Fantasy Space in Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus Julia Grace Carusillo Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requir

Home , Black Orpheus, Eurydice (Anouilh play), Marcel Camus, Orfeu, Orpheus (Angel)

Hollow Lyre: Fantasy Space in Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus

Julia Grace Carusillo

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Production Design at The Savannah College of Art and Design

The author hereby grants Savannah College of Art and Design permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic thesis copies of this document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created.

Signature of Author and Date ______

______/_____/_____ Professor George Head Professor of Themed Entertainment Design Commitee Chair

______/_____/_____ Professor Michael Devine Professor of Production Design Committee Member

______/_____/_____ Professor Christine Wacta Professor of Architecture Committee Member Hollow Lyre: Fantasy Space in Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Production Design Department in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Production Design Savannah College of Art and Design

Julia Grace Carusillo

Savannah, GA

November 2013 Dedication

This thesis is dedicated to Dad, Mom, Alex and Clo. Dad for telling me I can be whatever I want to be, and waiting patiently while I figured out what that is. Mom for instilling in me an abiding reverence for architecture, furniture and books. Alex for being a discerning critic at all times, and wanting proof. Clo for being my best friend and other half, challenging my brain and knowing exactly what I mean.

I would like to acknowledge with the utmost gratitude my friends and professors from Pratt Institute and Savannah College of Art and Design who have helped shape the way I think, work and create. Table of Contents

I. Thesis Abstract 1 II. Thesis Concept Statement 2 III. Script Analysis 3 A.) Background and History 3 B.) Marcel Camus’ Interpretation 5 C.) Relocation of the Film 9 D.) Ritual and Ceremony in Black Orpheus 11 IV. Character Analysis 13 A.) Eurydice 13 B.) Orfeu 14 V. Design and Process 15 VI. Self Evaluation 19 VII. Bibliography 20 VIII. Visual Appendices 21 A.) Existing Film References 21 B.) Other Film References 21 C.) Full Set 22 a.) Drafting 22 b.) Rendering 24 D.) Orfeu’s Home 25 a.) Research 25 b.) Concept Iterations 27 c.) Drafting 28 d.) Color Elevations 33 e.) Renderings 35 E.) Serafina/ Eurydice’s Home 36 a.) Research 36 b.) Concept Iterations 38 c.) Drafting 39 d.) Color Elevations 44 e.) Renderings 46 1.)

I.) Thesis Abstract

Hollow Lyre: Fantasy Space in Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus

Julia Carusillo

November 2013

This thesis details the thematic purpose of relocating Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus (FR, 1959) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Venice, Italy, and the emotional, physical and metaphorical implications in changing this element of the film through production design. In this project I aim to justify and contextualize the aesthetic choices I have made in marrying conceptual fantasy production design with modern architecture through visual research, film theory, and concept analysis. Through digital modeling, storyboarding and rendering I have attempted to create environments in which the actors and director can create dynamic cinematic moments that speak to the film’s timeless themes in an environment wholly unrecognizable from the original film. 2.)

II.) Thesis Concept Statement

This project is essentially an attempt to prove that the central timeless themes of Marcel

Camus’ Black Orpheus- whether our fate is predetermined, innocence lost, whether or not love can truly conquer all- can be understood regardless of physical location. While this may seem an anachronistic concept for a production designer to tackle, considering the importance of location to our work, it is in fact precisely what Camus himself did in relocating the Orpheus and Eury- dice myth from Greece to Brazil. In this thesis, I have not only relocated the action of the film from Rio de Janeiro to Venice, Italy, I have also heightened the magical realism to another level by creating fantasy environments for the main characters to exist within.

Relocation of the film from Rio to Venice had multiple purposes for me as a production designer: it created the challenge of determining which traditional Italian design tenets I wanted to incorporate into my design, made me consider what aspects of the original film I wanted to maintain, and gave me breadth to act as the director of this production, with the agency to create meaningful and dynamic cinematic moments through my sets. In relocating the action to Venice, there were many cliche design choices I made sure to remain fully aware of throughout my design process. I didn’t want to recreate the Venice seen on thousands of postcards and coffee table books and watercolor reproductions; I wanted to create a fantastical Venice, where the characters allow water to seep through the foundations of their homes and flood the marble stair wells, where no doors shut them out from the elements, and where the otherworldly nature of the canals provides them transportation not only from house to house, but from this world to the next. This highly conceptual project does not attempt to create logical or sensible environments for the characters to lead long and pleasant lives, but rather poetic interpretations of architecture meant 3.) to reflect their inner and interpersonal turmoil. In an actualized production of this film, the sets would likely be a combination of computer generated imagery and physical architecture, in order to allow any improbable aspects of the set design to be realized plausibly. The auxiliary architecture (surrounding apartments, civic buildings) is meant to be more in keeping, though not strictly, with traditional Venetian architecture. This is meant to imply subtly that Orfeu and Eurydice are mythical creatures and creating a physical and aesthetic separation from them and the rest of the world.

My interpretation of the film consciously takes on a decidedly darker tone than the original. This begins with my decision to set the action not during Carnivale, a celebration of dance and excess, but during Festa del Redentore, an annual Venetian holiday wherein a bridge is built connecting two Venetian islands to allow citizens to walk across the Grand Canal. During this holiday Venetians make pilgrimage to a Palladian church built honoring the nearly one third of the Venetian population who perished by Plague during the 16th Century. Though this decision to create a darker Black Orpheus removes some of the juxtaposition created by the vacillating celebration and loss from the original film, it allowed me as a designer to be unafraid to explore the darker implications of this story. This decision also allowed me to draw more influence from the original myth to inform the storytelling process, and to create a more overtly supernatural universe for these characters to live within, as opposed to the magical realism of Camus’ film.

III.) Script Analysis

A.) Background and History

An international co-production between France, Italy and Brazil, Black Orpheus (1959, directed by Marcel Camus, written by Jacques Viot with Marcel Camus) takes place primarily in the fave- 4.) las of Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Filmed on location, the original film is infused with an exceedingly authentic sense of kinetic energy, as the retelling of the Classical Orpheus and Eurydice myth unfolds against the backdrop of Carnival. The film’s main characters are Orfeu and Eurydice, well-known characters to those familiar with Classical mythology. In order to fully understand the impact of Black Orpheus, one must be familiar with their original story- after all, the characters in the film are all aware of the Classical myth, which they see enacted before their very eyes, knowing its hopeful crescendo and its tragic denouement.

As told by the Roman poet Virgil, Orpheus is a prolific musician and poet, the son of the muse Calliope and the god Apollo. Infused with their otherworldly blood, Orpheus is able to tame the whole of nature with his songs, set to tune by his iconic lyre. Orpheus and Eurydice immediately fall in love, and on their wedding day she is pursued by a satyr through tall grasses, forcing her to trip over a rock where she is bitten by a snake and dies.

“She, doomed girl, running headlong along the stream,

so as to escape you, did not see the fierce snake, that kept

to the riverbank, in the deep grass under her feet.”1

Thus begins the most famous of Orpheus’ tales- he was an argonaut, a beast-tamer and the figurehead of an ancient cult, but no story has inspired more woe than that of his sojourn to the underworld to bring back his departed wife Eurydice. Orpheus is allowed passage to the underworld due to his divine lineage, and there he uses his gift of song to enchant the three-head- ed mongrel Cerberus, and implores Hades and Persephone, king and queen of the underworld,

1 Maro Publius. Vergilius. Translated by Mynors, Roger A. B. “Book IV, Lines 457-459.” Virgil: Georgics. Oxford: Clarendon Pr., 1990. N. pag. Print. 5.) to restore his wife to the land of the living. His singing so moves the royal couple that they grant his wish, with the caveat that as they ascend back to Thrace above, he not look back at his wife.

Eurydice is restored to her love, albeit briefly, as eager Orpheus is unable to keep his promise to

Hades and cannot help but steal a glance at his revived wife. As he does, she turns to shade and slips from his grasp, back to the underworld, dying a second time.

“See, the cruel Fates recall me, and sleep hides my swimming eyes,

Farewell, now: I am taken, wrapped round by vast night,

stretching out to you, alas, hands no longer yours.’

She spoke, and suddenly fled, far from his eyes,

like smoke vanishing in thin air, and never saw him more.”

Orpheus’ sorrow is never dulled, as he wanders Greece, inspiring bands of followers drawn to his dirges, swearing to never love another woman as long as he lives.

B.) Camus’ Interpreation

As a both a production designer and a film theory scholar, it has been my hope throughout the process of this project to infuse my adaptation of Black Orpheus with both an aesthetic and metaphorical center, a strong thematic statement that marries concept and execution in an elegaiac, meaningful way. Black Orpheus is a visual poem; it takes place in Rio de Janiero but exists on another plane as well. When I began preliminary research for this thesis, the most important element of textual analyzation was missing- the screenplay. Despite contacting represen- tatives from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the Criterion Collection 6.)

archives, the closest I was ever able to come was a shotlist of dubious authenticity, and a completely authentic though almost entirely unusable cursory list of Portuguese dialog for the film.A scant forty-one pages despite the film’s 100-minute running time, this dialog list nonetheless was a useful document in making me aware of the amount of coverage director Marcel Camus must have shot for the film to fill those hundred minutes, and how important it would be for me to create spaces that allowed for breadth for experimentation for the director and actors in my iteration of the film.

As a result of being unable to obtain a copy of the original screenplay, which various experts with which I spoke believe may never have actually existed in a conventional form as would be used today, I began the process of transcribing the script myself. I have transcribed scripts a handful of times, usually in order to be able to pull quotes for theory papers, but the process of transcribing Black Orpheus was wholly different. Not only is the film in Portuguese, but a great deal of its action takes place not through dialog but though action lines. The transcrip- tion process made me fully aware of the very corporeal, ephemeral nature of the film; the film’s beauty is not in its often stilted, one-dimensional lines of dialogue but the life infused into it by the background players, the famous Bossa Nova music, and of course the awe-inspiring scenery of Rio itself.

In Jacques Viot’s script, Orfeu is a Rio de Janiero trolley driver, whose handsome face, guitar-playing and dancing have inspired near cult-like devotion from the many women in the favela2. Engaged to be married to Mira, a beautiful but desperate and jealous young woman,

Orfeu really only seems to enjoy the company of one woman- his neighbor Serafina. Serafina is clever and engaging, and though friends with Mira, always willing to help her friend Orfeu with

2 Viot, Jacques and Marcel Camus. “Black Orpheus; Based on play by Vinicius de Moraes”. Screenplay, 1959. 7.) diversions so he may slip away. On the eve of Carnival, Serafina’s cousin Eurydice unexpected- ly arrives in Rio, and after hopping on Orfeu’s trolleycar, finds directions to her cousin’s small shanty up the hillside, where Rio unfolds in the valley below them. Orfeu is immediately smitten, forsaking his betrothed in favor of the mysterious and beautiful Eurydice next door, who has a secret of her own. Driven to Rio to escape a man pursuing her and threatening her death, Eury- dice’s every move reveals she is intrinsically aware that her time is short, that she won’t be long for this world. The eventuality of her own untimely bloodshed doesn’t stop her from running, but she seems aware of her own fate, of the limited time she will have with her love. The film is vibrant and urgent, as preparations for Carnival begin, with Bossa Nova music seeping out of every crevice of the city, trolley cars filled with revelers making music and throwing streamers, old men shaking errant confetti out of their hats.

Orfeu, Eurydice, Mira and Serafina all engage in Carnival festivities, though the viewer is acutely aware that the tale will not have a joyous end. As Eurydice is pursued through the streets of Rio by a sprightly demon in a skeleton costume and mask, Orfeu and Mira try to save her, and fail. Orfeu searches every crevice of the city, eventually finding himself at the department of missing persons, where papers fly of their own accord and a mystical janitor tells him no one is ever found in this department. He takes Orfeu to a Macumba voodoo ceremony within the gates of a cemetery guarded by a dog named Cerberus, where the congregation dances and sings, infused by the spirits around them. Orfeu, still in his golden gladiator Carnival costume, watch- es on as the parishioners seem to become possessed by spirits as they continue to sing the same song. The janitor urges Orfeu to join in their chanting, and as he finally does, Eurydice’s voice is heard from behind him, issuing from the mouth of an ancient female churchgoer. He begs her to return to his arms, as she tells him he must not turn around, for if he does he will lose her forever. 8.)

Discontent to hear but not see his love, Orfeu turns to see the old woman, the spirit of Eurydice retreating from eyes her as does.

The magical realism of the script and filmmaking allow the story to exist within a world that looks like ours, but where certain rules of logic and normality give way to the corporeal, the enigmatic, the magical. Magic exists within the diegesis of this film, often in oblique ways.

There is of course the literal magic of the Macumba ceremony, and the subsequent necromancy, but there is also the less obvious magic in the way the characters in this diegetic universe interact with the world around them. In his script, Viot makes a point of having the characters acknowledge familiarity with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the tropes associated with this mythical pairing. Here it is important to make distinction between the Orpheus of ancient poetry, and the Orfeu of Camus’ film. Orfeu knows that Orpheus was a lyrist and a singer, and he knows the story of Orpheus and Eurydice as doomed lovers. It is unclear, however, if Orfeu knows what the implications of this myth are for himself and his own Eurydice’s tale, and he never references the myth for guidance or understanding of his own plight.

“Try to remember. It’s a very old story.

Thousands of years ago, Orpheus was sad

and melancholic. Like this little bird,

trapped in its cage.

But one day, from the strings of his

guitar that sought only one true love,

a voice spoke to him of lost kisses

from the lips of Eurydice.”3

3 Viot, Jacques and Marcel Camus. “Black Orpheus; Based on play by Vinicius de Moraes”. 9.)

The characters in this film essentially operate as Classical archetypes, which Carl Jung discusses in his The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious:

“Another well-known expression of the archetypes is myth and fairytale. But here too we are dealing with forms that have received a specific stamp and have been handed down through long periods of time... The archetype is essentially an unconscious content that is altered by being conscious and by being perceived and it takes its colour from the individual consciousness in which it happens to appear.”4

Orfeu the Hero, Eurydice the Innocent Maiden, Serafina the Joker, Mira the Scorned

Lover, even the blind man who is the first character Eurydice meets in Rio is the Blind Seer: all are classic Jungian archetypes. But while the original tale of Orpheus and Eurydice defined these archetypes, Black Orpheus infuses its characters with more than rote copies, with needs and actions that imply a life before the action of the film begins, despite their perhaps conscious understanding that they are, in a sense, acting out scenes that happened to their counterparts long before they were born.

C.) Relocation of the Film

In Camus’ film, the characters’ homes are tiny shacks located within favelas- shanty towns where the poor and destitute attempt to carve out a meager living and sense of belonging overlooking Brazil. Orfeu and Serafina’s homes share a central wall, which leads to a number of antics both comedic and dramatic throughout the action of the film, and also enhances the sense of platonic intimacy between Orfeu and Serafina, as well as the forthcoming romantic commu- Screenplay, 1959. 4 Jung, C. G. “Introduction.” Four Archetypes: Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, Trickster. London: Ark, 1986. 4-5. Print. 10.) nion of Orfeu and Eurydice. Their homes literally touch; they are bound by both brick and mortar, and a sense of friendship and loyalty. The homes’ proximity to one another leads to a number of iconic scenes in the film wherein one character must evade another, aided by a shared window or a convenient back door leading from one house to another. In one such instance Eurydice must jump over a wall or out a window to leave Orfeu’s home before his fiancée Mira returns and finds them together. In another, the contiguousness of the walls allows Serafina to joyously overhear Orfeu and Eurydice in his home, and sink into her own lovers’ bliss with her boyfriend returned from the Navy. The adjacent nature of the homes leads the audience to understand the closeness in which citizens of the favela live, as well as the bond of intimacy formed by neigh- bors within the slum.

Taking into account the film’s central themes and wholeheartedly attempting to maintain the integrity of Viot’s script, in my thesis I have decided to relocate the action of the film to Ven- ice, Italy in order to create dynamic and meaningful set pieces for the characters to inhabit, while introducing a design challenge for myself to completely reimagine the film on another continent.

I wanted to relocate the film to Venice for a number of reasons, based on interesting parallels between customs and celebrations for Italians and Brazilians. To be certain, both cultures share a trademark passion for life coupled with a deep sense of tradition, honor and family. As an

Italian-American who has spent significant time in Italy, I wanted to create a project that com- bined my love of film with my love of history, and whose scope encompassed my own personal heritage. That being said, it was important to me not to rest on the laurels of what great Venetian architects like Andrea Palladio and Vincenzo Scamozzi created in the Veneto region of Italy. I did not want to create a pure period piece, but a fantasy that referenced traditional design tenets and architectural components without recreating them rotely. In my thesis I attempted to subvert 11.)

mechanical period style design and make something entirely new out of it. My production de-

sign for Black Orpheus is an illusion, a reverie, a flight of imagination. It is meant to feel like an

hallucination, not a brick wall.

I have chosen to have my film take place in the same time period as the original, the late

1950s. This again is meant to be a reference and a essence, not a firm guideline for the decor of

my characters’ homes. In Camus’ Black Orpheus, the characters are living in a contemporary

Rio, with trolleys and skyscrapers and automobiles, but in the favela they seem to exist in a time

out of time. There is an ageless, almost immortal quality to view of the mountains, the sense of

exile by classism from the thriving modern city below, the fact that characters must traverse the

hillside by foot. While the favelas are very much of a certain place, at the same time they feel

like the calendar-less, bucolic Classical plains of Ovid and Vergil.

D.) Ritual and Ceremony in Black Orpheus

One of the most important themes in Black Orpheus is ritual. Though Carnival has come to be associated with wild revelry in the streets of Rio, it is in fact celebrated around the world immediately preceding Lent. It has become so intrinsically tied to Rio because of the samba schools that take turns performing in a massive citywide parade, as occurs in Black Orpheus. In

Carnival in Rio, author Albert Goldman describes the city, saying “During Carnival, Rio is not simply beautiful or picturesque or moodily romantic: it is ebullient and delirious; ecstatic and explosive; fantastic and hallucinatory.”5

This sense of delirious excitement pervades the entire film, but there is a certain sadness

from the knowledge of the characters’ eventuality that never allows Eurydice in particular to give

5 Goldman, Albert, Douglas Villiers, and Lena Villiers. Carnival in Rio. New York: Haw- thorn, 1978. 12. Print. 12.)

herself over entirely to the fever dream of Carnival. Of course there is always a darker side to

any debaucherous celebration, especially one on the scale of Carnival. Carnal desires and dark

fantasies can be played out under the thin veneer of celebration, and it is within this niche that

my Black Orpheus takes place. Sir James Frazier, in his study of magical and religious ritual

The Golden Bough, speaks in particular about ancient Roman festival Saturnalia but also more

broadly about the double edged sword of celebration, saying “We have seen that many peoples

have been used to observe an annual period of license, when the customary restraints of law and

morality are thrown aside, when the whole population give themselves up to extravagant mirth

and jollity, and when the darker passions find a vent which would never be allowed them in the

more staid and sober course of ordinary life.” 6

Though Frazier continues to take a somewhat histrionic position on the nature of cele-

bration, warning against orgies and ritual sacrifice, he nonetheless touches upon a relevant point,

particularly considering the masked face of Death who is present at every otherwise joyous cere-

mony throughout the film, stalking Eurydice and eventually overtaking her.

Rather than choosing to set the action of my design for Black Orpheus during Venice’s

Carnevale, a ceremony not identical, but too conveniently similar to Rio’s Carnival, the film will

take place during Venice’s Festa del Redentore (Feast of the Redeemer). This ceremony takes

place in Venice every July, and was originally begun in 1576 by the Venetian doge Alvise Mo-

cenigo who wished to commemorate the 50,000 Venetians killed by outbreak of the plague. The

doge commissioned celebrated Venetian architect Andrea Palladio to build Chiesa del Santissimo

Redentore (or Il Redentore), which would be the center of commemoration every year.7 Located on the Giudecca island across from Venice proper, the church is an outstanding example of Pal- 6 Frazer, James George, Sir. The Golden Bough. New York: Macmillan, 1922; Bartleby.com, 2000. www.bartleby.com/196/. [Date of Printout]. 7 Weissmüller, Alberto. Palladio in Venice. Ponzano (Treviso): Vianello, 2005. 102-07. Print. 13.) ladian religious architecture, and it is to this church that every year a temporary bridge is built, with a procession of Venetians crossing it to give thanks to God for ending the plague. Though in contemporary times it is primarily an excuse to drink and watch fireworks, the deep Catholic veins of Italy ensure that the festival is first and foremost a religious procession honoring the nearly one third of Venetians killed by the Plague in the 16th century.

By choosing this festival as the centerpiece of my production of Black Orpheus, I have also wittingly chosen to infuse a more overt sense of loss into my production. While the event is bespeckled with fireworks and wine in contemporary celebrations, it is hard to escape the original conception of the procession as a way to honor the dead and give Catholic reverence. The bridge connecting Giudecca to Venice is also a meaningful metaphor within this project- it is a ritualistic joining of two ideas, two worlds, which is an idea at the center of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice.

IV.) Character Analysis

A.) Eurydice

Desire.) Initially, Eurydice’s desire is to find safe haven from the supernatural figure of

Death who haunts her and wants to take her life. Seeking refuge in the arms of anonymity in a big city, Serafina finds her cousin in the favelas and attempts to remain under the radar. After meeting Orfeu, her desire is not just to remain alive, but to remain alive by his side.

Will.) Eurydice’s will to live is the driving force of most of the film’s action, as she both literally and figuratively flees from the grasp of the masked man, Death. Her will to live is strengthened by finally having someone to share her life with, her doomed romance with Orfeu.

Moral Stance.) Serafina, having been insulted by Mira immediately upon arriving in Rio, 14.) does not seem to exhibit much of a moral qualm about being the woman with whom Orfeu is cheating on her. She seems to be a good person; quite loving toward children, particularly young favela boy Benedito, and never seems eager to ruffle feathers or be the center of attention.The audience is left with the distinct impression that her dalliance with Orfeu is an anomaly; that despite her great beauty, she is rarely the object of anyone’s affection.

Decorum.) Serafina conducts herself in a graceful manner at all times, always wary of attention lavished upon her and concerned about putting others out.

Summary Adjectives.) Careful, conscientious, humble, gentle, empathetic, nervous, loyal, graceful, inhibited, accomodating.

Apartment Adjectives.) celestial, otherworldly, supernatural.

B.) Orfeu:

Desire.) Orfeu’s main motivation in life seems to be satisfying his own pleasure center.

He holds down a job, but his extracurricular activities, including wooing nearly every woman in the favela with his guitar, seem to be his primary focus in life. Though he has agreed to marry

Mira, he puts no thought or energy into their nuptials, even making Mira pick out and purchase her own ring while he bails his guitar out of a pawn shop across the street. When Eurydice arrives, however, the directionless young man suddenly has a singular driving force, that being spending every waking second with her for the rest of their lives. When Eurydice is taken by

Death, his drive continues as he moves heaven and earth to retrieve her.

Will.) Even when meandering and unfocused, Orfeu’s will is extremely potent; he refuses to give in to Mira, growing sour and unresponsive when she is near, and evades relinquishing any power over to his fiancée. His stubbornness, while irritating to Mira, is also what fuels his woo- 15.) ing of Eurydice and subsequent search for her when she is killed.

Moral Stance.) Orfeu is morally ambiguous; though he is our hero, we cannot neces- sarily root for him cheating on his fiancée, or lying about his whereabouts to sleep with his new girlfriend Eurydice, whether or not she is his star-crossed lover. He is not cruel or callous, but driven by his own dastardly self interests, except in his devotion to Eurydice.

Decorum.) Orfeu seems nearly intent on self-destruction, constantly putting himself into precarious situations with the many women he meets. Despite his treatment of Mira, whom he clearly regrets ever meeting, Orfeu is extremely sympathetic and compassionate to his neighbor

Serafina, and chivalrous toward Eurydice. Orfeu’s relationship is quite loving and fatherly with

Benedito and Zeca, two young neighborhood boys to whom he lends his guitar and friendship.

Summary Adjectives.) Headstrong, smooth-talking, self-satisfied, proud.

Apartment Adjectives.) Terrestrial, earthly, ephemeral, reaching, enchanted.

V.) Design and Process

In this project I have chosen to focus on what I consider to be the physical nucleus of the film, that being the main characters’ homes. I faced a particular design challenge in this undertak- ing, in that while the main characters are Orfeu and Eurydice, our female lead is actually stay- ing at her cousin Serafina’s apartment throughout the action of the film. This gave me a unique challenge in that while I had to make the space reflective of Eurydice, it also had to be apparent that this is not her home, that it is in fact Serafina who is Orfeu’s neighbor. The homes of both

Orfeu and Serafina (and her houseguest Eurydice) are meant to be fantasy spaces; they are not supposed to be logical brick and mortar homes for young upstarts. They are visual metaphors for the turmoil, love and anguish going on within the walls. 16.)

In designing the characters’ homes, I knew I wanted them to be separated by a narrow ca-

nal in Venice. I chose to locate this canal on the Giudecca, the island across from Venezia proper

along the Venetian Lagoon where despite its name, the city’s Jewish quarters were never actually

located. It is a series of eight small islands cobbled together into one enclave by a series of bridg-

es and ladders, and looks across the water at the Zattere neighborhood (or sestere) of Venice. It is

believed that land on the Giudecca was originally allotted to families exiled for various reasons

from the island of Venice. It is also, of course, the location of Palladio’s Il Redentore, so central

to the retelling of Black Orpheus. Today it contains a handful of elegant hotels and restaurants,

and even an art school, but has traditionally been known as the part of Venice less prone to

tourist foot traffic, where the real Venetians live and work. Its proximity to but distinct separate-

ness from the center of the city is what makes it unique, and adds a sort of poetic bleakness to its

location. It is an other, just like its inhabitants. I believe the Giudecca to be a relevant metaphor

for the characters’ lives, and an apt parallel to the favelas of the original film. Its characters are

technically destitute, but not in spirit. They may look over at the center of the city and feel a pang

of separateness, but they also belong to a community that will have them.

Water is the most important visual metaphor in this film. Venice, the city built on water, is

of course the location of the film, but the canals play a role in propelling and stunting the action

of our characters. Living across a narrow canal from one another, Orfeu and Eurydice are simul- taneously connected and separated by its flowing streams. Water as a metaphor of course has historical and biblical precedents, but the symbolism of water within the film represents not just traditional ideas like life and rebirth, but acts as a reference to Orpheus’ trip to the underworld across the river Styx to retrieve his bride.

Orfeu and Serafina’s homes can function as standalone concepts, but also have a larg- 17.)

er purpose in how they relate to and play off one another. In designing these locations more as

architecture than traditional set design, I was able to explore fully what the spaces mean to those

who inhabit them, and how the homes affect and are affected by their owners. The homes are

meant to be standalone structures but have affinity of shape and design in certain ways to mar-

ry them together aesthetically. The houses are connected by a bridge that stretches from the top

floor of Orfeu’s home to Serafina’s, the bridge representing the threshold Orfeu and Eurydice

cross as a couple, and a device for avoiding the troubling waters below. A bridge is a transitional

symbol, one that allows safe passage across a chasm, from one place to a possibly better place,

or state of being. The bridge between the homes not only represents the marriage of Orfeu and

Eurydice but is the aesthetic marriage between the contrasting architecture of their respective

houses.

Serafina’s home is characterized primarily by its monolithic nature. It is sturdy and se-

cure, capable of concealing Eurydice within its walls like a battlement. The implication of this

defensive architecture is coupled with the fact that the building has many elements of a tradition-

al Roman Catholic church. The home’s floorplan is that of a Roman Cross Plan, complete with

narthex, nave, transepts, vaulted ceilings and half rotunda. The church-like structure, however, is

devoid of traditional ornamentation, and has been slowly sinking deeper into the lagoon; water floods the first floor of the structure and threatens to pull it ever-deeper into the abyss. It is unclear who built or converted this structure; there are no obvious references to any particular re- ligion, though the entire structure reads more Judeo-Christian than pagan. It is almost as though the house of worship was once ransacked, leaving little more than the rising tide that threatens its core. Rather than maintaining its traditional multiple-story ceilings, an improbable single pane of glass with a thickness of one foot has been implanted 24’ up to create a second story. The lower 18.) portion of the structure is visible through the glass, and characters walk across it looking down as if seeing the underworld below. The building has also been cut up to create smaller, more intimate spaces within its looming architecture. A spiral staircase leads up the right semitransept, and the left semitransept has been converted into a bedroom. Though Serafina lives here alone, there are small pockets of space that imply the personality of the woman who lives there, particularly in the bedroom which Eurydice comes to share with her.

Orfeu’s house is a physical manifestation of his own powers and persona. It is a cross between organic and calculated, and serves to further illustrate how at peace he is with himself.

Inspired by Scandinavian Modern architecture, particularly the work of Saunders Architecture studio that marries ultramodern stark design with the craggy Nordic landscape. As a poet who could tame beasts and implore rocks and streams to bend to him will, following him through the countryside, classical Orpheus essentially had nature under his thumb. Our Orfeu’s home reflects his namesake’s powers, with no doors to separate him from the elements, and no clear delineation between where the natural ends and the structural begins. Orfeu sleeps outdoors and invites all creatures in, his home a labyrinthine series of staircases and platforms indicating no level playing ground, no firm footing anywhere throughout the home. Unlike the slowly sinking home of Serafina, Orfeu’s house is set atop a series of platforms that imply his understanding of the changing tides. Use of diagonals creates a sense of dramatic urgency, as does the overgrown nature of the greenwalls and foliage throughout the home. The most important visual element of

Orfeu’s home, however, is the fact that though Orfeu bends his will to no one, his entire house is bending toward Eurydice. Every staircase leads to her, every vine reaches for her bedroom, even the rooftop Mediterranean Cypress trees are pulled into her orbit, grasping at her with needled fingertips outstretched. Serafina’s home is a steadfast, sturdy structure- it remains unswayed, 19.)

must be coaxed into changing like Eurydice herself. Orfeu’s home reads as more impulsive, com-

pletely partial and completely sucked in by the houseguest next door.

VI.) Self Evaluation

The process of creating this thesis project was was emotionally and

physically demanding as it was important to me to create a body of work that reflected not only

my proficiency as a production designer, but my ability to think about film theoretically, and

to prove my capacity for marrying the two concepts into one cohesive project. As this thesis is

highly conceptual with a good deal of improbable fantasy architecture, it was important for me to

justify the use of fully dimensional construction of sets in combination with computer generated

imagery in a hypothetical real-life actualization of this project. During the course of completing

this project, I taught myself new rendering and lighting software as well as a new program of

computer-aided drafting, and learned to think like a director in terms of shot design and

creation of cinematic moments. This project ambitiously attempts represents everything I have

ever learned, from painting to film theory to architecture to literature, and above all else demon- strates that the most important thing in the world to me- the thing that brings me the most ecstatic joy, the most heart-wrenching sorrow, the most engaging envelopment- is film.

Though I created a very large body of work for this thesis in my drafting, rendering and research, this project remains challenging and fascinating to me, and I suspect that in the com- ing year I will continue to expand upon the concepts and designs I present here. I would love to eventually paint these characters’ scenes of celebration and tragedy, to design more bridges and narrow canals, and continue to visually and analytically explore the supernatural, mythical and tragic world of Black Orpheus. 20.)

VII.) Bibliography

Crafti, Stephen. H20 Architecture. Victoria, Australia: Images Group Pty, 2005. Print.

Franzoi, Umberto, Mark Smith, and Daniel Wheeler. The Grand Canal. New York: Vendome,

1994. Print.

Frazer, James George, Sir. The Golden Bough. New York: Macmillan, 1922; Bartleby.com, 2000.

www.bartleby.com/196/. [Date of Printout].

Goldman, Albert, Douglas Villiers, and Lena Villiers. Carnival in Rio. New York: Hawthorn,

1978. 12. Print.

Jung, C. G. “Introduction.” Four Archetypes: Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, Trickster. London: Ark,

1986. 4-5. Print

Maro Publius. Vergilius. Translated by Mynors, Roger A. B. “Book IV, Lines 457-459.” Virgil:

Georgics. Oxford: Clarendon Pr., 1990. N. pag. Print.

Viot, Jacques and Marcel Camus. “Black Orpheus; Based on play by Vinicius de Moraes”.

Screenplay, 1959.

Weissmüller, Alberto. Palladio in Venice. Ponzano (Treviso): Vianello, 2005. 102-07. Print. 21.)

VIII.) Visual Appendices A.)research: Existing existingFilm References film 10.)

VIII.) Visual Appendices

B.)research: Other Film other References films 20.)

Věra Chytilová’s “Daisies” (1966, CZ), Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona” (1966, SE), Fellini’s “And The Ship Sails on” (1983, IT) “Fellini Satyricon” (1969, IT) “Giulietta degli Spiriti” (1969, IT) 22.)

C.) Full Set NOT TO SCALE a.) Drafting

Roof Plan 29.)

Floor Plan

1 Whole Set

Figure 1: Roof and Floor Plan 23.)

NOT TO SCALE

2 Whole Set Roof Plan Detail View 30.)

Figure 2: Roof and Floor Detail 24.)

C.) Full Set b.) Rendering

33.)

Figure 3: Full Set Rendering 25.)

D.) Orfeu’s Home a.) Research

research: orfeu’s apartment: architecture 21.)

Figure 4: Architectural Research

research: orfeu’s apartment: materials 22.)

Figure 5: Materials Research 26.)

research: orfeu’s apartment: foliage 23.)

Figure 6: Foliage Research

24.)

Figure 7: Color Studies 27.)

D.) Orfeu’s Home b.) Concept Iterations

concept iterations 35.)

Figure 8: Concept Iterations concept iterations 36.)

Figure 9: Concept Iterations 28.)

D.) Orfeu’s Home NOT TO SCALE c.) Drafting

3 Whole Set Orfeu Roof Plan Orfeu Floor Plan 31.)

Figure 10: Roof and Floor Plans

C 3

B 3 D 3

A 3

37.)

A ELEVATION A 5 5

Orfeu’s House

Figure 11: Elevation A 29.)

NOT TO SCALE 38.)

B ELEVATION B 6

Orfeu’s House

Figure 12: Elevation B

39.)

C ELEVATION C 7 7

Orfeu’s House

Figure 13: Elevation C 30.)

NOT TO SCALE

40.)

D ELEVATION D 8

DTI WINDOW DETAIL 8 8

Orfeu’s House

Figure 14: Elevation D and Window Detail 31.)

NOT TO SCALE

9 Orfeu’s House 41.) DTI FRONT STAIRCASE/ARCADE DETAIL 9 Figure 15: Stair and Loggia Details

DTI FRONT STAIRCASE SIDE VIEW 9

DTI FRONT STAIR DETAIL 9 32.)

NOT TO SCALE 42.)

DTI TREES DETAIL 10 10 Orfeu’s House

Figure 16: Trees Detail

43.)

DTI SECTION B1 DTI SECTION C1 11 11

Orfeu’s House

Figure 17: Sections B1 and C1 33.)

D.) Orfeu’s Home d.) Color Elevations

44.)

ELEVATION A Figure 18: Color Elevation A

45.)

ELEVATION B

Figure 19: Color Elevation B 34.)

46.)

ELEVATION C

Figure 20: Color Elevation C

47.)

ELEVATION D

Figure 21: Color Elevation D 35.)

D.) Orfeu’s Home e.) Renderings

48.)

Figure 22: Exterior Rendering

49.)

Figure 23: Interior Rendering 36.)

E.) Serafina/Eurydice’s Home a.) Research

research: eurydice’s apartment: architecture 25.)

Figure 24: Architectural Research

research: eurydice’s apartment: furnishings 26.)

Figure 25: Furnishings Research 37.)

research: eurydice’s apartment: materials 27.)

Figure 26: Materials Research

28.)

Figure 27: Color Studies 38.)

E.) Serafina/Eurydice’s Home b.) Concept Iterations

concept iterations 52.)

Figure 28: Concept Iterations concept iterations 53.)

Figure 29: Concept Iterations 39.)

E.) Serafina/Eurydice’s Home NOT TO SCALE c.) Drafting

Serafina/Eurydice Roof Plan 32.)

Serafina/Eurydice Floor Plan G 4

CL F 4

H 4

4 Whole Set E 4 54.) Figure 30: Roof and Floor Plans

G ELEVATION G 12 11 Serafina’s House

Figure 31: Elevation G 40.)

NOT TO SCALE

55.)

F ELEVATION F H ELEVATION H 12 12

Serafina’s House

Figure 32: Elevations F and H

56.)

DTI ROOF ISOMETRIC 14 DTI TOP ROOF DETAIL 14

DTI SIDE ROOF DETAIL 14 14 Serafina’s House

Figure 33: Roof Details 41.)

NOT TO SCALE 57.)

DTI SECTION F1 DTI SECTION H1 15 15

Serafina’s House

Figure 34: Sections F1 and H1

58.)

DTI BOOKSHELF DETAIL 16

16 Serafina’s House

Figure 35: Bookshelf Detail 42.)

NOT TO SCALE 59.)

DTI BRICK DETAIL SECTION A DTI BRICK DETAIL 17 17 17

Serafina’s House

Figure 36: Brick Detail

60.)

DTI SPIRAL STAIRCASE SECTION A DTI SPIRAL STAIRCASE ELEVATION 18 18 A

DTI SPIRAL STAIRCASE AERIAL VIEW 18

18 Serafina’s House

Figure 37: Staircase Details 43.)

NOT TO SCALE

61.) DTI VAULT ENTRANCE DETAIL 19

DTI VAULT ENTRANCE SECTION A 19

Serafina’s House

Figure 38: Vault Entrance Details 44.)

E.) Serafina/Eurydice’s Home d.) Color Elevations

62.)

ELEVATION E Figure 39: Color Elevation E

63.)

ELEVATION F

Figure 40: Color Elevation F 45.)

64.)

ELEVATION G

Figure 41: Color Elevation G

65.)

ELEVATION H

Figure 42: Color Elevation H 46.)

E.) Serafina/Eurydice’s Home e.) Renderings

66.)

Figure 43: Interior Rendering

67.)

Figure 44: Interior Rendering 47.)

68.)

Figure 45: Interior Rendering

69.)

Figure 46: Interior Rendering