This is the picture of the scenic painting that I did in stagecraft.

Here are some of the techniques used in painting the flat:

• Scumbling: We mixed yellow, red, and brown colors to give a variety of colors on a brick wall.
• Lining: We used gray paint to trace out the mortars of the brick wall. First, we used brick templates to draw lines with a pencil, and then we went over those lines.
• Highlights & Shadows: We considered where the Sun was shining from and decided where the highlight and the shadow should go. White paint was used for highlight, and black paint was used for shadows.
• Texturing: We wanted to make sure that the brick had a vintage and old sentiment to it. As a result, we mixed a small amount of black paint with a lot of water to give a rusted look. We tried with normal brushes as well as silicon brushes to try out different textures.
• Spattering: This is the last step of scenic painting. We spattered watery colors with big brushes and created small patches of color. We used purple, green, and blue for the colors.

About my painting process…

It was my first ever trying scenic painting, and most of the techniques used were relatively new for me. Despite this experience being something new, I tried my best to draw a realistic antique brick wall. I especially enjoyed scumbling when painting the flat. While the other techniques required me to have a certain boundary to draw, scumbling allowed more freedom. I loved how the colors blended in with one another smoothly, without a clear distinguishing line.

What I learned about scenic painting…

I learned that scenic painting does not require as many fine details as acrylic painting or watercolor painting that people do in art classes. Because the scenic paintings are done on flats that are going to be displayed at least 3 meters away from the audience, we have to be more aware of the overall composition, and how they fit along, rather than focusing on one part of the highlight or the shadow. Another piece of knowledge I acquired was the function of the spattering. I initially thought that they were to give some dynamics to the flat piece. In some way, this was right, but not entirely. The spatterings are done with various colors so that when different colored lights are shined onto the flat, each spattered dot reflects a different shade, thus giving more texture to the flat overall.

Evaluating my scenic painting work… 

I believe that this scenic painting piece does a good job to portray the vintage sentiment – as if it was in an old alley. As a group, we tried to focus on blending the highlights and shadows so that they looked more natural. If I could do this again, I would focus more on having brighter scumbling background, as well as a bit smaller spattering dots.

These are the parts of the Mini-Hollywood Flat that we made:

1. FLY SPACE

One of the first things that I saw during the MSHS and ES Theater Tour was the fly space. I liked the fly space the most because it is a feature of theater that people do not get to see or notice when they are in the theater as audiences. It was interesting because it felt like I was discovering a new dimension. The fly spaces in both theaters served the same purpose, but their compositions were slightly different. For instance, the MSHS Theater’s fly space was much bigger and taller, while the ES Theater’s fly space was smaller and narrower. Since the MSHS Theater’s given stage space is wider and larger compared to the ES Theater, more fly space is required in order to raise and fit all the curtains/drapes out of the stage view.

Fly space at MSHS Theater

Observing the two fly spaces, I was able to find advantages of the ES Theater fly space as well. Due to newer technological systems, the ES Theater had brighter LED lights that helped to identify the features of the space more easily. Additionally, the bars holding the curtains/drapes were numbered, which was also another aspect that I thought would help the function of the fly space with more ease. The last advantage of the ES Theater was the safety rails. Because the ES Theater was more modern than the MSHS Theater, it had higher guards on the rails. I think it’s one of the most vivid advantages in the ES Theater because especially in high areas like the fly space, it’s essential to be safe.

Fly space at ES Theater

2. FLY SPACE SYSTEM at ES Theater

The ES Theater also had better automatic curtain/drape pull-up machines. In the MSHS Theater, the wires had to overlap one another when the curtain/drapes were pulled up. In the ES Theater, the wires did NOT overlap one another. Instead, they had a dented frame where each wire would only fit once in the dent. I think this was cool because it would allow the curtain/drapes to be pulled up smoothly with less noise and less friction.

Fly system at ES Theater

3. ES Theater LIGHTS

In the MSHS Theater, the lights were all fixed, except for the 2 big spotlights that needed manual control by people. However, in the ES Theater, there were automatic revolving lights along with fixed lights which gave more freedom with the use of lights. I especially liked the lights at the ES Theater because with a simple button, the gobo – pattern – could change, the color could change, and the motion of the lights could change.

These are some pictures of the lights projected by the movable lights at the ES Theater.

4. BOOTH

The booth is where the lights and sounds are controlled in the Theater. I liked both the booths at the MSHS and ES Theater. I liked the MSHS Theater booth because it was soundproof, meaning that the audience cannot hear what is going on in the booth. I also liked the ES Theater booth because it was different from the MSHS Theater booth as it did not have a soundproof room, and it was open to the space, meaning that the people at the booth could hear what is going on on the stage, and adjust accordingly. Despite the fact that both booths have some disadvantages, I still liked the booths because they seemed the most professional place for me.

MSHS Theater Booth

ES Theater Booth

Costume: Anything that an actor wears on stage.

Depending on the needs of the Designer, the costumes can be accurate or “inspired by”, but they should be based on some sort of research.

Factors of Costume Design:

• Age
• Gender
• Social status
• Occupation
• Geographic Location
• Occasion/Activity
• Time of day
• Season/Weather
• Historical Period
• Psychological Factors (ex. personalities, emotions)

Sometimes the psychological will override the other factors of costumes. For example, someone might wear more formal clothes to signify that they are of a higher social status.

Costume Design Vocabularies:

• Costume Rendering: A sketch of a costume
• Swatch: A fabric sample
• Building: Making a costume
• Costume Parade: A procession where actors wear their costumes under the lights to ensure compatibility of the colors.
• Costume Plot: An outline that describes the colors, fabrics, and accessories for each costume design; kept by wardrobe manager.
• Wardrobe Manager: Person responsible for creating costume plot and caring for costumes during rehearsals and performances.
• Dressers: assistants who help with costume changes and help care for costumes.
• Quick change: switching costumes quickly during a performance.

Lighting Design

Lighting Design – At Home Lab Video

In my Lighting Design lab, I experimented with lights and shadows to represent the mood/feeling that a music piece gave me – which was trolls and monster dancing and chilling at a pub.  The lightings that I used in the Lighting Design are: LED color lights, flashlights, and green laser point lights. When planning, I tried to use small figures and shine a front light on them to make shadows move on the cyclorama. Additionally, I attempted to coordinate the tempo with the beat of the music. Luckily, my attempts were a success.

How did your thinking about lighting has changed since you started exploring lighting with focus? How did you view lighting and the use of lighting before and now after your explorations, what is your new knowledge or insight?

When I first started with the lighting unit, I used to think that lights were only used to give mood to the overall scene, or simply, just show the shadows of the setting.

After I defined the lighting design vocabularies and experimented with the virtual lighting lab, virtual color lab, and virtual gobo lab, I acquired new understandings; Cycloramas are used as a projector “screen” on stage, and gobo patterns block out the light, to give a certain shape on stage in which may resemble branches sticking out in the woods, or a setting where the sunlight is coming through the window.

Furthermore, by finding various light designs from the internet and by exploring with light designs at home, I was able to understand the usage of shadows. For instance, shadows could be used as a representation of the character’s memory. On the other hand, shadows could be used to represent a still object in movement, just like in my video above, I used flashlights onto the figures in an attempt to resemble the figures dancing.

After multiple explorations done on light designs, now I think that light is not just about the representation of the mood or the feeling of the scene, but also a story telling tool that helps the audience to interpret better about what is happening. Lights can be used to emphasize, hide, and highlight objects, as well as showing movement of still objects.

• Lighting design – The concept that a designer creates to provide light on stage to support the mood/atmosphere of the play. 
• Light plot – The map that shows where all the lighting instruments are placed and where they will be lighting.
• Lighting grid – Up above the stage, it’s the system of bars and electric that power the lights.
• Lighting board – The control panel that powers the lights; when they turn on/off, at what intensity.
• Cyclorama – The large white ‘sheet’ at that back of the stage that can be lit or projected on.
• Back light – Lighting from the back
• Side light – Lighting from the side
• Top light -Lighting from the top
• Front light – Lighting from the front
• Footlight – Lighting that is placed on the floor in the front.
• Spotlight – A single source of light focused on a single subject.
• Fill light – Light source that add lighting in and around the set/stage/scenery – they ‘fill in’.
• Wash – A large group of lighting that can ‘wash’ the stage in light that you can bring up at once together.
• Lighting angle – The angle of the lighting instrument in relation to the subject; usually 45 deg.
• Gobo (or pattern) – A pattern (in olden days it was a circle of metal) that blocks light to give you shape onstage.
• Gel (or color gel) – The color that you want the instrument to throw onstage (or light onstage).

SIDE A:

• You have to show or create a shipwreck on stage. How might you do that?
  • I would create a shipwreck on stage by first constructing broken down rooms/ceilings/walls, with wooden planks, pieces of glass, boxes, and ragged clothes.
• One character in your play is a spirit. How might you have a character as a spirit onstage?
  • Since spirits are mostly depicted in ghostly manner, I would have the actor wearing chiffon costume on. The actor will have a mystical makeup on to signify that they are a spirit. If possible, the use of smoke machine will be good as it will provide an atmosphere that demonstrates the spirit’s smooth movement.
• Another character is imprisoned in a rock. How would you show a character imprisoned in a rock?
  • The rock would be made up of a material that looks solid when seen from the front, but when seen from the back with light, it will show someone inside it.
• You have to portray ‘magic demon dogs’ that are unleashed onstage. How might you portray magic demon dogs (without using real dogs)?
  • I would use shadows to show the demon dogs. I would create props to shine the light on – in which the dogs will have demon ears – and move it around so that it looks like the dogs are magical; untouchable. Everything would be done behind a thin curtain, and the light will shine from behind it.
• What elements would you bring in to create a deserted island? What would you create? Describe how the audience would know that it is a deserted island.
  • I would use some typical symbols of a deserted island. A beach background, with only tiny amounts of bush, and a coconut tree. The floor will have some sand, and yellow-brownish color light shown to the stage . Because these are quite obvious things that audience imagine when thinking of a deserted island, the audience will directly know the setting of the scene.
• What challenges would you face when trying to create all of these elements in person, on stage, live, in front of an audience.
  • There are always unexpected outcomes during performances. Some of it could be related to technical errors, such as the elevating seat not working, and light not shining at the correct place.

SIDE B:

• “Inspiration” comes from many sources. Describe one source of inspiration for Julie Taymor when she was setting the scene for the play. 
  • One source of inspiration for Julie Taymor when she was setting the scene for the play was connecting everything to reality. For example, when she was planning the set up for the spirit Ariel and the deserted island scenery, she was always brought to the thought of “How can it be more real? How can an object come to life?”. This allowed the actors and actresses to interact with the set up and bring the most feasible solution.
• Describe one moment where you went “a-ha!” or “that is brilliant!” or “I never would have thought of that!” and describe how or why that moment stood out to you.
  • I was quite amazed at the Ariel scene. If I were the director, I would’ve only thought till the point of using chiffon laces on the spirit, and not much of the hands. However, from looking at Julie Taymor’s video, I have spotted how influential ones hand gestures can be. Just with the mixture of voice and hand gesture, it made the spirit seem like it actually existed, and had human characteristics.
• ‘Symbolism’ plays an important part of most theatre. This is different than ‘Literal’. Pick one moment or element that was represented “symbolically” as opposed to literally and describe it.
  • The Logs were a symbolism in the play. Literally, it was something that Caliban had been carrying for Prospero. On its symbolic side, it represented the enslavement. By Caliban throwing the log away, the audience will realize how Caliban is now liberated from the shadows of Prospero. Usually, a log would just be a piece of cut wood, but by giving such symbolisms, the log became an important part that helps the story to progress further, and help the audience to understand better.
• What would you change about the production (from what you saw) if you were filming it for movies or television?
  • If I were filming for movies or television, I would’ve changed the perspective of the cameras. Though I am going to put in full scene shots, I would have also put in cameras showing the character’s perspective. By doing this, the audience will feel more like that they are in the play, traveling alongside the protagonist. If it were on stage, this kind of technique won’t be possible because the audience are only allowed on full scene view. I would want to give a slight change, and play around with the perspectives throughout the production – to the extent that it will not interrupt the flow of the story.