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Sample Costume & Prop answer.

As a designer, outline your ideas for costume, props and accessories for this extract. Explain and justify how these would help to create your preferred effects at this point in the play.

[Use pages 105-107]

SAMPLE ANSWER (Mr Jones)

Quick introduction: Berkoff’s concept for ‘Metamorphosis (1969) is to present the story of Gregor’s transformation in a way that showcases the actors tools of voice and body (Total Theatre). This is then supported by design elements like costume and props, but the production isn’t reliant on these. My costume designs would place the story in its early 1900s setting (as in Kafka’s novella).

Para 1 (Props – no need)I would not use props. Berkoff’s detailed stage directions suggest ample opportunity for mime and when dressing Mr Samsa in his new work uniform I would follow these SD: “Objects are drawn in space and thrown to him” The miming of these objects is in keeping with the Total theatre style Berkoff uses and allows for fluid movement not hindered by actual props

Mr Samsa costume: However, I would give Mr Samsa an actual jacket: a “uniform of a bank messenger” – it will be shocking red with gold braid at the shoulders and bright gold buttons “like a general”. This will be over the stained vest that Mr Samsa has worn earlier depicting his slobbish nature and will immediately make him stand up straight and imbue him with confidence. The shock of red and gold colour is in contrast to the MONOCHROME blacks, whites and greys of everything else on stage and fit the scene’s mood – “sub-title ‘Optimism’. It is also ironic, given that Mr Samsa’s job is low status but fits his inflated opinion of himself.

Gregor costume: Gregor will be dressed in a tweed 3 piece suit with 3 quarter length trousers, waist coat over a white shirt and jacket befitting a travelling salesman.(see diagram) At this point though I will have him discard the jacket as he swings from the ceiling of his room as this is bulky. The costume must be loose and stretchy enough for Gregor to perform the agile actions “I like hanging from the ceiling”. To show definition so that it works in silhouette I would have the shirt gathered at the elbow with those metal arm bands found on 19th century office workers. The colours will be monochromatic (greys, white and black) and the two tone contrast of dark waist coat over white sleeves and dark 3/4 trousers over long white socks will emphasise the limbs of Gregor’s insect like state while the darker waist coat looks like a shell (carapace).

What would you give this – look at the Marking Criteria

Band ? (       /10)

Modifying this question / Answer for the Pages

Gregor could have a jacket for the parts of the script where he is ‘human’.

He can have real props (a samples bag) or it can be mimed (along with a hat and scarf as he complains about the weather) – this would be more in keeping with Berkoff’s emphasis on Actor’s using their skills to story tell.

Could he have a ‘jacket on/ jacket off’ approach for the pre/post ‘bug’ moments?

In one production his jacket was all torn for the ‘bug’ scenes – what would this indicate ?

Costume/ Prop Question

As a designer, outline your ideas for costume, props and accessories for this extract. Explain and justify how these would help to create your preferred effects at this point in the play.

[Use pages 105-107]

THIS IS YOUR INCLASS QUESTION;

BE CAREFUL: Just because it says props and accessories doesn’t mean you need to be tempted to make this into a naturalistic style production. Think about how Berkoff does it. Do you want to modify that? Could costume and props be used symbolically? Think colour of costume.

Don’t be afraid to say that you’d do it differently from how Berkoff does it.

Costume #1- Metamorphosis

Answer these questions on a word document

#1 Why have costume?

Why not just have actors in ‘rehearsal blacks’? (Berkoff did in 1969)

Blackass: a race rewrite of Kafka's Metamorphosis | Books | The Guardian
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#2 Identify / discuss why this costume {above} for Gregor would be inappropriate.

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#3 Draw and Identify the elements of this costume.

#4 Discuss what this costume tells the audience.

#5 Why is it a more appropriate costume for Berkoff’s production of ‘Metamorphosis’?

#6 What period would the costume be if your production stayed faithful to the period when Kafka wrote this?

#7Look up some costumes for this period on line.

Copy and paste some for Gregor.

Make-up (include in costume)

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Make-up – this could be a paragraph for a costume question.

#8 Why use the white face that Berkoff seems to like?

#9 What are the issues around props and accessories in ‘Metamorphosis’

Sound review

This is a current production of ‘Macbeth’ in London staring David Tennant (ex-Dr Who)

It is noticeable for it’s creative use of sound (especially 3D Headphones – binaural headphones) – where sounds seems to come from different directions – someone might be whispering into your left ear very close or a door creak might seem to come from behind you – all designed to make the theatrical experience more IMMERSIVE – you, the audience, are IN the action.

How might these ideas be applied to your Sound Design ideas for ‘Metamorphosis’?

Have a read!

Lighting vocab – help

Lighting terminology 

Your ability to write using the correct terminology will not only show the examiner that you understand Lighting, but it will save you time and allow you to write more in the LIMITED TIME. 

Lighting/light is often similar to liquid – therefore these terms are used: 

Flood lights (lights that literally ‘flood’ all areas without being focused into a specific area.

YOU WRITE: “ I would flood the stage with blue light because…”

General wash – Covering a large part of the stage 

YOU WRITE: “ I would use a general wash of pink to indicate that this is a ‘rosy’ memory.”

Light locations: 

  • Front 
  • Floor  
  • Side 
  • Top 
  • Back 

YOU WRITE: “ I would use up lighting from down stage to create grotesque shadows on the character’s faces because…”

Intensity:  dim, full, bright,  

Duration: 

Snap (a sudden change), fade over ? seconds

YOU WRITE: “I would fade up the spotlight to full over 10 seconds and once X has stopped speaking I would snap the light off…” 

Each lighting effect is called a state.

YOU WRITE: “the lighting state for this point in the extract would be ….” 

Operation: 

Fade up, fade down, Cross-fade, fade to black (out), fade up from black (out) 

YOU WRITE: “I would X fade the 2 states to from memory to reality to …”

Colours 

Open white (no colour) 

Warm (eg: straw / yellow )

Cool (eg: blues) 

Colour symbolism:

Usually you want to avoid changing the colour of the lights JUST to indicate an emotional change.

However, this is an expressionistic play where the rules of NATURALISM don’t always apply. [Dreams/ Nightmares/ Memories / Story-telling moments.

You can say, “I would use a blood red wash to symbolise Mr Samsa’s anger…” BUT your JUSTIFICATION needs to be something like, “This symbolic use of colour is justified as it is an expressionistic play / moment / happening in a dream/ nightmare…”

Avoid weak colour claims: e.g. “Gregor will be lit in blue to accentuate his transformation and emotional distress.”

Types of lights 

Flood lights (no ability to shape or change the beam) All you can do is colour them with a gel. 

Small/Soft profile (sometimes called a FRESNEL – pronounced ‘fre-nel’ You can modify the beam slightly, shape them with barn doors and colour them with gels 

Spotlights/Profiles: The most versatile light. You can change the beam from a wide, soft edged beam to a sharp, narrow beam. You can shape the beam with barn doors or internal shutters, they are good for gobos and you can colour them with gels. 

Follow -spot (a spotlight on a stand at the back of the theatre operated by a person – follows anyone and places them in a pool of light. 

Sound question

As a designer, outline your ideas for sound for this extract. Explain and
justify how these would help to create your preferred effects at this point in the play.
[10 marks]

Use Pages 101, 102, 103

Above is the Sound Question you will be doing inclass next week.

At Home, I want you to prepare for this question – read the extract several times, think about sounds present and sounds you can add (diegetic and non-diegetic)

The extract has been chosen because there’s a lot you can do with your SOUND DESIGN.

Plan what you would say in an Introduction (it’s a very OPEN question so you need to set out your aims) and in 3 subsequent paragraphs. [I won’t be directing you to the ‘best bits’ so choose wisely.]

Use the Internet to discover what a Leitmotif is. (You could also call it a theme tune or signature sound.

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-leitmotif-definition/

Find out what sampling is. (Vocal and Instrumental)

Look at the 1st minute of this.

HOW COULD SAMPLING (NOT DONE BY THE ACTORS THEMSELVES BUT BY THE SOUND DESIGNER LIVE) BE USED IN ‘METAMORPHOSIS’?

What is Reverb?

What is surround sound?

SOUND IN METAMORPHOSIS

The ACTIVITIES below need to be in your Journals and ready for next week’s lesson.

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ACTIVITY 1 = Begin a MIND-MAP in your Journal

  1. What does sound do for /bring to a theater production?
  2. What ways are there to create ‘sound’? (think Live or Recorded)
  3. How does the audience ‘hear’ sound?

TIPS= How to write about Sound: (vocabulary)

Think about when the sound:

  • starts/stops,
  • its intensity,
  • sound effects applied live or to a recorded sound
  • speakers, microphones

Read this for an understanding of 2 key terms when discussing SOUND!

The clue is ‘originating for the film’s/ play’s world’

LIGHTING ‘METAMORPHOSIS’ -Deconstructing an answer

LIGHTING ‘METAMORPHOSIS’ -Deconstructing an answer

QUESTION: As a designer, outline your ideas for lighting this extract. Explain and justify how these would help to create an appropriate mood and atmosphere at this point in the play

 Cut ‘n’ Paste this into a word doc and then Highlight/Underline

  • RED = references technical vocab,
  • GREEN for any pearls of wisdom (LINKS TO Social/Historic/Cultural)
  • BLUE = references to MOOD /KEY WORDS from the Question and/or Designer’s Intentions /Aims
  • Put a Q in the margin for quotes- count them! (Be aware of how they are used to justify or focus.)

The mood when Mr Samsa starts hurling apples at Gregor is violent and extreme. It’s as if all Mr Samsa’s pent up frustration comes out. As a lighting designer, I would cover the stage in a blood red wash on the line “Apple for you Gregor!”This would symbolise the anger being demonstrated by Mr Samsa. Being an expressionistic play, this symbolistic use of colour is justified. At the point when the apple hits Gregor (It’s sunk in”) I would follow Berkoff’s stage directions and have a strobe light flash on and off quickly- ‘strokes of lightning’. This would catch the family and Gregor in different poses: father triumphant, Mother and Greta distraught, Gregor in agony. It would also have the jumpy, jerky, non-naturalistic feel of a silent movie which would support the 1900s period I feel.

In the next scene, Berkoff puts ‘lights up on the FAMILY.’ In this scene, we see Greta practicing French and father sleeping. As a lighting designer, I would want to convey a more naturalistic mood by using a dim top light in warm yellow to indicate the gas light that would have been used in the 1910s. [See diagram]. I would focus a small profile at ground level onto the down stage right stool and have a flickering red fire effect created by a motorised gobo to create the illusion of a fire. This would link to Berkoff’s idea of total theatre where the audience is using their imagination without the need of an elaborate set. This naturalistic lighting would create an evening mood and a calmer atmosphere several days after the apple throwing.

In this part of the scene, Gregor is absent from the dialogue but there are still references to him when Mrs Samsa asks Greta ‘What’s he doing?’ Berkoff says in his Introduction ‘Gregor is always watching’so I would keep a dim pin spot on Gregor’s room. This would pulse larger then smaller several at the times when the family mentions him and keep reminding the audience of his presence in the scene.

In the last part of this scene, Gregor’s dream, I would want to emphasise the surreal mood that is present. Berkoff describes the family ‘as if under water’ and ‘twisting ‘around in their sleep’. I would use dim footlights coloured blue, which would up-light the facial expressions that the family have. This would have the effect of making facial shadows increase and emphasise the ‘horrified’ expressions Mrs S. is pulling, ‘Father – do something’. Gregor would be lit from the front by a tightly focused spotlight of white light which would gently pulse when he is not speaking. Its low angle also cast large shadows onto the cyclorama upstage – making the actor’s gestures and limbs look larger and more grotesque making this scene quite nightmarish in atmosphere.

What band is this and what number out of 10.

Name 2 things this example does that you didn’t do.

Alternative Set design

This video from the dance company ‘Motionhouse’ uses creative projections projected onto a white set (a curved ramp that the performers can get to the top of and slide down.)

What ideas could be ‘stolen’ for your production.

The cloth that the performers swing from is called a ‘silk’ – it’s originally a circus apparatus.

‘Motionhouse’ are famous for using projected images and interacting with them.

SAMPLE ANSWER If you wanted your set to be more ‘high tech’ and ambitious than Berkoff’s “minimalistic” original.

EXPLAIN: My set would be a 2 storey box set with Gregor’s bedroom up stairs and the Samsa’s living space down stairs (and down stage). The whole set would be white to enable multiple projectors to project moving and still images onto different parts of the set. All the walls would be made from gauze that can be transparent when lit from behind.

There would be a central door in the backwall for the appearance of the Chief Clerk and Lodgers This is where the family would exit to access the upper level. There would be a trap door/hole with a pole in the upstairs bedroom area to allow Gregor to move between his bedroom and the living space. There would also be circus-style silk in the bedroom (disguised as curtains around a window) to allow Gregor as the ‘bug’ to move in extraordinary ways.

There would be a stair case behind the gauze to allow the family to go up and down to Gregor’s room.

[MUCH OF THAT COULD HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED IN A DIAGRAM WITH NOTES]

Functionality:

Circus style silks that could reach to the downstairs floor (maybe disguised as curtains)  – this allows Gregor to move up and down as a scurrying insect.

Hidden hand hold in white (to blend into the white walls) to allow Gregor to move as an insect and position himself in unusual and gravity defying poses.

Expressionistic:

Projections can be naturalistic – wall paper – shelves etc

or

more expressionistic. For example, when Greta says Gregor has been leaving a slime trail across the walls the audience sees that animated. First in Gregor’s room (more naturalistic) and then the trails/ slime oozes down the walls and into the Living space.

JUSTIFICATION: Symbolic of the idea that the Samsa’s feel that their lives & house is being contaminated. It will support the idea that there is no where in the house that is untainted.

Flash backs:

Projections of the outside world can be projected on the upstairs wall whilst Gregor is describing his life on the road downstage. Busy train platforms – cold, poorly lit streets – snow etc. This all supports the story Gregor tells and makes us feel sympathy for him.

  1. If the question is a SET design one then focus on the shape and functionality of the set (maybe one paragraph about it being made up of white flat spaces that can have images projected against.)
  2. If it’s a LIGHTING design question then you can say 1) that projections are a form of lighting 2) what your projections would be.

It’s unlikely that there would be a whole question about projections BUT you can combine them with the other type of lighting effects you know about.

Costume DESIGN TASK

You will research and design the costume for TWO characters

Your characters are:

Grace/ Gabby / Amelie= Mr Samsa & Mrs Samsa

Nic / Naomi= Gregor (Pre-insect and after insect)

Eleanor / Peter / Mara = Chief Clerk & Greta

James/ Jaide = Lodgers (as working class/factory workers) and as upper class/fallen on hard times

Create 1 Mood board [example below] for your ‘given’ characters + a paragraph of NOTES about the costume items/ personal props you have chosen.

ALL WORK MUST BE PRINTED, SENT IN AND ABLE TO BE DISPLAYED IN CLASS ON THE WALL

Deadline: Submitted electronically by Thursday 15th Dec

You will create a picture mood board like the one below.

  • Remember the ‘period is the early 20th century. (1900-1920s)
  • The Samsa’s are Lower Middle class.

Plus notes on Costume / Props etc (Your JUSTIFICATION)