Set Design Tutorial

I feel so much better after today's tutorial! I almost have a final set design now- which is such a relief! phew!

Most of my work on it might have to wait until the mezzanine/gallery floor is erected next week, but I now have the basic concept sorted at least!

The idea which I've now settled on was the concept which I was the most excited about from the 3 new initial designs I created: The washing Line one. Once my tutor had discussed the technical specifications with me, it became evident that actually the washing-line idea was far more 'do-able' than I initially thought. I'm a bit nervous about working-out the angles and sight-lines etc, but it's important to say that the washing would only be pullied down for select 'moments' in select scenes- adding versatility and variety to the space.
I expressed that I missed the element of water in my washing-line design, and asked whether it was possible just to have a simple fountain in the middle, then it dawned on me that it would really make sense to make it into a washing space, so have more of a blocky platform with a hollow filled with water and maybe a pump... adorned with a few wet pieces of fabric and maybe a washboard.... On discussion with my tutor, he suggested that I could have a lid to the wash-hole which would enable it to be changed into a platform/table/chair, which I think is a brilliant idea.
So the general idea is that the washing can be lowered in and out in order to add emphasis to different moments. At the beginning for example, as the audience come in, ALL the washing will be down, hanging across the stage so the audience have to find their way through it in order to get to their seats. Then, in an homage to traditional theatre, as the play begins, all the washing will be pullied up to the rafters- revealing the first scene- like the curtain rising on a proscenium arch theatre.
I have a few other ideas for other 'moments' within the play, but I will need to talk to the director. For example, during Act3, Scene 3, when Borachio is divulging his evils to Conrad whilst the watch listen on, I though that maybe, in relative darkness, one of the sheets on the line could be manipulated into a makeshift-fort/tent where Borachio and Conrad's silhouettes are lit by candle-light as the Watch observe from outside.
Or for example, when Benedick is eavesdropping 'out-of-sight' on Don Pedro, Claudio, and Benedick, he could perhaps pick up a small tree and walk around with it- or even use the sheets again- wrapping himself up- almost like a Sari.
Anyway there's plenty to think about, and I am excited! hooray hooray! Back on track!

Some little quick sketches:

 Who would've thought that I used to be able to draw once upon a time....

Other Things Discussed in Tutorial:
-Although the seating rostra can be blue, not EVERYTHING can be blue like on the design, because of the quick turn-around to the next play- think about which bits NEED to be blue, and look back at the research images- see how the blue is mixed with other materials e.g. terracotta.  Also talk to Lauren the designer of Canterbury tales about whether she would be ok with blue.
-The fountain is too high, if I were to go for that idea- the maximum height of a centrepiece in the round should be about waist-height.
-The pergola idea may hinder acting/choreography.
-think about draping fabric on the underside of the decking.
-Maybe the initial scene could take place amidst the audience- gallery?
-Tree needs to be smaller.

Aesthetics VS Authenticity

Beatrice has been the character that I've been really struggling to get right from the very start. My instinct was to put her in a Salwar-Kameez, as to a western audience, the inclusion of the trousers can represent Beatrice's hint of powerful masculinity. However, I didn't really like the aesthetics of the Salwar-Kameez, even the period ones look quite modern.
Today I found this photo which I absolutely LOVED and it screamed Beatrice at me straight away:

.

I think what I like about it is that it's quite 'punk'- or at least is reminiscent of the western idea of 'punk'. And if anything Beatrice is quite a rebel. There are a few problems with dressing Beatrice like this. Firstly, I'm not sure if it's noble enough, although she is slightly lower status than Hero, Beatrice has still been brought-up in a wealthy family.
However, the utmost problem is that most of what I like about this outfit is the jewellery and adornments- the mismatch of colours and textures. YET all the things I like are things that represent the fact that the woman pictured above is MARRIED. All the jewellery and the chuda on her arms are signposts that she is married and Beatrice could not be more of a bachelorette.

But I love the aesthetic.......

Thus, the problem arises.... do I ignore the cultural implications of what this outfit might mean- assuming  that not a huge percentage of the audience have the specialist knowledge of the culture to pick-up on the error? But this seems ignorant and pig-headed, sweeping aside all the research I've done into the Indian culture and cultural appropriation.
However, as a costume DESIGNER I think I have certain artistic license to choose style over substance, when my main role is to get the 'look' of the piece right- especially when it is potentially a fact that few in the audience will know. It's not like I'm doing a period production of Pride and Prejudice and decided to put Mr Darcy in dungarees..... surely it's not as blindingly wrong as that? But maybe to an Indian person it is.....

Costumes for Claudio

Until my tutorial regarding my Set Designs tomorrow evening, I have decided to focus back onto the costumes as I think, during all the stress with my set, I may have underestimated how much I had left to do on them.
Today, I took one of my very initial designs that I felt had a strong concept and I was already happy with the direction in which it was going. There are a few costumes like this- mainly the uniform based ones, primarily because they are historical, and therefore my first few drawings of them aren't likely to change much.
The design I decided to realise in order to get my formatting etc sorted was Claudio's wedding outfit.
The result of my photoshop tinkering is below:
There are 2, experimenting with different backgrounds and texts.

I like the one on the right the best, both the text and the background are more appropriate for the play. I'm worried the darker background might be too distracting to the designs themselves, but then again, all the costume colours will contrast beautifully wit the blue as that is the hue that will hopefully be used with the set.
There are a few alterations still to make both with the design and the formatting, such as more careful/accurate colour rendering and touching up the line drawing. But ESSENTIALLY, this represents what I would like my final designs to look like.

Much Ado About Nothing- 4 Initial Set Designs

Yesterday I completed all the rough set design concepts that I've been working on in Google SketchUp and have compiled them together in a film for ease of access.

I really really really really dislike using SketchUp and in hindsight it might have just been easier to make little models of each one..... maybe. It's just incredibly hard to DRAW set designs when its in the round, so I thought SketchUp was my only option- forgetting how frustrated it makes me. It's the lack of fluidity that gets me, nothing runs smoothly; you'll run a command and then spend the next 45seconds-2mins waiting for it to complete it. Unlike Photoshop it lacks immediacy, which is normally one of the positive points of CAD work. Needless to say, by Set Design 4 I was ready to throw my laptop out the window.... so you'll have to excuse the fact that it's a little scrappy near the end- but the important thing is the communication of the concept, rather than the specifics.



Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lKIwBoSI74&feature=youtu.be

Whirlwind Cultural Expedition

For the last few days I have been travelling round the country .... well round the South of England, trying to make the most of some of the theatre etc. going on.
On Wednesday night I made a trip up to London to go and see the Arts Ed production of Mike Bartlett's '13', primarily with a view to take photos of the set for my portfolio. It was a bit of a nightmare getting there in the extreme heat and traffic, and I was deeply dismayed when I was forbidden from taking photos apart from in the interval and at the end (when the lights were down anyway- boo!), but luckily it was a good production and therefore meant that it wasn't a wasted trip. It was good to see the play again and I got a couple of blurry photos of my painting in situ.. still not happy with it. It was interesting to see the set tackled in a much more naturalistic way compared to the version at the National... which is odd because when I was building the set, it felt anything but naturalistic. It was well directed and I think the casting and acting were superb- very high standard, I hope Much Ado can achieve the same.
 One positive thing that I did get, was the name of the person to contact at Arts Ed about the possibility of getting my hands on the photos taken by the professional photographer during the dress rehearsals. So I will follow that-up shortly.

I then travelled from London to Brighton  in order to catch some of the Brighton Festival which ALAS, always falls on either exams or deadlines.
A few years ago I saw the most amazing piece of theatre I think I have ever seen. It was by a company called 'Dreamthinkspeak' who took over an old Co-op building as part of the festival, and turned it into the most amazing site-specific performance- based on Chekov's The Cherry Orchard- called 'Before I Sleep'. It was a promenade piece and took us a good 3 hours to explore it all, it was very reminiscent of 'Punch Drunk' and the use of such a huge space was exemplary.

The same company were back again this year with an adaptation of Hamlet in a large warehouse in Shoreham, and so I immediately booked tickets when the came on sale- yet remained concerned as it clashed with my deadline.
The new production 'The Rest Is Silence' was interesting, and definitely worth seeing, but was certainly not in the same league as their previous show. I'm very glad to have seen it- such an interesting interpretation of Hamlet, but the site-responsive element was lost, as was the interaction with the audience. It was a stark contrast to 'Beffore I Sleep' where you were promenading round a huge space for hours, interacting with the performers, because this time all the audience were walking round a comparatively small room with screens separating the actors from the audience. It's a shame that I didn't see it in time to write about it in my POP essay because the whole show was very reliant on technology: the walls were lined with mirrored screens each with 3 functions: 1.a mirror, 2. a transparent screen behind which the scene would take place, 3. an opaque screen for video projections. At first I decided I didn't really like the screens, it upset my a bit that I was seeing live performance but it felt almost as if I was watching tv, because there were these screens as barriers. But it was only shortly into the ice that I discovered their merit and completely changed my view on them. The screens enable you to get closer than ever before to the actors. For example, it was incredible, when Hamlet goes on an insane solitary rampage in his room, that instead of having this distance between the actor and the audience- as in conventional theatre- my face was literally all of about 7cm from his- separated by this screen- incredible! There were so many other interesting features, but given its slight irrelevance to Much Ado, I will skip over my 'full review' haha.

Then to top-off my cultural excursion, I went to the U.K's oldest cinema (and incidentally my favourite) The Duke of Yorks in Brighton, and watched the new Wes Anderson film 'Moonrise Kingdom' which was so beautiful it hurt. There were a few costume continuity errors, but I can let that slide because the attention to detail in all the set and costume and props was so mind-blowingly aesthetic and glorious. Quintessentially Wes Anderson, but one of his best so far.

A thoroughly productive few days in terms of cultural-enrichment, but a thoroughly unproductive few days in terms of getting back on track with 'Much Ado'.... oh well, I guess it's just as important to inform my work with contextual research as it is to do the work itself... I hope....

Results of Casting

Today I found out the final casting for 'Much Ado...' and I couldn't be happier with the results. Very, very excited! I've also been doing some research into Indian musical instruments... I wanted Balthazar to play the Sitar, but apparently it takes years to learn... so I'm instead trying to find one that could be potentially easy to learn if you already have a sound musical background in Western instruments. It is very difficult as all their wind instruments are double-reed.

Casting Sessions for Much Ado and Cementville

Today was another very interesting day.
Lovely director Doug Cockle, had invited myself and the Designers for Cementville (Zoe Rolph and Tassie Green), to the casting sessions for our respective plays! What an experience, so glad to have been a part of it. I'm so grateful throughout that my director has been so willing to let me get involved with every stage of the process rather than simply 'traditional design'.
The auditions took all day, so obviously were tedious at times, but it was just so so interesting seeing how different acting students tackeled the same roles. There were lots (well a few) potential Heros and Claudios, but Benedick and Beatrice were very hard to get 'right'. However, I am so pleased with what I've seen today, and whether Doug chooses to take into consideration my feedback or not, I am so grateful to have been part of the process- really eye-opening! Can't wait to see the final casting decisions... it's all so exciting!

 This evening I watched Felicity Kendal's Indian Shakespeare Quest on bbc iplayer. I'm so lucky to have so many pertinent programmes around at the moment, and watching this one was really interesting. It made me understand more the relationship between India and Shakespeare and certainly made me feel A LOT better about any potential qualms I still had about cultural appropriation issues. Very insightful.

SDP Presentations

Today was my first day back at uni after arriving back to Bournemouth last night.
We had a series of presentations in the lecture theatre by each different group of people- presenting their unique self-directed projects. It was an interesting day, although some projects were more interesting to me than others...... Either way, I was really keen to see what the rest of the year had been up to.  I was only allowed 2 minutes to present my work and given that my designs are a bit thin on the ground, I didn't really need much longer.
I especially liked seeing the results of the 'filmies' doing their styling projects and will endeavour to see their finished films.
Here is a copy of my powerpoint presentation- mainly visual research......

SDP Powerpoint Presentation

Fabric Sourcing and an Interview at the V&A

Today was the first day in so long that I could focus back on Much Ado... it's hard to remember where I'd got to. But fabric sourcing was so much fun (as always) and I got some really beautiful samples (only a few pictured below), in fact most of my samples are reds, oranges and yellows, as I feel teh accent colour for my set will be blue, and I don't want the costumes to clash.... however, there were some blue fabrics that were just too beautiful not to take note of.....
I only hit Goldhawk road, I'd like to go back and have a mosey round Southall and Petticoat Lane, but it was all so much cheaper than I anticipated- the average price definitely being under £10 p/m- which fills me with relief.... although there were some beautiful hand-embroidered pure silks that were TO DIE FOR at £25 per meter, some are pictured below... I bought half a meter of each... couldn't resist.... whoops.

After my successful fabric sourcing expedition, I walked the short distance to the V&A archives for my interview with the Performance team for a potential summer work placement.
Oh my gosh, I have never seen such a place in my life. It's so wonderful to be somewhere that celebrates incessant collecting rather than punishing it. It was just so amazing, I couldn't believe my eyes. I got a whirlwind tour round the department which included warehouse-sized rooms full of filing cabinets- filed by name of the theatre, and within are little folders on each play, with programmes, news paper clippings... everything.... not to mention the rails and rails and rails of costumes... the boxes and boxes and boxes of accessories, the rows and rows and rows of scripts. It was incredible. I would LOVE to do a placement here- I feel like even if I were doing something quite menial, I'd learn so so much- to be surrounded with that much knowledge and that much context... not to mention everyone who works there is self-confessed 'theatre crazy'. The interview went well, and it seemed to be more about whether I definitely wanted to come as opposed to whether they wanted me to work with them. So provided I can fit it around my summer job... it should all be fine and dandy! Hooray!

Work Placement Day 11: "Final Day"

So my work at Arts Ed has come to an end. 'Much Ado' needs much attention...
Today was pretty relaxed- a nice final day. We spent the morning sourcing some final bits, which would have been slightly better if it hadn't meant carrying 25 large cartons of Apple Juice a whole mile back from Sainsburys... severe back pain now, but I'm sure it will pass, atleast it was a sunny day.
I also did some more computer work- making backs for credit cards.
In the afternoon, I had a right treat- got to watch the run-through of the dress rehearsal!
Finally a chance to see what we'd been working towards!
They play was interesting, if not slightly confusing. The props worked well though.
The worst thing about it was that there was absolutely no way that you could see the grey lines that we had painstakingly painted on to the set a few weeks ago.... but other than that, everything else went rather smoothly, which was great. Glad all our hard work paid off... well most of it.
After that we just had to do a quick mop and a sweep and I was done forever! Well hopefully not forever, but for now.
I'd like to come back and see 13 premiere next weds, but I'll have to see how I'm getting on towards my deadline and how my bank balance is looking after almost 3 weeks of travelling in London.
Working at Arts Ed was an interesting experience but I am so anxious to get back to 'Much Ado' I have completely lost my flow of whats going on. I almost feel like it's like starting all over again. Fabric Sourcing in Goldhawk Rd tomorrow... hopefully that will get me back on the right track....

Set For 'How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found'

So on the way home I saw this garden gazebo... Now that the mezzanine floor in the Studio theatre is a definite, I thought I'd definitely have to scrap the idea of having my wrought iron gazebo because it would restrict the view from above too much.... but I notice when I saw this one that actually, even through the bars, the view is very clear. Something to think about.

Work Placement Day 10: "Love Love Love...."

Working Hours: 10:30am - 6:15pm
Today was all about painting... again. We started off working back on 'How to Disappear...' (which opens tomorrow) primarily repainting things we'd already painted last week but now looked worse for wear. I was then given the task of cleaning the toilet.
Luckily not as bad as it sounds (just!). There is a toilet that is wheeled on as part of the set for the play and it hand paint encrusted all over it from previous productions- so I had to try and get it off... The tricky thing being that there were no materials to do this with. I asked for maybe some white spirit and a scrubbing brush, but in the end was simply reduced to having to use the brush from the Paint Room, hot water, and hand-soap... considering my limited arsenal, I think I did a ruddy good job, but it was knackering.

The good thing about this was that we got to see the designer again, and she gave me her card and asked me to do some costume supervising for a show she's deigning for in the Edinburgh festival! Hope I can be involved!
We soon progressed onto working on '13' (the show for which we have recently been scenic painting). Our task was to paint and glaze the floor. Which sounds sooo simple. I was convinced we'd be done and dusted by 4:00pm at the very latest- forever an optimist! There was a large square of tiles centre stage that had to be painted black and gloss glazed, whereas the rest of the floor had to be painted black and matte glazed. It just look so long. One part that made us take longer was getting inside all the cracks in between the tiles.... it's just amazing how much time something like that can add! Annoyingly we worked from the back of the stage to the front.... we realised the folly of our ways when we ran out of glaze..... So now we always know, start at the front because that's the bit everyone can see. It just didn't occur to us in time....

In the evening Natalie and I met up with some friends and we went to see Mike Bartlett's (very appropriate) Love Love Love at the Royal Court.
As usual, I tried to find out as little as possible about this play before going to see it, so was a bit baffled and annoyed when in the first act 2 actors who were clearly at least 30, were playing 19 year olds.... it was only as the play progressed that I understood why. Each Act of the Triptych shows the same characters at different life stages, documenting the relationship between my generation and my parent's generation, criticising the Baby Boomers for a self-involved, selfish, and brash lifestyle, which has left their children in turmoil.
It was such an interesting play, so apt, I left the theatre terrified. Literally terrified. It just reflected my life too too much. I honestly had to think about whether I should continue with my degree, whether there was nay point in trying to be a Theatre Designer.... it was scary. Despite watching the last 2 Acts through parted fingers, I thought it was a brilliant play, and I am thoroughly convinced that Mike Bartlett will be remembered as a key playwright for our generation.
Not sure about the Set Design though.... naturalistic box-sets, made you feel like you were watching telly...... was quite effective though, just not very imaginative use of space. Maybe it's to do with all my writing about Brecht in my POP essay which I finished for good yesterday....

Work Placement Day 9: "Scenic Painting"

Working Hours: 10:30am - 5:15pm
Today was definitely one of the most useful days of my placement so far, possibly one of the least productive, but I learnt the most.
Natalie and I got to spend the day with the wonderful scenic painter Anna Stamper, who is just a joy to work with.
Unfortunately, given that today was their last day with us, the painting team were exceptionally busy meaning that they really didn't have time to talk us through everything step by step or give us much hands-on experience in terms of painting stuff- just because they were too tight for time.
But Anna and her team were still so helpful and gave us so many tips- how to paint things to look like wood (including 'give your brush a bad haircut'), how to texture paint etc etc. And at the end of the day she commented on 'what a nice team' myself and Natalie made, and gave us both her number with the instruction to call her if we any needed any help or advice. What a wonderful lady!
So I learnt a huge amount today, mainly painting techniques, but I physically DID very little. There was one creative job on set which Anna delegated to myself and Natalie, but given that I had got the creative job of working on the Gerhard Richter painting yesterday, I was more than happy to let Natalie have the main part in this. I spent most of the day holding ladders and washing-up brushes (Anna even had a good tip for doing this) and as usual I painted some more things black, but I was happy in this role because I felt I was learning a lot and I knew Natalie would do a great job. Our job was essentially to transcribe a painterly line from the set model onto the wall 25 times the size. It was such an interesting exercise because getting it right took alllllllll day, you wouldn't believe! Yet in the model box, I'm sure it was just a hap-hazard absent minded brush-stroke that the Designer put little thought into but was happy with the result. It just made me realise how important it is to make your model boxes so incredibly accurate ESPECIALLY when working with scenic painters, as they strive so so hard to replicate everything impeccably from your model; it might be something that didn't even cross your mind when you made the model- the angle of a wall, the splat of paint on the floor, but if you have a good production team, chances are any happy accidents will be replicated to full scale! It was an important lesson to learn.
I was actually very glad to have taken the back-seat for this exercise, even if it meant doing more menial tasks, because it was so hard to get the brush stroke 'just right'. The Designer came in half way through and told us what she thought could be improved, but it was only until after she left that we realised that each one of us had got a completely different interpretation of what she meant- it was like an optical illusion- do you see the vase or the couple facing one another? - like with this it was more the case of 'is it a white brush stroke on black, or a black brush stroke on white'. The problem was when the designer had said 'more paint at the top' (for example) half of us construed it as black, the other half as white.... so complicated. Poor Natalie had to keep at it for so long, and to be honest the sight-lines for this set are so unusual that only a very select few of the audience can see the line anyway. But still, I am in complete support of replicating the Designer's vision- she knows what she's talking about and it's important that she's happy with the results of the set.
She also talked to me about the painting, I think primarily she was happy with it (which I was surprised about because I have grown to abhor it) she asked me to blurry up the features a bit more, which is like a 10 min job, so I will do that on monday or tuesday before I go. I hope she is genuinely happy with it, I wish I'd had more time- could have done a better job I'm sure....
I learnt a lot today.

Perfect for Painting wood: 'Paintbrush with a bad haircut'

Mid-wood-effect... faux mahogany.

Work Placement Day 8: "Painting Paintings"

Working Hours: 10:30am - 6:30pm
Definitely my most enjoyable day on placement so far, the main downfall being that I didn't get to spend it with Natalie.
For the morning, I was instructed to 'do the painting'. In that I now had to FINISH my Gerhard Richter transcription. I don't think I did too bad a job considering:
a) the huge size of the painting
b) the small image I had to work from
c) my limited time
d) the fact I hadn't used oils- or done any sort of 'proper painting' since A-level... many years ago.
I worked outside, and felt a lot better outside in the fresh-air, meaning I had better light and less fumes from the copious amounts of white spirit.
Here is my finished result:

The Designer has yet to see it, I really hop she's ok with it, I'm very nervous.
The other good thing about today was that the Scenic painter was in. I'm so annoyed I can't remember her full name, so I will find out tomorrow.
She was lovely, and I had a whale of a time learning some tricks of the trade from her, and doing some creative prop painting for a change. I think the reason I enjoyed this day so much more than some of the others was because I felt like I was being put to work in a creative, rather than logistic context, which appeals to me a lot more and seems sufficiently more relevant to my degree. I also enjoy any opportunity to learn from professionals, so relished my time with the scenic artist and also with the production manager Di Steadman, who is full of useful little tips and tricks.
This is why I was very disappointed to be made to stop working with the scenic artist, and do something thoroughly uncreative and tediously labour-intensive.... Instead of continuing painting a cabinet to look like Mahogany (which I was rather enjoying) Natalie and I were reunited again only to be made to carry every prop and set piece from the top floor (Where the rehearsal space is) down to the Studio Theatre on ground level. It was very hard work, and I was sad because I didn't feel like I was getting as much from the experience as I would have been if I'd stayed with the Painting Crew. They are coming back tomorrow so I really hope to spend as much time as possible, learning as much as possible..... but alas I'm in for a Tech Rehearsal at 9:00am... so I don't know what the chances are...

Work Placement Day 7: "Sourcing Allsorts"

Working Hours: 10:30am - 6:00pm
The last two days have involved sufficiently more enjoyable tasks, today being more varied than yesterday. We spent the majority of the day trying to source more props from around Hammersmith and Chiswick, with varied success. And despite the fact that it was pouring with rain and we were struggling to find things on the somewhat ambiguous list, it was still great to get out and about- and I genuinely quite enjoy sourcing. I always get a bit frustrated sourcing in London though, because you almost have too much choice, and I don't know which areas are best for what, despite having lived there.
Things I have learnt:
-Although the Internet suggests that Powdered Milk is a good Cocaine substitute, my suggestion of icing sugar actually works much better.
-Concocting a low budget soft-drink beverage that looks like beer is harder than it sounds. We hope to try a mixture of this dark fruity limited edition Schloer, diluted coke, and apple juice....
-Some phone shops are happy to give you ex-display models as props.... some definitely won't. Today we had success with O2 and the Carphone Warehouse, but EVERY other phone shop in the world said no.
After sourcing, and a late lunch, I had to start my big (140cm x 160cm) Gerhard Richter transcription.
I am soooo worried about this as I haven't done any oil painting for years... and this sort of photographic-style has never been my strong point. I have realised that I will definitely need more white oil paint... and hopefully at £4 a pop, there will be room in the budget for it.  I just did some blocking-in today before leaving it for the night, as the white spirit fumes were becoming a bit over-powering- leaving me a bit spacey on the tube home. If I'm going to be painting all day tomorrow I might try to move to a room that has at least SOME ventilation, or weather permitting I could move outside and get some good natural light.... or maybe they might have a mask I could wear... I doubt it.

An hour or so of initial work....

When I got home, I superimposed my blocked-in painting over the original using photoshop to see if I'd gotten the proportions correct. It all seems pretty bang-on (which is good) but the neck needs to come-in a bit, and the chin needs to be sufficiently shallower, finishing higher. Other than that- should all be fine and dandy.... I hope... eeek!

Photoshop file, see how the chin profile is mismatched

Work Placement Day 6: "Painting Props Precariously"

Working Hours: 10:30am - 5:45pm
Today we painted various props and set-pieces, including a toilet and sink on wheels, our friend the coffin, and tables etc. It's a shame we weren't assigned this task earlier last week, because the set painting took so long on on Thursday and Friday, it meant we were sort of a day behind, resulting in us having to paint the props IN the Studio Theatre- not only working round the sound-guys rigging up, but also being incredibly careful not to spill any paint or glaze on our newly painted floor and walls.... we partly succeeded, and are hoping that the gloss glaze drips that somehow got on the floor might not show-up... whoops. The good news is that the footprints on the floor are less obvious now that it's been glazed.

The set once glazed.

Natalie paints a chest of drawers...

Work Placement Day 5: "Seeing Spots..... and stripes"

Working Hours: 10:00am-7:30pm
Today was such a long an infuriating day.
The tasks we needed completed by Saturday morning (when the actors were coming in to the theatre for a run-through):
-Mask lines of both 'houses' and on floor- to measurements specified by designer: must be straight.
-Paint lines
-Glaze both 'houses' and the whole floor.
On paper, it may not look like a lot, but I left at 7:30 and we'd only just started glazing. I literally spent all day up a ladder masking straight lines, and it was dizzying work. The more lines you masked the more your depth perception went berserk, making being up a ladder even more difficult.

Starting to mask the lines: East side of Stage

Just like colouring in the hollows inside the holes yesterday, this job of drawing the lines took everyone so much longer than expected, and I couldn't help feeling that there must have been a quicker way to do it. I was also a bit worried that the lines were too thin and too light- that in fact all our efforts would be wasted.... but that remains to be seen with the lighting design etc.

Natalie did the floor, I did the walls.

Starting to paint the masked lines: West Side of stage

Before and after. Floor on left :still masked, floor on right: painted with masking removed...........

I was also deeply disheartened because having spent a lot of time and effort beautifully painting the studio theatre floor, it was now, when we came to glaze it, covered in scuff-marks, dust and footprints. This was so infuriating, and made me think twice about painting the floor for 'Much Ado'. We were advised that the footprints would 'disappear' underneath the glaze.... let's hope that's the case when I come back on Tuesday...
The moment of truth.... was it really worth it?

End Result before glazing

I can completely sympathise with the designer, she is very lovely, and worked hard all day alongside Natalie and I, plus I can understand wanting everything to be done perfectly, and hopefully she'll feel like this labour-intensive process will be worth it in the end.
This was such a long day.... and then I had to travel back to Brighton straight from work because I don't have accommodation in London over the weekend, I'm hoping this means I can lock myself in the house and bash-out my POP essay....

Good Matte Glaze..... but terrified us when it went on blue...

Work Placement Day 4: "Paint It Black."

Working Hours: 10:30am - 6:00pm
I wonder if the Rolling Stones would have written this song, so enthusiastically condoning a monochromatic transformation, if they'd ever actually HAD to paint everything black. Given my experiences today, my guess is no....
Today Natalie and I spent the day painting the set for 'How To Disappear Completely and Never be Found". It's taking place in the studio theatre and it's a very interesting set design- I can't wait to see it in action- it's sort of reminiscent of a mix of skyscrapers and computer chips.
The set consists of the following structure at each end of the theatre:

Each of the two structures consists of hundreds of holes on every surface, internal, external, north, south, east, west....

Our main job today was to paint the inside surface of every visible hole.... which is more time-consuming than it sounds as the drill holes are rough and uneven, meaning the paint didn't go on without a fight.
Here is a photo of Natalie beautifully demonstrating our role:

We also had to paint the floor:

It was hard work.

Tomorrow we are in bright and early to masking tape lines onto everything and to glaze all the surfaces. One of the main things I learnt today was the difficulty with requiring a matte set piece in theatre. Because the designer (who I met for the first time today, and was lovely) wanted to keep the black boxes matte, however jut keeping it as black emulsion would attract very visible marks and dust (one of the most annoying parts of our job today) and yet all the glazes are too glossy. Even the ones that claim to be 'matte glaze' are too shiny. Which isn't too surprising as 'matte glaze' is a bit of an oxymoron. I will be interested to see tomorrow how this problem is resolved.
On the bright-side, I also met the designer for '13' who on seeing my 'test painting' said she was happy for me to go ahead and paint the large one, which I hope to do next Tuesday. What's even better is that not only will I be allowed to use oils, but I will also be working on canvas, which hopefully means I will do a much better job! Hooray! Can't wait.
As a reward for our long day of hard graft, Natalie and I treated ourselves to tickets to see 'The Lion King'. It was a first time for both of us, and despite high expectations we were both utterly blown away. The opening sequence was just incredible. Such innovative costume. It's amazing that Disney can make 'Hamlet' so involving and emotional. And a good production to see for my POP essay, as all the technology used was visible to the audience. If anyone ever undermines the role of a costume designer ever again, I will ensure to bring-up the Lion King- a production that would be nowhere without the design and craft.