A Memory of Lizzie: End of Unit Reflection

"A Memory of Lizzie" Design Unit--End of Unit Reflection

Part 1:

Having the role of a designer in the theatre production, I have learnt quite a lot about the job itself and about many aspects of theatre equally. Throughout the unit, I have come to realization that the job of a designer is not just to create any design for the characters. However, before the designer begins working on creating the design for the his/her character, they must first read the script closely, for at least three times to look for hints and details about the character’s costume embedded in the dialogue, narrations, stage directions, and lighting directions. Often times, the script will contain information about the costume design or a specification about the costume design in the dialogue. For an example, in the script "A Memory of Lizzie" the character Lizzie Borden states within her dialogue that she wore a blue dress the day she murdered parents. While the designer reads the script, this piece of information helps the designer in illustrating the design and color of the dress as a thumbnail sketch.  If the designer looks at the stage directions, they can find out about more information about the how the designer’s costume should be. From the information embedded in the script, the costume designer knows about the detail that the character’s silhouette is supposed to be shown. This tells the designer that the costume that he will design should assist in portraying the silhouette of women. Similarly, the narrations, dialogue, stage and light directions will also assist the costume designer in designing the costume for the particular character. Throughout this design unit, I have learnt about these aspects about being a costume designer.

Part 2

Throughout the design unit “A Memory of Lizzie Borden”, I have learnt about many aspects of the design process theatrical designers use while they design a production. In the very beginning of the process, the designer must research into the period of the time the story or the play was set during. The play “A Memory of Lizzie Borden”, was set during the year 1890, therefore the research for the clothing I had to do was based in that era. This period was during the Victorian era, so many clothes from the Victorian era inspired most of the costumes that I designed and rendered. After researching about the costumes, I learnt about many elements about the Victorian era clothing such as how the dresses are an incorporation of corsets and long skirts, how the skirts have an iron frame, and about the bodice. My work is on the bottom of this blog. The design process that I followed required me to evaluate the research that I did. Throughout the process, I have used reliable sources with authors. After the research I begin design costumes, which I got inspired by through the research. The costumes that I have designed are on this blog. For these designs, I have also found some materials at home that could work like swatches. After the entire process, the research of the Victorian era was portrayed into the designs and the swatches that were merged to create final renderings. 

Part 3:

Throughout the unit, I believe I did well as I was able to follow the entire process of the design cycle of costume making properly. Throughout the process, I have also learnt many aspects while performing the tasks. I have learnt about what a costume designer must do in order to create one design, as mentioned above in part 1.