This document summarizes a student's digital portfolio project for designing the set for Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest". The student used 3D Studio Max to design a simple set made of blocks and staircases to represent the different locations in the play. AutoCAD was used to create technical drawings of the set, which the student found easy to use. Photoshop was used to create a clown outfit but the student found working with layers difficult. Overall, the student felt 3D Studio Max and Photoshop were challenging to learn within the limited time and shared computer access, but AutoCAD was straightforward.

1. Visual Communication For Theatre Design 1 Lucy Hammond N0181642 Digital Portfolio

2. The Play The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde The play is set in different locations thus the stage would be separated into different sections so that it is much more comprehendible for the audience to understand where the action is taking place and what location the play is set in at any particular moment. 3D studio max was the program I chose to use to create the stage set for this play because it has the ability to make 3D images and show a perspective of the whole set. Also it gives the chance to render the set with images. The set design I chose for this play is a simple collection of blocks and two staircases so that every part of the stage is accessible. The different parts of the set are the different locations mentioned in the play. The blocks at the moment are rendered with images of buildings but when the set is painted it would have the different locations qualities and characteristics featured on them.

3. The Set This is a breakdown of the sections of the stage : Key: This is a window that could be used for either the country house or the town house. This side of the stage would be either the country house or the town house. This platform could be used for the stations platform which would join onto the tunnel which could represent the trains tunnel. These staircases can be used for the joining of the two home locations which would help with the changing of characters also. This platform could be where the characters change or the costumes are changed, it acts as the journey between the three main locations. This side of the stage would be either the country house or the town house. The set would be lit from all angles so that the sections could be split off and the audiences focus could be drawn to one part or another. This helps define who is speaking, what part of the stage they are on and where they are moving to. Spot lights could be used for defining static scenes, follow spots could be used for moving characters and general flood lighting could be used for general scenes.

4. Auto CAD – Floppy Disc This floppy disc was created on a program called Auto CAD which was easy to use as the tutor talked and worked us through the exercises. This combines all the exercises we were asked to do. I would use this program to produce technical drawings and working drawings of my set, as it is easy and straight forward and you are able to add dimensions and line thickness.

5. Photoshop – Clown Outfit This clowns outfit was produced on Photoshop. This was a process of selecting materials from a file and colouring in the sections of the clown with the desired material or colour. It uses the tools too but I found it difficult because of the layers, each section had to be produced on a different layer.

6. Evaluation The program 3D Studio Max is a program used for creating scenes that can be rendered and shown in 3D perspective. This is an advantage as you can see the complete design in its entirety. The program was not easy to use and I found it would not let me import pictures from files. The program Auto Cad was a brilliant program with straight forward working processes. I found this easy to use as it was simple and we were taught well. We were shown step by step with a booklet and by the tutor so e could have a go ourselves. I found that I was helping others which showed I understood the program. I would definitely use this program for my technical drawings and working drawings as it has the capabilities to create line thicknesses and dimensioning. The program Photoshop was a difficult program to use as it did not have straight forward processes and I found it difficult to deal with the tools and the restrictions and the layers. The digital practises module overall I do not think was good as I found it difficult to learn when we had to share two or more to a computer. During the Photoshop and 3D studio max modules I was struggling and asked for help but received none. The amount of time we got to learn these modules was not enough. But, I will use these programs in the future and I'm grateful we had a chance to explore them.