Second meeting with Director

I met with Doug for the second time today and took with the work I have currently done. As he has had more time to negotiate the script since our last meeting ideas were becoming a lot more clear. He agreed with most of the suggestions on my moodboards, for the Princess he very much liked the idea of a floating garment to allow for a lot of movement when dancing as well as giving a feel of bed clothes. As for the Soldier he liked the overall moodboard but felt that the soldier is most likely to be a private and more research should be carried out into this. As his costume changes throughout it would be a good idea to have a base costume to tweek as thew story goes on to show his change in circumstance. Having watched a production of AST with the Devil as a woman Doug was also keen on this idea which I also am very interested to have an experiment with. Unintentionally the images on my moodboard are quite feminine or involve women which relates very well with this idea. We decided that the Devil should appear as a normal person in his various guises as the play goes along but is then revealled as a Devil at the end with possibly a mask and/or an extended costume or worn puppet to create a real stage presence. Initial ideas I had had for the Narrator were that he looked as if he had originated from the landscape. His costume may be of the perios in cut but fabric textures, manipulation, adornment and colours would relate to the set design. The reason for this is the impression given throughout the story that the Narrator knows the Devil and the outcome of the story as the Devil always wins; he has been around for a long time and understands the nature of the world and humans all too well.

As for the set, I mentioned I have contacted the orchestra but that I had not yet had a fully informative reply about the space needed etc. We thoroughly discussed how we could format the performance if a false proscenium arch was used similar to that of a puppet theatre. I love this idea and feel it relates very well to the fairytale like feeling of the story.

Evaluation: This discussion has really helped to give my work some direction and I feel I can now start to commence on some inital designs. The proscenium arch idea is one I want to have a real play with and will consult the technical drawings and start a white card model to see whether this idea is physically possible when including the orchestra. I intend to have some rough design sketches of the main costumes and white card model photographs for our next meeting which should be sometime next week.

Moodboards

I spent today creating moodboards for each character and the set. I took into consideration the character analysis I had done in each case as well as how I felt the character may look, move, relate to the story and colours and textures that represent them.

As for the set I paid particular attention to the use of fabric that Doug wanted to enorporate in altering location, how this look could be achieved, textures that could relate to both fabric and the landscape. I also looked at how war could be indicated but not physically present in the setting.

Here are the following moodboards I created:

Princess

 Devil

Soldier

 Set

Reflection: Creating these moodboards has definitely aided my visualisation of each character.However, I still feel that this can be understood further which I hope to achieve throughout the design process and further research. They will also be very useful in my next meeting with Doug to give him an impression of my thoughts of the characters and to see whether they relate to his own ideas and if not the differences between them.

Amended Script Breakdown

Script Breakdown (2) – A Soldier’s Tale –Igor Stravinsky Key

Act 1 Devil Soldier Narrator Princess Set

Scene	Cast	Time	Place	Basic Plot	Atmosphere	Props	Wardrobe	Technicalities	Stage Directions
1	Soldier Devil (as little old man) Narrator Mrs.Gray Arthur Mother Fiancee	1917 – During ww1	‘The Banks of a Stream’	Soldier returning to village with 10 days leave Devil tricks the Soldier into losing 3 days of his leave to teach violin. Gives soldier magic book.	Trickery	Pack -medallion (st.joseph) -cartridges -mirror -photo of girlfriend Old brown fiddle Magic book	Devil disguised as man with butterfly net	-Curtain rises/falls -Flying horses/ carriage	Narrator speaks before curtain rises for scene 1. -Devil hides -Can see Devil in next guise at end of scene central stage waiting.
2	Soldier Devil (as cattle merchant) Narrator	3 years have passed	Native village (At crossroads in open country. Frontier post and village belfry in the distance.)	Finds he has been away 3 years not 3 days Magic book can make him a fortune.	Bewilderment, anger, despair,	Sabre and sheath Magic book Cap Pack and objects Purse Knapsack	Cattle merchant guise inc. cane Tunic can be unbuttoned (is removed – undergarment needed) Violin to fit in Devils pocket Appears as clothes woman before secene ends (costume change)	Curtain rises Curtain falls	Soldier begins off stage. Later – soldier and Devil both leave stage for a moment 2nd curtain rise. Soldier sitting at desk. Devil pops head around wing, then trips.
3	Soldier Devil ( as clothes woman) Narrator Man		A room Travelling again – countryside (marching away from home) Inn	Soldier disillusioned by wealth wants fiddle back Soldier travels to an inn. Hears Kings daughter is ill and a reward will be given to her curer.	Despair Anger Distraught	Magic book Fiddle ‘wares’	Old clothes woman guise Add sense of wealth to Soldier	Fiddle 'hurled' into the wings Book torn into 1000 pieces. Curtain falls. 'Fine white muslin curtains'	Devil Disappears (begins off stage.) Soldier sits at desk. Narrator bangs fist on the table.

Script Breakdown(2) – A Soldier’s Tale –Igor Stravinsky

Act 2

Scene	Cast	Time	Place	Basic Plot	Atmosphere	Props	Wardrobe	Technicalities	Stage Directions
4	Soldier Devil (virtuoso violinist) Narrator	Evening	A room of the palace (dimly lit )	Narrator speaks directly to Soldier convincing him he can beat the Devil. Soldier plies devil l with wine and plays cards until Devil is unconscious and steals back fiddle.	Rewards/ satisfaction Gaming Temptation	Pack of Cards Pack of Cards Fiddle Wine Glass Money 2 chairs	Devil as violinist Indication of Soldier’s lost wealth	Curtain Rises Devil appears at Soldiers side Table turns around Curtain falls.	All lights go out – Narrator has lit both candles. Shuffles pack of cards Soldier sits at a table shuffling cards, 2 candles lit. Jug of wine and glass. (Like the Narrator) Devil falls back in chair and then body sinks across the table. Soldier plays violin. Devil falls off chair. Lights up.
5	Soldier Devil (as Devil) Narrator Princess Dancers		Princess’s bedroom	Plays fiddle to Princess and she recovers and dances: Tango Waltz Ragtime Devil appears and Soldier fiddles him into contortions and they drag him off stage	Triumphant Joy Love Success Redemption	Couch/Bed Fiddle	Distinguish Devil as self	Curtain rises. Curtain falls. Curtain rises. Curtain falls.	Brilliant lighting. Princess dances in front of curtain. Devil crawls on all fours. Devil – accelerated movements Soldier plays violin. Princess and soldier drag Devil from the stage. Devil pops head round door at the back. Disappears.
6	Soldier Devil (as self) Narrator Princess	Sometime after marriage	(Curtain) Native Village (as scene 2)	Couple decide to visit Native land. As he crosses the frontier falls into the Devils power who has also reclaimed the fiddle. Soldier follows Devil slowly but with no resistance.	Succumbing to Devil’s will Failure Power of fate Sadness Regret Loss of power Resignation.	Violin	Suggested Devil wears ‘gorgeous scarlet apparel’ Should appear royal/ empowered	Curtain rises. Curtain falls slowly.	Devil crosses across the back of the stage. Devil plays violin.

Tate visit

Spent today at the Tate Modern London waltzing around searching for inspiration when it comes to the look of my set and costumes. I was particularly interested in finding inspiration for a fluid way to transform my minimal set from scene to scene.

Inspiration was plentiful and many a photograph was taken! I was particularly struct by some of their sculpture exhibits that included string rooms and furniture which are possibly a little too abstract for my set...
It was great to get away from the tunnel vision of historical research and be inspired by fresh and alternative ideas, some of which were in fact of the period. The HUGE pile of sunflower seeds unfortunately didn't inspire very much...

Midway Reflection

We are currently just about to break for the Easter Holidays and my research is in full swing but I want  to progress with my analysis of each character so I can begin creating moodboards for them and getting a full idea of their personality and role within the story. Although I have created the script breakdown published within my blog I would like to amend this and advance it as on receiving a hard copy script I have found stage directions and details that I was not aware of and would like to include in a breakdown as they will affect my set design. I can also see from my work plan that I am lingering behind with my plans I would therfore like to spend Easter catching up with this gap. I will also know when time planning in future to allow more time for certain jobs such as, script breakdown which needs to be done throughoughly in order to understand the play. I will also make sure that in the remainder of this project I will try harder to stick to the plan I have outlined.

Costume Design Templates

I used a technique taught in defining practice to create my costume design templates. I firstly took photographs of people, who were similar to how I imagined the character, in a pose relevant to them. Creating a line drawing from these photographs using photoshop will provide quick templates for initial design ideas that are also anotomically accurate. If there any I am particularly happy with I can scan them back into photoshop and continue to work on the designs.

This relates to my Learning Agreement as I claimed that:

"Some of my design development or final designs will be created and/or altered using Photoshop to increase my skill in using this rendering technique."

I am hoping that using this process will help me to be more efficient with my time by not having to redraw templates for each idea but also keep me aquainted with the Photoshop tricks and techniques so my design work advances electronically as well as by hand.

Original photograph:

Template created:

Film Research

I very much enjoyed indulging in watching both the film 'Joyeux Noel' and British TV drama 'My Boy Jack' as research not only for costume but also for a feel of the era and life in the trenches. Both offered a sympathetic portrayal of those affected by the war for both those fighting and at home.

'Joyeux Noel' particularly focused on the soldiers, reminding us of their humanity and how they were mere men thrown into a horrific situation. I feel this is particularly relevant to 'L'histoire du Soldat' as this soldier is required to be an 'everyman' allowing the audience to relate to his needs, desires and hence, failure. The film documenting the unification of French, Scottish and German soldiers on Christmas Eve through a truce reitterates this. As all the soldier's meet their apponents they desire to share stories of their home town, show pictures of their wives and play football. This also relates to the 'simple pleasures' the Soldier desires as the Devil strips them from him. It is the aspects of life that we take for granted that are missed the most as they piece together everyday life and normality. One that was particularly relevant to this is a French Soldiers alarm clock set to 10am everyday to remind him of....... I hope that there is something we could use to infer this loss of an original routine in my Soldiers costume or part of his kit bag that is also relevant to the story. An alarm clock would also remind us of life passing and the decisions we make as out lives evolve.

'My Boy Jack' gave great examples of British WW1 uniform that would be similar to that of the Soldier. Although Doug expressed an interest in our Soldier being of the Welsh guards these soldier's were Irish but I imagine their uniforms do not differ too greatly. This drama really evoked the feeling of loss as it depicts the family struggling with the absence of their 18 yearold son and finding he is declared 'missing' at War. It gives a vivid portrayal of the bitterness of the trenches and conditions the Soldier had to tolerate as well as extreme emotion. From watching this I can fully imagine the need for our Soldier to return home in order to escape the anxiety of Warfare and retain some normality. The marching music of Stravinksy'd score reminds that War is always waiting for him to return it is built in and he cannot disbandon it.

Overall, both films were a great research point I now have a far fuller understanding of the life conducted by a Soldier and in such a desperate time it is normality and everyday routine that is most valuable to them. As well as this it has given great uniform references in detail which will be useful when accessorising the soldier and giving his uniform quirks to suggest his character. It also provided reference for the Princess's costume as 'Joyeux Noel' depicted popular silhouettes, fabrics and styles in Diane Kruger's clothing as a famous Opera singer. Seeing the trench condtions also indicated the types of breaking down needed to give an authentic look in addition to the landscapes that could be used within my set design.

Model Box

I created my modelbox by first tracing the technical drawing of the Ocean Room used by Adele for her set design. Once this was completed I used foamboard and mountboard to create a sturdy structure. The doors are temporary and will be able to function if needed for the designs I create at a later stage. The door frames have been made out of obeche strips and I added these as I felt they were quite an important design feature of the room. All other details such as projector screen, columns, seating and legs have been drawn onto the modelbox floor in pencil so I am aware of them during designing. I have extended the ceiling height from 500cm to 550cm to allow for anything I might want to hang from the lighting bar. I also remember from the Get in that the height below the lighting bar is less than the 500 suggested on the plans so, any floor to ceiling pieces I will make smaller to ensure they fit. I have made the modelbox black for now but may alter the floor texture to that of the existing pale wooden floor at a later stage as it is quite a notable feature of the room. I am very pleased with the technical ability I have shown creating this modelbox as I have completed it entirely by myself and I know it is accurate. As it stands it will be sufficient for my white card model to be created for SDP. However, on advancing my set designs at Level 6 I may heighten the standard of my model box by making the suggested changes to suit the standard of my set design that it will display.