Scene or Set Designers | The Medium | The Size of Drops | Where Do I Start
Scene or Set Designers
Scenery became a very important element in stage productions. The role of a person that designs a scene calls for a creative individual who can weave the concepts of the director, playwright and other technical personnel into a visual panorama. The nomenclature may vary according to the production house size and nature of the performance. Scene or designer, or prop designer, and even set designer describe the person responsible for the visual appearance and function of scenic (and often property) pieces for a show.
A scenery designer is usually responsible for overseeing the lighting, set construction and property crews. For different productions, the job description (and the work involved) will vary. If your production is a commercial one, you probably have a technical director that will work with the scenic designer. If the theater is a school, summer, or community theater, the scenery designer may also play the part of the technical director. The scenery designer may have scenic artists and a paint crew to supervise, or they may do much of the painting and design themselves. Depending on the budget allocated for properties, it is very common to rent them rather than go to the expense of materials and labor to create the sets.
Today's set construction crews perform a variety of tasks. For instance, they build structures and buildings with false fronts to create a scene. The more authentic-looking the set, the more the audience is lured into believing the scene is real. They are involved with different types of scenery and stages to design for, such as:
Flying scenery - rope systems and counterweight systems, manual shifting of set unit sets and sets within sets.
Flat scenery - soft: backdrops, drapes, curtains, borders, legs, cycloramas, Scenery for masking-concealing backstage areas from the audience
Flat scenery - framed: flats, framed drops, ceilings, rigging systems, and Elevator (hydraulic), revolving and slip stages.
Designing sets for art forms of dance and ballet require careful use of space to enhance the performance, but cannot obstruct the movements of performers. This is true of many productions, from plays to corporate meeting performances in hotels or meeting rooms.
