Following my week doing primary research in Brighton, I have since been focusing on my Set Designs. As aforementioned in previous posts, one of the main things I took from my research at the Royal Pavilion was the juxtaposition between the natural greenery and flowers of the decorative gardens and the Indian-style architecture of the Pavilion itself. There are a lot of forms reflected from one to the other, the domes reminiscent of bulbs, and the filigree patterns adorning every wall are often floral in quality.
As I have always planned to set 'Much Ado' in an outdoorsy setting, yet the October weather is too temperamental to actually stage it outdoors (not to mention that it would be a logistical nightmare), one of the main issues I have had to address when looking at the set, is how to make the dark, black studio theatre feel like being outside in India in the sunshine. Obviously a lot will rely on lighting, but the set will also have to reflect that.
Originally I wanted to steer well away from using any sort of trees or foliage in my set as I always think it looks so tacky and fake when used in theatre. However, this was before I had my tutorial on Wednesday, when it was explained to me that there are (believe it or not) specialist companies that hire out REAL trees purely for the purpose of stage and screen. I would love to get a big orange tree, with thick over-hanging branches, whose boughs creep onto the above of the centre stage.... however, I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be a bit out of my budget..... what a shame... I'm sure there's something we can do.
Anyway,
I was getting a bit ahead of myself, so I went back to the drawings and photos I took in Brighton and decided to do some collaging using my own photos and photos from my research (mainly of Indian architecture or Indian flora). I thought that experimenting with compositions and different ways of combining nature with architecture would inspire me as to how to incorporate it into my set- even without the use of actual plants.
Here are the collages, they have been a useful tool, and I actually quite like them (although they scanned a bit funny):
No comments:
Post a Comment