Design HS Beauty & The Beast

[jjones37]

Hello all;

I am new to Control Booth but it seems as though there is alot of great information to be found.

I am a volunteer at a local high school performing arts center.

The high school will be doing Beauty and the Beast the last week in March and I am looking for any suggestions you may have on color or design.

The scripts they purchased have nothing about lighting or sound so I will be designing it all myself.

I'm confident it will all go smoothly, any help you can offer would be GREAT though!

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Thanks!

 

[photoatdv]

Welcome! I'm doing that one soon, so I'll pass along my design if you're interested. By the way, the script doesn't usually include lighting or sound design info.

 

[J0rdster]

Beauty and the Beast should have some great, rich, bold colors. Here are some colors I have seen used that worked very well with the show. Keep in mind it depends on how many systems of color you'll be able to use. I also recommend using a light frost, such as R114 with all of your front light, especially if you choose to do no color front. If you can get your hands on a hazer, it's been fun in the shows I've seen. And get creative with gobos, too. Good luck and have fun!

Cools: R80, R74, L721, R68
Warm: R36, L110
Front: R56, R57, N/C
Lavender/purple: R58, R48,G985
Amber: R20, R21, L015 (gold tends to bring out the best in costumes for the BATB that I've seen; royal blue fabrics, purple, gold fabrics, you name it)
Pink: R44, G120

 

[Morpheus]

Well, I'm not sure how much you know about design, but my first recomendation would be to gather research- go to google and start looking for photos that portray some defining moods or characteristics, created by light or color.
Show these to the director, to get feedback.
Once you find these images that 'work', figure out why they work. Is it angle, color, or some combination of the two?
It might also help to look at previous designs, like J0rdster's... however, it is important to remember to not do an exact copy! (one it could be a copyright issue, and two, what works for one show will almost never work for another.) Instead, look at what works, and why it works... J0rdster mentioned the gold works for him, but only because his costumes are rich... if yours aren't the color might not work as well.

Hmm, that's about all I can think of atm... Sorry if I covered stuff you already knew... it's almost 4am for me, and browsing CB is one of my many means of procrastination...

 

[JackMVHS]

Hey,

I did Beauty and the Beast last spring and it was a LOT of fun, but hard work at the same time. Being based off of an animated film you can do a mix of going all out with interesting color choices and making the scenes as realistic as possible. The show can take on different feels depending on how you approach the lighting. It can be dark and scary in parts but happy and uplifting in others. You can change the mood by switching between dark greens and blues and bright colors.

I would recommend searching the web for pictures from different productions to get some ideas that you can transfer to your own show. You will get a lot of ideas and then be able to change it to make it your own design.

Here is a link to pictures of the show we did:
MV Theatre - Beauty and the Beast

This was done in a decent size high school auditorium with a collection of conventional lighting only. About 40 ellipsoidals, 80 fresnels, and 6 sets of 3-section cyc lights.

Have fun!
~Jack Caughey
Mounds View High School

 

[icewolf08]

It is great to see so many people offing up design advice, but I just want to remind everyone that one of our principles here at Controlbooth is to not hand out designs. One of the biggest things about being in school is learning how to design shows. If we tell you how to design your show then it is really no longer your show and your design.

Designing a show is a very personal thing. We don't know what your space is like, what your director wants, what you see, what gear you have, etc. I would suggest that you read this wiki entry on starting your design process as it has lots of useful information that could kick start your process. If you then have specific questions on how to achieve certain looks or effects, we would be happy to help with that.

While there is nothing wrong with looking at photos of other people's productions, you have to make sure that you don't fall into the trap of just mimicking what you see in the photos. Point being that you need to make sure that whatever you put on stage is your own.

 

[JackMVHS]

It is great to see so many people offing up design advice, but I just want to remind everyone that one of our principles here at Controlbooth is to not hand out designs. One of the biggest things about being in school is learning how to design shows. If we tell you how to design your show then it is really no longer your show and your design.

Designing a show is a very personal thing. We don't know what your space is like, what your director wants, what you see, what gear you have, etc. I would suggest that you read this wiki entry on starting your design process as it has lots of useful information that could kick start your process. If you then have specific questions on how to achieve certain looks or effects, we would be happy to help with that.

While there is nothing wrong with looking at photos of other people's productions, you have to make sure that you don't fall into the trap of just mimicking what you see in the photos. Point being that you need to make sure that whatever you put on stage is your own.

Thank you IceWolf for that explanation. I was trying to iterate that in my post above, but you stated it much better.

All I was suggesting was in the early stages to look around at other productions just to get some ideas. Then you can use some of the ideas, making them your own along the way, or create entirely new ideas. Do NOT just copy everything from other shows, you will have no sense of achievement or pride from that, and it's no fun that way.

So look for ideas, but then do what ever you think best fits your production and create your OWN design.

 

[LampyTom]

I'm also doing this show in a few weeks time and have just come up with my final design.

As others have said research it and find out any specific specials that the director wants.

Don't forget the little things either - for example I think there's a fireplace in one or two secnes - maybe some birdies hidden with reds and oranges to create the image or the fire being on? Little things like that.

The transformation is something else you need to not forget about and there's several ways in which you can tackle it but there will need to be some effective lighting to pull it off.

Anyway - have fun!