Hello, my name is Benjamin Rowan, and I am the Technical Designer for Fragment Theatre Company. My job is to design the lighting for the final production. Our final production is currently split between 4 sections: Food, Childhood, Writing and Music. I believe I am a visual learner, so I have decided to create a separate mood bored for each section of the play; “A moodboard is a visual tool that communicates our concepts and visual ideas” (Interior Design Hunter, 2015).
First things first, start from the very beginning, the beginning being the opening speech between the two narrators. I have been instructed by the director (Joseph Turner) and assistant director (Brodie Atkison) of Fragment Theatre Company, to create an abandoned warehouse atmosphere. The reason both have suggested an abandoned warehouse as a stimulus, is because the two narrators symbolise the creators of this world the character wish to escape to. The abandoned warehouse also plays into the DIY theatre aspect, as the lighting style created a playground for us to build in.
The images I sourced of an abandoned warehouse and which inspired my designs, can be found on https://fragmenttc.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/technical/ under “Lighting Mood Board – Design 1 – Narrators Opening Speech” (Rowan, 2017).
(Abandoned Warehouse from Pinterest, 2017)
The image above is the first image I have found, and the first I will be using to inspire the lighting design for the opening section. The first thing I spotted and which I wish to recreate is the sunshine beams which shine through the gaps of the building. The abandoned warehouse has been left to naturally self-demolish, causing these gaps seen in the picture above on the ceiling and in the walls. The sunlight beams shine through these gaps causing shaped shining’s on the floor. This inspires me to create similar beams shining through the scaffolding, giving the effect that the dream world has not yet been fully constructed, and gaps remain in the dream like world. My next step is to create a colour scheme which matches the colours seen in the image above. The colour scheme seen through many pictures of abandoned warehouses are very dark and warn. The colours seen in the image above consist of colours such as brown and green. A similar colour scheme which resembles an abandoned warehouse can be seen in films or video games which are based in a post-apocalyptic world (I am Legend & The Last of Us).
My next step is to create a mood bored for a gameshow. As seen on the walls of the buildings in the images seen on the ‘Lighting Mood Board – Design 1 – Narrators Opening Speech,’ there appears to be graffiti from visitors who wishes to express their creative side. The graffiti shows a variety of bright colours, like the colours we see on an actual gameshow on television. The mood bored which created the Gameshow design in the final production can be found at https://fragmenttc.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/technical/ under “Lighting Mood Board – Design 3 – Gameshow Design” (Rowan, 2017).
Works Cited:
Interior Design Hunter (2015) What is a moodboard and how to create one? [online] Available from http://interiorstylehunter.com/what-is-a-moodboard-and-how-to-create-one/ [Accessed 28 May 2017].
Pinterest (2017) Abandoned Warehouse.
Rowan, B. (2017) Lighting Mood Board – Design 1 – Narrators Opening Speech [online] Available from https://fragmenttc.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/technical/ [Accessed 28 May 2017].
Rowan, B. (2017) Lighting Mood Board – Design 3 – Gameshow Design [online] Available from https://fragmenttc.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/technical/ [Accessed 28 May 2017].