Research and Design

Woyzeck

Panyatree (Sunny) Kongkwanyuen

UnitizingAspect Description

Act N/A

Scene Scene Seven

Setting Marie's Room, in the evening around 4pm where it is already dark because the sun sets faster in winter.Britain, 1890.

Action Drum-Major shows off, whilst Marie teases him. Drum-Major then forces himself on Marie. Initially, Marie struggles, however eventually she succumbs to him.

Character Drum Major and Marie

Costume Marie wears a low cut dress that should be more revealing than usual. Her dress' colours are dark and pale (to appear a bit dusty) to show that she is poor and her house is rather dusty. Her dress is the simpler and less colorful and elegant version Drum-Major wears a uniform with bright colours and pin stripes and polished badges to show he is better off and better than Woyzeck.

Set/props • Mace for the Drum-Major. He uses it when he parades in front of Marie.

• Gold earrings for Marie, she fiddles around with her earrings unconsciously.

Mood Playful to intense (fear coming from Marie at some point.)

Key words/phrases Tease, struggle, real man and woman, affair

eraThe time of my scene would be during the late 18th to19th century. I have only thought about the time after I have designed my costumes. The place would be in England where customs and culture are really important that time. Women have to behave appropriately and only the rich are can act with etiquette. The reason I made the setting in England because of the costume. Once I had a basic idea of the costume design and began to do research images, I’ve noticed that the style of the dresses and uniforms are all similar. It is only a bit different in different countries. I think the dresses are more Victorian of Britain than German. And I like the 19th century, the people were cool and laid back during that time.

The Meaning of ColoursColour can have many meanings depending on culture and other things. Thus, using colours will give various impressions on different audiences. However, if the set and atmosphere was set right, the audience might be coming to the same impression with the help of colour.

Red is used to draw attention because it is often where the eyes look first. Red is the colour of energy. It is associated with movement and excitement. Wearing red clothes will make you appear heavier and certainly more noticeable. Red is not a good colour to over use. Red is the symbol of life (hence, why brides in China wear red on their wedding.) I am planning to end my scene with a red-tinted spotlight because, to me, sometimes red is the opposite of white where is represents sin (For example like in the use of red and white in the musical Chicago to show sin and innocence.)

Pink is the most calming and soothing of all colours, it is the true colour of love. Fun fact: often our most dangerous criminals are housed in pink cells as studies have shown that pink drains the energy and calms aggression. Pink is the colour of romance, love, and gentle feelings, which, I will not use at all in my scene because there is no love at all.

Orange is the most flamboyant colour. It is the colour tied most to fun times, happy and energetic days, warmth and organic products. It is associated with ambition. There is nothing even remotely calm about the colour. Orange is associated with a new attitude.

Yellow is a cheerful colour of the sun associated with laughter, happiness and good times. It makes people feel optimistic however if the colour is intense (brighter), it is the colour of flames and tempers flare more. Yellow can be quickly overpowering if over used, but used sparingly in the just-the-right-place it can be an effective tool. Some shades of yellow associated with cowardice; but the more golden shades with the promise of better times.

Green is the colour of growth, nature and money. It is a calming colour pleasing to the senses. Dark green is associated with terms like conservative, masculine and wealth. Light green is associated with envy, good luck, generosity and fertility. It is the traditional colour of peace, harmony, comfortable nurturing, support and well paced energy.

Much of the world is blue and a majority of people like the colour. Seeing the colour blue actually causes the body to produce chemicals that are calming; but that does not apply to all shades of blue. Some shades or too much blue can send a cold and uncaring message. The colour is associated with steadfastness, dependability, wisdom and loyalty.

Purple is a royal colour associated with wealth, prosperity, rich sophistication. This color stimulates the brain activity used in problem solving. However, when overused in a common setting it is associated with putting on airs and being artificial/ Use purple most carefully to lend an air of mystery, wisdom, and respect. I want to have some purple pieces on the Drum Major to show his pride and his wealth.

Brown is most associated with reliability, stability, and friendship. It's the color of the earth itself "terra firma" and what could represent stability better. It too is associated with things being natural or organic. In India, however, it is a colour of mourning.

Gray is most associated with practical, timeless, middle-of-the-road, solid things in life. Too much grayness leads to feeling mostly nothing; but a bit of gray will add that rock solid feeling. Some shades of gray are associated with old age, death, depression or lost sense of direction. A part of Marie’s dress will have gray. I think the skirt underneath will be gray. Even if it is a dull colour, it can match well with other colours to still make a nice dress.

Silver is an off-shoot of gray and often associated with giving helping hand, strong character (sterling).

For most of the world, white is the colour associated with purity, cleanliness, and the safety of bright light. White associated with creativity. It is a compression of all the colours in the colour spectrum. Besides the child, no one is suited to wear white because it only represent what is pure and clearly no character is pure.

Black is the colour of authority and power, stability and strength. It is also the color associated with intelligence. Black clothes make people appear thinner. It’s a somber colour sometimes associated with evil. Black is a serious colour that evokes strong emotions; it is easy to overwhelm people with too much black.

Costume Research: Marie

This is a typical dress during the 18th century. Judging from all the other dresses on the website, this dress seems like the type of style women with some money would wear, because the dress is fairly simple but still looks elegant and well sown. I especially like how the colours were used. The palette of colour gives this warm almost motherly feeling.

Why I chose this dress was because it was low cut compared to the other two. I want Marie to be an attractive lady and show off her curves but not look like she is a promiscuous woman. The patterns on this dress are fairly simple and I was thinking of using similar patterns. The way the long skirt at the bottom opens up makes the top part look smaller and really nice.

This dress is the more elegant version for richer people. The style of the dress, taking out the ruffles and fancy designs (which, with a closer look, resembles curtains), will look good still. I like the way the dress has a circular low cut in the front to make the chest look fuller. I can have Marie’s dress be similar to this dress in terms of style and the way it was cut, however, I will not add ruffles and well sewn designs because in those times, it would require more money to make such a beautiful dress

I have looked at many types of tight dresses for Marie because I want to show her physical beauty to the audience. In the play, she may be known as a poor promiscuous woman for having a child without marrying the father, however she does not care about what others say and that is what I like about her. Though I still think that her decisions in my scene were not the best, but it is understandable if her husband was talking crazy to her and ignoring their child. Marie is an average height woman with a bigger chest and hip size. She is like a plus-size model (a little bigger than average but still beautiful.)

Costume Research: Drum-MajorThe Drum Major is an arrogant and prideful man. Now that I know more about colours, I’ve noticed that most of the uniforms have red, gold and black and if not black, then blue (probably because black and blue don’t go together because the colours are too dark). There are so many types of designs for a military uniform I have no idea what to do and so I am going to mix a bunch of ideas from the three pictures below. I want to Drum Major to be a handsome, tall man. I want women to find him irresistible.

This is a photograph that I took myself during a party where there was a gathering of military personnel. As these soldiers (I don’t know their positions.) were lining up to get their pictures, I managed to snag one. I think their uniform is really awesome. This is more of a suit rather than a uniform, I can get ideas of how to design the Drum Major’s uniform from it.

I am not sure if this is something close to a British army uniform. I like the extra accessories and how they go really well on a black uniform. If the uniform is designed according to the meaning of the colours, then this uniform is meant for someone with high authority. Though in this picture, he also looks like a guard. With the way he stands and stares.

The opposite of the first picture, this uniform has brighter colours. I think this is a more loyal and so I think the higher ups or more important figures deserve to wear blue. I don’t like his hat because it makes him look more girly more than manly. Even though the Drum Major does not go to war, in scene seven, he showed power and authority, which does not work if he wore a flower hat.

Accessories ResearchBecause Marie is in a poor family, she does not have money to pamper herself with all the nice jewelry. She only has the gold earrings that the Drum-Major has given her in the previous scene and a shard of broken mirror. I’ve looked at different types of gold earrings that are simple because the Drum Major has just met Marie and he’s not super rich to be able to buy really fancy jewelry.

% A simple pair of gold hoop earrings. I think they are too modern for my scene. Although it may look nice, I don’t think the Drum Major would buy this for Marie because, to me, hoop earrings do not have real elegance and is something men shouldn’t buy for women especially if they are trying to win them over.

I think this pair of earrings are much more effective in getting a woman to fall for a man. These earrings show a very elegant and sophisticated look. It looks lovely and would make any woman beautiful and it would also cost quite a bit of money in the 1890’s. From my research on colours, gold means a promise of better times. I am not sure if that is suppose to foreshadow and help show the motive of the Drum Major or that gold was just valuable then.

The Drum Major is the leader of the group. To go through parades, he must have his trusty brand mace with him to show his power. Through my image researches, I seem to have only found two types of maces.

These two maces have different designs and head styles. The one on the left looks the deign on the body is carved directly onto the stick while the mace on the right looks more like a rope being tied around a metal stick, which I don’t find that appealing. The mace on the left looks much more suited to be the Drum Majors.

Stage ResearchI have taken pictures of the stage in our auditorium so that I can use them as a reference as to how I am going to design the stage and where I would want the audience. In a diagram, it would look like this:

Wings Wings

Lights

Wall

Curtains

Stairs Stairs

Audience Area

Doors

Doo

rsD

oors

Doors

Sound and Light Control

Stage Design I have decided to use the proscenium arch stage because I want the audience to focus on the two characters on the stage. The stage will have a smaller thrust stage in the front where Marie and the Drum Major will stand most of the scene. I will not put a lot of furniture on the set because the scene will focus on the atmosphere and to create atmosphere, I will use lighting and the voices of the actor and actress. On Google SketchUp, I have created a 3-dimensional model of what my stage would look like. The only furniture I am using in this setting is a bed and the window. The reason I chose to place a window in the scene was because If someone looks through a window, there is a separation between the viewer and the outside world. The window has glass so the person is left as a spectator, not as someone who actually has any kind of involvement with the world. This is similar to the poor Marie. She gets called a whore and she does not have money. She could not fight back because she is in no position to. However, she understands what they mean when they call her a whore but she still has the dignity to compare herself with any woman. I placed a bed on the stage because by the end of the scene, the audience will now what will happen.

Audience:

Cast:

The audience will mostly be placed in the center area because the actor and actress with nearly always stand in the center. only in the front row when the seats go around the entire stage.

Stage: Other Aspects

Lighting: Since the scene would be small with not a lot of movement that covers the entire stage, I only want one spotlight in the middle of the scene where the characters will be in most of the time. The light is tinted yellow to look like the room is illuminated by candle light. At the end of the scene. The characters will freeze and the spotlight turns red to show that these two are committing a sin with Marie cheating on Woyzeck.

The message I want the audience to try and interpret will not be as clear because I am more focused on how the actor and actress create mood and atmosphere by themselves. A meaning or symbolism in the scene is the lighting. The end of the scene is show by a red spotlight shown on the pair to show that, what I think, is sin. The fact that there are only two things on the stage shows that Marie’s room is small and rather empty because she would only by things that are necessary for living. Plus it is not the main focus of the scene. The main focus is the relationship between Marie and the Drum Major and how they act. The stage is small and the furniture would take up a huge amount of space, and so, I extended the stage with a mini thrust stage, so Marie and the Drum Major would be standing downstage center most of the time. It would also be easier for the audience to see. The front row audience would get to sit around the curve of the stage, while the people in the back are put into the center to be able to see properly.

The colours of the costume are according to the meanings I have researched. Marie’s dress shows grey to show her depression towards her life and her husband. She has red lips to show that she is still a beautiful woman despite what Margaret says about her. The brown on her dress shows her natural strength and that she is not a weak woman. The colours I used on the Drum Major’s uniform is meant to represent his authority and power of the Marie in the scene. He has bold colours like black to show authority and power, stability and strength. Black also makes him look thinner. He has gold to show that he has gain medals of honor and he has pride. While the blue means that he is loyal. It does not necessarily mean the the Drum Major himself is loyal, but he should be in his position.

Design Concept

Research Works Cited

"Psychology Of Color." Precision Intermedia a Northern California MultiMedia Marketing Agency . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

<http://www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html>.

This website gave me a really good understanding of the meanings of colours. It gave me less choices on colour

because each had different meanings and I didn’t want the colours to contradict each other.

"Symbolism of Doors and Windows in Modern Literature - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com." Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com.

N.p., 8 June 2007. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://voices.yahoo.com/symbolism-doors-windows-modern-

literature-374933.html>.

I added a window in the scene and I didn’t know why. So, I researched the window and what it symbolizes and try to connect it to Marie. I think the reason was rather weird but it would make at least some sense.

Pictures Works Cited

" Drum Major Mace Stick Stave Embossed Head with Lion and Crown Badge Size 58 60 | eBay." Electronics, Cars, Fashion,

Collectibles, Coupons and More Online Shopping | eBay. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.ebay.com/itm/

DRUM-MAJOR-MACE-STICK-STAVE-EMBOSSED-HEAD-WITH-LION-AND-CROWN-BADGE-

SIZE-58-60-/261026990765>.

"14K Gold Fashion Dangle Earrings. Gold earrings. discount gold.." K&K Jewelry Fine Gold Diamond Gemstone and Christian

Jewelry. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.kandkjewelry.com/gofadaea.html>.

"18th Century Gowns." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. <pinterest.com/sew18thcentury/18th-century-gowns/ >.

"Drum Major Mace / wenden goud Chrome met Eagle Top." Markt Plaza. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

<muziek.marktplaza.nl/drumstellen/Drum-Major-Mace-wenden-goud-Chrome-met-Eagle-Top-25426147.htm >.

"FJM Store." FJM. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://fjminc.com/store/mase/drum-major-mace-metal/>.

"Gold Medallion Drop Earrings." Bernardine. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2005. <www.bernardine.com/goldjewelry/medallion-

earrings.htm>.

"ToonTotalWar's - Continental, British, Hessian, Spanish, French and Indian Armies for American Revolution." Total War

Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. <www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=244468&page=95 >.

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