Mood Board

Client Brief: To make a set for Anna Smith's dance piece. She would like columns of material hanging from the rig at different heights, all not touching the floor. Her idea is to represent the inside of a church. The piece revolves around the number 3. 

In my first meeting with my client, it became clearer to me exactly what she wanted. I found out that the material she wanted to hang from the rig was to represent the stone pillars that would be found in a church. Anna was unsure about the colours, or where exactly the material would hang (the positioning) & how much she would need, so for inspiration I did some research and gathered pictures of pillars and similar sets where material hangs from the ceiling. I printed out the pictures and put them onto a moodboard shown below.

On my moodboard, I have added pictures that gave me ideas on what to do (top left) ,one of my initial sketches (bottom right) my model box and a sample of the material and the colours I was going to use.
I later chose blues as well as whites because just white and brown on it's own looked too dull. I asked Anna what her opinion was and she agreed. I also thought that because blues are found in the stain glasses windows in a church, this would be quite fitting. The notes attached have justified the decisions I made.  I think this set is very simplistic but I wanted it to look as similar to the original idea as possible and fill the entire stage to create an open yet intimate space.

This is the list of materials I would ideally need to buy for my piece. The prices and where they can be bought from can be seen on my budget chart. 

Model Box

Here is the process of my model box being created. It is to scale (7cm by 10cm)  This is the kind of idea that Anna was looking for with the tunnel effect created by the use of material layed out in the way that it is. Originally we agreed on using the plain white material to make it look like roman columns, but the blue brought it to life a bit more and broke it up. I used tissue paper to represent the material because it was easy to cut and simple to attach. I used it over felt because felt was too thick and the material in the piece itself was going to be light and delicate. Plus the colours were not as accurate. Cardboard also did not give the correct effect. I was happy with the formation of the material and thought it looked better than just around the outside. The tunnel (^) effect gave it the depth I had hoped for in the first place. 

2D Drawing LX Free Java

Here is the LX free drawing of my set, the black rectangle area is the performance space, the red dotted rectangle is the audience area, The black lines inside the black rectangle area are the piece of material to scale.

Ground Plan Sketch

This is one of my first sketches of the set I was going to create. I wanted to stagger the material to add depth to the stage, but was advised that this would not work / would be too difficult. I also thought about how my set would be lighted because it was important to highlight parts of the set / the dancers. I thought it would be unique to create triangles, 3 of them projected through light (profiles as they have shutters) because this represented the number 3, which Anna wanted originally. 

The material here is places around the outside of the performance space to give the dancers room. If I had put the material in the middle they would not have as much space and the choreography would have to be altered. However if it was possible, I think it would look good if the material was across the stage, as long as it was equally spread out. 

2D Scale Drawing of the Material

Below is a to scale drawing of 4 of the material strips. The scale is 1:30 because this was the only suitable one that could fit to a A4 sized piece of paper. I need 5.5m to hang length wise and 30cm across as the width.

A Relevant List of Suppliers & Budget

List of Relevant Suppliers / Budget:

Item	Size	Price	Suppliers	Contact No.
Navy blue Material	5mx30cm x9	£240	Lindolino	0044 (0)784 303 8313
White Material	5mx30cm x9	£200	Lindolino	0044 (0)784 303 8313
Light blue Material	5mx30cm x9	£240	TP Textiles	01925 242930
Turquoise Material	5mx30cm x9	£240	Golden Hinde	01925 810 697

The overall cost of the material was £960, luckily we did not have to buy this because the college                                                          already had material available. 

Why Have I Chosen This Material?

The material that was hung from the rig was silk. Silk is the most appropriate because it is thin, light and easy to work with. I am glad this was chosen instead of a thicker / heavier material because it would make the stage look too full and not look right with the style of dance that was going to be performed. Silk is an elegant fabric but it is strong. This is important because it meant that it would last and not get damaged easily. Unlike chiffon or any other fine / weak material. I also think that the colours made the set stand out and silk reflects well off the light giving it a shiny look. I think it gave the piece justice because if I had just chosen the white material on it's own it would be dull and too much of the same thing. It needed colour to break it up.

Photographic Evidence of the Final Set

These are the images of my final set from Anna's group dance piece. This is a very simple idea I had of hanging the material down from the rig, originally to be representing roman columns to give a majestic feel to the dance.

The lighting used highlights the material used and can almost change the colour the material appears to be.

Evaluation

EVALUATION:

I think the final piece turned out differently to what I first expected it to be. This was because less material was used and it was draped from a bar that was hung lower than what I had thought. I think this was because we did not have enough of the material, or the funds to buy more to match my original design. There were 3, which matched the triangular ‘three’ theme, however originally they were supposed to resemble columns, hanging down the sides of the stage.

While there were big differences, the colours of the materials stayed the same which kept some continuity. I was pleased with this because it showed that my idea had been put across in a positive way and the idea of the stain glass window colours worked.

I also did ask for there to be plenty of space for the performer’s to dance and this was carried through. Therefore I was happy that this was put in place. Open space allowed the performers to use more of the performance area and to creatively coordinate the way in which they made shapes and used the space to form triangles for example.

Finally, looking at the final piece, I would have more of an input in the construction of my set so that it was made more so like my original plan and I would add slightly more detail, such as the use of more colours.