Animal Antics
You are asked to devise a story centred around an animal – an elephant, a clouded leopard, an okapi - which will be told through dance, puppetry and movement, suitable for an audience of both children and adults at a storytelling festival. You will be divided into three groups and assigned one of these animals. As a group you will than devise a story around this creature; you can be as playful with the story as you like, but it must involve at least 4 human characters. Ultimately some of these characters will be the manipulators of the large-scale puppet of the creature that you will make. Once you have devised a story, you should then go on to plan how to make a large stylised animal puppet, making maquettes or models that will help you visualise how this will work. Kim Bergsagel of puppet company VISION MECHANICS will assist you with your ideas. She has lots of practical experience of making large scale moving figures; but you will have to keep things light and easy to manipulate. You are also asked to design for the other characters in your story. These should be achieved by strong expressive silhouettes: think about the posture of their bodies, their age and how that affects posture, think about status and how that affects the way they carry themselves. Posture and stance can tell you much that clothes don't express. Think also about using life drawing observation to help you when sketching ideas. The figures should not be clothed but will wear complete body suits that will be padded to give an expressive shape: think about accentuating the tummy, the hips, etc. to give an expressive silhouette. The head, hands and feet too should be padded to give a larger, simplified shape. Think about who the characters are and try to simplify , expressing character through shape alone. There are a couple of key images we would like you to reference: The Cheshire cat from the Royal Ballet’s recent production of Alice in Wonderland (which was operated by a team of dancers) and the work of Melissa Ichiuji - look at the distinctive simplified, exaggerated and stylised body shapes in some of her work . In addition to this, each costume grouping will meet with a parallel grouping from Printed Textiles. You will discuss with them your ideas for the narrative and the creature you plan to design for. They will use these ideas when devising a free-printed 5 metre length of stretch fabric (one for each story group). They will have a ‘vocabulary’ of ready made screens to use and they can use these to build colour and pattern into the fabric, but not in a literal or repetitive way. This fabric will be used to cover the padded body shapes worn by your puppet manipulators. The ‘feel’ of this patterning should connect visually with your large scale puppet and the character narrative.
When presenting work, each performance costume student should illustrate the animal puppet in their own illustration style, even though they have arrived at its design communally. But each student is free to develop the design of and to illustrate the additional characters in their story in their own style.
Thus when working there will be elements of collaboration and also elements of individual design. The basic narrative will need to be arrived at through group collaboration. The large scale puppets will have to be designed and made through group collaboration. The textile for the padded body suits of the manipulators will be the result of collaboration between textile students and performance costume students. However, each costume student will be able to bring some individual style to the illustration of their story’s characters and their representation of the animal puppet. These large-scale puppets, once constructed, should be painted to give character, graphic texture and vitality to their surfaces. The puppets should be designed so that they are made in sections, which can be operated independently and which will rely on the choreographed movements of the operators to give them life-like movement and co-ordination. Making them in sections should mean that storage and transport will also be easier.
In addition to the advice of puppeteer Kim Bergsagel, choreographer Jane Howie will visit to talk with you about movement generally and the performative aspects of operating the puppets; this will be early in the project so that you can use this information when designing your puppets and character paddings. In Semester 2 each group will go on to build its large-scale puppet as a collaborative effort, but within each group, students will each develop a padded body suit (to their own design) in pattern-cutting workshops with Wendy Housam. To cover the suits, they will use the printed stretch fabric made in collaboration with printed textile students.
Work required:
Devised narrative, outlining the story of the animal you have been assigned. Maquettes and models illustrating how the puppet will work. Technical drawing of how the puppet will work. Illustrations of at least four characters (some or all of whom will operate the puppet ).
When presenting work, each performance costume student should illustrate the animal puppet in their own illustration style, even though they have arrived at its design communally. But each student is free to develop the design of and to illustrate the additional characters in their story in their own style.
Thus when working there will be elements of collaboration and also elements of individual design. The basic narrative will need to be arrived at through group collaboration. The large scale puppets will have to be designed and made through group collaboration. The textile for the padded body suits of the manipulators will be the result of collaboration between textile students and performance costume students. However, each costume student will be able to bring some individual style to the illustration of their story’s characters and their representation of the animal puppet. These large-scale puppets, once constructed, should be painted to give character, graphic texture and vitality to their surfaces. The puppets should be designed so that they are made in sections, which can be operated independently and which will rely on the choreographed movements of the operators to give them life-like movement and co-ordination. Making them in sections should mean that storage and transport will also be easier.
In addition to the advice of puppeteer Kim Bergsagel, choreographer Jane Howie will visit to talk with you about movement generally and the performative aspects of operating the puppets; this will be early in the project so that you can use this information when designing your puppets and character paddings. In Semester 2 each group will go on to build its large-scale puppet as a collaborative effort, but within each group, students will each develop a padded body suit (to their own design) in pattern-cutting workshops with Wendy Housam. To cover the suits, they will use the printed stretch fabric made in collaboration with printed textile students.
Work required:
Devised narrative, outlining the story of the animal you have been assigned. Maquettes and models illustrating how the puppet will work. Technical drawing of how the puppet will work. Illustrations of at least four characters (some or all of whom will operate the puppet ).
learning outcomes:
DESI08001 : Design Studio 2
1. EVALUATE: evaluate and respond to project briefs, and formulate appropriate approaches
2. DEVELOP: apply fundamental material and conceptual development through a transparent iterative process
3. REALISE: realise project solutions through structured and transparent methodologies
1. EVALUATE: evaluate and respond to project briefs, and formulate appropriate approaches
2. DEVELOP: apply fundamental material and conceptual development through a transparent iterative process
3. REALISE: realise project solutions through structured and transparent methodologies
DESI08002 : Design Research 2
1. INVESTIGATE: use a variety of practical and theoretical methods to demonstrate an investigation of research themes
2. CONSIDER: demonstrate the consideration of a range of issues influencing the research
3. SELECT: demonstrate the ability to select research themes and directions appropriate to specific projects and lines of enquiry
1. INVESTIGATE: use a variety of practical and theoretical methods to demonstrate an investigation of research themes
2. CONSIDER: demonstrate the consideration of a range of issues influencing the research
3. SELECT: demonstrate the ability to select research themes and directions appropriate to specific projects and lines of enquiry
DESI08003 : Professional Design Practice 2
1. RECOGNISE: demonstrate a recognition of the creative context for the discipline
2. REFLECT: demonstrate the ability to reflect on personal strengths and weaknesses within the context of the discipline
3. COMMUNICATE: communicate proposals, concepts and responses orally, visually and in writing
1. RECOGNISE: demonstrate a recognition of the creative context for the discipline
2. REFLECT: demonstrate the ability to reflect on personal strengths and weaknesses within the context of the discipline
3. COMMUNICATE: communicate proposals, concepts and responses orally, visually and in writing
project justification:
The project has been set at this point in the course to develop an imaginative and creative response to a challenging text, to strengthen research strategies and project management. Students will develop aspects of their design in practical sessions at the end of semester 1 and in semester 2.
Project aims: To develop research, design development skills. To develop skill in using costume and clothing to reinforce character portrayal. To develop awareness of demands on costume from performance and from performers. To develop an awareness and integration between actor and puppets within a performance. To develop costume making skills. To develop puppet making skills.
• Reason for having the project and at this point in the Course is: To provide a balance with other projects over the year, exploring different performance media. To build on character study to enable character portrayal for the stage. To develop costume making skills. To encourage an awareness of puppets and develop puppet making skills. To encourage individuality when interpreting a brief. To develop an ability to research and design within a limited time frame.
Some resources:
Puppet Lab in Edinburgh
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