touring little shop
DESCRIPTION
These slides should give you a hands on introduction to set design with practical examples and important vocabulary.TRANSCRIPT
Tour of the set of Little Shop of Horrors: through Elements of Design and Principles of
Composition
The following slides will provide actual examples of elements
of design and principles of composition in action!
Erik Chocianowski
Whenever I start a design….
When you start to think of a scene, try to think of it in terms of
the elements of design. The elements of design that I want you to
concentrate on are line, shape, color, texture. All of these words
are capable of telling a story, you just need to work on arranging
them.
If you think this is difficult, it’s not. We already think in this way,
and while we don’t knowingly do so, those words help us define
the world around us.
For instance when you are in the supermarket, looking for an
avocado, how would know when you found an avocado?
Line, Shape, Color, Texture
You look for the thing that looks like an
avocado.
Oval Shape? Check.
Green Color? Check.
Bumpy Texture? You got it.
Looks like you have an avocado.
If you saw something that was not
green but yellow, what can that be?
Similar texture, different color
Well, you might have a lemon. You go
through your daily life easily knowing that
when you want a lemon over an avocado,
you grab the thing that looks like a lemon.
Oval shape, slightly bumpy, and yellow.
If you wanted to create a large lemon on the
set for whatever reason, these are the things
that you would incorporate into your design
of that set piece. Yellow, slightly bumpy and
oval. That way, everyone would know, “Hey,
that’s a giant lemon on stage!”
Applying Color, Shape, and Texture
Let’s think about our Skid Row set. It is a cold, dirty, hard place. How can we use color,
shape and texture to describe that.
Is a skid row building going to have smooth, clean walls? Or will it have dirty, rough
walls.
Describe it in in these terms and you can come up with some materials you can use.
How did I design the walls of the buildings in Little Shop of Horrors?
I made brick buildings!
If you look closely, everything about the
buildings says dirty and rough! The
buildings are made up of dark red bricks
(color) that look hard and a bit bumpy
(texture). How else do you know they are
bricks? The individual bricks look like small
rectangles (shapes).
Talking about lines
Look at these toothpicks and think of them
in terms of line. There is the same number
in both images but one looks neater. Why?
The picks in the top image are all in the
same direction and placed evenly. The picks
in the bottom image look like they were just
dropped there.
How can these two situations tell a story?
Think of a backstory for both of these
images.
If we also examine the scene even more…
We can use the element of line to describe
the set piece. When the lines, found in the
fence and on the board are all over the
window, what can we assume? Is the fence
old and broken with no one to fix it? Was
the window boarded up quickly to keep
people out? The more disorder we have in a
scene, the more run down things appear.
Run down, depressed areas can be done
using these techniques of line placement.
The devil is in the details!
Let’s say we wanted to describe this these
lines. They are jagged, are heavy at times,
and run different directions, not perfectly
straight. What are these?
They are cracks! What I did was give the
scene a backstory with these cracks. The
store is old, run down and has no money to
repair the cracks.
You see this and you are automatically
thinking the same thing!
Old store walls before the renovation…
The store was in disrepair, cracks in
the walls, old refrigerator, just a
mess!
After the renovation!
Look! No cracks! The absence of the cracks
makes the walls look new and clean. Now
the store seems to be doing well.
Remember, it’s the little details that make a
scene look more authentic and real. The
more attention to the details, the better
your set design will be.
So let’s talk
about the
Principles of
Composition
Within your use of the elements, you can
apply the principles of composition to
further your story telling abilities. We’ll
discuss a few: Balance, Unity, and Emphasis
Find out more at the PowerPoint Getting Started Center
Balance and Symmetry
Definition: the ways in which the elements
(lines, shapes, colors, textures, etc.) of a
piece are arranged (Esaak, 2014).
There are two types of balance, symmetrical
and asymmetrical. Symmetry is equal
balance, meaning if we were to evenly
divide a picture in two, we would have a
mirror image. Think of your face, if we drew
a line down the middle, the left side would
look like the right side.
Balance and Asymmetry
Creating balance does not have to be
mirror like. You can have asymmetrical
balance as well. Asymmetry is “balance
that occurs when elements are placed
unevenly in a piece, but work together
to produce harmony overall” (Esaak,
2014).
These buildings use a large rectangular
shape (element) to create a sense of
balance. What type of balance do these
buildings use?
Emphasis
Emphasis is “a principle of art what occurs
any time an element of a piece is given
dominance by the artist. In other words, the
artist makes part of the work stand out, in
order to draw the viewer's eye there first”
(Esaak, 2014).
When I want the viewer to look at
something, or I want something to stand
out, I use an element to create emphasis.
How did I make this flower refrigerator
stand out?
Emphatic Refrigerator
This stands out for one reason, the trim
around the doors is black and the rest it is
white. That is a high contrast difference to
create emphasis. What I want the viewer to
notice is, “Wow, this refrigerator is beat up!
Old! A piece of junk!”
This set piece is two sided, one old side and
a new side. When I didn’t want the viewer
to look at I it too much, I used another
principle of composition.
Unified Refrigerator
To make it less noticeable, I used the
principle of unity in my color choice.
“A principle of art, unity occurs when all of
the elements of a piece combine to make
a… harmonious, complete whole” (Esaak,
2014).
An all white refrigerator, especially on a light
wall, really fades into the background.
Do you agree?
So in conclusion…
Whenever you begin thinking about the design of your set, make sure you consider the elements of
design and principles of composition.
When you are designing the whole set, play with the layout of your set pieces. Balance them
symmetrically, asymmetrically balance them, place them to create emphasis, unity, etc. Evaluate how
you want to use the elements of design with the principles. Push yourself to make more detail that
will make your setting more realistic.
Most importantly, have fun telling a story visually.
References:
Esaak, Shelley. "What Is Balance in Art?" About.com Art History. About.com, 2014. Web. 04 July 2014.
Esaak, Shelley. "What Is Emphasis in Art?" About.com Art History. About.com, 2014. Web. 04 July 2014.
Esaak, Shelley. "What Is Artistic Unity?" About.com Art History. About.com, 2014. Web. 04 July 2014.
*All other work is originally produced by the author.