Scenic Design

Scenic design (also known as stage design, set design or production design) is the creation of theatrical scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are professionals, often with degrees in theatre arts.

The ‘stage picture’ is the ‘look’ or physical appearance of the stage for a play, whether in rehearsal or performance. It reflects the way that the stage is composed artistically in regard to actors, shapes and colours. The stage picture should express good principles of design and use of space. It should be visually appealing for the audience or should express the show's concept. The stage picture is also crucial for the creation of atmosphere for the audience.

The scenic designer is responsible for collaborating with the theatre director and other members of the production design team to create an environment for the production and then communicating the details of this environment to the technical director (production manager), charge scenic artist and propmaster. Scenic designers are responsible for creating scale models of the scenery, renderings, paint elevations and scale construction drawings as part of their communication with other production staff.

In Europe and Australia scenic designers take a more holistic approach to theatrical design and will often be responsible not only for scenic design but costume, lighting and sound, and are referred to as theatre designers or scenographers, or production designers.

Like their American colleagues, European theatre designers and scenographers are generally trained with Bachelor of Arts degrees in theatre design, scenography or performance design.

Set construction is a process by which a set designer works in collaboration with the director of the production to create the set for a theatrical, film or television production. The set designer produces a scale model, scale drawings, paint elevations and research about props, textures, and so on. Models and paint elevations are generally hand-produced, though in recent years, many designers and most commercial theatres have begun producing scale drawings on computer drafting programs.

The technical director or production manager is the person responsible for evaluating the finished designs and considering budget and time limitations. He or she looks through the scenery, reworks it for building, budgets time, crew and materials. Technical directors often have assistant technical directors who help them in their work.

Day-to-day matters such as absences, breaks, tool repair are the concern of scene shop workers. The staff of a scene shop is usually referred to as scenic carpenters. Scenic painting is a separate aspect of scenic construction, although the scenic painter usually answers to the technical director.

There is also usually another person often referred to as Jack of all trades. He or she doesn't specialize in a particular aspect of construction, but is skilled to some degree in most.

IV Answer the questions:

1. What is scenic design?

2. What is a ‘stage picture’?

3. What should a ‘stage picture’ express?

4. What is a scenic designer responsible for?

5. What are technical director’s duties?

6. How do designers use a computer?

7. What is a technical director responsible for?

V Complete the sentences with the words from the text:

1. Scenic designers are specialists often with degrees in….

2. The stage picture should express good principles of…..

3. The scenic designer is responsible for …. with the theatre director and other members of the production design team.

4. In Europe scenic designers are often responsible not only for scenic design but ….

5. The technical director is responsible for ….

VI Find the English equivalents to the words:

декорації, декоратор, макети, візуально привабливий, постановча картина, ескіз, фон, режиссер-постановник

VII Make up sentences with the terms:

stage design, professionals, principles of design, technical director, drawings,

hand-produced, show’s concept

VIII Give the definitions to the words and phrases:

stage picture, scenic designer, scale models, props

IX Translate the sentences into English:

1. Дизайнери декорацій часто мають театральну освіту.

2. Постановча картина повинна бути візуально привабливою.

3. Інколи декоратори відповідальні не лише за дизайн сцени, а й за костюми, освітлення та звук.

4. Постановча картина виражає ідею шоу та створює необхідну атмосферу.

5. Дизайнери європейських театрів звичайно мають ступінь бакалавра мистецтв.

6. Декоратор повинен співпрацювати з режисером, щоб створити декорації для театральних вистав або фільмів.

7. Режиссер-постановник проектує декорації, підбирає матеріали та команду.

X Speak on the topic using the following words and word combinations:

scenic designer, props, scale models, stage, principles of design, visually appealing, technical director, scene shop, responsible for

Text B

I Read and remember:

1. to rely on покладатися, довіряти

2. heighten підсилювати

3. to delineate окреслювати

4. to convey передавати, виражати

5. excessive надмірний

6. exaggerated перебільшений

7. runway подіум

II Read the text and define the main idea of it:

Дата добавления: 2015-09-05