Gen1.0Design

I have started really thinking about design over the past couple of days.
 * set design will be minimal
 * we will have a well developed costume design because that doesn't take much to move around
 * Lighting design will be almost non-existent
 * media will be heavily used and well developed

Set design
At this point I'm think about a couple of elements of set design. I really find the whole idea of the web an interesting concept and metaphor. The fact that the play is about cyber bullying on the web, that we have an entwined narrative like a web but also the idea that Joel and the other characters feel trapped like they are stuck in a web. Here's some concept stimulus: So have started on some plans for these keys and have had another thought regarding what is written on each. I think now that each should have a word written on all five of the visible sides. This means that the keys can be turned to display different messages as we please. Therefore one could have Ctrl, Del, Alt, Esc, End and so on. There would be hopefully more of some of the same and I would like to be able to have Ctrl Alt Delete showing when Joel is attempting to commit suicide.
 * Large computer keys that we can sit on during the performance possibly three of them
 * An image that comes to mind is Joel standing on the Esc key as if about to jump or hang
 * A spiders web made from blue network cable which can be placed on a wall and hang
 * A wall for myspace/facebook which people can post messages on
 * The messages written on wall can then be transferred to the spiders web
 * Secondary to this I'm think about having blue network cable to connect different parts of the set

Here is the design sketch for the three computer keys: All of the dimensions are in mm. The front section is like a trapezium with it bottom length being 660mm and it's height 450mm. The side pannels are right angles at the back so there like a trapezium with one square side. The bottom length is 480mm and the top length is 350mm The top is square and is 350mm by 400mm Here are some photo's I took this morning

Costume design
Costume design I want to be pretty comprehensive because it's something that can really make a statement and is easily movable from location to location. At this point I'm thinking that costume will be something like cyber punk crossed with contemporary media and school uniforms.

I imagine that the basis of our costume will be a school uniform so slacks and shirts for guys and maybe a school jumper. The girls could be a kilt and shirt or dress. I would like to attach to each of these a key board at the least, hopefully a mobile phone, and if possible also a mouse. It would be good if the key boards could fold up and down on front - this depends on how easy that will be to work - the other idea is that they could be attached somehow like back packs and swing off and around the shoulders to rest on lap. The mouse and mobile phones I have not really thought about in depth but just envisaging that they are placed in such a way that we can get easy access to them and return them when down.

I'm also wondering about the colours of the uniform, I don't see any reason why they have to be the shame colours or even the shame uniform but this is something to think about. I was thinking that we could print images on these which could be the profile pics from our myspace/facebook. Old hard drives or so forth could be attached. There is a whole huge area we could go with this.

One final thought is to actually have us all connected on the stage with blue network cables and to have Joel remove his cable as he is standing on the Esc key. This probably not possible with the connections but if we have section of blue network cable connected and dangling down the effect would still be the same. Here is some concept stimulus: So I've been rethinking the costume designs and atm thinking of dropping the idea of having all the different kind of stuff attached to the school uniforms and creating a sort of harness that holds the keyboard (possibly mouse) and is attached to the net work cable which is hung around neck as well. Will need to sketch something and put it up. Scraping idea of bag because it seems like it's gonna be too bulky and not really worth it since I'll have to give the bags back.

Lighting Design
Lighting design is going to be difficult as we are traveling and it will vary from school to school. However i could go and check out both of the spaces to see what is available to see what we can work in. Yoni suggested the other day if we had black out capabilities we could have something on the costumes which are only visible in black out. I also like the idea of a strobe effect when the 1950s family is connected.

Sound and Media Design
We have been looking at this throughout the process and i think that's how it will continue to be. However I am hoping that we can run both the sound and media from same system but unsure if this is possible. Media and sound design on the cards at the moment:
 * 1950s tourism Cyberia video
 * The blog horror video
 * Texting Chainsaw Massacre horror video
 * Screen horror video
 * Bone snapping sounds - neck breaking
 * texting sound
 * white noise sound
 * words flying up on screen - myspace, facebook, text messaging, email, etc
 * Censored screen (Below)
 * Film each mysapce screen and any MSN chat we need

So have been thinking about the 1950s tourism video and was thinking about using the Australian tourism ad 'so where the bloody hell are you for a base to work from. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TebeNC-_VjA This is a link to the you tube video of it I started working through some of the possible lines that we could change. The underlined have been changed: __We’ve sent you a beer on facebook__ And we’ve had the camels shampooed We’ve saved you a spot on the beach - possible surfing the web gag And we’ve got the sharks out of the pool - possible surfing the web gag? __We got the trolls off the forums__ __And Bill’s on his way to open up the firewall__ __Your avatar's waiting__ And diners about to be served We’ve turned on the lights __And we’ve been online for 18 years__ So where the bloody hell are ya? - show images of people searching for people on myspace or facebook Add any ideas that you may have just change what I have written or whatever.

The fight scene also needs to be filmed, I don't think this need to be very long just 10 to 20 seconds but have it repeating constantly during that scene.

The myspace and facebook stuff also has to get filmed.

Props Design
At the moment the only props I can think of that aren't integrated into the costume design is the censored handouts. I was wondering if these could double as some sort of program which details the information about our facebooks, myspaces and email. Otherwise they could be actually the questionnaires. One thing that does worry me about that would be if it would promote students to disengage while they looked at them. So anyway I found some awesome images on the net of nakedesk girls and I have played around with them and created the following three images. Tell me what you think about them: Here they are: I took them from this image and have seperated them and just worked minimally on them:
 * Should anything be changed?
 * Is one better than the others and should be used?
 * Or should we use them all?