They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (3)

22/2/12

Scaffolding for the set was cut today (6 x 6ft scaffold poles), but we are still currently waiting for the supplier to deliver the rest (another 6 poles). Also, work began today on the ‘Hours danced’ board. Using old materials found in the workshop, a 60 x 140cm board was cut out. To provide the numbers for the board, sheets of board with the same dimensions as an A3 sheet of paper (29.7 x 42cm) were cut, with 13 in total.

24/2/12
Progress on the ‘hours danced’ board continued today; the sheets have been painted white with the numbers in black. The scaffold for the 6ft section also arrived today after much delay from the supplier. The posters have all been printed and are now ready to all be placed on the conservatory section.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (2)

23/1/12

The photo shoot was successful; the appropriate cast turned up in an early design of the costume and plenty of photos were taken for myself and the publicity crew to work from. These photos will then be taken and illustrated appropriately to match the style of the intended 1930s material.

To see the photographs taken, please follow the link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/117599584378156466291/TheyShootHorsesDonTTheyPreliminaryPhotos?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMrg78jMldy8rwE&feat=directlink

21/2/12

Since the photoshoot took several weeks ago, I have since finished work on the posters that will be used for set dressing. With a total of 21 posters, the posters have gone to print to be used to dress the set. The majority of the posters were designed from the photoshoot, but the rest were all deigned as posters you would have seen in a 1930s sports hall where the action of the play takes place. The designs for the posters range from advertisements for the dance marathon itself to posters promoting local businesses, holidays and mayoral candidates. The designs for the posters are all sourced and inspired by the research I found relating to the 1930s, ranging from movie posters to old flyers. These posters will be used to cover the back part of St Mary’s Theatre, the section nicknamed the ‘conservatory’. From the measurements taken, I calculated that we would need around 380 A3 posters to cover the face and side of the conservatory, but that number may change depending on how overlapped the posters will be.

To see the processes of my designs and the final images, please follow this link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/117599584378156466291/TheyShootHorsesDonTTheySetDressingPosters?authuser=0&feat=directlink

During a production meeting, the problem of how to increase the staging area and solve the problem of masking unused space arose. It was my suggestion from a quick doodle on paper to change the shape of the steel deck stage to more of a pronounced L shape rather than the flatter, less pronounced shape of the initial idea model. This has since been approved, and is a major part of the layout of the steel deck part of the staging.  The steel deck area has enough room for a 4-piece band and an upstairs office area for the character ‘Rocky Gravo’. 

Early set concept

Another early set concept

A more finalised set concept, with the 'office' section between the
pillar and the wall

The set set out

The lower part of the steel deck is around a foot from the ground, with the taller section (as of yet to be set up due to suppliers not delivering scaffold in time) at 6 foot high. The steel deck is covered with a tacky-looking orange valance, so as to elaborate upon  the makeshift nature of the actual dance marathon event.

 The theatre floor has been taped off, with the actors playing to a line of action for the rehearsals. The idea for the floor is to convey that this was indeed a beat up old sports hall with markings for sports such a basketball and tennis mapped out in various colours of LX tape. Director Patsy Burn was specific about not using red for this; it would draw too much attention away from the action and would stand out more during flashback scenes where the lighting changes dramatically to convey the sense that the scene happens in the past.

The floor has been painted in the style of a worn out dance/ sports hall floor, with layers of grubby yellows and light browns. The sports lines will be added soon.

Concept model for the 'hours danced board'

Also in development is the ‘hours danced board’. After several placements with problems with visibility and functionality, it has been decided that the board will be rigged between the 6ft steel deck and the parallel pillar.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1)

I am currently working on a production named They Shoot Horses, Don't They? At St Mary's University.  Directed by Patsy Burn, the production is due to go on early march. My role is to act as a mentor to the students involved in the production; I am there to aid with general ideas, problems that may occur during the design and construction and to oversee what the second year student are doing. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Is a play set in 1930s Los Angeles - during the great depression. The public submit themselves into dance marathons, forcing them to compete against each other in pairs to win $1000. During the competition, which lasts hundreds of hours, the competitors are only allowed to rest for ten minutes every two hours or they are dropped from the contest.

 At the current stage in the process, I have discussed the set ideas with designer Tina Bicat. From there, I have begun to gather research ideas and designs for the production. 

An idea that came up early on was to cover the bare walls of St Mary's theatre with posters of the era.  These would have to be new designs of our own creation. Alongside some members of the crew, we have plans to have at least ten different designs of posters to cover the walls. The posters which I have in mind have members of the cast in poses based on film and dance posters from the 1930s, so as to give an edge of familiarity and authenticity to them. My method will entail the actual drawing of the subjects SketchBook Pro, then importing and finishing the posters on Photoshop. These posters will also work hand in hand with the posters that will be used to promote the show; reworked versions of the promotional ones will be included in the show itself.

With a photo shoot scheduled soon, work on the posters will continue with a greater depth of research to back it up.

Fasymmetric Theory (2nd Run) - February 2012

The Second Run

 After the initial run of Fasymmetric Theory, we were encouraged as a company to put on another run in a different space and promote ourselves to theatre magnates and theatre festivals. The reaction we got from the run prompted us to think bigger and take the production further. Lecture Mark Griffin advised us to apply to perform at the International Student Drama Festival in Sheffield in the summer. To become part of the festival, we need to perform again in a new space. With Studio 3 at St Mary's being our new venue, the company is setting out to rework the production for a smaller space. This ultimately means less set, fewer lights and a few cuts within the script. As set designer, my task is to water down the set to work to the same effectiveness as the first production did, but with much less of the rostra. Ideally, I think we need to keep the use of levels and have the same sort of spread of the set, so as to keep it broad enough to be as useful as possible for the majority of the scenes.     

Early rough set plan

The set design sticks to the same rough idea of creating a playground for the actors, but on a much smaller scale. Although I could have stuck to the same set layout in a less dense format, I consciously chose to reconstruct the shape. The new layout retains the use of asymmetry and the use of a downstage centre set of blocks

Final set plan front elevation

Final set plan birds-eye elevation

Props remained largely the same as the initial run of
the play, except for those that would have needed to change due to re-writes. One of these  changes is the death of one of the ‘Goodness’ characters in the scene ‘Goodness’. As opposed to eating slug pellets, the character will now be felled with a shovel. Another change was the clothing on the puppets, as the clothes used before were departmental, it was necessary to source new clothes.

A new role I have taken on in the current production of Fasymmetric Theory is that of Graphic Designer for the new posters. Although admittedly not the largest task in the world for this production, I still threw myself into the task at hand. The posters are simple, clean, crisp and in black and white to cut down costing. 

Fasymmetric Theory re-premiers February 16th at 7.30.

See Facebook for more details

https://www.facebook.com/events/334269666605731/