Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're feeling great.

My name's Ms. Afzal and I'll be your art teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling very good about that, because I love teaching art and also because of today's subject.

We'll be exploring set design.

I wonder if you know much, or have thought much, or have seen much set design perhaps in the theatre or somewhere else on the stage.

Our lesson is called "Imagining new worlds: set design".

I'm really excited for us to get into this, because of course, we're going to be getting practical and creating our own set designs.

And this lesson comes from the unity of work and overview of design.

So, if you're feeling ready and interested and also to go with creating a set design, we will begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is, I can use paper techniques to develop a set design.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them.

Set design, scale, mood board, and three-dimensional.

So what do these words mean? Set design is the art of designing environments and atmospheric spaces.

Scale in set design means the relative size of the space to the size of the actors.

Mood board, a collection of sketches, images, colours, textures, and words that show the look and feel of an idea.

And three-dimensional, something that has height, width, and depth.

These are our key words, set design, scale, mood board, and three dimensional.

Our lesson is called "Imagining new worlds: set design", and it has two learning cycles.

First of all, plan and develop a set design, and then create a set design.

Yes, we are getting right to it, making our own set designs, but first, we'll plan and develop our set design.

What discipline of design is this an example of? Pause here and share with someone.

Yes, you've got it.

It's an example of set design.

Pause the video, and share with someone.

Where have you seen some set design before? Thanks for sharing.

Set design is the art of designing environments and atmospheric spaces.

This set was designed as a forest at dusk.

How has colour been used to evoke this time of day? Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps you talked about those oranges and pinks giving us that sense of dusk, the setting Sun.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What is set design the art of? Is it A, designing products, B, designing environments, or C, designing buildings? Pause here, while you decide.

Well done, if you said designing environments, that's what set design is the art of.

Set design is used in many different contexts, including theatre shows, art exhibitions, film sets, television shows, fashion shows, music concerts, and events.

In each context, the purpose is the same, to transport an audience to an environment.

Have you ever been to an event where there was a set design? Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing your experiences of set design.

I went to a concert recently, which had incredible set design.

One of my favourite singers, Beyonce.

At one point she was singing to us as she was flying through the air in an open air stadium in a car.

Incredible set design.

Set designers often work in a particular area or can work across different disciplines.

Some examples are Cleo Pettitt has won awards for her pantomime designs.

Tim Yip works in theatre and film as well as fashion design.

Gary Card is best known for his designs for the fashion industry.

Debbie Duru creates set designs for theatre, film, and fashion.

Es Devlin works across all disciplines and is well known for her set designs for musicians such as Beyonce.

Aha, maybe that's who is responsible for that flying car.

Yinka Ilore is a designer who collaborated with Es Devlin on a set design for the Brit Awards.

Let's have a check for understanding, true or false? Set designers work only in theatre and film.

Pause here, while you decide if this statement is true or false.

Well done, if you selected false.

Indeed, set design is used in many different contexts, including theatre, film, fashion, art, and music.

Set designers can use different mark-making techniques and colours to evoke different atmospheres in their designs.

Often there are abstract interpretations of the space rather than realistic representations.

Is this example, an abstract interpretation or a realistic representation of a forest environment? Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Perhaps you thought this was an abstract representation.

And what kind of marks has the designer used? Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps you noticed really quite broad brush strokes, and layering of colour.

Mood boards can be used by set designers to explore and experiment with different mark-making techniques, colours, and imagery.

A mood board is a collection of sketches, images, colours, textures, and words that show the look and feel of an idea.

And we can see an example of a mood board there.

Which of these mood boards do you think was used in the development of the forest set design? Pause here and share with someone.

Perhaps you selected the mood board on the right, which has more of these flowing lines and images from nature.

Gary Card is a set designer who collects images and uses online mood board tools.

He spends lots of time researching and gathering images before narrowing them down into five or 10 images.

Check for understanding what can set designers use to explore and experiment with different mark-making techniques, colours, and imagery.

Pause here while you answer this.

Well done, if you said a mood board.

Indeed, that is what set designers can use to explore and experiment with different mark-making techniques, colours, and imagery.

And now, it's time for your first task.

I would like you to plan and develop a set design.

So, first of all, choose an environment for a set design.

You could choose a forest, the sea, or a desert.

Research the environment, and consider these questions.

What can you find in these environments? What different atmospheres can they have? What time of day and year would you want to represent? So, pause here, while you have a go at this task of planning and developing a set design.

I'll see you when you're finished.

All right, how did you get on with your task of planning and developing a set design? You may have done something like this.

Let's hear from Aisha, "I've chosen a sea environment.

I researched the creatures you find and I'm really drawn to deep sea octopuses.

I really like the darkness and sense of quiet so I want to try and recreate that." Love the idea.

Next, I would like you to create a mood board for your chosen environment and atmosphere.

Experiment with mark-making techniques, colour combinations.

You can include text, colours, sketches, and images.

So, pause here, while you now create a mood board for your chosen environment and atmosphere.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Okay, great to be back with you.

How did you get on with creating a mood board for your chosen environment and atmosphere? You may have created something really intriguing like this.

And here's some reflections from Aisha, "I made my mood board digitally, collecting pictures from under the sea by taking screenshots from a documentary about an octopus.

I like the colours of dark orange and lilac together.

I could add a very dark blue too." Yeah, I love that.

I think that would really fit well with this idea of being very deep under the sea and the quiet and stillness there.

And here's Lucas, "In my mood board, I included photos of trees and artworks that remind me of the woods at dusk.

I would use certain colours such as gold and a warm palette.

I tried using marks that suggested leaves and added some gold leaf." Nice touch.

And now, enlarge two sections of mark-making that you want to use in your final set design.

You should choose two examples of marks and colours.

Use paint to recreate this on A3 paper.

So, really zooming in on a section of mark-making, and then recreating this.

Pause here, while you have a go.

All right, great to be back with you.

You may have created something extremely beautiful like this.

I feel like I could get lost in its beautiful mark-making.

And now, we're onto our next learning cycle.

Create a set design.

Set designers often choose to develop their initial ideas and mood boards into a three-dimensional model or form.

When something is three-dimensional, it has height, width, and depth.

Cleo Pettitt uses cardboard and paper to create models or forms to test out ideas of space.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Complete the sentence.

When something is three-dimensional it has height, width, and.

Pause here, while you fill in the missing word.

Well done, if you completed the sentence with the word depth.

When something is three-dimensional, it has height, width, and depth.

A three-dimensional model or form should: show the depth of a stage, have side areas to draw the audience's attention forward, show scale.

And we can see this three-dimensional model has done these things very effectively.

Scale in set design means the relative size of the space to the size of the people on stage or in the audience.

Set designers will often use models of people to help show scale.

Cleo Pettitt places everyday objects such as tables and chairs within the model to check scale.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What term is given to the relative size of space to the size of the people in set design? Is it A, depth, B, ratio, or C, scale? Pause here, while you decide.

Well done, if you selected scale.

This is the term given to the relative size of space to the size of the people in set design.

Strips of paper can be used to create a three-dimensional model.

So, we can see that really beautiful mark-making that's created earlier has now been cut up into strips of paper.

A bracket can be made by folding a narrow piece of cardboard at a right angle and attached to the back of the strips.

So, the cardboard is folded at a right angle.

Masking tape used to attach it to the back of the strip of paper.

The brackets allow the strips of paper to be balanced on the backing piece of paper.

This can be used to form the sides of the space.

In set design, they're called flats.

A sense of depth and sides can be achieved by using different length brackets.

Paper silhouettes of actors can then be cut and placed to show scale.

I think this model set design has been really effective.

Let's have a check for understanding.

How can a sense of depth be achieved in a design of a set? Is it A, using different length paper, B, using different length props, or C, using different length brackets.

Pause here, while you decide.

Well done, if you selected answer C.

Indeed, using different length brackets can give us a sense of depth in a design of a set.

And now, it's time for your task.

I would like you to create a three-dimensional set design.

So, first of all, cut one of your A3 sheets from task A into six equal strips.

Pause here, while you do this.

So, how did you get on with that? You may have cut your sheet into six equal strips and then placed three strips each side of the stage.

And perhaps you made the marks on the sheet bolder so that it's clearer the nearer to the audience it is.

Next, I would like you to attach different length card brackets to the strips using masking tape.

This will help to create a sense of depth.

So, pause here, while you do this.

Okay, great to be back with you.

How did you get on with attaching different length card brackets to the strips using masking tape? You may have created something like this.

I'm noticing here the choice to have pairs of different length brackets so that the flats on either side of the space are balanced.

Three flats on either side of this stage.

And each of those three has different length brackets giving us that sense of depth.

And next, I'd like you to balance the flats against your other piece of paper from task A to create the sides of your space.

And then finalise arranging your space and add silhouettes of actors cut from paper or card to show scale.

So, pause here, while you have a go at these next to parts of your task.

Okay, it's great be back with you.

How did you get on with balancing the flats against your other piece of paper and then adding silhouettes of actors to show scale? You may have created something like this.

Here's Lucas, "I chose three characters for my environment.

I decided to use a dark blue stripe across their costumes as it is a complimentary colour to the yellow/orange." Really great choice you made there, Lucas.

Pause here and share with someone your thinking behind the choice of costumes for your characters.

Thanks for sharing.

And I wonder if you also went with complimentary colours or if you had some other ideas.

So, here's the finished product, and here's Lucas, "I'm pleased with my set design.

It feels like an abstract forest with tall trees and golden dappled light.

The people make the space look big." Really great use of scale there.

So, pause here and share with someone the choices you made around scale and the size of your people.

Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if you were intending for the space to look big or maybe you had some other ideas.

And finally, share with someone nearby reflections on your set design and how effective you think it has been in terms of the vision you had and your final creation.

Thank you for sharing.

In our lesson "Imagining new worlds: set design", we've covered the following.

Set design is the art of designing environments and atmospheric spaces.

Set designers create spaces often by following a process of mood boarding, which leads then onto 2D experimentation, which then takes us to 3D experimentation and a model set design.

Well done, everyone, for joining in this lesson.

It was great to go through this whole process with you as well starting off with those ideas and working in 2D and then putting it all together with our brackets and our flats and our people to scale.

I hope you've enjoyed this lesson and that it's opened your eyes to set design and that perhaps you'll be noticing set design, if you're ever at a concert, a theatre, or watching a TV show.

I look forward to seeing you at another art lesson soon.

Until then, stay creative.