Week 10 - Diana Herrera - The Influence of Dramatic Imagination

 To me Dramatic Imagination was a book about theory and the practice of what theatre means. The author focuses on identifying reasons to provide why theatre is unique aside from film. I appreciated the fact that almost every category was broken down in the chapters.

 

During my reading, many thoughts came to mind about how theatre is being adapted during these times, ways to improve and adapt our craft for the overall quality of the production.  The author focused a lot of scenic design and how that helps establish sense of location for the play. For a moment I thought if they still applied to current times given that we are producing theatre from our homes. We see the actors personal living spaces if we are into using green screens. “A setting is a presence, a mood, a flame that echoes, enhances, animates…” If a design a good, it will disappear from the audience’s consciousness. Currently we are facing the challenge as designers on how to make our designs seem seamless and become fluid with the story through the filming. A successful example of this seamlessness the author mentions is the UCI production of She Kills Monsters. Even though each actor was in their own home, the element that established that unity and fluidness for the overall production as the “projections design”. The media that engulfed each actor screen helped tie everything together. As an audience member, that element of design helped create a level of suspension of disbelief that previous remote productions had been lacking. Another thing mentioned in the book was the idea that a scenic designer should create a sense of space to remind the audience where the actors are supposed to be. After reading this, I thought if this theory was invalid given that we are creating theatre from people’s homes. This is where designs come in to save the day by adding elements that help establish sense that we are not experiencing a simple reading of the script. Scenic designers and media designers are doing their job by establishing a physical unity with each actor. 

 

From the perspective of a lighting designer, the rules are the same, but it does feel a bit more challenging. In the production of New Slate, I was able to see from an audience perspective out lighting also helped unify each actors dance video. In terms of designing though, I personally struggle with breaking away from the realism of film when doing a filmed theatre production. The same question rises every time about how real I want to be vs how theatrical I need to be.  I have been doing my own research of lighting in film. I research different themes of realism and magical realism. The book does a good job of explain why theatre is theatre and film is film. Theatre does not have to be an accurate representation of reality. Theatre is successful because we use our imagination to create a creative imaginative version of reality. Theatre is being drained from its literalness giving more more for imagination. Film does the job of given audience reality. Theatre is expected to be a creative version of that. In the research images provides below we have the same scenes from the movie Beetlejuice. One is the movie version and one is the Broadway musical version. in the film image we see a realistic setting whereas int eh theatre version. the setting becomes more reimagined and creative. 

The author shared a brief anecdote of the time he sent his assistant to research lions for a tapestry he was designing for a production. The assistant came back with pictures of real lions. The designer said these would not work because they were realistic. The goal was to use their imagination to design a version of a lion that would have symbolic meaning rather than literal meaning. As the designer we must also do our research to give a base to our design. We cannot just pull a design out of thin air. In Macbeth, the candle becomes a symbol for Lady Macbeth. Lighting has to be seen as something alive and meaning. This is where the creative imagination comes in and as stated in the book, it is free to wander. 

How can I successful merge theatre with a filmed play that is established in a real-life setting? How can I merge those two worlds without breaking that suspension of disbelief? It is something I have also been thinking about these past few weeks. I think this image below does a good job in showing that merge with reality and theatrical lighting very well. My setting was my bedroom and the lighting helped establish a mood of tranquility by bathing the space with artificial lighting. Perhaps artificial lighting isn’t the only form of poetic lighting. 

 

Another form of light that can also provide the characteristics of beauty, lucidity, and wonder is natural light from the sun and moon. The night we had our lighting picnic at the park, I had the most captivating sight. The bright cool blue moonlight was creating the most beautiful picture as the light silhouetted Jacqueline’s hair. The was an extremely poetry image and I really wish I could have taken a picture of that. That image was engraved into my brain. This image below is the closest thing I was able to find that resembles what I saw that night. Moonlight is very poetic as well as sunlight. 

Dusk, as mentioned in class is a magic hour. we can see why it can be considered that from the image below. The cotton candy sky at dusk makes the dry rocky mountain appear like something out of a story book.  

 

 

In the chapter about lighting, the author describes lighting design as something beautiful and fluid that carries the drama. The art in lighting should also give the assurance that everything is perfect. One quote I pulled from the book that I love was, “…and in illuminating dramatic action we must concern ourselves not only with light but with shadow.” This sentence brought me back to the blog on Film Noir and how shadows play a huge factor in that form of lighting. Shadows are truly dramatic the way they carve out the shapes of objects. Perhaps my designs for the winter festival can be simple and I can use shadows to my advantage.

Overall, this book helped open my mind and gain a clearer understanding as to what I am trying to accomplish as a designer during these times and beyond.