Introduction

Introduction

In this unit I was asked to create a scenario for a school production that was based in the 1950’s era. The play that our school has chosen to put in production is ‘the little shop of horrors’.

We were all set a certain area to develop our ideas and to get the production up and running. The area that I choose to go into was ‘graphics’. The reason why I choose to do graphics was because I am currently taking A level graphics so therefore know how to make effective posters, leaflets and tickets that will attract the attention of the target audience.

The theme of the play is ‘horror’. This means that we had to follow a house style on the posters to present the play scary. The typeface and the images had to scary. This is very effective as it will attract more of its target audience and will show them that the play is going to be a horror.

In this unit I will also have a formal interview with Mrs. Jones as she is the head of the production. This will allow me to find out information on how she wants the props to look and be.  

Audience Feedback

Audience feedback

After every show there will always be audience feedback. The feedback can either be good or bad quotes about the show. Some of the audience feedback we got for the school production was…

–     “The big plant was scary; did it really eat that man?” (George 5 yrs)

–     “It was very professional looking for a student production. The lighting and sets made it look very convincing”  Mrs. Bansal (Mum 39)

–     “I wish I had known it was gonna be that good, I would have auditioned for a part. It felt like a professional musical” Amrit 13 yrs

–     “The props and background were impressive, especially the giant plant and how it got bigger and bigger in each scene, that was the best bit. It really looked like it was eating people” Mr. Edwards ( Teacher 59)

As you can see most people we asked about what they thought of the “Little shop of horrors” production gave good feedback. This must mean that the show was very entertaining. This made it very successful.

20th Century

20th Century

Early 20th century:

•In the 1920s Bertolt Brecht was a german theatre director who believed in a very bare stage so that the ‘truth’ of the acting was clear and not cluttered by elaborate scenery.

•This helped designers to develop new ideas.

20th Century and today:

•Artists and Designers like Pablo Picasso and David Hockney have developed theatre set design even further, creating exciting and innovative designs.

Some of the big budget productions of contemporary mainstream theatre are very technically complex and elaborate, eg. John Napier’s designs for the West End theatres.

Edward Gordon Craig

Edward Gordon Craig

•Edward Gordon Craig was a pioneer of Modern stage craft

•He broke away from traditional realistic set design

•Throughout the 20th century his experimental ideas can be seen to influence all theatre design....



19th century

19th Century history

•Scenery still looked very architectural and realistic. The three major scenic trends during the 19th century, especially in Europe, were:

•Historically accurate scenery

•The development of the realistic box set

A revolt against the two dimensional world of painted canvas



History of theatre design

Early stage sets of the 16th and 17th century 

•Early formal stage performances in Europe were performed to entertain Kings, Queens and courtiers in the royal courts and palaces.

•The best architects and artists of the time were asked to design the sets

•These were built in the palaces or grounds and were semi permanent



Mind map images

Performance type images



Performace types

Performance types

What is performance – performance is an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience.

Mindmap:

•Street performance/mime

•Festivals

•Bands/Rock/rap/pop concert

•Dance

•Ballet

•Play/Drama

•Musical theatre

•Awards/presentations

•Fashion show

•Puppet show

•Film

•TV show/quizz/chat show

•Reality TV

•Opera

•Orchestra/classic music

Health and safety considerations

Risk assesment

Risk:                                                                            Solution:

Pre Production:                                                  Pre Production:

·         Use of power tools                              wear safety clothes/goggles

·         Cutting equipment                               Use cutting mats/cut away

·         Use of paint and glue/solvents           Use water based liquids

·         Using suitable materials                    check out fire retardency rules

·         Heavy lifting                                       work in groups, bend knees

·         Ensure props are safe for performers      plant… make sure its stable

Production:                                                      Production:

·        Stage blackout/falling/tripping         Use of torches, marks on the floors

·        Height hazard, falling off            clear announcements to cast

·        Props being misused/lost                  keep props on specific table

·        Moving scenery                                 Well rehearsed jobs

·        Crowd control                                    controlled ticket sales, security

·        Fire                                                    Clear announcements, clear signs

After logging onto this website …

http://www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/information.htm#film

I found out about all of the relevant laws that can be researched. I found out about violence to workers that are in the show. Some of the hazards that were said were:

Hazards

Productions can encounter violence from many directions. These include:

·         members of the public intending to steal or demanding 'protection';

·         people who do not wish to be recorded;

·         direct or indirect assault when caught in an affray;

·         situations of public disorder or civil disturbance;

·         conflicts with contractors, other productions or other members of your own crew;

·         hostile 'authorities'/forces, eg crew arrested/kidnapped;

·         people under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Poster Analysis

Colour

Colour… I have decided to have a black background with red writing because this shows the theme of the show is a horror immediately. Also the colours are contrast and stand out on each other from a distance. This will attract its target audience.

Text/font

Text/font… as you can see I have used a font that matches the theme of the show. The title has blood dripping off of it and this shows that the show is a scary, brutal production.

Legal requirements

Legal requirements... This needed to be added to the bottom of the poster. This is because of the copyright laws.  This shows that all of this work is ours and original.

Dates

Dates… the dates of the show had to be written on to poster in order to let the target audience know when it was. As you can see its written in a normal but bold font to make it more readable but stand out.

Images

Image… the image that I have deiced to use is one that would appeal to the attended target audience. As you can see it has been edited to make it look brighter and stand out.

Group discussions

Group discussions



Jobs in theatre/staging

1.       Theatre director

A theatre director is a practitioner in the theatre field that oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production. The director’s function is to ensure the quality and completeness of theatre production and to lead the members of the creative team into realizing their artistic vision of it.

2.       Producer

A producer is someone that is responsible for overseeing and virtually mounting a production together. For example a theatrical producer would be responsible for mounting a theatre production together.

3.       Designer

A designer is a person that designs things. In other words a designer is an agent that creates the structure of an object. A designer could be someone that creates things such as games, graphics, buildings, objects, laws etc.

4.       Lighting designer

The role of a lighting designer is to work with the director, set designer and costume designer to create an overall lighting set for the appropriate scenes and text in the show. It is very important they work with everyone of the team as the lighting is very important.

5.       Musical director

A music director is someone who directs the music. This means that they could be the leader of a orchestra or even deciding what music will go into a film or a show.

6.       Stage manager

A stage manager is someone that organizes and coordinates a theatre production. This means that before a show they make sure that the sets are all full prepared and all props are ready to be taken onto stage.

7.       Stage crew

Stage crew is people that help the stage manager with his work.

8.       Choreographer

The choreographer is the person who creates a suitable dance routine. His could also involve how each person moves on stage and in what way.

9.       Prop master

The prop master is an artistic and organized employee in a film, television or theatre production. The prop master is responsible for purchasing any materials for the production.

10.   Construction manager

The construction management is the overall planning and construction of a production, co ordination and control of a project within a deadline of meeting their client’s requirements. Project management is the process by which a project is brought to a successful conclusion.

11.   Dresser/wardrobe assistant

The role of a dresser is to make sure that performers in the production are dressed appropriately and look appropriate for the stage. This means that their clothes much to a certain standard and fit in with the themes of the production and also make-up, hair styles etc.

12.   Publicist

The job of a publicist is to gather publicity of the production in order for the production to make money and also gather a crowd. The ways in which a publicist can do this is by making leaflets, adverts and billboards.

Client Meeting

Client meeting

My client for this unit is Ms. Jones. She is my client because she is the producer and director of the production, “little shop of horrors”. In my first meeting with Ms. Jones I presented all of my visual research. This included my 1950’s mood board and experiments with typefaces. I also showed her the different themes and designs.

My client Ms. Jones gave me fantastic feedback on how to improve my designs. She told me that she liked the black, green, and red colours. However, she wanted one aspect from each of my designs to put into one poster. She clearly stated that that the legal requirements must be printed in small print onto the poster. This would make the production copyright free. The feedback that Ms. Jones gave me affected my work vastly. This is because I wanted to reach my clients expectations and have an amazing result. I changed my work and did exactly what she told me to do. After doing what my client told me to do. I then showed her and she liked my work. This shows that my client was happy with my result and I was happy and I reached her expectations. It was important to discuss progress with the client because you will then know what she wants you to do. It is very important to have more than one meeting to show changes and improvements. This would make my work better and my client very happy as my work would match her expectations.

Thrust Stage

A thrust stage is a more modern type of stage. Performers on this stage are part of the audience so therefore the audience feels more “intimate”. This stage is most commonly used for interview shows, dramas and fashion shows.

In-the-round stage

In this type of stage the crowd completely surrounds the stage. Therefore this means that they could also feel part of the show. This type of stage is usually used for presentations, music concerts, exhibitions and boxing events. This is because it is easier to see as it tiers and also goes all around the stage. People can see in all different directions.

Proscenium Arch stage

A Proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch (called the proscenium arch even though it is frequently not a rounded archway at all), which is located at or near the front of the stage. The use of the term "proscenium arch" is explained by the fact that in Latin, the stage is known as the "proscenium", meaning "in front of the scenery. In a proscenium theatre, the audience directly faces the stage, which is typically raised several feet above front row audience level, and views the performance through the proscenium "arch". The main stage is the space behind the proscenium arch, often marked by a curtain which can be lowered or drawn closed. The space in front of the curtain is called the "apron". The stage-level areas obscured by the proscenium arch and any curtains serving the same purpose (often called legs or tormentors) are called the wings, while the space above the stage that is concealed by the top of the proscenium arch is called the flyspace. Any space not viewable to the audiences is collectively referred to as offstage. Proscenium stages range in size from small enclosures to several stories tall.

Moodboard Evaluation

Moodboard Evaluation

What is a mood board and what is it used for?

A mood board is a type of poster that often consists of many images in a choice of sequence by the creator of the mood board. It could sometimes include text and samples of objects on them. Designers use mood boards to help the design the final design and also to communicate with other members of the team, to help them understand how the final design should look. Mood boards are usually used so a person can visually illustrate how a certain objective should be carried out. In this case I created a mood board to show how the set should be designed for the show “Little shop of horrors”. Creating a mood board will give the creator a great design inspiration as they would have everything planned visually and could just follow it. It will also give the rest of the team inspiration as they will know exactly how it should and would want to achieve the objective.

How did you research your theme?

In order for me to create my mood board I had to do amounts of research before. The way I carried out my research was by surfing the internet and using many different search engines. One of the search engines that I used was “Google”. This is one of the best search engines as it has everything, i.e. – “advanced search”. I used the advanced search tool to narrow down my search and get the best possible results. I used keywords like “1950”, “new York”, “set designs” etc. After doing this it came up with great images. To get the best possible quality I had to crop my images so therefore I cropped them to a smaller size and got great quality.

How did you use your mood board to help design the set?

The mood board that I created came into great success as it helped me very efficiently to create the set. It helped me to select and edit the appropriate images. It also helped to select the right colours, textures and period details. I used all of the images on the set to base the whole set design on. Some images even looked like they were re made on stage. 

Stage terms

Stage terms

Stage Blocking

Stage blocking is when the director is guiding the actor’s movement and positioning on the stage. This term may be used during a performance of an opera, film, ballet or play.

Sightlines

A sightline is the line between the edges of the stage also known as the spectacle in a theatre or stadium or any sort of staging.

Stage Directions

A stage direction is a order that is written in brackets on a script that tells an actor how to do something. This helps keep the show running without any major pauses.

Upstage

When somebody says "Upstage" it means cover the back half of the stage. Staging directors are important because actors need to be able to know in which director they should approach and arrive so that they don’t clash between other actors.

Downstage

Downstage is the opposite of upstage. It covers the front half of the stage and can also be used to direct actors.

Stage Right and Stage Left

Stage right and stage left is as stated the right and left halves of the staging area. All the stage terms cover the whole stage.