Construct the Moment

Construct the Moment was our next project tied closely to the Speculative Design Project. Similarly, to working with Puppets in Term one, we worked in groups of six for the rest of the term. Through discussion and presentation of our different ideas we settled for one of the designs for the main inspiration and combined certain artistic elements from others to develop it. This project took over five weeks and thus we spread the work load evenly along the given time.

The first week consisted of remodelling the design to fit with the limited material we were given as a “budget” exercise. Due having only a certain amount of wood available per group, we decided on a simple, minimalist design get up which was best shown through one of the group member's design.

To best work efficiently, we split up the group. Whilst a few of us were focused on the walls, others continued working on the Stone floor, and the Window for the church part of the set.

Throughout the process of the different part of the set, we were each individually inducted on to heavy machinery in the workshop. This was one of the main goals of the overall project, learning how to use the different machines. Besides this, we were provided the opportunity of working alongside a Scenic Artist who helped us create realistic Stone and Wood flooring for our set. Through simple techniques she showed us how to make a massive impact on the effect the floor had.

Part of this project is learning the importance of lighting design. This was taught through various LX sessions over the weeks. In the first few we were introduced to the different types of lights that are typically available in a theatre space and what they are often used for. During these sessions we learned how to rig them or use other ways of attachment depending on what was required for a show. In order to get an idea of lighting and practice before we apply it onto our own set, we were given a theme and setting to create with different lights, and gobos.

The final design was successful for a first time. With every project we reflected and saw areas in which we could improve in or approaching a construction differently. Focusing on the positive parts of the design is the detail and finishing we went into over the weeks. Through hard work we were able to create a realistic space which was easily brought to life with characters. For the performance, we placed in Mickey and Leon acted by another group member and me as seen at the top of the page.

Very exciting and an amazing learning opportunity!