Moodboards

After my first meeting with my choreographer, I brainstormed a few ideas to make my set as authentic and as French Cafe themed as I could. A few ideas I came up with were as follows: French foods and drinks (bread, desserts, grapes, wine etc) I was very careful to select french foods only. I also researched the times when the caricaturist, Georges Goursat was around and used these dates to find out what the layout was like to stay in the correct time frame. For this reason I thought of people smoking in cafes as a social activity. So I added ash trays to my list.

 I wanted my set to be as detailed as possible, hence why I wrote down such small props, that would not be used in the performance, but would be on stage to promote the cafe and set the scene. I thought it was important to ensure that each table was dresses, like in a normal cafe / restaurant. I liked the idea of having a candle in the centre of each table, and also a bottle of wine / food. And also including small props such as a walking stick because people in the caricatures had them. I considered the idea of having a bike on stage too, however I decided against it because I felt that the set was more focused on indoors than out. Plus the bike would take up more room and I would have nowhere for it to stay.

As the choreographer said that she would like to create the illusion of a busy atmosphere, I thought that the more plates / props on the tables the better. I also had the idea of hanging coats on coat hangers to promote the idea of lots of people being there, without them physically being part of the set. I later developed this idea to emphasise the caricature element and decided to hang each jacket from the rig using fishing wire and a hook. This would then seem like people were in the cafe, at the tables, whilst resembling Georges Goursat's work.
However, it was then later decided that this would be too much to do / set up in such a short space of time and the work was far too intricate. Although I loved this idea, I thought it would be simpler to just have the jackets hanging off the back of the chairs around the tables.


 I need cream / white material (a sheet of fabric for the main table (copied from the choreographer's photograph) and also the smaller tables, which will be exam desks. See scale drawings for exact measurements. I will also need some navy blue material and thread to sow onto this cream/ white material the letters for the main table / table cloth, illustrated in the moodboard above.

Initial Sketches

Above is a list of my very first ideas on what to include in my set.        

 

My first 2 sketches are above and show my initial ideas for my set.  I thought about using mannequins behind a white cloth, creating a silhouette. I thought this would work well because it promoted the 'busy' cafe idea. However I was advised that the cloth would not be the most suitable because mannequins were hard to get hold of, and also from the other perspective, the lighting and the size of the cloth did not fit the space I needed it to, there was also an issue with the time in which it would take to set up. As a plan B,  I decided that I could hang posters with a link to France / the cafe. Such as the Eiffel Tower, a menu on a chalk board and a caricature poster. But I felt that this was not abstract enough and was too generalistic. 

A new sketch of my set, illustrating the idea of hanging a violin and jackets / coats from the rig by a coat hanger, fishing wire and a hook.

I used LX free java because I felt like it would make it more clear for the team who were to be producing my design to see where abouts on stage the tables and chairs would be situated. 

Above is a list of things I need for my set. Most of which are props, which we should have already in college.

Model Box

These are images from when I made a model box to scale. the scale of the box itself was 1:25, equating to 7 by 10cm.I made most of my set out of cardboard as it was easy to cut and manipulate to the correct size that I needed. Wood would have been more time consuming and have taken longer to cut and construct.

The cardboard I used was white, and I needed a white material to cover the tables to represent the table cloths. I used tissue paper because it gave a soft, thin appearance and was easy to cut, stick down and write on. I used this over felt because felt was too thick and there was no white or cream available.

I attempted to attach the chair legs (match sticks) to the cardboard chair using blue tac however this failed because it was not strong enough. Instead I used a glue gun which was much more effective.

I hung the violin using fishing wire because it was thinner than the regular wire. I wanted the wire to be as discreet as possible, therefore fishing wire was the best option for me.  

Lastly I covered the chairs with material to represent the clothing that I wanted to hang on the chairs in the piece to create the illusion / set the scene in a busy French café, which was in my client's brief.

2D Drawing LXfree

2D Scale Drawing of Props / Set

Above is a scale drawing of the violin that I needed constructing.



Above is a scale drawing of the main table in the piece, on which the performers begin the routine. This is the table that will be recreated. I need white / cream cloth with the stitching for this table.




Above is a scale drawing of an exam desk. I will need 3 of these, all of which with the same table cloth on. I am aware that we have red checkered cloths in college. This can be used if there is no more of the white / cream fabric left. All exam desks at least must look the same. I chose to have 3 because it was supposed to be a busy cafe, therefore the more tables, in my opinion the bigger and busier it would seem.

A Relevant List of Suppliers & Budget

Photographic Evidence of my Final Set

Evaluation

In conclusion I think the final set design worked well because what I had hoped to achieve was carried out and the end product was aesthetically pleasing. The set layout in my original plans did not changed which I was glad about because I wanted it to be kept as similar as possible. The chairs I had requested were used, as were the menus that I asked to be made. The table decorations / features I asked to be put in place worked well in creating a French café. Props such as a bottle of wine, cigarettes, wine glasses and the menus were on each table and I thought it looked authentic.

The violin was made to scale and was 2d. I was pleased with this because I understood the complexity in constructing a 3d violin. I also think it was sensible to make it from cardboard instead of wood because it was easier to shape. Wood would have required sawing and rounded corners which is extremely difficult. Thus I was happy with the final product. Another slight change was that the violin was not hung from fishing wire from the rig. This was a surprise to me, but I was told that it would take too long to rig it properly and it was simpler to have it stood on a boom. For the performance, a stage weight supported the boom that the violin was attached to. I think this worked well because even though it was not what I had originally planned, it still stood at the correct height.

When I first met my client, we confirmed that a definite / vital piece of set was the cloth for the big table. She told me to make it exactly the same as the picture she wanted to recreate (a Georges Goursat caricature), which included a table cloth with the word 'Armenonville' on the front facing the audience. This would indicate to the examiner that recreating the original caricature was her intention and he/she would be able to recognise it.  However as we did not have the money or material to make the table cloth / stitch on the letters, the team made a collage of Georges Goursat's caricatures relating to French cafes. I would have liked the original to have been used but I think the able cloth made from paper still worked well. The same was done for the extra 2 exam desk tables, not used in the performance but was there to create a busy atmosphere in a French café.

Hanging clothes on the back of chairs looked exactly how I had hoped because it was quite unique and gave the impression that people were there also.

Looking at pictures of my final set, it became clear that I did not need as much detail as I first thought because it looked great simplistic. I was happy with all aspects of my set and I would not change any part.