Principles and theories

from this source:

http://www.j6design.com.au/ClientArea/6fundamentalprincipleofdesign

The elements of design

• LINE - The linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge created when two shapes meet.
• SHAPE - A shape is a self contained defined area of geometric (squares and circles), or organic (free formed shapes or natural shapes). A positive shape automatically creates a negative shape.
• DIRECTION - All lines have direction - Horizontal, Vertical or Oblique. Horizontal suggests calmness, stability and tranquillity. Vertical gives a feeling of balance, formality and alertness. Oblique suggests movement and action
• SIZE - Size is simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that of another.
• TEXTURE - Texture is the surface quality of a shape - rough, smooth, soft hard glossy etc.
• COLOUR - Colour is light reflected off objects. Color has three main characteristics: hue or its name (red, green, blue, etc.), value (how light or dark it is), and intensity (how bright or dull it is).

The principles of design

1. BALANCE - Balance in design is similar to balance in physics. A large shape close to the center can be balanced by a small shape close to the edge. Balance provides stability and structure to a design. It’s the weight distributed in the design by the placement of your elements.
2. PROXIMITY - Proximity creates relationship between elements. It provides a focal point. Proximity doesn’t mean that elements have to be placed together, it means they should be visually connected in someway.
3. ALIGNMENT - Allows us to create order and organisation. Aligning elements allows them to create a visual connection with each other.
4. REPETITION - Repetition strengthens a design by tying together individual elements. It helps to create association and consistency. Repetition can create rhythm (a feeling of organized movement).
5. CONTRAST - Contrast is the juxtaposition of opposing elements (opposite colours on the colour wheel, or value light / dark, or direction - horizontal / vertical). Contrast allows us to emphasize or highlight key elements in your design.
6. SPACE - Space in art refers to the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within elements. Both positive and negative space are important factors to be considered in every design.

Book: The theatre of Robert Wilson



"light is the most important part of theatre. it brings everything together and everything depends on it. from the beginning i was concerned with light, how it reveals objects, how objects change when light changes, how light creates space, how space changes when light changes. light determines what you see and how you see it. if you know how to light, you can make shit look like gold. I paint, I build, I compose. Light is like a magic wand."

Some questions to follow up

Georgie

What is the best way to block movement?
What other things does your blocking do for different people?
What are you hoping to find out?


James

What musical theatre songs/scenes are the Musical Theatre students doing for SDP1?
What is your lighting approach for each scene?
What are you hoping to find out?

Alex

What is the purpose of knowing the time of day in a play like Earnest and the Pale Moon?
Why do we need to know as audience?
What do you want your overall lighting design to do?
What are you hoping to find out?


Tom

What are you hoping your lighting design will do for each music track?
What are you hoping will be the overall experience of the audience?
What are you hoping to find out?


Charlie

What are you finding out about group dynamics from your placement?
What did you disagree with in the Belbin theory?
What are you hoping to find out?

ALL:

Please share some thoughts on at least one reading source.

Suggestion

Might something like this be useful in your initial script analysis?

More script analysis

Please look at this example of a scenic designers script analysis.

https://courses.cit.cornell.edu/thetr364/projects/scriptanalysis.html

some questions particularly relevant to lighting designers in my view:

8. List the pivotal dramatic moments that require visual support and focus.
9. Describe the presentational style, mood, & atmostphere of the play. 
10. Describe the theme/central idea /core conflict of the play.
11. List the items and ideas that you need to research.
12. List questions to ask the director and others on the production team.
13. Write a brief synopsis of play as if you are telling the story to a friend who is not familiar with the play.


Here is another example:

What does a designer look for when analyzing a script?

The first reading should introduce the designer to the story. During the second reading he should look for conceptual images and the dramatic mood and during the third reading he should develop lists of the specific design requirements. Below are a few of the questions which should be able to be answered after reading the play...

1. What happens in the scene?
2. Who are involved?
3. Which character dominates the action?
4. What is the climax (or crisis)?
5. What is the setting or location of the scene?
6. What is the period of the action?
7. What images (metaphors) are suggested by the script?
8. What is needed to stage the scene? Entrances and Exits? Set props?
9. What time of day does the scene take place?
10. What are the sources of light?

When analyzing the text, the designer first approaches the script as a member of the audience, then as the director and finally as the designer. Typically as the designer reads the text he will underline or high-lite those lines he finds significant as well as make numerous marginal notations.

from http://www3.northern.edu/wild/ScDes/sdanaly.htm

Script analysis

Here is an example of a lighting designer's script analysis notes

http://www.dkwarfel.com/_shared/uploads/files/1253632126.pdf

it is divided into sections:

locations;
times and conditions;
pre-story:
characters:
synopsis:
questions:
initial lighting ideas:


and another…

The trench tickets

Please go see the Trench tonight if you can. tickets £5 for north brook students if you use the password 'fringe'. By same company and writer as the Earnest and the pale moon play. it will really help you with your designs.

The connaught worthing

Lighting design

Please read this; very interesting chapter from Stage Lighting Design

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4viNulYb3XsC&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=lighting+theatre+design+dissertation&source=bl&ots=kxvHVOeJqK&sig=-eiO-EIj8koYhVPo3Rfp-8EfjRk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3UNmVJzGD8blavHngZgM&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=lighting%20theatre%20design%20dissertation&f=false

Pause for thought

Hello all, please let me know if it's ok to show the work tomorrow as the beginning of pause for thought and where we can do that.

thanks

Ticket offer

 We can offer tickets on these dates only to students for £5: only on Friday 14 (7.30pm) and Saturday 15 (2pm, 7.30pm) November at the Connaught Theatre.

Just quote: FRINGE and either book online or in person.

http://www.worthingtheatres.co.uk/events-by-type/theatre/name,124023,en.asp

The Trench

Les Enfants Terribles tour the UK with their award-winning show, The Trench.

From the team behind The Terrible Infants, Ernest and the Pale Moon and The Vaudevillains, comes a new play inspired by the true story of a miner who became entombed in a tunnel during World War One.

As the horror threatens to engulf him, he finds that not everything in the darkness is what it seems as he starts to discover a new, strange world beneath the mud and death. Setting off on an epic journey of salvation, the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur as he questions what’s real, what’s not and whether it even matters?

Blending live music, puppetry and physical performance, The Trench is the critically acclaimed new show from “razor sharp theatre company” Les Enfants Terribles (The Telegraph). The company has performed productions to thousands of people all over the world including theatres in Poland, Czech Republic, Dubai, Norway, Singapore, Australia, and has toured extensively all over the UK winning vast critical acclaim. 

Written by Oliver Lansley (BBC2’s Whites, ITV2’s FM and SKY’S Little Crackers) with music by acclaimed artist Alexander Wolfe. Alexander has performed with many artists including Jamie Cullen and Paul Weller before embarking on a solo career with his debut album Morning Brings a Flood winning huge acclaim from the New York Post to The Sunday Times to name a few.

Directed by James Seager and Oliver Lansley.

"A TOTAL THEATRE EXPERIENCE OF ENGROSSING INTENSITY, THE TRENCH EMPLOYS ACTING, MIME, MUSIC, PUPPETRY, FILM AND EVEN FLYING TO ENRICH HISTORY WITH THE QUALITY OF MYTH AND REINVEST AN OLD STORY WITH THE POWER IT HAS LOST THROUGH OVER FAMILIARITY…MUST SEE SHOW"

The Stage

"A PITCH PERFECT DEMONSTRATION OF ATMOSPHERIC THEATRE. LET’S EXPERIENCE IN CREATING SINISTER WORLDS WORKS PERFECTLY WITH THE SUBJECT MATTER TO CREATE A DEVASTATINGLY EMOTIVE GLIMPSE INTO HELL ON EARTH"

The List

"THE OVERALL VISION STAYS WITH YOU LIKE A STRANGE, SIGNIFICANT DREAM"

The Times

"TOTAL TRIUMPH...THIS PRODUCTION USES THEATRE TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE ANY OTHER ART FORM ACHIEVING THE SAME"

Edinburgh Evening News

lesenfantsterribles.co.uk

Best,

Antony

Antony Pickthall

Earnest work

What experiments did lighting designers try out today and what did you find out?

Remember the task to annotate the script with you initial analysis so that we can sit down and look at script analysis in more depth.


Interesting interview with lighting designer and also see the two festivals of light mentioned in article

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/11/3926355/queen-theater-lighting-jennifer-tipton-gets-spotlight-herself-two-ne


http://bringtolightnyc.org

“It’s very different, of course, trying to get on the inside of music,” said Tipton, speaking in the slow, deliberate voice of a college professor. “We together, sort of as a team, Eteri and I, have come to some understanding of the emotional impulses that come through the music. I based [the lighting] sort of loosely on the keys of the pieces, but Scriabin changes keys so quickly and so fluidly that even then it’s not possible to follow that; so it has to be an emotional reading that Eteri and I have come to together, an emotional hearing of the music.”

Appia

Can you make any connections between the Appia article we read today in the Scenography reader and your sdp's lighting designers?

The practice of lighting was completely redefined: Appia distinguished between diffused light (allowing visible scenery) and concentrated light (modelling form), believed in the ability of light to be structural, fluid, plastic and “motivated”, eliminated footlights and even created novel lighting positions.

http://socks-studio.com/2013/12/13/a-revolution-in-stage-design-drawings-and-productions-of-adolphe-appia/

Welcome to new blog

Hello BA Production, welcome to your new blog. I have added some research links for you all and will add more as we go.

Please post ideas, questions, thoughts on reading as you go that we can all respond to.