Meeting with Rhyannan Hall (SET DESIGNER FOR PERSUASION)

It's a been a while since I last met up with Rhyannan to compare projects. At the beginning of the project, it was stated by both us that we wanted the poster to reflect on the production design. This also gave me the opportunity to learn more about her course and what it entails. (My dissertation includes a case study looking at the education of a set designer). A lot had changed in her designs, therefore it was important to update each other with what we had been doing.

Rhyannan showed me her model box [see photo below]. She was keen to show me the simplicity of the set, with it consisting of all black flooring and furniture. This is fortunate seeing as I have mainly been making my paper experiments in black paper and card. However, she and Natasha (the costume designer) are yet to tell me the costume and lighting colour scheme. The main element of the set is a staircase, which is both for practical use and decorative. The staircase winds up to the ceiling of the theatre. She stressed how the staircase is a metaphor for the protagonist's feelings. Her feelings for Captain Wentworth are constant yet she is unable to express them until the end of the play. I really liked this concept and want to maybe incorporate this image of a staircase in the poster. I could also use it to knit together the different sets of regency bath and middle class Lyme Regis. Rhyannan shared some staircase imagery she had collected for my own collection....

Out of the collection she shared with me, the above three images images inspired me the most. This is due to their shape and form. I like the idea of using them as inspiration for interesting paper cuts, incorporating detailed period pattern. These paper cuts could also create shadows, giving the image the illusion of being a s stage set.

Rhyannan and I talked about the use of shadows in both the set and the poster design. She was particularly drawn to the work that I had done that included shadows in the image. She introduced me to a lighting designer, Cheng Wei Teng, that incorporates shadows to portray the reflections of a 'false' window. This is applied with GOBO Lighting; which is a stencil image inserted in front of a stage light. I could perhaps experiment with DIY GOBOs, making small paper cuts or using the laser cutter and place in front of light directed at one of my paper models. This way I can have alternate images projected onto my paper images.

The Idiot (2009), The University of Texas at Austin Oscar Brockett Theatre: Lighting design by Cheng Wei Teng

It was good to get some feedback from my most recent work. Rhyannan liked my cut out artwork the best and the shadows. However, she commented that she felt the use of people in the poster was too literal and it was better to go for symbolic imagery. That way, it leaves it open for interpretation by the viewer and will stand out more.