Here is what I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. We are producing Bartered Bride at Pepperdine University in the Spring 2008 semester. This opera will be directed by Henry Price and conducted by Tony Cason. I am doing the scenic design.
For background information about Bartered Bride you can visit the wikipedia article here. The most interesting aspect of the opera for me is that it’s set in the time of a festival from morning to evening. The implication is that it should be set in a happy environment almost like a spring festival. I have conducted a very interesting visual research which I will take a photograph of and talk a bit more about it but until then, here are some of “white” model shot that I am/was working on. The white model is for the scenic designer to get a feel for scenery and to communicate his vision to other fellow artists. In my case, it’s not a white model but it is mostly white. The idea is that I can change it easily at any time. The next step is to add another layer on top of it with either paint or re-do some of the elements in a more “finish” state. Here is act one.
Act 1 is mostly played outside in fron of the tavern. I wanted the scene to be as happy as possible so that it is very lighthearted and happy. It is mostly characterized by a sea of sunflowers in the background working against the outside of the tavern which is represented here by The Wall. The floor is another representation of a sunflower, in this example, the color.
Act 2 is inside the tavern so expect lot’s of table, chairs and mugs. The Wall will be somewhat different then what is shown here but it’s possible to communicate the “feel” for this act. It should still be happy and uplifting in every way possible.
Act 3 is all about the circus passing in town. The scene is set for dance and acrobat which will be cool to have fun with. I wanted to clear the space as much as possible to have an open space for dancing, etc.. The platform are there to be able to have different layer of bodies on stage to be able to fill the space as much as possible.
Disclaimer: The model is not what some NYU kids could do in terms of model building skills, I am after all, from CalArts.