Art Dept Meeting with Rosie #6

Thursday 12th November

At 3:30, Mariah, Annie and I joined Rosie for a meeting to discuss developments and plans for the weeks ahead. Rosie began by telling us what had been discussed within the other departments in previous zoom calls.

Points of discussion:

- Don't approach the story by writing a script. Take a completely visual approach with a few notes instead. This will help to visualise everything a lot clearer rather than having it all written down in a dense script. Note down sound, lighting and stage directions under each shot.

- We need to come up with more purpose for the shadowed figure or, at least, make his role more clear. Maybe we do need some kind of interaction between the protagonist and the shadow. Also, how would we shoot this. Would we have someone actually play the figure and be dressed in black by the window or would we create a shadow. How would we get the shadow to move? Do we want him to move or just be stationary? 

- Rosie agrees that the smash up of the set at the end needs a second thought. We need a more refined ending; more purposeful. 

- We need to have a presentation (6-7 slides) completed to present by next Friday.

- I said to the art department after the meeting that it would be useful if we all went away, drew up an idea of how we each envision the set, come back together and pull each one apart. This way we will end up with a more refined concept and hopefully involve all of our ideas.

- We really need to figure out the lighting. Regarding the lightbulbs, we don't want too many. Do we have one lightbulb on one side and more lightbulbs clumped together on the other side? Or do we have a general hanging of them in the centre of the room? Maybe the lightbulbs being in the centre is what connects the room, then we have different objects on each side of the room? 

- How will we do the blackout? Will it be completely dark and then something will glow? What will glow? Will it be white LED's? UV paint? Lightbulbs? Will we approach it a completely different way? Will there be a blue tinge to the blackout to highlight UV paint if we use it? Will there be roots on the walls or the nervous system? Is the nervous system too literal or would it work? I feel like if we did it in a certain way then it would look too literal, it would instead be a rather otherworldly glow of what looks like the nervous system but doesn't have to be to the audience.

Above is the kind of glow i had imagined for the blackout. Not too invasive, but eerie and stark. It would only just illuminate our protagonist which i feel would add to the idea that, at this point in the narrative, he is lost and afraid within his own mind. Some people are unsure about the idea to include LED lights as they feel it will ruin the aesthetic. I do hear their concerns, but i feel like if we put enough thought into it, it could work. This whole set was first inspired by the Meatyard photo (black and white) and then Es Devlin' set design (known for performative structures) so i feel like that needs to be taken into consideration.

- I am worried that, even though we have themed sides, having random objects around will look a bit strange. It could easily look tacky. I know we need things that emit memories but i feel like we need to think about this a lot deeper. 

- With the red and blue lighting, we want to avoid making it look like a club scene. Red and blue light could potentially look flat.

Rosie's meeting was helpful, especially to outline the fact that we don't have to write an actual script for the narrative. The first script draft helped to just get everything down on the page, but taking a more visual approach i feel will really benefit the art department and allow us to visualise the set more strongly.