Fundamentals Of Scenography

E-Mail: Visiting Assistant Professor: [email protected] Jeni O’Malley Websight: She/Her/Hers jeniomalley.com

Tuesday/ Thursday 3:00 TADA 235-01 - Fall 2018 Credits: 4 p.m. -4:30 p.m.

Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-3:00 pm, or by appointment.

Location: 3rd Floor Lampert Building. 36 S Snelling just between Common Good Books and Macalester’s bookstore.

Your feedback is valued. As the semester progress, please visit my office hours not only to ask questions about the course content, but also to let me know how you feel about the pace of the class, presentation of course material, balance of theory and application, or any other concerns you may have. I am happy to meet you in Lampert during office hours, or in the arts commons, in our classroom, or even over lunch if you would like. You are of course welcome to ask questions about the course, but please feel free to come join me just to chat or ask questions about topics unrelated to the course. For example, I am happy to review your resume, provide advice for portfolio development, discuss different options for graduate school, discuss any art you have seen around town, or anything else you might have on your mind. Since I am new to Macalester, I really look forward to learning more about the amazing students here, as well as important issues in the community. “Scenography is the seamless synthesis of “Scenography is an artistic perspective space, text, research, art, actors, directors, and concerning the visual, experiential and spatial spectators that contributes to an original composition of performance.” - Wikipedia creation.” - Pamela Howard,

Scenography

"Scenography is not simply concerned with creating and presenting images to an audience; The term “scenography” includes all of the it is concerned with audience reception and elements that contribute to establishing an engagement. It is a sensory as well as an atmosphere and mood for a theatrical intellectual experience, emotional as well as presentation: lighting, sound, set and costume rational." - Joslin McKinney and Philip design. - Michael Eagan Butterworth

Questions we will keep asking are... ● What makes an effective design? ● What are the unique characteristics of Costume, Scenic, sound, lighting, and video design? ● What knowledge do we need to evaluate design? ○ How do we get that knowledge? ● Are there universal standards for design? ● How do we communicate visual concepts? ● How do/should we evaluate design based on circumstances/culture/time/place/people/topic? ● How do we nurture continued creation while striving for improvement in the field? ● What is the purpose of Design Analysis. ● What is the purpose of Design? ● What is Scenography? ● What are the goals of Design for Theatre, Dance, Performance, and others. ● How does collaboration affect the creation process? ● What is effective collaborate?

Scenic Design By: Kerith Parashak

After this class you will be able to: ● Use design vocabulary in critique, conversation, and written form. ● Confidently engage in design critique and be able to employ the principles. ● Fumble through the conceptual process of design as a costume, scenic, sound, lighting, or video designer. ● Identify and evaluate effective design based on individually developed values. ● Identify and/or produce examples of design elements and principles in works of visual art. ● define and/or practice basic elements of sound design. ● understand the roles and responsibilities of the Costume, Scenic, Sound, Lighting, and Video designer in the larger context of theatrical production. ● Find more information or opportunities in performance design.

Text Requirements: Readings and handouts are provided and/or available on Google Drive. Required Text: ● Far Away, by Caryl Churchill ● Design Critique Paper script o Digital Copies will be provided ● Design Journal - Students must have a quality journaling method to use for vocabulary assignments, notes, etc. This Journal will be handed in for grading and feedback periodically.

Material Requirements: ● Scissors ● X-acto knife ● Glue o Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue ● Pencil, 2H and 2B ● One Variety of color medium in a student or professional quality o Basic set of watercolors ▪ Koi Field Watercolors - 12 colors are fine ● Buy quality pigment over quantity of color options o Colored Pencils ▪ Prismacolor o Artist Markers ▪ Copic or Prismacolor ● Ruler, metal at least 12” ● Quality paper that matches with your color medium o Watercolor paper o Bristol Board o Illustration Board o Marker Paper ● Quality Journal materials o We will identify and discuss what this means for you individually ● Art Forum or Art in America magazine - optional but useful Grading Policy:

ATTENDANCE, PARTICIPATION, AND PREPARATION:

• Attendance is mandatory. The class will be highly group and collaboration driven making it difficult to make up work outside of class. o If absence is unavoidable please come to see me or email me prior to the missed class. We will work together to determine appropriate make up work. • Participation is vital in this classroom. We will work together to develop better collaboration skills and implement those skills in the classroom. o Participation is an active vocal presence in class projects, workshops, and critique. Participation is also the careful act of listening and understanding the statements of others. It is also the effective and responsible use of technology to further your class work. • Preparation is the expectation that all course homework, readings, projects, and experiments are being completed on time and in sync with the whole class

30% Developing Design Values:

• During the process of this class we will develop an individualized “text book,” to discover and outline the design values of each student • This “text book, “ can be compiled in many forms. Some past students have used a blog(this has worked very well), google drive folder, some students have compiled a physical sketchbook, students have also offered video submissions. I am open to any suggestion for compilation. Provided it meets a few requirements: • I will periodically grade these works throughout the semester. You will need to turn it in. I will not give advance notice, they will be due in a pop quiz style. • You will be compiling works of visual art, so you need to be able to store visual examples • You will be making some 2D art and will need to be able to store your own artwork • Some basic 3D artistic experimentation will be part of this document and you will need to photograph and store this work. • All of the visual examples will also have a response required. You will need to clearly link your response with the visual it relates to. • Your plan must be decided upon in advance and discussed with the professor. • Journals will be collected and graded periodically. Late submissions will not be accepted. Students will need to keep there journals up to date with the lecture schedule.

30% WORKSHOP PROJECTS:

• There will be four workshop days when students will use a given text to work through the theoretical design process. • Each student will complete a scenic, costume, sound, and lighting project designed to simulate the creative design process. • All the workshop projects will be presented to the class and critiqued.

10% CRITIQUE PAPER: • You will read the script and attend one of the following shows: • Ntozake Shange’s FOR COLORED GIRLS • Sunday, September 30 • 2pm—leaving from Weyerhaeuser at 1:30pm • Penumbra Theater • https://penumbratheatre.org/event/for-colored-girls • Is God Is, by Aleshea Harris • Sunday, October 14 •2pm, leaving from Weyerhaeuser at 1:15pm • Mixed Blood • https://mixedblood.com/on-stage/isgodis/ • Paper requirements: • 1000-2000 words • Papers will be submitted digitally on Google Drive. A file will be shared with you. • No late papers will be accepted • Written Critique Process • You will hand in your critique paper to professor O’Malley for grading. • After the paper has been graded each student will have an individual meeting to discuss the best parts of the paper and make suggestions for improvement. • REVISIONS – Students are encouraged to revise the original critique paper. If you chose to revise the paper your grade will be the result of the following equation: • (paper 1 + revision paper) / 2 = Final Grade • EXTRA CREDIT – Students will be awarded extra credit if you write a second paper. Credit will be dependent on the quality of your paper. There is a maximum of 3% extra credit

30% COLLABORATION PROJECT:

• Your team of 2-5 students will collaboratively create a cohesive design concept for Far Away by Caryl Churchill. This is an opportunity for students to explore visual storytelling, design process, collaborative problem solving, and analytical thinking. • There will be in-class work days. • Portions of the work will be produced collaboratively others will be individual requirements. • Group meetings and individual work will be needed outside of class time. • Each student will focus on one design element within the collaboration. • Presentation: Your final presentation will be during final time. • All students are required to be present for finals time, critique and response to classmates work is equally important to the presentation of your own work. Monday 12/17 1:30pm – 3:30pm

• Play: Far Away by Caryl Churchill • Due Date/Final: Monday 12/17 1:30pm – 3:30pm

Disability Support I am committed to providing assistance to help you be successful in this course. If you are encountering barriers to your learning that I can mitigate, please bring them to my attention as early as you are able. If you need disability related accommodations please contact the Disability Services office by emailing [email protected], or by calling 651-696-6874 to schedule an appointment to discuss your individual needs. It is important to discuss your needs early in the semester to insure reasonable accommodation is provided before challenges present.

Health and Wellness: I am a huge advocate for positive health and wellness. If your body and mind are in good condition they can take on more stress and intellectual development. If you want to know more about the health and wellness options available to you see the link below. Laurie Hamre Center For Health & Wellness: https://www.macalester.edu/healthandwellness/

Student Writing Support https://www.macalester.edu/max/writing/ Writing Support is invaluable. I am extremely dyslexic and you will experience the many ways that I have had to evolve my personal educational practices to work with my learning disability and not let it hold me back. I hope the same for any of you struggling with an obstacle to your learning. Do not hold back, look into the help. It won’t hurt but it may change your life and open up possibilities you hadn't thought possible.

Academic Integrity In order for you to have a fair and successful learning environment, academic honesty is an absolute necessity. For more information about the college’s policies, see www.macalester.edu/academicprograms/academicpolicies/academicintegrity/ Taking someone else’s work or ideas and in any way passing them off as your own, even if you change the exact wording or presentation, is cheating. If you have questions about academic integrity, talk to me or the office of the Dean of Students. This policy extends to works of visual art. We will track and follow the sources and artists responsible for the work we are inspired by and learning from.

Schedule

September Date Day In Class Homework to be Assigned Week 1 4th Tuesday Introductions, Answering fundamental questions artist statements or what do I want exorcise, artist statements 6th Thursday Critique process Week 2 11th Tuesday Line, Shape, and form Appia applied experiment 13th Thursday Research and text analysis – library L03, bring text based research laptops Week 3 18th Tuesday Texture and Color applied Color experiment 20th Thursday Mass Volume, Space, and Composition cherry orchard experiment Week 4 25th Tuesday Grouping, Contrast, Balance, Emphasis, Student artwork experiment Movement, Unity 27th Thursday Writing Workshop - For Colored Girls at Critique Paper Penumbra 30th Sunday For Colored Girls, 2pm show. Leaving from Weyerhaeuser at 1:30 pm October Week 5 2nd Tuesday Collaboration, Professional Design Careers Revise Artist Statements 4th Thursday Mid Term Check In, catch up work day Week 6 9th Tuesday Costume Design 11th Thursday Figure Drawing Costume Renderings 14th Sunday Is God Is, 2pm show. Leaving from Weyerhaeuser at 1:30 pm Week 7 16th Tuesday Critique 18th Thursday Scenic Design Scenic Design Model Week 8 23rd Tuesday Model Building Lecture, How To Demo 25th Thursday BREAK----BREAK---BREAK----BREAK---BREAK Week 9 30th Tuesday Critique November 1st Thursday Sound and Video Design Sound Design Silent Film assignment Week 10 6th Tuesday Workshop Foley Sound 8th Thursday Lighting Design Still life lighting and photography assignment, Value and Light experiment Week 11 13th Tuesday Critique Introduction to Collaboration Project 15th Thursday Script analysis, Read Play written script analysis Week 12 20th Tuesday Research and ideation Collaboration & research statements, Critique Paper Due Break Thursday BREAK----BREAK---BREAK----BREAK---BREAK Week 13 27th Tuesday Collaboration work day 29th Thursday Collaboration work day December Week 14 4th Tuesday Design Presentation Lecture Presentation outline 6th Thursday In class Student progressive Critique Notes for improvement Week 15 11th Tuesday Work Day, Open Class Discussion Final 17th Monday Presentations 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.