Drama Set Design and Lighting Notes

Design decisions are made based on two things:

• The Text (the script/screenplay)
• The style and vision of the production. This is dictated by the director of the play/musical/film

1. What does the text say exactly about what kind of space it is and what needs to be in the space?

• Read the setting descriptions, stage directions and the lines of the characters
• Pick out the clues

1. What does the text say generally about the historical and geographical context?

• Research what the place looked like,the condition of the place where the play happens.What forces of weather may have acted on it? What was happening historically at the time? Level of technology?

Is there water damage on the walls? Are the windows broken? Are there posters for popular musicians of the time on the walls? Would the furniture be made from synthetic or natural materials? Is there damage from a war?

1. What is the mood and tone of the text? When does the mood ore tone change?
2. In other words, how do you want the audience to feel? How does this design make you feel?

What could be the abstract concepts represented in designs?

A style of design: Naturalism

Design which recreates the environment of the play’s setting as it actually would appear in real life or nature

Anachronism is the use of elements that are not technically correct for the time period in which a work is set in order to create a specific artistic effect.

The colours that could be used in this scene could be light at the start to show that the boy was happy and he was having a good time living with his grandmother. Then you could use dark red to show that the boy’s father and mother are dead and that there is only his grandmother left to take care of him. You could then have one light and the rest of the area dark to focus on the grandmother and the child and to also show that they are alone and there is no one else with them. You could then show the colour green to represent the child going into the forest and brown as well when the grandmother says that they will starve. Then the colour orange could show on the boy only when it says that she gave him the bow and arrow that belonged to his father to show pride and that he is now taking his position.