Rough Thumbnail Sketches

These are just some very rough thumbnail sketches in ink of some various ideas. I was playing with the idea of bridges and levels and liked the idea of almost a balcony like area for the faeries to watch the Athenians and the Athenians to watch the fool's skit. As I was reading the script I was imagining scenes from Lord of the Rings. Not sure how familiar you are with those movies, but the scenes in Rivendell, one of the elvish cities, have all the trees blending together with old ruins, columns and statues and things and I was very inspired by that. I think that by incorporating some of the columns and ruins and whatnot with a shift in lighting we can take the scene out of the woods and back to the palace. Also, I've been thinking instead of traditional forest colors, deep greens and browns, I'd love to play with some silvers, blues, and sage greens, maybe some irridescent paint to give it more of an ethereal feel.

Anyways...my scanner wasn't working so I ended up taking pictures of each of the sketches. There are 8 sketches in total. Right now, my favorites are 7, 8 and 9 (they're numbered in the bottom left corners). I put a little description next to the sketch, but I'm not sure how well it will read so I'm including my descriptions for each one here.


Sketch 1 -- is a forest bridge idea, where the bridge starts as a ramp on the DSR and then wraps around a tree, bridges across the stage wraps around another tree on the SL side and then a series of staggered platforms creating levels back down to the stage floor. The platforms would be open (not faced) so that you could see through them.

Sketch 2 -- Ruined grove idea, kind of like an ancient ceremonial area, with a semi-circle platform/steps, ruined columns, one laying on it's side and large tree all around it.
Sketch 3 -- A cleaner/simpler version of sketch 2 without the platforms. The semi-circle is created by a line of half columns and trees in the background. Some sort of tree leaf border hanging down.

Sketch 4 -- A lower bridge upstage with column-like supports. Downstage a small raised platform with the same idea that this grove was used in the past for other things. The thing I like most about this sketch is the trees in the back. The branches are curved to form arches and then more of a weeping willow like leaf border in front of them.


Sketch 6 -- Back to the idea of the large cross stage bridge/balcony idea. This is more though a series of large steps and levels. The top level wraps around the SL side tree and creates a balcony there. Again the platforms would be open with no facing.

Sketch 7 -- A more natural type of bridge, a hollow between two hills. There would be no steps, but all ramps and hills. The trees are an idea from a production of Love's Labours Lost we did at WMU. The trees were fabric cones with par-cans at the base so that the trees were lighted from within. Our bases had 2 lights, so the fabric could be lit with two different colors.


Sketch 8 -- The branch coming off of the SR tree would be walkable, something that Puck or Oberon could walk and sit on and watch the rest of the stage. Hanging from that branch is a curtain of sorts that would form Titania's bower. The trees in the background have the arching branches.

Sketch 9 -- This one uses the idea of the arching branches with much thinner trees to create a collonade. There is a platform with a step down to the stage floor, and behind the collonade a few full trees. I also like the idea of using the fabric trees from sketch 7 for behind the collonade as well.