Images of Finished Set

26/5/11

Today was our last day on creating the set. We layed out all the props we had gathered for the room including a tea set and real food. I brought in a smoking pipe, a Czechoslovakia envelope I managed to find online with were placed on the coffee table along with other props including a decanter and German story book. I also brought in to uni a large house plant from home to fill the empty corner of the living room. I think the plant looked really good in the living room as it showed more evidence of people actually living there.
We were given a large selection of lights and cameras which we could adjust to our preference. We also had use of a smoke machine which gave a really interesting effect in Gregor's bedroom which helped relate our set to the Psychological horror genre.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the set we have created. It may have taken a while to create but we managed to achieve all we set out to do before the deadline. I found it quite hard to work in such a large group as so many people had different ideas, and not many confirmed their ideas with the rest of the group. This particularly showed when it came to making the contents of the sets as some constructions got in the way of others creating their individual pieces. The most annoying thing which affected the group was the lack of people turning up to help create the sets as it slowed the process down and also made the work load uneven between each member. However I think everyone manged to get along well and offered to help others when they needed it.
My favourite image of the set is the two armchairs in front of the fireplace, as due to the props and warm lighting it suggests that the room is being lived in and is a safe, family home to the characters. I also like the images taken of Gregor's room as this represented the genre of Psychological horror that we set out to achieve.

24/5/11

Today I helped to put together the pieces for the bed in the bedroom with some members of my group. We managed today to put all the furniture into the set. Although we still have props to be put in, i.e. table cloth, flowers, we all agreed that the set seemed quite bare as we had little furniture for the large sized rooms. This could be overcome if we had stayed with the original measurements of the rooms. However seeing the room almost complete felt a great achievement and pride inn the work we had done. For most of the day I created the window frame for the right side window in the living room. Me and Kat cut the pieces out of MDF and Jess helped me attach the finished frame to the window.

23/5/11

On Friday, the skirting board was put on the walls in the bedroom. Today I helped to place the skirting board in the living room with Sarah L and Laura. We had to file some of the ends in order for the skirting to fit in the corners. We started to nail the skirting boards to the wall but we could not carry on to the other side of the wall as the floor still needed to be painted first. I then painted the door frame in the bedroom to match the doorframe around the double doors using a watered down black paint. Once Ben arrived we cleared the living room floor of paint pots, tools and other mess ready for the floor to be painted. Me, Jess and Ben put masking tape along the bottom of the skirting boards which had already been attached.

19/5/11

As many of the group had finished working on their pieces of furniture we helped with the creation of the doors as this seemed to be a bit behind schedule. I helped to paint one of the doors whilst others were making and distressing others. After being asked for help, I worked with Karen to pin the frames of the windows to the wall. After we finished the window frames, I helped Emma to make the legs for the bed and painted the foot and headboard in a layer of wood stain. While pieces of the bed were drying I helped Jess and Ben paint the base coat on the bedroom floor, using rollers and brown paint in sections Ben had already marked out with masking tape. I also helped Emily glue the fireplace to the wall and painted the skirting boards with Sarah W. and Sarah L.

18/5/11

All day I helped create the skirting board. We measured the length of the skirting boards to fit around the edges of the room and helped Adam cut the boards with a Jigsaw. We also worked out how the skirting would meet at the corners so we removed 18mm from some pieces to overlap in the corners of the room. Before each piece was cut we labelled it with the same figure as the flat it would be attached to.

17/5/11

Today Jess and I created the frame for the bedroom window. We tried to make it similar to Karen’s design on the living room windows, however we found it difficult as the frame is at an angle and where the flats join up does not line up straight. We ended up screwing the frame to the surrounding flats as this seemed the easiest option. After helping file pieces of the fireplace, some of the group and I started to create the skirting boards. We used 18mm MDF, making the skirting 15cm x 8ft.

16/5/11

During the morning I spent my time working on the bedroom walls. Ben showed me how he used scraps of tissue mixed with paint and PVA to create the texture on the walls. We added the tissue to the wall were the wallpaper had been scraped off. I think it worked quite well to add expressionism to the room and is strong evidence of a non-human form living in the room. In the afternoon I helped to cut out shapes of MDF used for the door panelling. This took quite while to do as there were many pieces which needed to be cut all with different measurements.

13/5/11

I decided to cover the seats of my dining chairs as they were both ripped and had leather coverings which I found was uncommon in that era, and would not match the upholstery in the other pieces of furniture. I brought half a metre of dark red cotton fabric and used a staple gun to secure it in place. I first covered both the rips in the seats with duct tape so they would not be visible through the fabric. As the seats were already broken and very old I decided that taking the leather off first may cause the stuffing to escape and be quite difficult to remove. Overall I am very pleased with my dining chairs as I think the style and colours work well with the décor in the living room, although I believe the room would look more realistic with more dining chairs due to the size of the dining table. After I covered both my chairs, I then helped Eleanor to paint her dining table in similar colours to my dining chairs, adding wood grain texture and a gloss varnish.

12/5/11

After Eleanor had measured and cut out all the pieces she needed for the dining table, Sarah L and I helped to secure the pieces together. We first adjusted the legs of the table to co-operate with the height of the chairs. However we found the table was quite high in order for people to use the table while sitting on the chairs, which meant having to shorten the legs by cutting 5” of the ends. We also came up with the idea of building a frame underneath the table which we could attach the sides to. Using wood PVA and nails we attached the sides and the legs to the table top.

11/5/11

All day I helped Laura to create the armchair for Mrs Samsa. Following Laura’s designs we cut out the shapes needed from MDF and Plywood using the bandsaw in the workshop a drilled them together using a variety of different sized screws. After I helped to create the wooden base of the chair Laura then covered the seat in foam and covered the entire chair in a floral fabric.

10/5/11

Henry came in to show us how to apply the wallpaper in the living room. Most of the group helped to cover the room in the wallpaper John had brought. We found it quite hard to match the pattern on each strip as only a small area matched up which also meant we had a lot of excess wallpaper. Unfortunately we realised that we would not have enough rolls of paper to cover the room so Jess, Eleanor and I went to B&Q to get some more, while the rest of the group continued to wallpaper. When we had covered most of the walls we realised we only had a small section by the door to cover which seemed a waste to open a whole new roll of paper especially as we had so many spare scraps of paper left over. After a vote the majority of the group decided to cover the last section in left over excess wallpaper, which also helped to keep our budget lower.

9/05/11

Along with a few others in the group, I helped paint the first layer of paint in Gregor’s bedroom to the designs John had created. We used a mixture of different coloured paint in shades of brown, green, yellow and black. One of the paints we had planned to use was very thick and lumpy which gave a great texture on the wall when applied thickly. Whilst the paint was wet we added some sawdust which was the contents of the vacuum, which was thrown over the large lumps of paint. However some of the sawdust had to be removed as the wallpaper which was to go over the top would not stick to the wall well. After, the whole group helped to cover the living room walls in wallpaper paste to help the wallpaper adhere to the ply wood.

6/5/11

Today we completed attaching the flats together including the wall that went temporarily missing. This meant having all the walls to both rooms. To make the walls stronger, Emma, Sarah L and I added wooden braces around the back of the flats using screws and cutting away the excess with a hand saw. Myself and Jess also labelled the flats to help us place them in the correct order when re-constructing the set at Maidstone Studios.

4/5/11

Today we carried on placing the flats together and found that some of the headers and footers were the wrong size or the skin was nailed to the wrong side as well as the bedroom window being at the wrong angle. This meant we had to re make and adjust some of the flats which took extra unnecessary time. We also only had a small number of us in today which also slowed the process down.

3/5/11

Today we had Henry in again to help us. We have now completed making all the flats for our set. We started to attach the flats together by drilling screws through the sides. It took a few of us to do it as the flats are large, and needed to be flush with one another. Henry also showed us to create temporary stands for the walls to help them balance, which were placed at the side of the doorways.

Plan of Set

This is the plan for the set from an ariel view. It shows where the doors, windows and fireplace will be as well as the positioning of the furniture. This is what we will use tomorrow to create our scale model.

Dining Chairs

I had been debating about whether to buy some dining chairs for the set and possibly adapt them or to make them from scratch. The benefit of making them would be having the exact design I had planned. However I needed to make a least three chairs which I wasn't sure how long that would take. Fortunately someone I know very well was getting rid of a couple of dining chairs which I thought I could use as a starting point and adapt them to resemble my designs. The chairs are very old, made of a strong dark wood and have decorative front legs which I thought would fit the theme well and would also match Eleanor's designs for the table. The padded seats of the chairs are ripped but can be eaily covered or repaired or left if it fits the scene. Unfortunately I only have two chairs but the rest of the group agreed that they would fit in with the style and decor of the room.

Flat Building

Today we were shown how to create our flats. This will be used as the walls for our set. When building flats, always make the frame fist then attach the skin afterwards. The standard size for our flats are 4'x8'. Start by lining up two pieces of timber at 8' each. Mark one end of the wood, this will be the corner that you start from at each stage. Mark along the timber at 2' using a tape measure and set square. Then you will need 5 4' pieces of timber which will go horizontally on the flat. Measure the width of these pieces as they will need to be deducted in order to get an accurate size. Line up a 4' plank against the end of the marked timber and drill together using two screws untill the screw is 1mm below the surface. Drill a 4' at each marked 2' then drill the remaining 8' plank to the ends of the 4's. Glue the top of the fame using wood PVA and place the plywood skin on top. Line the skin up in the corner you have marked. Using a nail gun, start at the beginning corner and go along the short edge nailing the skin to the frame. Then go along the adjoining 8' side and all the way around the frame leaving approximately 4'' between each nail. When it comes to nailing the 4' planks across the middle of the frame, it is useful to draw a line roughly where the timber is. If any of the skin is over hanging, it can be removed with a router.

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro is an Italian term that translates as light-dark. It refers to the balance and pattern of light and shade in a painting, drawing, film or photo. Chiaroscuro is generally only remarked upon when it is a particularly prominent feature of the work, usually when the artist is using extreme contrasts of light and shade. This is used in the genre of Psychological horror to help create an eerie atmosphere, seen in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’, and ‘The Haunting’, directed by Robert Wise.
I think it would be a strong achievement to create a chiaroscuro effect in our sets, especially in Gregor’s bedroom to reflect the destruction and terror on the walls, floor and furniture.

Fig. 1. Martin, Tommy (2001) Tommy Martin Photography
http://www.tommymartin.co.uk/Print_Portfolio/Chiaroscuro_I.html (Acessed 03/04/11)

Fig. 2 Unexplained stuff (2008) Ghostly Beings http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Ghosts-and-Phantoms/Ghostly-Beings-Ghosts-of-the-living.html (Acessed on 03/04/11)

Art Nouveau (c.1880 to 1910)

Art nouveau could be said to be the first 20th century modern style. It was the first style to stop looking backwards in history for ideas, taking inspiration instead from what it saw around it, in particular the natural world.

(At:http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/period_artnouveau.shtml)

Although our stylistic brief for our sets is constructivism and expressionism, we also decided to look at art nouveau style pieces of furniture. This was so that we could each individually research and design our chosen pieces of furniture or other aspects of the room which are similar to each other. We found that art nouveau was quite popular in the time our story is set, and is a less broad topic so all the aspects should look similar when put together, yet leave an impression of constructivism and expressionism.

This resembles the creative ideas the group spoke of when imagining what the sets will look like, including pale colouring, such as pinks and greens, curved detailed furniture, floral patterned fabric and walls, and soft furnishings.

Expressionism

Expressionism as a general term refers to art in which the image of reality is more or less heavily distorted in form and colour in order to make it expressive of the artists inner feelings or ideas about it. In expressionist art colour in particular can be highly intense and non-naturalistic, brushwork is typically free and paint application tends to be generous and highly textured. Expressionist art tends to be emotional and sometimes mystical. It can be seen as an extension of Romanticism. It then went on to create abstract expressionism.
Tate Galleries (date unknown) Tate http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=48 (31/03/11)

Fig. 1. Schmidt-Rottluff, Karl (1912) Two Women [Oil on Canvas] At: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=13179 (Acessed on 31/03/11)

Fig. 2. Kokoschka, Oskar (1910-12) Dr. Fannina W. Halle [Drawing on Paper] At:
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=7815 (Acessed on 31/03/11)

Fig. 3. Kandinsky, Wassily (1910-11) Cossacks [Oil on canvas] At: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=8185 (Acessed on 31/03/11)

Constructivism

Constructivism is a particularly austere branch of abstract art founded by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko in Russia around 1915. The constructivists believed art should directly reflect the modern industrial world. Tatlin was crucially influenced by Picasso's Cubist constructions (Construction 1914) which he saw in Picasso's studio in Paris in 1913. These were three-dimensional still-lifes made of scrap materials. Tatlin began to make his own but they were completely abstract and made of industrial materials. By 1921 Russian artists who followed Tatlin's ideas were calling themselves Constructivists and in 1923 a manifesto was published in their magazine Lef: 'The material formation of the object is to be substituted for its aesthetic combination. The object is to be treated as a whole and thus will be of no discernible 'style' but simply a product of an industrial order like a car, an aeroplane and such like. Constructivism is a purely technical mastery and organisation of materials.' Constructivism was suppressed in Russia in the 1920s but was brought to the West by Naum Gabo and his brother Antoine Pevsner and has been a major influence on modern sculpture.

Tate Galleries (Date unknown) Tate http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=75 (Acessed 8/04/11)

Fig. 1. Pevsner, Antione (c. 1923-24) Head [Plastic] At: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=11530 (Acessed on 31/03/11)

Fig. 2. Gabo, Naum (c. 1920) Column [Cellulose nitrate] At:

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=4836 (Acessed on 31/03/11)

Fig. 3. Gabo, Naum (c. 1917) Constructed Torso [Cardboard] At:

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=21293 (Acessed on 31/03/11)

Foam board Model

Today with the help of Henry Jones, we created a model scale of our set. We used white foam board and created miniature versions of our chosen furniture to see how the room would look. This gave us a chance to see how the furniture would fit in both rooms and where we could position them., without obstructing doors or windows. This also got us started thinking about where our light sources would be to create the greatest effect in each of the rooms.
After building the model, we were told we could enlarge our sets if we wanted. After a group discussion, we decided to increase the size of the living room to 12'x14', and the bedroom to 12'x10' with the end wall 8'. This will give us more room for the furniture to fit in as well as space for us to work in when constructing the sets.

Dining Chairs

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.salvo.co.uk/images/userimgs/33450/Reclaimed-pine-dining-chairs

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.antiquediningchair.co.uk/images/rococo%2520dining%2520chair%25202.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.antiquediningchair.co.uk/rococo_

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.parlourroominteriors.com/Antique_Victorian_Art_Nouveau_Dining_Chairs_files/victorian%2520green%2520chairs%25202.jpg

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nigelnortheast.co.uk/images/oak_dining_chairs.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nigelnortheast.co.uk/portfolio-dining.htm

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.riversidefurniture.co.uk/shoppingcart/product_images/z/french_chair__41088.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.riversidefurniture.co.uk/shoppingcart/products/French-Style-Painted-Rattan-Dining-Chairs.html

Designing

As a group we decided to each have an aspect of the set to individually research and design. Half of the group would be looking at Gregor's room whilst myself and the other half of the group will be looking at the design of the living room. I will be researching into dining chairs to fit the scene of the room, in the period of 1915 and art neuveau. This also means working together with Eleanor who is looking at the designs for the dining table so they have a similar resembelance. Once we research into our chosen area, we will create our own designs and draw up our work to scale on Autocad.

Plans of set

We began planing how our rooms would look and which pieces of furniture would be included. We decided to set the rooms half way through the text, when Gregor has been a bug for some time and the family begin removing the furniture out of his room. This would also be useful when creating the sets as we have less furniture to create and also more room to move around in the set. The rooms will be joined by the double doors mentioned in the text. The living room will be made 12ft x 10ft, yet the bedroom will be 10ft wide and 12ft long but will narrow towards the end of the room making the end wall 7ft long. The furniture we decided to include consist of a four poster bed, writing desk, leather sofa and the chair near the window in Gregor's bedroom. For the living room we will have a dining table and chairs, a fireplace, and an armchair each for Mr and Mrs Samsa. This will also include the military photo of Gregor and the picture of the woman on the wall in Gregor's room. Both rooms will have carpeted floors and wallpaper which will be worn and show evidence of dampness and layers worn away to show the many layers underneath.

Own Images of Architecture

As our setting is the Czech Republic, I began researching the housing and architecture there. I found them to be similar to the architecture in southern Poland. The images above are my own images taken last summer whilst I was touring Poland.

Ideas for both sets

Bedroom

• Four poster bed
• Writing desk
• Wardrobe
• Drawers
• Chair by the window
• Leather couch - Scratched, covered by bed sheet
• Picture of woman on the wall
• Scraps of food on newspaper on floor
• Flowered wallpaper
• Traces of sticky stuff on walls and ceiling
• smashed bottle of spirit on floor
• Desk and drawers removed
• Dark colours
• Traces of bug - Dung, skin, shell, goo
• Double doors leading to living room
• Door leading elsewhere
• Evidence of normality - train tickets, food, newspaper
• Been living there for five years

Living Room

• Family room
• Run down / tear and wear
• Damp carpet
• Peeling wallpaper / layers of paint beneath
• Middle / working class
• Distressed
• Cluttered / Claustrophobic
• Double doors - White, winged, blood stain marks
• Large central dining table
• Dining chairs
• Portrait of Gregor in Military uniform
• Coffee stain on carpet
• Plates and cutlery on table
• Carved furniture - Sharp points and spikes
• Father's armchair
• Mother's chair in front of window
• Fruit bowl on sideboard - Red apples
• Doors to kitchen and landing

Initial Ideas

When we first met together as a group, it seemed quite clear that we all had similar thoughts on how we wanted the rooms to look. The living room would be fairly modern for that day yet strong evidence of wear and tear on the walls, floors and furniture. The bedroom would start to resemble the natural habitat for bugs, with dirt and grime over the walls and suggest what creature had belonged there.
From the text we knew that the Samsa family lived in an grey urban city somewhere in Europe. Ideas of where it could be set were Germany, Russia and Czech Republic. Though after discussion and research we decided that the story would be set in Prague, Czech Republic, around 1915 when the text was written.

Metamorphosis

While reading the text, I found it quite difficult to relate to the story. It begins with Gregor already turned into a bug yet doesn't give a reason how or why. I also found that the reactions of the characters when being introduced to the bug-form Gregor were very mild including Gregor himself, and seemed to almost accept the change as the norm. However, I found it interesting to read the different reactions of the different characters towards the giant dung-beetle living in the apartment. The text is very descriptive of the setting which is very useful as it will help us to create a realistic and relevant set of the story.
The text seems to be built around the binary opposite of the bug, Gregor, in his degrading and grotesque bedroom, to the family in the living room living as normal. This contrast will hopefully be shown between the two sets we are creating. I really like the idea of the living room being entirely focused on the family, with the daughter playing her violin, her mother, Mrs Samsa, sewing, and Mr Samsa, the father, asleep in his chair.
The bedroom, I imagine will have started to evolve into the dark, cave-like area, the habitat of any ginormous beetle yet still have the essence of the human who had previously lived there, such as his beloved writing desk and photograph of the woman on the wall being untouched.
I am looking forward to designing and creating the sets as they will be based entirely on the text with our own take on the design and our own ideas of expressionism and exaggeration.

Set Build Lecture

Set Building

Why are sets used?

• To support the story
• To put the story in an appropriate arena
• To create an believable environment for the audience
  

Why choose a studio?

• Controllable environment, meaning not having to worry about weather.
• Location work is impractical, not suitable for film crews etc.
• The real location does not exist.

Location

• Locations may not provide everything that is needed
• If you find something historically correct, a studio is going to be difficult to make the same.
• Set construction may be needed to hide modern details, like post-boxes and burglar alarms etc.
• Difficulties with access

Creating the illusion

Many roles are needed when set buildings, including:

• Carpenters
• Riggers
• Plasterers
• Painters
• Dressers
  
  

Part of the whole

• The Production department will supply drawings for consultation.
• These drawings are passed onto relevant depts. for costing.
• Once approved construction can begin.
  
  

Scale models

• Scale models are created before construction to show how the set will look to scale
• Models have also been used at sets themselves by using green- screen to add features.
  
  

Time is money

• Studios can be expensive to hire
• The crew is expensive to hire
• The equipment is expensive to hire
• Budgets are large so each department can avoid mistakes or shoddy workmanship, and make sets as real as possible
  

Deadlines

• It is very important to know the deadline and to try to complete the project before the deadline so there is time to fix anything that may need fixing
• Set building may involve work in a controlled environment or an uncontrolled environment, which can affect filming.

Moodboard

Using google images, I collected together various images used to represent Kafka's Metamorphosis. These include covers of books and images from various artists with their own take of the story.

New Worlds - The Creation of Metaphoric Space

The project which I am studying is the Creation of Metaphoric Space, with the theme of 'psychological terror'. Based on the text 'Metamorphosis' (1915) by Franz Kafka, we are to plan and create a set of which the text is based, creating two conjoined rooms; the living room and the bedroom belonging to Gregor. For this set we have been told the stylistic brief is constructivism and expressionism, which we will research when designing our rooms. I will be working in a group of sixteen, in 'Group 1-Metamorphosis'. Our set will explore ideas of space, objects and light as complex signs and the use to generate meaning and narrative.

Franz kafka 'Metamorphosis' (1915)
http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/stories/kafka-e.htm