11/05/11 - Tutorial with Will

Rhiannon and I met with Will to find out a few more details about how this project will work and what the director wants.  We discussed where our inspiration needs to some from and we decided that for the script to work the play has to be kept within the medieval period from a design point of view.  If we changed the context of the play the contemporary references in the dialogue would be lost; I am pleased that we are keeping it, medieval as my research so far has excited me about the period and I hope to bring in some more fantasy elements and fairytale inspiration to give the piece a medieval feel but with new conceptual design elements.  It was mentioned that I need to bare in mind that some of the cast are younger than the characters they will be portraying and this should be considered in my designs.  It was said that while the medieval silhouette is soft I need to keep some hard lines in there to match the themes in the play and that simplicity of line would be effective.  I have found through my research that the garments at this time were very simple which I love about the period because they won't detract from the dialogue. It was mentioned that earthy tones would work well, both with the themes and characters in the play and also visually; this is a very exciting idea and one that Rhiannon and myself need it discuss further.  From here I need to look at the context of the author and find out what his intentions were when writing the script and also looking at other visual representations of the period and seeing how I can bring something new into my designs.  I think most importantly I need to stay within the medieval context and make sure I design something that is recognisable as being medieval but perhaps with some more modern influences.

It was also during this tutorial that Will informed me that our show will be the second show of the autumn term and therefore there will be time for some of the costumes to be made.  This is really exciting for me as it allows me to have a bit more creative freedom in my designs as only some of the character will be being sourced.  This means I can really let my creativity flow and create designs that will fulfil a maker’s role and portray what I want without the restrictions of actually having to be able to find them.  This information has made me even more excited about the project and I cannot wait to really begin designing and getting ideas together.
 

06/04/11 - SDP Part 2 - Script Meeting

Rhiannon, Zoe and myself met with Will, our tutor on this project, to assign the scripts we would be designing.  The scripts we 'Top Girls' (written by Caryl Churchill) and 'In Extremis' (written by Howard Brenton); I had to read both scripts before the meeting and honestly I initially preferred the script for 'Top Girls'.  However, during the course of the meeting it was decided that 'In Extremis' would need two designers, one for set and one for costume, whereas 'Top Girls' would have one designer doing both set and costume design.  I was eager to focus fully on costume design, as I feel I am stronger in this area and I have less of an interest in set design.  It all worked out quite nicely as Rhiannon was keen to just focus on set design and Zoe said she worked well by doing set and costume together, so the result was that Rhiannon and I would work together on 'In Extremis' while Zoe designed 'Top Girls'. 

On reflection I am actually quite happy with the outcome of the tutorials, I didn't dislike the script for 'In Extremis', and now I have read it a few more times I am beginning to appreciate the nature of the play and the intricacies in the dialogue and dialectical exchanges.  I have never designed for this period before and I think it will be a new exciting challenge for me.  I said in my learning agreement that I wanted to keep part 1 of SDP away from collaboration but that part 2 would involve a lot of collaboration and I am happy to be working with Rhiannon on this project and hopefully we can work together closely to keep our ideas linked to make sure there isn't a visual separation in our designs.  The next step for me now is to begin researching the context of the play and the lives of Peter Abelard and Heloise and discussing initial ideas with Rhiannon.

SDP: Part 1 - Painting for Inspiration Styling Project Evaluation

Overall I am very happy with the result of this project; I think the final photo is a success and closely resembles the original image while changing the context and making it more contemporary.  I am pleased with my styling skills and the way the costume looks, I set out to keep the militant look and combine it with punk and I think it works well.  I think the photo is a success interpretation of 'A Dead Soldier' and I think I edited it well to make it look better and enhance certain aspects to make it work.  If I were to re-do this project I would perhaps wait to take the photo a bit later in the day and if I had more time I would have waited for weather that would have created a similar look to the original.  I think there are a few things I could have done better, the badges should have been on the other side of the jacket so you can see them and the handcuffs are a little bit lost when the model lies down.  I am pleased with location I found and I think it works really well and the positioning of the model is exactly what I wanted.  I think my research really helped me create this look and I believe I managed to recreate the punk style and do it justice.  I am happy with my final image, and while there are a few things I would tweak, I think I achieved what I wanted to from this project, gained experience in styling for the camera and have a result that I am proud of.

The Final Photo

My final photo

'A Dead Soldier' The original image I chose

The final photo before editing

As you can see the photo I took needed quite a lot of editing to get it looking how I wanted; I knew my location meant I would have to mirror the image to get the same positioning as 'A Dead Soldier'.  Once I did this I could get a clearer idea of what else needed to be adjusted.  I got rid of the wind surfers in the background and then I also wanted to edit the edge of the cliff so that the model's feet looked more on the edge as they do in 'A Dead Soldier'.  I flattened out the horizon line as I didn't like the slanted angle it had in the original and I think the straighter line sets the photo up better.  I couldn't get the cigarette to light up on the location as it was too windy, but the smoke was important, as I wanted it to resemble the lamp in 'A Dead Soldier' and the symbolism it has relating to the temporary nature of life and how easily it can be extinguished.  I therefore had to put the smoke into the picture myself, and I think it works quite well and adds to the photo. I had to digitally enhance the makeup as it didn't show up very well in the light, but I wanted to maintain a subtly about it, without making it look too clownish, as punk sometimes did.  I like the way the skull seems to be looking at the figure, symbolic of death waiting for all of us and we will all be claimed it at some stage, I painted it silver to give it a shine, based on Damien Hirst's work, which was a statement on mankind's materialistic nature which I thought fitted well with the themes common in 'vitas' paintings.  I was a little disappointed with how bright the overall image was and I darkened the sky a little in an attempt to edit this, but the location would have been almost impossible to get to in the dark.  The moody sky in 'A Dead Soldier' was partly what drew me to it and I would have liked to have been able to reproduce this effect.  However, I do feel that the brightness of the setting makes the model look darker and creates quite an interesting contrast.  My aim in this shoot was to have influences from the original painting combined with a more contemporary style; I think I did achieve this by using punk and the Vietnam war as my influence I think they come through well and maybe the brightness suggests that punk was revolutionary and still is today, so it lives on and people can still relate to it.  I am happy with the final image as I think it works well against the original painting while providing a more contemporary context of a movement that fought its own war against social fashions and ideology.

The Costume on the Model

These are photos of my model in the full costume I have put together to make sure that it looked right, fitted well and fulfilled what I wanted it to.  Originally I was planning to spike up his hair, but this didn't work well and detracted from the look so I bought a wig.  I was concerned it would look gimmicky but I think it actually works well, and once he is laying down I don't think you are really able to tell it is a wig and the dishevelled look of it adds to the broken down appearance I was aiming for.  I blackened the models eyes a little to enhance his death-like state and also in keeping with the makeup punks wore, but toned down as I wanted to keep him looking natural.  However I think I need to be bolder in the application of make up as it is somewhat lost in this picture and when the model is outside in natural lighting it may be almost unnoticeable.  I think the jacket fits the style of punk well and combined with the hoody underneath it creates a fitting look for the style of 70s punk.  As suggested in my tutorial I have left the model's chest slightly exposed to provide vulnerability, and I have also decided that he shall not wear shoes to again enhance that idea.  I think the studs, spikes and accessories on the jacket and trousers work really well and I am pleased with the way the costume decoration has turned out and the effect they give the overall costume.  The chains and handcuffs relate well to the themes of war in my early research and I tried to make the studs and spikes create a military look by keeping them in lines and symmetrical as the early renaissance Italian armour was.  Another point I need to remember when taking the final photo is to make sure the belt can be seen.  It is a bullet belt; again to bring in the military aspects of my research, however I need to turn it around so that you can see the bullets as it is completely lost here.  Overall I am very happy with my work on this costume and I feel confident that, with a few tweaks, I will be able to create a successful photo shoot that brings the original image into a new context while maintaining some of the themes it encompassed. 

31/03/11 - Tutorial with Bunny and Frances Tempest

This tutorial was extremely useful and I have taken a lot from it; we discussed my ideas and how I was planning on interpreting the painting.  The tutors liked my ideas of using punk and they said that it would probably work really well.  This has given me confidence in my ideas and they helped me develop them further.  I asked Bunny about hiring boots from the costume store and she said this would be fine.  They approved of the location I had found and said it should work quite well against the black covered figure.  It was suggested that I have some of the model's chest exposed slightly to enhance the vulnerability of the figure.  It was also mentioned that the painting has some considerable foreshortening so this will have to be taken into account when positioning the figure.  I learnt that simplicity in ideas is what will probably make this shoot successful; Frances said that I need to do the shoot soon so that my ideas don't become too over-thought as this would detract from the idea.  This was really useful advice and I shall take it with me and try to begin developing the costume from here and get it wrapped up as soon as it is ready.

Idea development - Punk and Vietnam

My ideas have developed and I have decided on a 'concept' and period for my interpretation.  My initial research led me to look at various wars and photographs and art inspired from them.  One of the pieces of work that I found was this:

   "Vietnam Scene" Duane Hanson 1969

"American Photorealist Sculptor, Duane Hanson (1925 - 1996), created realistic human figures in polyvinyl that would then be painted and dressed in accessories for the ultimate in realistic statuary. His Vietnam Scene was a tableau of dead and dying US soldiers positioned on a gallery floor as if a grenade had detonated in their midst.  Hanson's hyper-realistic figures often couched a biting social critique of the excesses of American consumerism, racism, and other social ills." 1

This installation showed me that you can create the stillness of death, but the positioning and realism of the figure is important, so I shall try to apply this in my interpretation. The Ideas behind the work are not disimilar to the meanings and symbolim in the original painting and I think this work is very relevant to my project. 

From looking at the Vietnam war I went on to look at the rise of punk in the 70s and the militant protests against war and other causes for social unrest.  I think using leather instead of armour will work really effectively because it will maintain the shiny element of the armour and the studs on the armour of the soldier can be recreating using the studs and spikes that define punk.

The ideas behind the rise of punk and the reasons people dressed this way was to make a stand and comment on society, to go against everything else and be outrageous where everything else was controlled.  The state was killing freedom of dress and music was becoming mundane to many, punk was a way to rebel and take a stand. 

Images such as these will be my main influence in creating the costume, they have a militant feel and I think it's a good way of updating the painting to a more contemporary and relevant way.  I hope to find most of the components of the costume in charity shops and then I can accessorise and style them up individually.  I am pleased with the developments in my ideas and I feel that, when combined with the location, my interpretation could be quite successful.

1: http://www.art-for-a-change.com/vietnam/vietnam.htm