How you arrive at the point of conceptualization will vary, possibly with every project, possibly with experience, possibly with a specific text. While you might be ready to conceptualize after one read of the play, that’s not likely, but it could happen. You might skip some of work suggested in the previous chapters. Your time in one phase or another might be longer or shorter than suggested here. This isn’t to say some projects might proceed in a straightforward manner, but others might swerve widely and wildly about towards the finish line.
However, there’s always a finish line. Some producer somewhere has sold tickets to opening night. One way or another you need to have your work present in time for the acting company to be ready for opening night. Every bit of work on any design is about supporting the actors telling the story on stage.
In some cases, every step suggested here, and more, will be required. On other projects a flash of inspiration will propel the team from beginning to end. Don’t expect that, certainly not often.
It generally takes several stages of development for a play script to evolve from an idea to something presentable, let alone commercially viable. Similarly the first draft of any design isn’t likely to be what the audience sees on opening night.
It is a challenge to communicate abstract or difficult-to-visualize ideas without a metaphor.
How you get there doesn’t matter. How you express the idea, how you communicate the idea, and how you execute the idea do matter. So, this is it, this is where you put the pieces together. It’s the hard part. This is where you must finally answer the questions:
• What is the piece about?
and
• What is the piece like?
Script analysis, research, preliminary art work, choices, and point of view are building blocks, or mileposts on your road map.
If you feel that Mame is a story that encourages the audience to follow a straight and narrow path, that is a Point of View and answers the question What is the piece about?
However, that approach will likely cause friction with the director and other members of the production team who probably see the show differently. That different concept might be expressed as:
Mame is an idealist and adventurer who believes that everything in life turns out for the best. This philosophy is exemplified by her zest for living and her attempt to sample all that it offers. As Mame gorges herself at the banquet of life, she attempts to feed the starving. Some accept her offers willingly, but others shy away. Making the best of all situations, Mame is a risk-taker; she exists to enjoy life and to show others how to live. Reminding all people that they must not take life too seriously or too rigidly, that living should be enjoyed to the hilt, Mame is a romantic, filled with a love for pleasure, adventure and people.
Mame is like a sparkling glass of champagne, maybe pink champagne; bright, fresh, exciting and intoxicating. In the Art Deco style, Mame’s habitat is a series of electric locations; anywhere she goes, Mame brings a sparkle with her. Although the basic style is Art Deco, each separate location and time period is accented with appropriate decoration. Personifying Mame’s personality, the color will be warm and vivid. The line should be diagonal and striking, like Mame herself. The environment will reach out toward the audience. The sets should move easily from one location to the next without breaks like Mame’s flowing style. As a compliment to the over the top, but still real characters, the world on stage should be selectively heightened.
Those two paragraphs answer the questions What is the play about? and What is the play like? for the musical Mame. They are not the only possible answers. That is one person’s opinion from one place and time. Answering those questions in writing is a good habit. You’ll have something for reference later, and creating sentences and paragraphs helps to organize thoughts. Yes, I know most of you are visual, but it bears repeating: sometimes it helps to see the words on the page.
Another metaphor might be lightning. Perhaps, lightning might be a costume metaphor for Mame’s character. She does stand out from the other characters.
The choices you’ve made along the way should have generally cultivated your Point of View. That Point of View should now be able to be expressed as your concept. The idea, concept, or point of view might have brought you to an image or metaphor. If somewhere along the way you Flashed on a metaphor that captures, for you, the spirit of the piece, you can work from the metaphor back to the concept or point of view.
That’s not necessarily simple. It can only ultimately be what works for you, your imagination, and your creativity at any particular moment in time. Designers do not always follow the same path once they have found a path.
Perhaps through a watercolor doodle you’ve captured the colors of the play, as you feel them. That can take you to an object, or a painting.
Does the play remind you of a piece of music, or does the play make you feel the same way that a piece of music, or a song makes you feel? Just because you’re working in a visual medium does not mean your image must be visual. If you’re composing incidental music, perhaps you see blue, and then compose blue.
Carefully and clearly express your idea.
Let’s say a script reminds you of Fanfare for the Common Man. Maybe the piece is about war, or the futility of war. That does not mean everybody wears camo, but it might mean that there is a military feel to the clothes or the tailoring. This approach might suggest the soundscape, or it might suggest a machine gun as a sound metaphor. Fast, rapid, bursts of audio or incidental music.
Campbell Baird designed sets and costumes for this production of Peter Pan at the Nashville Ballet. Choreography by Paul Vasterling, lighting design by John McKernon.
Campbell delineated the Pirates world using jewel tones, while Pan’s world was rendered in earth tones.
Photos by Marianne Leach.
Perhaps different factions in the cast wear different colors. If this were a discussion of Romeo & Juliet; the Capulets might wear red, and the Montagues blue. If you’re concerned about current politics and double meanings, that might become purple and green.
Those colors when chosen may be more than just costume choices, they could be used in sets, projections, lighting…
Sometimes, a metaphor just stares you in the face. Consider The Lark, by Jean Anouilh. Larks are known for their melodious singing. Unlike most birds, larks sing while flying. Most birds only sing when perched. A lark’s songs remind us to find joy in our lives. This image is a far cry from the stage pictures the author describes and Joan of Arc’s fate. It also tells a story and illustrates a Point of View.
In mythology and literature, a lark might be a metaphor for morning, new beginnings, or daybreak. These are things you might know, or might learn through research. In any event, once you have this information, you consider whether or not the author had the information and if it was important to them. From there, you can choose how this metaphor might impact your own.
Different dawns can mean different things, or feel differently.
Sometimes, the metaphor comes jumping right off the page. Generally not, but sometimes.
Prometheus Bound, commonly attributed to Aeschylus was written circa 430 BCE. It is the only extant piece of a trilogy. Some background is required, either as a part of the designer’s body of knowledge, or as a result of research. Mythology is fascinating, and an important background element to our culture. Feel free to do your own additional research.
Here’s the short version.
Prometheus was a Titan; a deity, but not a God. Zeus was the God of the Sky and Thunder, as well as the King of the Gods. Against Zeus’ will, Prometheus brings fire from Mount Olympus to the humans on Earth. In retaliation for this action, Zeus decides to punish him for eternity; at least 13 generations according to the script, so Prometheus knows his fate. In his world, fate cannot be changed.
The play takes place in mountainous country with a sizable rock in the middle of a deep gorge. Prometheus is brought to the rock and bound there. The rest of the action is basically dialogue that occurs around Prometheus. He participates minimally.
This might have been a laugh riot in the 5th century BCE, but you can easily see why it is currently infrequently produced.
The debate and dialogue illustrate the central conflict of thought vs. force. Prometheus is the thinker while Zeus represents force, ultimately sending an eagle to gnaw at Prometheus’ liver and finally striking him with a thunderbolt plunging him into the abyss.
Prometheus’ thought and action have disrupted the way of the universe. He has caused an upheaval in the natural order.
From the text, on the first page no less:
HEPHAESTUS
…In chains, in this deep chasm raked by all storms…
I have, at least temporarily, saved you from a full reading of the script. You can thank me later.
Now, while this image might be on the first page, the fact that it might be an appropriate metaphor does not become visible until after the entire text has been read. More than once.
Storms, and things associated with storms, dark clouds, thunder, lightning, wind, rain, changing light, all become acceptable and interpretable metaphors to allow the designs to help tell the story.
Now, that’s one approach.
Always give yourself time to think, breathe, and percolate.
That’s good advice from Beowulf Boritt to every theatre artist. There isn’t ever all the time we want, but even just sleeping on an idea helps.
Absorb what you can from the process, and let your unconscious mind have a go at the material. Percolating allows deep thoughts to come to the surface. Percolating allows for that aha! moment when an image comes to mind, or the pieces come together.
Give yourself the time you can. That’s a lot less time when working in summer stock than it might be on Broadway or in regional theatre. Step away from the work, to other work if you must, but possibly to play, listen to music, draw, doodle, strum a guitar, sleep, or meditate.
Challenges that have seemed insurmountable are often solved after a little percolation.
Whatever your method, you need to free your mind to make the connections needed to find your image. Your metaphor. In the case of Mame, tasting the banquet of life, and her zest for life are springboards to consider Champagne as a metaphor. Maybe to design Mame, you need to go out and play.
Your image or metaphor may also need to percolate as you imagine, or doodle the world of the play. Use your imagination. Let yourself go and envision the stage pictures. Right now, there are no limits, budgets, time and space happen soon enough. Go wild. Check yourself, be sure your concept and metaphor help tell the story.
Follow your percolation with time to draw, doodle, and play with space and time. Don’t get too heady, if the play is whimsical, you can’t forget that fact. Similarly, you can’t make tragedy whimsical.Well, you can, but odds are you would be making a wrong choice.
Once you have settled on the perfect image, then this process becomes about execution. There will be many more choices to be made prior to choosing your outfit for the opening night party.
Concepts will be discussed in meetings, but it’s never a bad idea to put them on paper, or pixels. Writing short papers to answer those two questions is a great way develop your communication and presentation skills. These are also opportunities to develop your visual style or Brand.
Lighting Designer Diana Kesselschmidt’s branding has evolved, but always included peacock and charcoal. On the front of her business card, she simply calls attention to her website, and how she is known. The color and font evokes the look of Tiffany & Co. and reminds colleagues and clients of her sterling work.
Just as you need to be able to present your ideas verbally, with confidence, and without apology, you need a visual presentation to match your commanding personal presence. Writing a concept down helps to develop that self assurance.
Every designer needs to know a few things about typography and page layout. These are not just skills for graphic designers. How a costume designer arranges a sketch and swatches on a sheet of paper is page layout. How any designer composes a sheet of drafting is also page layout.
Once again, this a is a subject for a career or a lifetime. There is only space for a few highlights here.
Your name, your logo, and your logotype all speak to others about you. Creating a look for your stationary, website, and/or business cards is one of your first impressions. Invest some time in your Personal Brand and recognize that this look will evolve and change over the course of your career. You’re probably distinctive, your look should be as well.
Kevin’s First Rule of Graphic Design:
You have to be able to read it.
Logotype refers to the way your name or your company name is expressed; generally the font. A logo or a dingbat is an associated graphic. In some cases, like IBM, these are one and the same.
You might not be MGM, Apple, Armani, or CBS, but your logo should be as memorable. Study the graphics for companies you like and admire. Look at how other designers present themselves. Your logo is a metaphor for you.
Just because you have all of the fonts doesn’t mean you should use them. You choice of font is a statement about you. Keep it simple, clean, and easy to read. Use two, or three maximum fonts. There should be contrast between your fonts. Consider a serif face and a sans-serif face; one for headline, the other for body copy. If you must have a third, that might be a decorative font for your name, or your company name.
Here’s a vague comment that has everything to do with taste. Make sure your fonts work well together. While each font will likely have different weights, the overall weight of each font should be of a family.
Page composition and typography adhere to the same rules as the Principles of Design for the stage.
Designer Mikkel Sonne is based in Northern Europe. He creates graphics and themed attractions/environments; large and small. His company is a one man operation, and he wanted the name and the look to speak to the friendly, positive and cheerful manner in which he works. Similarly, he wants to attract clients who want to work in the same way.
You don’t have to use every bit of space on the page. Leave enough air so that the information presented is easy to see and read. Clutter is not your friend.
Use the blank, or negative space on the page to draw attention to you, your brand, and the most important information.
All of this information is worth a bit of study. You want your resume or website to interest producers and directors enough to consider hiring you. If your branding does not work, you may never get the interview.
Plus, you might have to design the show poster one day. That’s story telling as well, although the poster viewer only has a few seconds to get the message.
The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teenagers accused of raping two white American women on a train in Alabama during 1931. The many legal cases that sprung from this incident dealt with racism, and the right to a fair trial. Before the suspects were even indicted (and thus presumed innocent under our system), there was a lynch mob. The rushed trials considered information framing the suspects. The juries were all white. The combined incidents are often used as an example of an overall miscarriage of justice in the United States.
The Scottsboro Boys is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, based on the Scottsboro Boys trial. Using the framework of a minstrel show, the authors altered the form as a musical social critique. The acting company, traditionally white in a minstrel show, is primarily African Amercian.
Scenic Designer Beowulf Boritt defines The Scottsboro Boys as a postmodern minstrel show — a story of young black men trapped in a harsh white world, retelling their story from within a minstrel show. They turn the traditional form of the minstrel show inside out in the process.
Minstrel shows or Minstrelsy, were an American form of entertainment popular around time of the US Civil War that featured comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed originally by white actors in blackface. Later African American performers also performed in minstrel shows.
Minstrel shows portrayed African Americans as buffoonish, dim-witted, lazy, superstitious, and having rhythm. Some of these unfortunate stereotypes are still seen today.
Post Modernism is the name given to various styles of art that developed after the idea of Modern Art and Architecture. As might be expected, Post Modernism rejects some basic tenants in Modernism. A clear example is Post Modern Architecture where streamlined ornament is seen. Modern Architecture is be exemplified by the International Style; clean lines, reflective surfaces, and without traditional ornamentation.
Conceptual Art and Multimedia, particularly involving video, are described as Post Modern. The use of words as a central artistic element, and collage are seen as Post Modern. Artists working in the style simplify, appropriate, recycle old ideas in different context, and break down the barrier between high art and low art or popular culture.
