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(1887-1954) drawing at a waist high table (c. 1920).]] Scenic design (also known as stage design, set design or production design) is the creation of theatrical
Theatre

Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one or more actor, isolated in time and/or Theater , present themselves to Audience." By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for story telling....
, as well as film
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
 or television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 scenery
Theatrical scenery

Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether or not the item was custom-made or is, in fact, the genuine item, appropriated for theatrical use....
. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A.
Master of Fine Arts

In the United States, a Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring two to three years of study beyond the bachelor's degree level and usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, or theater/performing arts....
 degrees in theatre arts.

The 'stage picture' is the 'look' or physical appearance of the stage for a play, whether in rehearsal or performance
Performance

A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which one group of people behave in a particular way for another group of people ....
.






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(1887-1954) drawing at a waist high table (c. 1920).]] Scenic design (also known as stage design, set design or production design) is the creation of theatrical
Theatre

Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one or more actor, isolated in time and/or Theater , present themselves to Audience." By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for story telling....
, as well as film
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
 or television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 scenery
Theatrical scenery

Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether or not the item was custom-made or is, in fact, the genuine item, appropriated for theatrical use....
. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A.
Master of Fine Arts

In the United States, a Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring two to three years of study beyond the bachelor's degree level and usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, or theater/performing arts....
 degrees in theatre arts.

The 'stage picture' is the 'look' or physical appearance of the stage for a play, whether in rehearsal or performance
Performance

A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which one group of people behave in a particular way for another group of people ....
. It reflects the way that the stage
Stage (theatre)

In theatre, the stage is a designated space for the performance of theatrical productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience....
 is composed
Composition (visual arts)

In the visual arts ? in particular painting, graphic design, photography and sculpture ? composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art....
 artistically in regard to props
Theatrical property

A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is any object held or used on stage by an actor for use in furthering the plot or story line of a theatrical production....
, actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
s, shapes and colours. The stage picture should express good principles of design
Design

Design is used both as a noun and a verb. The term is often tied to the various applied arts and engineering . As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and planning for a product, structure, system, or component with intention....
 and use of space. It should be visually appealing for the audience
Audience

An audience is a group of person who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any Media ....
 or should express the show's concept. The stage picture is also crucial for the creation of atmosphere for the audience.

The scenic designer is responsible for collaborating with the theatre director and other members of the production design team to create an environment for the production and then communicating the details of this environment to the technical director
Technical director

The Technical Director or Technical Producer is usually the most senior technical person within a Software, Theatre, or Film/Television Studio or agency....
, production manager, charge scenic artist and propmaster
Property master

The property master is an artistic and organizational employee in a film, television or theatrical production who is responsible for purchasing, acquiring and/or manufacturing any Theatrical propertys needed for a production....
. Scenic designers are responsible for creating scale model
Scale model

Sorry, no overview for this topic
s of the scenery, renderings
Artistic rendering

Rendering in visual art and technical drawing means the process of creating, shading and texturing of an image, especially a photorealistic one. It can also be used to describe the quality of execution of that process....
, paint elevations and scale construction drawings as part of their communication with other production staff.

In Europe and Australia scenic designers take a more holistic approach to theatrical design and will often be responsible not only for scenic design but costume, lighting and sound and are referred to as theatre designers or scenographers or production designers.

Like their American cousins, European theatre designers and scenographers are generally trained with Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin language Artium Baccalaureus, is an Undergraduate education bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
 degrees in theatre design, scenography
Scenography

Scenography is the practice of making theatre including sets, costumes and texts from a theoretical and practical point of view. Scenographers work from the premise of a space that is constructed, updated, transformed and filled....
 or performance design. Notable scenic designers, past and present, include: Tony Walton
Tony Walton

Tony Walton is an England Academy Award, Tony Award and Emmy Award-winning scenic design and costume designer.Walton was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey....
, Adolphe Appia
Adolphe Appia

Adolphe Appia , son of Red Cross co-founder Louis Appia, was a Switzerland architect and theorist of stage lighting and d?cor.Adolphe Appia was a Swiss theorist and pioneer of modern stage design....
, Boris Aronson
Boris Aronson

Boris Aronson was an influential American scenic designer for Broadway theatre and Yiddish theatre....
, Howard Bay, Edward Gordon Craig
Edward Gordon Craig

Edward Gordon Craig , sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was a England modernism theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, Theatrical producer, Theatre director and scenic designer, as well as developing an influential body of theoretical writings....
, Luciano Damiani
Luciano Damiani

Luciano Damiani was an Italy stage and costume designer, who worked both for theatre and opera productions....
, Ezio Frigerio
Ezio Frigerio

Ezio Frigerio is an Italian costume designer and art director.After finishing architecture studies, he approached theatre art by realising the costumes for Casa di Bambola and The Threepenny Opera, two plays directed by Giorgio Strehler at Piccolo Teatro in the 1955-56 theatre season....
, Barry Kay
Barry Kay

Barry Kay , who studied arts at the Acad?mie Julian in Paris, was a stage and costume designer of international renown. In the course of his career, lasting almost four decades, he designed for the ballet, drama and opera alike, working with established directors and choreographers at major theatres and opera houses and their companies world...
, Sean Kenny, Ralph Koltai, Ming Cho Lee
Ming Cho Lee

Ming Cho Lee is a Chinese-born American theatrical set designer and a longtime professor at the Yale School of Drama.Lee, born to parents who were both Yale University graduates, moved to the United States in 1949 and attended Occidental College....
, Santo Loquasto
Santo Loquasto

Santo Loquasto is an United States production designer, scenic designer and costume designer for stage , Filmmaking, and dance. His work includes the productions of the ballet Don Quixote , the film Don't Drink the Water , Great Performances: Fosse, and the television show TriBeCa ....
, Jo Mielziner
Jo Mielziner

Jo Mielziner was an United States theatrical scenic design, costume design, and lighting design designer born in Paris, France. He was considered one of the most influential theatre designers of the 20th century, designing the scenery and often the lighting for over 200 productions, many of which became American classics....
, Oliver Smith
Oliver Smith (designer)

Oliver Smith was one of the most distinguished and prolific Tony Award-winning scenic designers in United States theatre history.Born in Waupun, Wisconsin, Smith attended Penn State, after which he moved to New York City and began to form friendships that blossomed into working relationships with such talents as Leonard Bernstein, Jerome R...
, Franco Colavecchia, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle was a French opera Theatre director who was born in Paris.He studied philosophy, art, and history there and, in 1952, began his career in Germany as a theatre designer for Hans Werner Henze's opera Boulevard Solitude....
, Josef Svoboda
Josef Svoboda

Josef Svoboda was a native of Czechoslovakia, began his training as an architect at the Central School of Housing in Prague. At the end of World War II he became interested in theatre and design....
, George Tsypin
George Tsypin

George Tsypin is an American sculptor, architect and stage designer .He studied architecture in Moscow and theater design at New York University....
, Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson (director)

Robert Wilson is an United States of America avant-garde stage director and playwright who has been called "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist'"....
, Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli, Order of the British Empire , is an Italy film director. He is also an theatre director, designer and producer of opera, theatre, film and television....
, Natalia Goncharova
Natalia Goncharova

Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova was a Russian avant-garde artist , Painting and costume designer. Her great-aunt was Natalia Pushkina, wife of the poet Alexander Pushkin....
, Vadim Meller, Aleksandra Ekster
Aleksandra Ekster

Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster was a Russian-Ukraine Painting , designer, and one of the founders of Art Deco....
, Nathan Altman
Nathan Altman

File:Akhmatova 1914.jpgNathan Isaevich Altman was a Russian avant-garde artist, Cubist Painting, stage designer and book illustrator....
, David Borovsky, Daniil Lider, Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones

Inigo Jones is regarded as the first significant British architecture, and the first to bring Renaissance architecture to England. He also made valuable contributions to stage design....
, Nicholas Georgiadis
Nicholas Georgiadis

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, Alexandre Benois
Alexandre Benois

Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois , an influential artist, art critic, historian, preservationist, and founding member of Mir iskusstva. His influence on the modern ballet and stage design is considered seminal....
, Francoise Cherry-Cohen
Francoise Cherry-Cohen

'Francoise Cherry-Cohen' is a set designer, who currently works with Chuck Lorre on his shows The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. Before that she worked on George Lopez, The Drew Carey Show, Veronica's Closet, Nikki, Jesse, The Norm Show, The Closer, Chicago Sons, and some loose episodes of Ugly...
, and Léon Bakst
Léon Bakst

L?on Samoilovitch Bakst was a Russian Painting and scene- and costume designer who revolutionized the arts he worked in. Born as Lev Rosenberg, he was also known as Leon Nikolayevich Bakst ....
.

See also

  • Scenography
    Scenography

    Scenography is the practice of making theatre including sets, costumes and texts from a theoretical and practical point of view. Scenographers work from the premise of a space that is constructed, updated, transformed and filled....
  • Set construction
    Set construction

    Set construction is a process by which a scenic design works in collaboration with the theatre director of the production to create the set for a theatrical, film or television production....


External links

  • Theatre Design / Scenography
  • Theatre Design
  • Article illustrating the differences between US and European theatre design practices
  • Production and Set Designer Directory
  • on www.scenography.co.uk
  • , University of Bristol
    University of Bristol

    The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. It received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876....