Set design- Unit 2

Set designer earnings in the theatre staring at about £18,000 and it can go up to £23,500.

To be a set designer, you need to have an awareness of space and depth and you need to be a great Story teller you need to get people to believe in the a space. A set designer do not have to be a builder or have a degree in engineering. The process of creating a new set involves lots of collaboration and begin with and lots of discussion.

The set designer need first to create a brief by talking to the director about how he wants to approach l the piece then do lots of research, look at films look at music videos look at other people’s work. Look at other performances research past productions and then with the piece, research genre, period architecture go to libraries google and then have meetings with the director and to look how he/she want to approach the piece and the design. Eventually a set model to scale is produced.  

This is a tool for to work out where the performers are going to move and interact in the space.The model is a guide for the builder to create the set a set and help tell the story of an opera, ballet TV show, or a film by either providing a recognisable back drop or it could be poetic and abstract. It can be providing a colour or a mood or a feeling.

Essentially there is not any difference in how a set can work for opera or ballet, or for straight theatre. For an installation it is about supporting the art work and the atmosphere the director is making. 

The set informs the character as to the world they live in and therefore what kind of person they are because if you know the world or place you live in you know who you are.

If you are interested in being a set designer a degree is defiantly useful. There are lots of great courses at St Martins.

 It is not essential to have a degree, you just got to have just got to have a lot of exposure to the theatre people that I work with on a daily bases come from all walks of life and have had different experiences  and it these that create interesting theatre because everyone brings their own story to the table as long as you have the basic you have an understanding of scale, shape and space.

It is best to just got to volunteer in theatre and take every opportunity that comes your way. You can work in theatre and tell stories. 

The last advice given is to somebody designing their own set is to see as much theatre as they can. The more ideas you see the better it will helping to create complementary and original ideas. When there is an amalgamation of experiences you may have had that will bring cohesion a scene.