John McDermott is designing set fences for a dance performance about sex trafficking. He will use softwood for the fences because it is cheap, easy to work with, and structurally sound. Chicken wire will replace barbed wire for safety reasons and because it has a metallic look. The fences are meant to look harsh and dangerous to portray feelings of imprisonment. Sample colors of grey, brown, and bronze will be used to make the softwood appear metallic like rusty metal fences. Initial sketches show gated fences with strip LED lighting underneath to add an unnatural feel of imprisonment for the performance.
2. Material – softwood
I will use softwood as it
is, cheap, easy to work
with yet still, very
strong, reliable and
structurally sound.
Cheaper and easier to work with than metal,
even though metal would be the preferred
material.
3. Material – chicken wire
I will be using chicken
wire in the place of
barbed wire as it is
obviously a lot safer
and more readily
available. There are
Also ways to make this look like barbed wire, as it is
already metallic coloured and pliable.
4. Example pictures
The preferred look of
the fences, very harsh
and dangerous
looking designed to
stop people getting in
and out. This
complies with the sex
trafficking theme of
the dance as it
portrays the way
people caught in the
business feel. i.e
imprisoned
5. Sample Colours
• Grey, as the frames are wooden this would
help give it the metal look
• Brown/Bronze. This colour would be used to
look like rust, giving the fences an old, run
down feel
• Metallic spray, helping add to the metal look.
Painting wood these colours will be a cheaper and easier way of
creating the effect pf metal, without actually using metal.
6. Initial Sketches
A front view of the set, gates either side
are a maybe, amount of wood and cost
restrictions may effect this. Strip LEDs
under each fence set to the open white
setting will add to the feel of
imprisonment the dance portrays
A bids eye view of the set. The strip
lighting to add prosthetic light, giving a
unnatural and imprisonment feel to the
set.
