smaller area. If you had an actual life-sized map it would be really, really, really big.  Ground Plan A ground plan is a “bird’s eye view”; it’s a view from above that looks down into a space below.  Ground Plan For a show’s ground plan, there is no 4th wall. Also, in scenic design we angle the walls outward, to help the audience’s sightlines.  Draft the Classroom Scale ½ inch scale means that 1 foot of something you see is represented by ½ of an inch on a piece of paper. For example: A 2-foot-long table you might have in your home will be drawn as a 1-inch rectangle or square on your paper. Each foot is represented by a 1/2 inch on the ruler (so, two ½ inches = 1 foot).  Draft the Classroom Scale ¼ inch scale means that 1 foot of something you see is represented by ¼ of an inch on a piece of paper. That same 2-foot-long table would be represented by ½ inch (because two ¼ inches = ½ foot).  Draft the Classroom Scale Review the drafting symbols handout. Focus on the doors and the windows. Draft the Classroom  Draft the Classroom Scale Many sets which utilize walls (i.e. box sets) will angle the walls outward, to open up the audience’s sightlines.  Draft the Classroom Name Plate Title of Show Playwright Designer | Date created or revised Scale  Design Process Steps in a Design Process ➔ Read the script ➔ Research ➔ Take notes ➔ Talk with the director and ➔ Sketch finalize the design ➔ Talk with the director ➔ Create ground plan, ➔ Update sketches rendering, technical drawings, and a model  Rendering A rendering of a design is a front view drawing that is usually in color. Costume designers also create costume renderings of costume plates when they design. Rendering  Rendering Many designers create stylized (i.e. not super realistic) versions of their renderings. A successful rendering is able to convey the look/feel/concept of the play to those who are looking at it. In the rendering, designers normally include a drawing of a character in the play or a person standing. Why is that? Rendering  Perspective Perspective: Items that are closer/farther downstage are usually larger than those that are farther away/farther upstage. Here’s a cheat for a box set! Draw a “weird bowtie.” It looks like this: Perspective  Perspective The side walls are angled and are larger downstage than they are upstage. Make sure that their furniture doesn’t “float” but stays on the ground. For example: