[ELEM1]

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

SEM. 1 MIDTERM
STUDY GUIDE
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Production Information

Provide a brief description of each job title.

Producer Creates & unites the creative team

Raises funds
Finds the theatre
Oversees all aspects of a production

Board of Directors Provides funding

No artistic say

Managing Director Manages financial aspects:

- Box office: profit from ticket sales
- Fund development: raising funds
- Production budget: all funds raised by MD

Artistic Director Manages artistic viewpoint of company (most say)

Director Visionary of the show

Manages actors

Playwright Writes the play the actors perform

Production Manager Manages the office aspects of production

Oversees everything that happens on stage (and off)
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Stage Manager Make sure everything runs smoothly backstage

Fills in gaps between pre-prod and production

Stage Crew Under SM

Moves scenery
Keeps track of props

Wardrobe Crew Under SM & Costume Shop Sup.

Works closest w/ actors
Assists with costume changes
Manages and maintains costumes, wigs, and hair & make-up

Scenic Designer Interprets script into a physical world (set and props)

Technical Director Under Scenic Des.

Works w/ shop to middleman between designers’ vision and what’s
realistic

Scenic Artist Under Scenic Des.

Creates the vision of the scenic designer
In charge of painting

Paint Crew Under Scenic Artist

Paints the scenery

Property master Under Scenic Des.

Build, buy, or procure all items for show

Prop Crew Under Prop. Master

acquiring, building, maintaining and running the props

Costume Designer Interpret script into vision/aesthetic for each character

Source/make garments for said vision

Costume Shop Supervisor Under Costume Des.

Creates garments for designer

Cutter/Draper Under Costume Shop Sup.

Turns picture into a pattern/garment
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Lighting Designer Interprets script into show’s atmosphere via lighting

Master Electrician Under L.D.

Manages technical elements backstage (power lines, etc.)

Sound Designer Interprets script and inserts sound effects/music into show
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TECHNICAL THEATRE HISTORY

Ancient Greece (ca. 532-531bce)

What were the characteristics of a - Full circle orchestra

Greek Theatre? - Simple backdrop
- Built into hillsides

What was the scaenae? Little building at the back of stage

What was the proskene/proscenium? Platform in front of scanae

V: Plan Overhead view

V: Periaktoi 3-sided flats w/ different faces

Set decoration

What was an Eccyclema? Platform w/ wheels

What was its purpose? To prevent audience from seeing “dead” people stand up
again

What was a Mechane Crane system used to lower “gods” onstage

Ancient Rome (ca.500bce-476ce)

What were the characteristics of - Five doors

Roman Theatre? - Large complex stage-drop
- Half-circle theatre
- Freestanding

V: Scanae Frons “Scenic Front”

Fancy backdrop in Roman theatre

The Middle Ages (ca.500-1500ce)

What were religious plays? - Plays performed to teach illiterate peasants about the Bible

V: Pageant Wagons Wagons that showed a play scene by scene

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Audience is static, performers roll by

V: Mansion Stages Long platform w/ individual scenes

Audience moves, performers static

V: Strolling Players Traveled the countryside with pop-up shows

Touring company

The Renaissance (ca. ~1500-1642ce)

What did Filippo Brunelleschi Inventor of the idea of Linear Perspective

invent?

What was linear perspective? Perspective scenery

Designing 3D space on a flat surface creating the illusion of
reality and distance

Who was Marcus Vitruvius Pollio? Wrote the book “On Architecture” in the Middle Ages
Book rediscovered in Renaissance

Why was Serlio important? Earliest Set Designer!

Referenced Vitruvius’ ideas from “On Architecture”
- i.e: linear perspective in stage, lighting
3 Stages for theatre
- Satyric
- Tragic
- Comedy
writes book about how to use Vitruvius' ideas for theatre

Why was Andrea Palladio Designs a theatre using Vitruvius’ designs

important? - Teatro Olympico
Mixes in the architecture of Greek theatre (linear persp.
scenery, scaenae frons)

What is the significance of the Vicenza (1521)

Teatro Olimpico? 1st indoor purpose-built theatre in the Western world!

What is significant about the Teatro Parma (1628)

Farnese? Earliest remaining proscenium theatre
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Elizabethan England (ca. 1576-1642ce)

What were Inn Yard theatres? Strolling players would set-up stages in courtyard of an inn

What were the characteristics of Based on strolling player stages

Elizabethan theatres? 3 galleries
Level above the stages for musicians or balcony scenes

What societal change happened in Execution of monarchy and rise of Puritans

the early 1600s?
How did this impact theatre? Puritans abolished and destroyed theatres

Who was Inigo Jones? Architect/Designer

Created sets and costumes for masques

V: Masques Theme party meets theatrical presentation

Meanwhile in Asia

Describe Noh/Nō theatre: Performance style fusing song, dance, and mask theatre
Combined elements of Buddhism and Shinto
Often depicted female aristocrats in anguish

Describe Kabuki theatre: Intense stagecraft, costumes, scenery, and movement

Manual revolving stages and lifts

Baroque Era (17th-18th century)

Describe Baroque aesthetics: Oversized, overstimulated, too much

Incredibly lavish and grand
Dramatic setting: Light, scenery

What was the “duke seat”? Best view in the house

Center back seat for aristocracy
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Who was Giuseppe Galli da Bibiena? The first (known) person to make a living from set design

V: Mechanization Moving set pieces pioneered in Baroque era

What was the “chariot and pole” Flat frames that ran through slots in the stage floor would be
system? connected to chariots under the stage to move them SL/SR

19th century

What new way were theatres lit in Invention of gas made candles obsolete
the 19th century? - Limelight/Carbon arc

V: Limelight First theatrical spotlight

What did Richard Vaughner do that Got rid of “horseshoe” shaped seating
was so significant? Dimmed house lights for audience to watch the show

20th century

What new technology replaced old Electricity!

lighting tech. and why? Much more controllable

What did Adolph Appia do? Began to play in abstract space

V: Mise-en-scène The arrangement of set dressing/scene properties

What did Josef Svoboda do? Pioneered use of projections as scenery