With sound becoming more important in cinema exhibition and DVD release, this book offers user-friendly knowledge and stimulating exercises to help compose a story, develop characters and create emotion through skilful creation of the sound track. Psychoacoustics, music theory, voice study and analysis of well-known films expand perception, imagination and the musical skills of the reader.

Skilful lighting involves a subtle blend of systematic mechanics and a sensitive visual imagination. It requires anticipation, perceptiveness, patience and know-how. But learning through practice alone can take a great deal of time. This book is a distillation of many years' experience, with advice and guidance that will bring successful results right from the start.
Whether you are a student studying lighting techniques in the television, video and film media, or a professional lighting for the camera, this book will be an invaluable aid. Other members of the production team, including camera crews, designers and directors, will also find the information here interesting and useful.
The book concentrates primarily on the fundamental principles of lighting in studios, on location and display, as well as single-camera, small unit production, improvised and economy lighting, and working with limited facilities. Emphasis is also placed on the safety aspects of working with lighting equipment.
Lighting for Television and Film reflects the author's considerable experience of lighting techniques in BBC studios, his teaching and consultancy work.
Gerald Millerson's analytical writings spring from a lifetime's personal experience in the medium, and from his teaching and engineering background. During his career with the BBC, he was primarily associated with studio operations in the Television Service. His lecturing background included courses in TV production at a number of American universities.
His other books for Focal Press are Television Production, TV Scenic Design, Video Production Handbook and, in the Media Manuals series, Effective TV Production, Lighting for Videoand Video Camera Techniques.
*A classic and definitive work
*Internationally acclaimed sourcebook
*Reflects current development in lighting technology

This introduction to theatre design explains the theories, strategies, and tools of practical design work for the undergraduate student. Through its numerous illustrated case studies and analysis of key terms, students will build an understanding of the design process and be able to:

• identify the fundamentals of theatre design and scenography
• recognize the role of individual design areas such as scenery, costume, lighting and sound
• develop both conceptual and analytical thinking
• Communicate their own understanding of complex design work
• trace the traditions of stage design, from Sebastiano Serlio to Julie Taymor.

Demonstrating the dynamics of good design through the work of influential designers, Stephen Di Benedetto also looks in depth at script analysis, stylistic considerations and the importance of collaboration to the designer s craft.

This is an essential guide for students and teachers of theatre design. Readers will form not only a strong ability to explain and understand the process of design, but also the basic skills required to conceive and realise designs of their own.

Digital Theatre is a rich and varied art form evolving between performing bodies gathered together in shared space and the ever-expanding flexible reach of the digital technology that shapes our world. This book explores live theatre performances which incorporate video projection, animation, motion capture and triggering, telematics and multisite performance, robotics, VR, and AR. Through examples from practitioners like George Coates, the Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre, Troika Ranch, David Saltz, Mark Reaney, The Builder's Association, and ArtGrid, a picture emerges of how and why digital technology can be used to effectively create theatre productions matching the storytelling and expressive needs of today's artists and audiences. It also examines how theatre roles such as director, actor, playwright, costumes, and set are altered, and how ideas of body, place, and community are expanded.

Scenography - the manipulation and orchestration of the performance environment - is an increasingly popular and key area in performance studies. This book introduces the reader to the purpose, identity and scope of scenography and its theories and concepts. Settings and structures, light, projected images, sound, costumes and props are considered in relation to performing bodies, text, space and the role of the audience. Concentrating on scenographic developments in the twentieth century, the Introduction examines how these continue to evolve in the twenty-first century. Scenographic principles are clearly explained through practical examples and their theoretical context. Although acknowledging the many different ways in which design shapes the creation of scenography, the book is not exclusively concerned with the role of the theatre designer. In order to map out the wider territory and potential of scenography, the theories of pioneering scenographers are discussed alongside the work of directors, writers and visual artists.

"Seventy-five percent of what we do at rehearsal does not enter the performance." - Constantin Stanislavski
Susan Letzler Cole's firsthand account of the rehearsal sessions of acclaimed directors and actors offers a view of what is often hidden from the public eye: what actors and directors do when they prepare a dramatic text for performance.
Directors in Rehearsal is based on hundreds of hours observing and recording the directorial work process. The author has closely observed prominent directors working with texts ranging from Shakespeare and Chekhov to the Wooster Group's recent experiments. The result of her extensive research is a rare behind-the scenes look at 10 theatre directors rehearsing actual productions - Broadway and off-Broadway, political and experimental, text-centered and company created.

The definitive guide to designing for theatre - by an award-winning designer with over 160 productions to his name. With a Foreword by Alison Chitty. A theatre designer needs to be able to draw on a wide spectrum of skills, work collaboratively with all the different members of the production team, and deliver designs that work in the testing conditions of performance. This book guides you through everything you need in order to become - and ultimately to succeed as - a theatre designer, including: The various aspects of design - set and props, costume, masks, make-up The applications of design - opera, dance, site-specific, lighting, video and more The skills you require, and the training available The journey of a design from page to stage, from your first reading of the script, through research, first sketches, storyboards, technical and costume drawings, and on to the model The people you will collaborate with - directors, producers, actors, writers and more - and how to work effectively with each of them Finally, there are sections on landing your first production and furthering your career. Also included is a production timeline to guide you through the mechanics of contracts, copyright, costings, and what you need to have ready at each stage of the process. It is illustrated throughout with designs, by the author and other leading designers. Written by an experienced practitioner and teacher, this book will be an essential guide for any aspiring or emerging theatre designer, as well as anyone seeking a greater understanding of how designers work. 'A comprehensive introduction and guide to the world of the professional theatre designer, a key book for anyone contemplating entering the profession' Alison Chitty, from her Foreword

Behind the scenes of New York City's Great White Way, virtuosos of stagecraft have built the scenery, costumes, lights, and other components of theatrical productions for more than a hundred years. But like a good magician who refuses to reveal secrets, they have left few clues about their work. "Blue-Collar Broadway" recovers the history of those people and the neighborhood in which their undersung labor occurred.Timothy R. White begins his history of the theater industry with the dispersed pre-Broadway era, when components such as costumes, lights, and scenery were built and stored nationwide. Subsequently, the majority of backstage operations and storage were consolidated in New York City during what is now known as the golden age of musical theater. Toward the latter half of the twentieth century, decentralization and deindustrialization brought the emergence of nationally distributed regional theaters and performing arts centers. The resulting collapse of New York's theater craft economy rocked the theater district, leaving abandoned buildings and criminal activity in the place of studios and workshops. But new technologies ushered in a new age of tourism and business for the area. The Broadway we know today is a global destination and a glittering showroom for vetted products.Featuring case studies of iconic productions such as "Oklahoma " (1943) and "Evita" (1979), and an exploration of the craftwork of radio, television, and film production around Times Square, "Blue-Collar Broadway" tells a rich story of the history of craft and industry in American theater nationwide. In addition, White examines the role of theater in urban deindustrialization and in the revival of downtowns throughout the Sunbelt.

This up-to-date, full-color makeup manual is designed to lie open on the makeup table right as a guide for student, amateur, or professional performers.

Emphasising the artistry behind the decisions made by theatrical sound designers, this guide is for anyone seeking to understand the nature of sound and how to apply it to the stage. Through tried-and-tested advice and lessons in practical application, The Art of Theatrical Sound Design allows developing artists to apply psychology, physiology, sociology, anthropology and all aspects of sound phenomenology to theatrical sound design. Structured in three parts, the book explores, theoretically, how human beings perceive the vibration of sound; offers exercises to develop support for storytelling by creating an emotional journey for the audience; considers how to collaborate and communicate as a theatre artist; and discusses how to create a cohesive sound design for the stage.

Combining theory and application, A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting provides a comprehensive analysis of lighting systems along with examples and illustrations of the technical tools and methods used in the industry. An entertaining and educational read, author Steven Louis Shelley draws from his 35+ years of diverse experience to explain how to get the job done along with real-life examples of projects from start to finish. Learn why some techniques are successful while others fail with 'Shelley's Notes' and 'Shelley's Soapbox,' all with a humor that guides you through complex problems and concepts. Highlights include: -Over 100 new topics, including analysis and application of the three categories of collaboration; a detailed examination of production meetings and one-on-one meetings; and meeting checklists with management and the creative team. -Over 50 new illustrations, including Shelley's Periodic Table of Fundamental Lighting Systems; groundplans, sections, and front elevations that illustrate basic system wash configurations for each direction of light. -Analysis, calculation, and step-by-step technical construction of each lighting system in the Hokey light plot. -Explanation of a manufacturer's cut sheet, and how to apply basic formulas to determine the beam size, footcandles, and gel transmission for lighting instruments. -Updated process of pre-programming computer lighting consoles prior to the load-in. -Comprehensive overview of archiving paperwork and softcopy for a production. Students and professionals will benefit from experience-based tips and techniques to prepare and execute a lighting design, along with learning how to avoid common traps.

This book is a collection of essays that capture the artistic voices at play during a staging process. Situating familiar practices such as reimagining, reenactment and recreation alongside the related and often intersecting processes of transmission, translation and transformation, it features deep insights into selected dances from directors, performers, and close associates of choreographers. The breadth of practice on offer illustrates the capacity of dance as a medium to adapt successfully to diverse approaches and, further, that there is a growing appetite amongst audiences for seeing dances from the near and far past. This study spans a century, from Rudolf Laban's Dancing Drumstick (1913) to Robert Cohan's Sigh (2015), and examines works by Mary Wigman, Madge Atkinson (Natural Movement), Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham, Yvonne Rainer and Rosemary Butcher, an eclectic mix that crosses time and borders.

Throughout the Americas, performances deriving from medieval European rituals, ceremonies, and festivities made up a crucial part of the cultural cargo shipped from Europe to the overseas settlements. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed from Plymouth, England, to Newfoundland, bringing with him "morris dancers, hobby horses, and Maylike Conceits" for the "allurement of the savages" and the "solace of our people." His voyage closely resembled that of twelve Franciscan friars who in 1524 had arrived in what is now Mexico armed with a repertoire of miracle plays, religious processions, and other performances. These two events, although far from unique, helped shape initial encounters between Europeans and indigenous peoples; they also marked the first stages of the process that would lead by no means smoothly to a distinctively American culture.Ritual Imports is a groundbreaking cultural history of European performance traditions in the New World, from the sixteenth century to the present. Claire Sponsler examines the role of survivals and adaptations of medieval drama in shaping American culture from colonization through nation building and on to today's multicultural society. The book's subjects include New Mexican matachines dances and Spanish conquest drama, Albany's Pinkster festival and Afro-Dutch religious celebrations, Philadelphia's mummers and the Anglo-Saxon revival, a Brooklyn Italian American saint's play, American and German passion plays, and academic reconstructions of medieval drama. Drawing on theories of cultural appropriation, Ritual Imports makes an important contribution to medieval and American studies as well as to cultural studies and the history of theater."

This practical and informative book outlines everything you need to know about set, costume and lighting design from initial concept, script analysis, research ideas and putting it all together. The book is structured in several layers with the main chapters covering the key steps in the design process, followed by a case study-the Queensland Theatre Company's production of Pygmalion which Curtis designed the sets and costumes for-giving practical working samples relating to each step in the process. The further thinking sections investigate more complex aspects of how designers work, and can be read in sequence or as specialised thought-provoking topics.

From the authors of the successful Grand-Guignol and London's Grand Guignol - also published by UEP - this book includes translations of a further eleven plays, adding significantly to the repertoire of Grand-Guignol plays available in the English language. The emphasis in the translation and adaptation of these plays is once again to foreground the performability of the scripts within a modern context - making Performing Grand-Guignol an ideal acting guide. Hand and Wilson have acquired extremely rare acting copies of plays which have never been published and scripts that were published in the early years of the twentieth century but have not been published since - even in French. Includes plays written by, or adapted from, such notable writers as Octave Mirbeau, Gaston Leroux and St John Ervine as well as examples by Grand-Guignol stalwarts Rene Berton and Andre de Lorde. Also included is the 1920s London translation of Blind Man's Buff written by Charles Hellem and Pol d'Estoc and banned by the Lord Chamberlain. A brief history of the Parisian theatre is also included, for the benefit of readers who have not read the previous books.

Costume Design for Performance offers a detailed insight into the creative process behind designing costumes for the performing arts, including theatre, opera, dance and film. Guiding the reader through the essential steps of the designing process, Bettina John combines extensive knowledge of the industry with insights gleaned from leading experts in the performing arts. Featuring over 200 original artworks by more than thirty designers, this book gives a rare insight into this highly individual and creative process. Topics covered include script analysis; in-depth research techniques; practical techniques to explore design; basic drawing techniques; character development; the role of the costume designer and wider team and finally, advice on portfolio presentation.

These three volumes represent the best Shakespeare criticism of the last fifty years. 140 articles have been included, with introductions by Stanley Wells, Terence Hawkes and Peter Holland under three main headings. The first volume covers Shakespeare's life and times, the texts of his plays and their staging in the period; the second consists of literary criticism applied to Shakespeare since World War II and the third includes performance-centered articles on staging and acting. The essays are reprinted from the Shakespeare Survey yearbook, selected and ordered by Catherine Alexander.

My Cue to Fight is the first book of its kind to provide an in-depth examination of how the greatest playwright in the English language employed not only psychological brutality but also physical violence throughout his works. Written ideally for theatrical stage directors, fight directors, intimacy consultants, and actors as a technical scene-by-scene breakdown in staging combat during production of these plays, this publication is also for Shakespeare enthusiasts who want to learn more about the blood, sweat, and viscera hidden just underneath the poetry. A writer utilises violence, like song or dance, in moments where the story requires more than just words. But addressing how the violence will be staged tends either to be neglected or utterly gratuitous, both of which serve to separate the audience from the story and kill the whole venture. The answer rests in approaching violence the same way we do scenework. The plays of William Shakespeare seek to engage audiences with all of the characters' blood, tears, sweat, and guts. These works are not flowery poems meant to be mumbled in a classroom, or histrionically declaimed in frilly costumes. There is nothing light and fluffy about 'rape' and 'murder's rages', or 'carving' someone as a dish fit for the gods, or fighting till from one's bones one's 'flesh be hacked'. Making matters more complicated is the ambiguity and sometimes even complete lack of stage directions. Modern texts typically possess clear directions whenever violence is to occur in the action, but playscripts were quite different four centuries ago. Such denotations were both rare and inconsistent in Elizabethan and Jacobean printings. The potential violence we will examine is not appropriate for all productions or scene partners. We're here to question and inspire rather than provide catch-all solutions. Actors, directors, fight directors, and intimacy consultants must work together to find the most effective way for their production to communicate the playwright's story to the audience.

Sound Design for the Stage is a practical guide to designing, creating and developing the sound for a live performance. Based on the author's extensive industry experience, it takes the reader through the process of creating a show, from first contact to press night, with numerous examples from high-profile productions. Written in a detailed but accessible approach, this comprehensive book offers key insights into a fast-moving industry. Topics covered include: how to analyze a script to develop ideas and concepts; how to discuss your work with a director; telling the emotional story; working with recorded and live music; how to record, create, process and abstract sound; designing for devised work; key aspects of acoustics and vocal intelligibility; the politics of radio mics and vocal foldback; how to design a sound system and, finally, what to do when things go wrong. With helpful advice on finding work and negotiating contracts, this guide will be especially useful for emergent sound designers and directors, focusing on the creative and collaborative process between sound designer, director, performer and writer.

An essential text on filmmaking that every student, scholar, and teacher of films should own. In it, some of the motion picture industry's most important directors including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Howard Hawks, Louis Malle, Federico Fellini, Blake Edwards, Francois Truffaut, and Rene Clair answer questions on the decisions that all directors must make before filming a movie, questions that help the reader understand the concept of filmmaking. They cover all aspects of filmmaking including script choices, planning, casting, actor choices, editing, rehearsing, and music scoring. Garnett also elicited vital information on the directors' source of inspiration, how they started their career, their philosophy of filmmaking, and their objectives for making their films."

The first edition of Directing in the Theatre represented a pioneering effort in its field. Now, the revised edition offers an expanded array of materials for use in the study of directing. There are new cases about censorship, non-traditional casting, theater safety, ethics, and other subjects of both current and enduring interest. This edition also features the introduction of "Briefs," which are shortened, streamlined cases designed to stimulate discussions about such issues as gender in casting, auditions, giving and taking notes, and learning lines. The number of cases has grown from twenty-two to forty-seven, each of which can be used at both beginning and advanced levels of directing study. The corresponding Instructor's Manual, is available free upon request.

In 1994 the Arts Council of Great Britain brought together a number of theatre directors as part of the City of Drama celebrations. This is a collection of interviews and discussions with directors who have helped shape the development of theatre in the last 20 years. They include Peter Brook, Peter Stein, Augusto Boal, Jorge Lavelli, Lluis Pasqual, Lev Dodin, Maria Irene Fornes, Jonathan Miller, Jatinder Verma, Peter Sellars, Declan Donnellan, Ariane Mnouchkine, Ion Caramitru, Yukio Ninagawa and Robert Wilson. In addition to the art and craft of directing, there are discussions on multiculturalism; the "classical" repertoire; theatre companies and institutions; working in a foreign language; opera; Shakespeare; new technologies; the art of acting; design; international festivals; politics and aesthetics; the audience; and theatre and society. Finally, there is an epilogue by Peter Brook, Jonathan Miller and Oliver Sacks. -- .