Bibliography

Spooner, Catherine, 2004, Fashioning Gothic Bodices, University Press, Manchester

Simson, Otto Van, 1956, The Gothic Cathedral, Bollingen Foundation inc, New York

Branner, Robert, 1968, Gothic Architecture, Studio Vista Limited, Great Britain

Levitt, Sarah, 1986, Victorians Unbuttoned, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London

Thorne, Gary, 2009, Technical Drawing For Stage Design, The Crowood Press Ltd, Wiltshire

Lavar, James, 1969, Costume And Fashion, Great Britain

Ribeiro, Aileen, Valerie Cumming, 1989,  The Visual History Of Costume

Conclusion

An investigation into narrative and genre has provided an insight into production, performance and transformation. The project has enabled me to realise and broaden my ideas within my chosen genre. At the beginning of the project I found the idea difficult to grasp, I went about changing the narrative altogether rather than translating the narrative through a different genre. In doing this I missed out on important time in which I should have been exploring the different possibilities of my genre.

I do feel that I need more practise when it comes to technical drawing. Although pleased with the outcome of the scenic model, I do feel more care should have been taken when creating the boxes. In places there are pieces of foam board a couple of millimetres out of place. A lot of care was taken to ensure this didn't happen but somehow it managed to slip past me. I think a necessary step for me would be to properly learn how to use computer programmes such as Auto CAD, as i think this would have benefited me.
Understanding genre and how it relates to a subject has helped me to engage with the design process and has given me insight towards the role of the set model.

Finishing Touches

I pulled apart some woollen fibers, and dipped them in grey watery paint to create cobwebs. I've placed some of the cobwebs around the set.

I have also included a 2d figure, just as a prompt to show where the actress might be during the scene.

Sightlines

Once all the scenery and props had been glued in to place, I cut out strips of black foam board to act as teasers and legs. I checked the view from the far left and far right seats and adjusted the legs so that the wings couldn't be seen from those seats.

View from far right seat.

View from far left seat.

I also made sure that the rigging wasn't exposed to the seats, by placing teasers at the top.

Backdrop

I wasn’t sure whether I even needed a backdrop for my set. The pieces of scenery, i.e. the walls and the staircase, basically created the representation of the room. The audience just had to imagine the rest. I’ve seen plays where the stage has a permanent setting, and the only thing that changes are the props that are brought on, usually by the actors. I went to see Great Expectations at the Stables Theatre in Hastings, and the set for that just had some scaffolding set up, which was used in every scene. There was no backdrop or Flooring. But it worked just as well as if there had been.

Link to photographs: http://web.mac.com/artypharty/Site_9/Great_Expectations.html#9

Looking at my set I know I won’t need flooring, the black of the theatre floor works quite well. If I did choose to have flooring I wouldn’t know what to have, without being given moiré time to think it through. There could be a minimum of two complete scene changes in my design, and the flooring would be quite contrasting for either one. For example, if I chose to have wood panelling for my flooring for the interior scenes, when it came to the outdoor scene, wood panelling would look rather strange, and vice versa.

For the backdrop I have painted a continuation of the room and included a chandelier on it.
Originally I had made it quite detailed, and included the stripes. However, when it was next to the other bits of scenery, I found that it distracted me and I ended up looking at the background instead. I also moved the chandelier further down the backdrop, because when I had put the teasers in the chandelier was hidden.

First Attempt

Second Attempt

The backdrop was glued to a piece of 6mm dowel to enable it to become interactive.

The staircase is too big to move on and off the stage, therefore it will be a permanent structure on the stage. For the outdoor scene later on, there would be another backdrop positioned in front of the staircase, so for that scene the actors would perform downstage. For other scenes props like the books can easily be moved on and off, and I have checked that both bookcase and the smaller decaying wall both can fit through the gap and be moved on or off if needed.

The Staircase

The staircase was the most complicated thing to create, (apart from the scenic model itself).
I made it as I went along, so it probably took longer to make than it should have.

The main structure was created from strips of foam board, and then glued together. Once I felt the stairs had reached a good enough height, I covered it in strips of mod rock to create texture and also to strengthen it.

 I then created the banister supports using 3mm dowel which I ended up attaching with mod rock, and used 6mm dowel for the banisters.

 I’d found a scrap piece of flannel like material which was perfect for the carpet leading down the stairs. I stained it to age it using watery brown paint and glued it onto the staircase.

 I used a dark brown for the stairs. I was pondering whether to use grey, to make them stone like, as it would look more gothic, however stone steps tend to be outside, or in cathedrals. So I opted for brown.

Using super sculpey I moulded rounded shapes to sit on top of the banister pillars for decoration. These were baked in the oven for 15 minutes on 130 degrees. Later they were painted and glued to banisters.

Lastly, I created another decaying wall to go behind the staircase and support it. It was made in the same way as the other decaying wall.

The walls have also been stained in parts with brown paint to give it that damp look. 

See bible sheet for the staircase.

Decaying Wall

The decaying wall was the next piece of scenery I made. The technique of creating a cracked wall really appealed to me, and would be useful in my set. Although Kapaline foam board would have been the ideal material to use, i had to make do with ordinary white foam board as i couldn't afford the Kapaline board.
I went to Wickes to get some fine surface filler as this really helped to achieve the texture on the pieces i'd done before.

I had bought some handmade paper, which i thought would be useful for the wallpaper. However I felt the cream colour was too plain. After giving it some thought, I painted stripes down the paper to act as a pattern. The stripes remind me of prison bars, which suggest imprisonment. The Queen could quite easily be seen as imprisoned in her own home, or even by her thoughts. The wallpaper is a reflection of her feelings. In fact quite a lot of the setting is a reflection of her feelings.

I then ripped at the wallpaper to make some of peel off. The surface filler underneath turned patchy when the paper was removed, which was an effect I wanted anyway, so luckily it happened to be produced naturally.

To add to the creepy, Gothic style I wanted to add in candlestick holders. In proper lighting they could create quite an ominous atmosphere.

Wire and 3mm dowel was used to create them. I also decided to use tissue paper for the flame.

Lastly, I made two triangle supports and attached them to the back of the wall to act as french braces.

Refer to Decaying Wall bible sheet for more detail.

The Bookcase

In a previous post I mentioned what the important props and scenery were in my set. The key prop for my set would have to be the bookcase and the books within in.

I found a gothic-style Victorian bookcase image which I liked the look of and slightly adapted it. I cut out all the necessary pieces of white foam board to make the bookcase. These were then painted a light brown base coat, and later a darker brown coat. I used quite a coarse paintbrush, so that the fibers would create lines in the paint, to produce a wood grain effect.

I glued all the pieces together and then set to work making the books.
The books were made by measuring out and cutting pieces of white foam board, painted the foam part a yellow- cream colour (to give the effect of discoloured pages) and wrapped them in different coloured card or paper.

These were glued into place on the shelves of the bookcase. Just to add to the detail, I made sure some of the book were facing the wrong way on the shelf.

 I also wanted to have some open books on the floor. To make these I cut a rectangular piece of foamboard, slightly folded it in the middle, discoloured the edges and added a couple of pages to the middle. The pages were made from some handmade paper, and were then sewed to the middle of the book.

See bookcase bible sheet for more detail

Final Set Design

Due to the Theatre Royal having quite a small stage I had to condense the room from my initial idea, making the space in between scenery/props much smaller, and in some cases not including certain bits. I decided not to make the staircase stretch all the way from one side of the stage to the other. Instead have it start from the middle of the stage.

Idea for window scene

For the staircase I'm looking at making a straight edged one rather than it being curved.

Initially I had thought about having a black and white set, with the only colour visible being red. However I thought this would be more obvious to a Film Noir set. Plus I could still create a dingy, dim set using dull colours and lighting. So I decided to use dim colours like browns, greys, and blacks. I wanted the wallpaper to be quite light so that the dirt would show up on it more. And I will also be having splashes of red colour in the set. For example, a red carpet and a couple of red books. I knew what I wanted to display, but I couldn’t get it down on paper. I would just have to start making the scenery and props and see where it would lead.

Making The Set Model

Seeing as the stage and proscenium arch fitted together nicely on the white foam board, I decided to go ahead and start the black model. My drawings were placed over the foam board and secured to it and I began cutting. (I did attempt to use AutoCAD for my technical drawings, but it didn’t work out, so I hand drew them. The only downside was that to save my original copies, I had to re-draw them so that I could use them as templates over the foam board.)

Once the main structure of the model box had been cut out and slotted together, I focussed on making the lighting rig.

This consisted of Cutting strips of foam board 5mm wide and slotting them together on the roof of the model box.

II then started on making the boxes. I cut around the template of the boxes and on a large strip of card started scoring lines to create a curve. I then manoeuvred the curved strip of card around the box template until I was happy that the curve stayed had in line with the base.

Straight piece of foam board were added and glued together to complete the shape. I cut out another box template to place on top of the structure; not only to strengthen it but also to enable me to stay at the right angle- as I’d only created the lower half of the box. The same procedure took place for the top half.

I know this seems like a complicated way to create the boxes, I’m sure there was an easier and more accurate way, however I did it creatively.

To work out the correct seating plan, I cut out the strips of foam board for the seats using my technical drawing to cut over. I then placed that over a large piece of foam board that was to be used as the base for the set model. Where the strips had been removed, I placed my foam board strips into the spaces- to hopefully get a more accurate positioning.

I cut out 5mm strips of thin card to place over visible foam. However, since the boxes have been added there will be more foam to cober up.

When the boxes were in place i covered them with black paper to hide the score marks. Unfortunately, in parts, some of the paper had become creased or wrinkled when glued together, which is a shame.

Costume Development

The scene I have chosen is aimed at the queen and how she copes once she finds out she must give up her child. Even though Rumpelstiltskin is not in this part of the scene (he returns the next day) I have still looked into possible costume ideas for his outfit. After starting with the original idea that Rumpelstiltskin is a pixie like creature, creating mischief- as it were, I have come up with some sketches.
Firstly- looking into the Gothic Victorian style:

However, for the character of Rumpelstiltskin I find these outfits too gentleman like. I would imagine Rumpelstiltskin to be more sly, and appear quite creepy looking.

Rumpelstiltskin in his original appearance: (or at least how I imagined him)

Within this genre I would imagine Rumpelstiltskin to appear more ‘Fagin’ like (Oliver Twist) or even like the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

                 Fagin                                                                           The Child Catcher

The Queens Costume Development

By this scene the young girl has now become Queen. Therefore you would expect her costume to be expensive looking.

For the medieval period that Rumpelstiltskin is originally set, I would imagine the Queens costume to have looked something like this:

However I have set it in the Victorian era, in which dresses would be more like this

Or in a Queen's case, like this:

I also have a few photos of Victorian costumes taken at the Dicken's Festival in Rochester.

The Gothic Victorian dress worn by Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter) in Sweeney Todd is a dress similar to what I would picture the Queen character wearing. However their class in society are completely different.

The drawing on the right is a sketch taken from a picture of the character Mrs Lovett.

 I don’t think this matters with the genre I have chosen though; the Queen supposedly lives in luxury, yet the man she has married only married her due to pure greed, and presently she lives in worry because of the thought of having to give up her child. I think her inner feelings of imprisonment, loss and sadness can be portrayed in the clothes she wear; layers of netting; messily sewn together. Black material; a dark colour; perhaps to portray dark and sad feelings. The touch of red to her outfit makes her whole attire look beautiful, even though the netting is coarse and roughly put together.

Perhaps the Queen’s dress is actually an expensive garment, but because of the way she feels, that is all she sees; that is all the audience sees. The mansion she lives in is actually not decaying at all, but is portraying the inner feelings of the Queen. How very symbolic.

Her costume suits the genre of horror I feel, which works wells with the decaying, creepy setting.

See costume bible sheet for costume realisation.