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[MUSIC].
The art of scenic design requires much creativity, but it also requires
discipline, to see the abstract ideas put into a functional set design, in the time
period allotted. After the scene designer has completed
their design, they then go through the process of working with their set crew to
put the set on the stage. In order to do this, the set designer
must generate specific working drawings in order to visually communicate to those
who are building the set. On how the scenic design will be
constructed. The working drawings most prevalent in
the process of contructing a set are set elevations.
Set elevations are usually done from two different perspectives.
They illustrate a set piece from the front and the back.
A scale drawing that illustrates what a set will look like from the front is
referred to as a front elevation. The front elevation is a drawing of a
set[MUSIC] piece to be used on the set. That shows where particular design
elements will be located. [MUSIC] A wall in which there will be a
door, will have an elevation, which will illustrate this.
The final elevation will indicate where the door will be located, and what height
and width the door will be. The lines indicating this are referred to
as dimension lines. If there's a picture to hang on the wall
there will be dimension lines to indicate what the dimensions of the picture will
be and how far it will hang from the floor.
The primary purpose of the front elevation is to indicate what the
appearance of a set piece will be And specific locations for construction.
A rear elevation on the other hand reveals what a set piece will look like
from behind, since the audience will in most cases never see the rear of a set
piece. One must wonder why a designer would go
to the trouble of generating a rear elevation.
The purpose for the rear elevation is simply this.
To reveal how a set piece will be constructed.
While a front elevation reveals the appearance of a set piece and utilizes
dimension lines to reveal where the set will be dressed.
The rear elevation reveals the essential locations and techniques of construction.
Most set pieces are constructed on the floor.
The drawing would show a set crew member what the set piece would look like while
it was being constructed. Dimension lines would reveal where braces
would be placed. If a picture is to hang on the wall, the
rear elevation would show where the brace would be located for the nail to be
placed into the wall. Once these working drawings are complete,
the set crew goes about the task of putting together the set.
[MUSIC] Here is a computer generated set rendering.
[MUSIC] Here is the completed set for the play.
There needs to be much done in the way of carpentry and other modes of creation and
construction. But there are set pieces referred to as
stock pieces. Stock pieces are ready made neutral set
pieces that can be used again and again in the process of putting together a set.
These pieces are kept in storage and may be used for many different set designs.
Stock set pieces are usually put into one of two categories.
Hard goods, or soft goods It's simple enough to determine what stock pieces go
into what category. Set pieces that are hard, that cannot be
folded are categorized as hard goods and are stored and used in a different way
than soft goods are. We will look at the two most common types
of hard goods used as stock scenery, flats and platforms.
We will also see how furniture is utilized in the category of hard goods.
Soft goods are stock which is soft and can be folded before they are stored.
Naturally curtains and fabric fit into this category.
There are many different types of curtains and fabric used in the theatre.
And they serve both practical and artistic purposes.
We will look at this in the next section. For now complete your task for this
section. Once completed we will return to our
discussion of scenic design.
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