My final project in my 1st year encompassed depicting the short story by Herman Melville, which told the tale of an 1850's New York lawyers office in Wall Street, and the characters within it. This mainly included a Scrivener who became unwanted and useless, but tensions rise throughout the story when he does not leave the office after he is initially fired.
This was a group project of around 10 weeks, in which all aspects of the set were made, excluding the coat stand, the main chair, the small table and the small window.
Backdrops behind the windows, of brick walls from the other buildings, would also be in place.
Props were made, bought and borrowed to dress the set including the case above with personal belongings inside, the coats and hats that were borrowed from members of the group, and below the books, table and decanters placed upon it. All of these helped to bring the set alive and really tell the story.
The flooring was made up of sheets of Plywood which had been sectioned and wood grained to create the illusion of seperate floorboards.
The sofa was also made from scratch and then dressed with cushions and items from the narrative underneath.
The desk was something in which I was highly involved in, from the design through to the construction and painting. With the help of another student, we both completed this desk within a week.
Having the room professionally lit created different moods for the set and coud go from either night time (above) to a warm candlelit feel or daytime (below)
Placing spotlights facing down above the mounted candleholders gave the impression as though they were lit, and casted effective shadows.
The final mood lighting that we chose was to give the illusion of sunrise and that it is early in the morning, as this is a crutial part of the story that we wanted to show.
The final image
