Updated Pinterest Inspiration board

https://www.pinterest.com/lolaq92/duchess-of-malfi/

Throughout the project I  have been keeping up to date with an inspiration board on Pinterest.
Link above.

Preparing for Professional Practise

Q: What could you expect to work as after graduation?

• Designer - Set, costume, lighting, projections, digital media
• Assistant Designer / Model Maker
• Deigner / Maker
• Maker - Painter, propmaking, costume maker, treatments, superviser, buyer, production team, lighting team
• Designer / Performer - Theatre Maker
• Visual Artist in Performance
• Artist in Education - Theatre, galleries, schools
• Artist in Health / Hospital settings
• Community Artist / Art activist
• Display and Exhabitions
• Digital Media / Music business
• Promotions, events, celebrations
• Post Grad study in same / Other subject
• PGCE teaching formal / Informal Education
• Specialist course - Craft / Digital Education
• Change of Direction / Travelling (Take it with you)

Janet Vaughan - Freelance theatre, event maker / designer

           > Taking Birds

Manchester Arts Educational Festival

Q: When do things open?

Keep an eye on when things are happening and when they will need help.

i.e festivals and panto

Go to Annual Trade Shows - Companies and jobs, collect broacher

www.newdesigners.com/ND15Features

Theatre Employees Org

TMA 

ITC

SWET and SOLT

Unions

Equity (Actors, performers, designers)

Beatu (Film, TV and technicians) 

Key Organisations to keep tabs on...

• Arts Council England
• Regional Arts Boards
• Creative Partnerships
• City and County councils - Arts, Leisure and Education
• Community Organisations, Charities and action organisations

CAD DRAWINGS

These are my AUTOCAD drawings for the set of The Duchess of Malfi - Nottingham Playhouse

1:25 scale drawings on A1 paper

 Ground Plan

 Side Elevation

Back Wall of windows and cross section drawings

Set 1 Arch and Columns and cross section of column 

Set 2&3 of columns Pictures for reference of the columns as they need construction to look like the model box. 

Story Boarding

Beginning the play to see a neutral feeling set.  - No hints as to want could happen

 Shrine of Loretto - Night time

The Duchess's imprisonment and her death - the set has gotten progressively darker as she death draws closer.

The death of the Duchess causes a black out, the columns are suddenly light and it causes a cold chill in the theatre. 

After the Duchess has died, Antino and Deil are walking past a cemetery - they hear the echo of The Duchess.

Puppetry Performance

Our first performance of the verbatim piece went fairly smoothly.
The only issue we had was during the bus stop scene where the 'male' puppets leg fell off. Unfortunately the puppeteers on the puppet didn't notice until the puppets were back at the table. If they had of noticed sooner should they have acted out about it? Would it have taken away from the seriousness of the issue we were trying to raise?

After the performance we received a lot of good feedback asking about the topic and how we went about collecting data. We also received opinions and a small debate about whether or not other people dealt with this kind of harassment and a few conversations after the play lead onto where the piece could go from here.

with more research and more time it would be interesting to face more difficult issues and experience than what we performed. However unfortunately the research we gathered didn't have anything particularly shocking. It was difficult to get people to talk about their experiences let alone to get really mentally scaring material out of people. That was just one thing that would have always been difficult to get from people as it is a very personal experience.

Q: why puppets?
Puppets allowed us to discounted our prior thoughts that we have about somebody before they talk. We judge people from their clothes, hair and how they present themselves. With puppets we can not project an image of a 'stereotype' onto it and therefore we listen better to what they have to say.

Violence in Hamelt

Violence in Hamlet

Suicide

Ophelia (Hamlet)
Ophelia, driven insane by Hamlet's cruelty and the murder of her beloved father, plunges from a tree branch into the current below. Although her fall is an accident, Ophelia makes no attempt to save herself, and thus her drowning is viewed as a suicide.

Murder

Polonius (Hamlet)
Acting as a spy for King Claudius, Polonius hides behind a curtain in Gertrude's chamber to listen to her conversation with Hamlet. Hearing a noise, Hamlet stabs through the curtain and kills the old eavesdropper. 

Gertrude (Hamlet)
The Queen drinks from the poisoned chalice of wine intended for Hamlet. She dies exclaiming, "The drink, the drink! I am poison'd" (5.2.320). 

Claudius (Hamlet)
Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned rapier and then forces him to drink from the poisoned goblet. 

Assassination and Execution

Hamlet's Father (Hamlet)
Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, assassinated Hamlet's father by pouring the "juice of cursed hebenon" (1.5.63) in his ear while he slept in his orchard. Hebenon is a folk name for Henbane, the expressed juice of the fresh plant, Hyoscyamus niger. Other folk names for Henbane include Black Nightshade, Cassilago, Devil's Eye, and Jupiter's Bean. The death of Hamlet's father was inspired by a real event in 1538, when the Duke of Urbino was killed by a poisoned lotion rubbed into his ears by his barber. 

Killed in Combat

Hamlet (Hamlet)
Hamlet is stabbed with the end of Laertes' poisoned rapier. 

Laertes (Hamlet)
During the final climatic fencing match, Laertes and Hamlet scuffle and their rapiers are accidentally exchanged. Hamlet grabs Laertes poisoned rapier and wounds Laertes. Laertes soon dies from the injury. 

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/violenceinshakespeare.html

What does each of these deaths say about the killer and the victim?

Building the Table

• Industrial materials, used scaffolding wood and scaffold poles to create the table
• We use clamps to allow the table to open and pivot
• Concerned about the weight of the wood? -how can we make this safer?

The inspiration for the table came from The Wired Cafe- the industrial feel of the cafe gave a nice aesthetic to the story and it felt like a place in which the character go for coffee as a group of friends.

Attaching the scaffolding boards to a piece of MDF, this will be the base that attaches all the pieces together and allows the boards to lift up for the end scene.

 Theses are the clamps that allow the table to open and pivot. We had trouble in rehearsal initially before making the table as the ends would not line up when pushes back together.

As you can see from the picture the attachment of the hinged support was not ideal for health and safety. We decided to drill a screw into the main body of the board, underneath to give a better lock onto the support, and to reduce the risk of injury. 

Window Inspiration

For the back wall of the stage I decided that the design needed a feature that helped influence the idea of inside and outside space.

For this i decided to create a back wall of windows to allow for the space to be changed between inside and outside.

The wall of windows at the back came developed from the idea of Paris and religion. As religion was a big influence during the time The Duchess of Malfi was written I wanted to use church window to emphasis this.

Inspiration

Art Deco Inspired Windows from 1935

Gaudis Casa Batlló in Barcelona

Window for the Notre Dame in Paris 

My final thoughts for the window meant that It should be tall and strong but simple enough not to distract away from the costumes

my final choice was...

I have edited this window in photoshop to make it to the size of my window cut outs. 

Using acetate i traced over the line of the frame with Pebeo Cerne Relief which creates a raised blakc line. I then used watered down acrylic to create the stained glass. To add effect and age to the windows, i scratched off bits of the paint. 

Powerpoint Presentation | MRP

• Images are/ can be a very useful way of expressing complex arguments
• Need to cover the subject, question, context, material, method and conclusions
• Visual form of information
• No more than 20 slides  (12-20)
• It's letting me see that I am gathering enough information
• Still leaving me space to emphasise 20 points that i am making, confidential
• Get feedback from presentation
• Shows that you have a good enough understanding of material
• Recognising what is left to do

Q: What did I get back from doing a presentation?

Method  : Looking at plays in comparison to each other

You don't have to come to a final conclusion... 'I am still asking questions, looking at this...'

Presentation

• 12 - 20 slides 
• There should be a slide at the end for references and for quotes
• 10 minutes to present 

Nottingham Playhouse | Painting the Model Box

I have darkened the the set by dry brushing grey onto the textured gesso surface of the arches. By darkening the side more I aim and hope to make the transition between stage and black tab more camouflaged, therefore making the space look like it goes one endlessly either side.

I need to make the columns the same colour and need to make the skulls withered.
I have played around with mirror at either side of the stage to see whether I can make it appear like a vast amount of space. This is still in concept and may or may not be the correct and final thing I choose.

Although I originally thought that a lighter background would bold best for bright colourful costumes based around the 1930's era I feel that having a darker, but muted set still allows for the attention to be drawn in on the costumes.

I am currently working on a back flat, something to close of the set from the back of the stage. At the moment I am thinking of having large church like windows, inspired from my earlier research. However I am not sure whether I need to further impact on the idea of persecutive by only having one window in the centre arch, or whether to have three large windows.

MRP | 2

• Pick up on the words.... Lines of enquirery - 'Convincing' ? what does it really mean?

• Break down the specifics

• On stage / Off stage death

• Representation of death

• Tragedies : Jacobean play text/ Theories of death 

• Method of death and what the director is trying to say and why? 

•  What are the play writes trying to do?

Look at:

• Violence of stage

• Dying on stage

• Western culture / theatre - Classsics  - Greek/ Roman/ 17th century 

• Biblical/ Mythical stories

• What is the play write trying to do? - Dramatical?  - The audience of the time?

• Before death

• Dr Faustas

• White Devil

• Edward Bond

• Greek Theatre - Western Drama

• Roman Theatre - Western drama 

Nottingham Playhouse | Development of Design

Moving on from the last design idea and playing with space, I have removed some of the bulk of the portals but kept the pillars. I decided that I wanted more space to play with and that the script needed more space for hiding, sneaking and the initial design gave a very distinctive focal point, there wasnt much place for sneakiness.

I feel that the skulls on the columns are very interesting and not very distinctive until closer inspection, which I feel links well with the play, as not all is what it seems. Corruption sneaks in and over powers Ferdinand and all secret are soon revealed. I feel that the column show that on the surface we are all just for show, but as you look further into the world of somebody, perhaps in this case the Cardinal and Ferdinand we see that there are darker sides and toe curling secrets hidden in their pasts.

This design helps with the idea of vastness, it does however need to extend more at the sides to give the illusion that it goes on and on. The spacing between the portals gives way to spot lights and blacking off the set to create intense scenes, like when Ferdinand is torture the Duchess with fake body parts of her family. Ideally i see that scene down stage, spot lighted harshly on the duchess, only seeing Ferdinand when he steps within the light.

If i want to blacken of the set during the show, the colour of the walls will have to be darker as it will pick up any light source.

Things to think about for Duchess of Malfi

* main text of The Duchess of Malfi is set in Italy
     ^ I have chosen to set it in France.      =      Why??

• The Catacombs of Paris - I Like the idea of something looking a little unpleasant about the lives of the characters and believe that there is a lot of skulduggery ongoings in the play. I felt like the atmosphere of the world that these character live in show look somewhat imposing but with a closer look you can see all the cracks in their world. You can see the real side of the characters and that their world is not as perfect that they would have us believe.
• The Cardinal and Ferdinand are not what they seem, in fact they are worse, which we gradually find out through out the play. The Cardinal has blood on his hands and Ferdinand goes a step further and destroys his family. The skulls which appear to be a structure in the making of this family implying that they haven't been all truthful and as good as they want us to believe. 
• The skulls show the structure of their world and what it was built on, death, deceit and dishonestly.

Professional Practise | Portfolio

Your portfolio wants to be ...

• A reflection on your work and what you are. (i.e prop maker, set designer)
• A reflection of your personality. (who are you?)
• It should construct an narrative. (show your 'story')
• Themes, your artist identity and interests.
• Chronology of professional development.

What is it for? ...

• To present your profile
• Expression of your creativity and skills.
• An archive or your work.
• A statement of shared understanding
• Engagement of current practise

What is a Portfolio? ...

• Evolve to reflect your professional development
• Show understanding and Knowledge
• Show your awareness of your own artist identity
• Demonstrate your design style
• Reflect your interest
• Create formalised sketchbook, expand on blog

In the future ...

• Digital or hard copy portfolio?
• A repository
• Evernote/blogger
• Website
• Chronological or themes record 

Things to consider ... 

• Digital / hard portfolio
• Size? A4/A3
• Plastic sleeves
• Style of font and colours
• Motif
• Quantity
• Process work > Fabric samples
• Original or photocopied images?
• Background colours
• Texture, samples, fabrics
• Quality or photographs, should i use a photographer?
• Layout
• Text, type, quotes, reviews
• Should i include technical drawings?/Life drawings?

CV = Show intention and desire
Portfolio = Extension of blog
Quicktime Movie = Digital portfolio/ Photos of work with titles of project 

Blog = Personal diary/ sketchbook

Website = Digital Shop front

Portfolio  =Sent when requested

Practising with the puppet

We started practising the manipulation of the puppets. We used the green room and learnt some movement methods with Sean. 

The first thing that we learnt was the angle of the eyes and how to make sure that we are holding them at the right angle to make sure that we could direct the eyes of the puppets onto each other. This was important to learn so that the audience can understand and follow the attention of the puppets. 

We developed ideas of interactions with each puppet with the puppeteer and then tried to manipulate the puppets by interacting them together. Sean gave us situations to act out with the puppets which involved them being by themselves and then interacting with each other. 

The next method we tried was to walk the puppets from the door over to the table. Figuring out how we could travel with the puppets. 

Thinking about Performance

We are now beginning to think about a location in which we can place our puppets and their conversations.

Arising themes have brought about a variety of things...

Gym

Night Club

Study Group

Naturalistic locations 

A dark street

Private room

Library 

Student Union

Coffee Shop

Q: What is Gender Binding?
Q: How women dress
Q; 'Walk of Shame'


Plan:

• Tuesday 18th - Have all transcripts printed (put them in the Dropbox)
• Set up a email and blog account linking to the project
• Think about the space?    

                       ^ Needs to be performed in a space that is for presenting and has respect

                       ^ A Gallery/ Exhibition Space

                       ^ Bonnington Gallery