Concept Modelling

My vision to have a giantic hedge behind the castle front to translate the transition from castle entrance to garden behind was difficult to visualise on paper. By producing this concept model from bits of cut up foam and cocktail sticks I was able to realise my design more visually.





In comparision against the scale figure I can see this scenic element translating a grand, overwhelming structure within the design. (To add to this, I feel it will fit in well at this grand scale as to the genre of surrealist horror being communicated.)

"Around the castle was a garden"

During the performance the castle turns 180degrees on a circular revolve, revealing the garden behind.

Taken from the script:
"Half of it was bright summertime and the other half gloomy winter. One side grew the prettiest flowers, but on the other everything was dead and buried in snow.
'What a blessing!' he (the father) said to his servant, and ordered him to pick a rose from the beautiful rose bush there.
But then, as they were riding away, a ferocious lion leapt out."

Initial concept design




Idea for floor design - printed flower/foliage textures painted on to symbolise garden plants?








Details: Gigantic bush as a back-setting for garden with a gate opening reflecting the entrance from the castle to the garden. Through the gate bears a gigantic lion's tail in which it peters out to form the 'rose bush' on the summertime side of the garden. Originally I had thought of putting a elegant water fountain in the middle to form a divide between the two settings (bright summertime and gloomy winter). But then to keep to tune with this particular genre of horror/surrealism I thought a gargoyle type statue of the lion itself would give a more coherent set piece for this scene.

Photo montage of set piece

Colour Variations

Horror Genre Set Design

Stormy emerald green - fantasy yet dark and devious aspects coming through.


Darker lighting changes the overall visual impact making the set more gloomy and sinister.


Luminous foreground compliments the purple surrounding - creating a more stormy, romantic essence surrounding the play.


Redder sky thus symbolising the danger and bloody aspect of the play.


Greater intensity - strong and visually encapsulating.













Costume Realisation


By changing the colour of the Lion's costume I designed previously, one can depict the essences surrounding the horror genre. Red symbolising fear and blood the other associating with the royal status that the lion reflects.

Floor Design

Inspiration for floor design


To depict the two seasons in my design it would be very difficult to have one side summertime and the other gloomy winter - as take for example when the castle revolves each of these 'seasons' will be on the alternate side. Props / set dressing would not match the surroundings. To overcome this factor I realised lighting would be the key. By lighting each part of the stage in a separate way would distinguish the transition between bright summer time and gloomy winter. For this to work the floor design plus colour must be fairly neutral in order to not off set the balance of the light being produced onto the certain area.

So...now to focus

After delving into different genres I can see how through adapting elements, playing with colour and translating ideas under different contexts can change not only the genre of a play but also the narrative. Now I'm not to sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing when it comes to producing a 'good' play.

Personally I don't like the fact that by adapting the object to fit a particular genre would in turn change the narrative of the play. Take for example in the wild west genre, a tepee translating the Lion's castle and hence changing the Lion to an Indian to fit (well in my eyes to be completely correct in subject matter).

Although I suppose this is good in some aspects - making the play original and escape the iconic fairytale depiction of a castle and changing a traditional character interpretation into something new. So I'm undecided whether to create a set which instantly translates the narrative or one which makes you think a little before grasping the intended concept. Swaying towards the surrealist approach amongst the horror genre.

WILD WEST

The Wild West genre can be found in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. The genre sometimes portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. It holds on to visual qualities such as settings 'on the ranch', cowboys on horseback, tepees and open fires (to name a few). Vast landscapes seem to depict the openness and natural setting of the genre.

Father translated as a cowboy on horseback.


If I were to apply this genre to my set design I feel I would need to adapt some of the features of my design to fit. Take for example the castle would perhaps become a large tepee which would have the same focal point as the castle but look different, and therefore reflecting a different feeling for genre all together (in this case symbolising the home of the native-Americans). I could play around with the idea of the cactus plant and make a number of these into a wild west pathway for the characters to travel through.

Set Design
A large tepee (Lion's castle) and over exaggerated cactus's (forest) are the main focal points within this design. Scale is a large element - adding the absurdest qualities into the relative reality of the wild west. Although my aim was to produce a set which was overpowering for the performers translating to the audience a sense of fantasy and fear.
If I were to bring in another element to this design it would be to have smoke machines bellowing out dry ice - in order to cover the stage and give the set an overall sense of the wilderness. As in reality the open fires would produce a smokey atmosphere.
A large distant mountain would be panoramicly produced on a semi circular backdrop - captivating the audience into the wild west setting and overall giving the set a continuous boundary so to speak.

By playing with the process of adaptation I do feel my design has changed in a way that I am not able to communicate the original narrative as successfully in this particular genre. So the choice in subject matter (ie changing castles into tepees) would be an important decision to make when thinking about the communication between the objects and the audience's interpretation.


















Above is my interpretation of the Lion's castle (front and back), in the original script the father discovers that behind the castle is a beautiful garden, to where he tries picking a rose for his daughter. In this genre however I have changed the castle to a tepee and rose bush to a blazing camp fire. Now to keep up with the narrative of the play, I thought why not change the precious rose to a sacred ember from the fire? Developing from this I thought the Lion should be a native Indian to therefore make sense of the embers being so precious.

FUTURISM

To expand my development further I decided to look into genre of Futurism. Now I know the first thing you think about when thinking of Futurism is the art movement and all the stylistic, bold brush strokes and high intensity colours being used. But there is much more within this genre than just painting so to speak. Architecture, film, music, photography, sculpture and theatre - all these categories are very different in subject but hold similar qualities in style throughout each.

The idea of conveying a sense of movement was one of the essential features of Futurist painting. Sometimes movement was conveyed by blurring forms or overlapping images in the manner of high-speed multiple-exposure photography. The fragmented forms of cubism and the bright, broken colours of neo-Impressionism were major influences. Usually the Futurists took their subjects from modern city life, machines, and power, and this influenced cubists and constructivists.

By focusing on this idea and exploring the elements of futurism towards my stage design I'm able to translate the play of the Lady and the Lion alternatively - producing something new and visually exciting for the suspected audience.

Design for Stage

I felt the best way I could communicate my design under the genre of Futurism was to play around with the colour palette. The futurist movement involved the use of high intensity and a selection of contrasting colours. For the Lion's castle the colours I used was to depict the Lion-like qualities yet communicate the essence of love and passion (the feeling surrounding the play) with the use of pinky reds around the 'Lion's eyes'. I decided to hold onto the basic shape as for the audience to be still be able to identify the object as a castle. Although I did play around with the inner shapes, thus reflecting the futurist style.

For the forest an iconic colour palette was use to let the audience again grasp the identity of the objects themselves i.e. trees being brown and green. I must admit I deliberately increased the intensity of these colours, just to keep within the futurist parameters. Also I made the conscious decision of making the 'section' of forest into literally one block, this was to help me communicate the concept of the sense of movement found in the futurist period.

Bold block colourful overlapping shapes are used in the floor and proscenium arch to instantly catapult the audience into the genre of futurism before the objects had been introduced. I would love to see the change in setting to happen through the background lighting. A large curved backdrop screen would project rays of light, changing clolour and intensity depending on the play's moment. These rays of colour would hopefully impact the audience in a 'wow-factoring' way. The sense of movement and change of state would hopefully have been communicated in this colourful protrayal of Futurism.