Thursday, 23 April 2015

Prop Ideas

As i have now chosen the fairy tale that i am going to work from some sketches of the prop that could be used for a stage production of the tale. Focusing my work on one story work better as i only had to think about the elements that i could use from that story rather that having to remember several. The sketchers are okay but there is not much behind the designs.   


I then started to focus on the bird quickly sketching different species of birds that i could base the golden bird on which is in the story. I think that a dove or raven would work best for the bird as both are often used in storied and are slightly larger birds so could be seen easier when on stage.


The Two Brothers

This is a synopsis of the two brother a brothers Grimm fairy tale that i chose to be the focus of my work during FMP. I decided  to use this story as the is quite a lot going of in the story so i am not limiting what i  can produce during my project, i am also using it as there are quite a few animals in it so i can use the knowledge that i have learnt of the year during my FMP.

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A rich goldsmith and a poor broom maker were brothers. The broommaker had two identical twin sons. One day, the broommaker saw a golden bird in the woods, knocked off a feather, and sold it to his brother for a great sum. He pursued the bird again and found a golden lamp. A third time, he brought back the bird itself, and his brother, who knew its powers — that whoever ate its heart and liver would find a gold coin beneath his pillow every night — had his wife cook it. But his nephews came to the kitchen to beg, and when two bits fell from the bird, they ate them, and the gold coins appeared beneath their pillows.

The goldsmith told his brother that his sons were in league with the devil, and persuaded him to abandon them. A huntsman took them in and taught them his trade. Once they were grown, they begged his permission to seek their fortune. He was pleased, because they talked like brave huntsmen, and let them go, giving them a knife with directions that if they ever parted, they should stick it into a tree, and when one returned, he could see how his brother fared, because the blade's side would rust if it went ill with him.

On the way, they nearly shot a hare for hunger, but it begged for its life, offering to give them two young hares instead, so they let it go. The same happened with a fox, a wolf, a bear, and a lion. The young animals showed them a village where they could buy food. They parted ways, each one taking half the animals, and drove a knife into a tree where they parted.

The younger came to a town all hung in black, where a dragon had eaten every young maiden except the princess, who was to be given to it the next day. The huntsman climbed the dragon's hill and found three cups and a sword. He was unable to wield the sword until he had drunk from the cups.

The next morning, the princess was brought to the hill, and the king's marshal watched. The seven-headed dragon came and breathed fire, setting all the grass ablaze, but the animals trampled the flames out. The huntsman cut off six of its heads and its tail and had the animals tear it to bits. The princess distributed her necklace among the animals, and gave the huntsman her knife, with which he cut off the dragon's tongues. He was exhausted and told the lion to keep watch while he slept, but the lion was also exhausted, and told the bear to keep watch, and so on down to the hare, who had no one to tell to keep watch. The marshal cut off the huntsman's head and forced the princess to promise to say that he had rescued her.

The animals woke and would have killed the hare, but it said it knew of a root that would restore the huntsman, so they let it fetch it. The huntsman thought the princess must have killed him, to be rid of him, and wandered the world. A year later, he came back to the town and found it hung in red for the princess's wedding to the marshal. The huntsman bet with the innkeeper that he could get bread from the king's table, and sent the hare. The princess recognized it by the part of her necklace, and sent a loaf with it. The innkeeper would bet no more, but he sent the fox, wolf, bear, and lion for meat, vegetables, confectionery, and wine.

The king wondered at the animals, and the princess told him to send for their master. When he arrived at the castle, the seven dragon's heads were displayed, and the huntsman opened their mouth and asked where their tongues were. He produced the tongues, and the princess confirmed his story. The marshal was executed, and the huntsman and princess married.

One day, he hunted a white stag and ended up alone in the woods. An old woman begged to come near the fire, and asked him to strike his animals with a wand so they would not harm her. This turned them to stone, and so she was able to turn him to stone.

His brother found the knife all rusted on one side, and went in search of his brother. He was welcomed as the young king in the town, but put a sword in the bed between him and the princess. Hearing what his brother had been doing, he set out to the same woods and found the same witch, but refused to strike his animals. When he shot his gun at her, she was proof to lead, but he tore off three silver buttons and shot her. He made her restore his brother, his brother's animals, and many others.

The brothers went home, telling their tales. On hearing that his brother had been accepted as him and slept in his bed, the young king cut off his head, but repented of it. The hare brought the root again, and the brother was restored. They returned to the town, and the princess could recognize her husband by the necklace on his animals, and asked him why he had put the sword in the bed that night, revealing to him that his brother had been true

Full story: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/grimm/bl-grimm-2brothers.htm

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

More Fairy Tales

I have decided that it would be best to choose just one and focusing on that story to create props as if it were a play, so i have decided to find some more Grimm fairy tales that would work well as a stage production and then chose one of them.

The Girl Without Hands

A miller was offered wealth by the devil if the miller gave him what stood behind the mill. Thinking that it was an apple tree, the miller agreed, but it was his daughter. When three years had passed, the devil appeared, but the girl had kept herself sinless and her hands clean, and the devil was unable to take her. The devil threatened to take the father if he did not chop off the girl's hands, and she let him do so, but she wept on her arms' stumps, and they were so clean that the devil could not take her, so he had to give her up.

She set out into the world, despite her father's wealth. She saw a royal garden and wanted to eat some pears she saw there. An angel helped her. The pears were missed the next day, and the gardener told how she appeared. The king awaited her the next day and, when she came again, married her and made her hands out of silver. She gave birth to a son, and his mother sent news to the king, who had gone off to battle, but the messenger stopped along the way, and the devil got at the letter, changing it to say that she had given birth to a changeling. The king sent back that they should care for the child nonetheless, but the devil got at that letter too, and once again changed it, saying that they should kill the queen and the child and keep the queen's heart as proof.

The king's servant despaired, and, to produce the heart, killed a hind and sent the queen and her son out into the world to hide. The queen went into a forest, and an angel brought her to a hut, and helped her nurse her son.

The king returned to his castle, and they discovered the letters had been tampered with. The king set out to find his wife and child. After seven years, he found the hut, and lay down to sleep with a handkerchief to cover his face. His wife came out, and when the handkerchief fell, directed her son to put it back on. The child grew angry, since he had been told that the Father in heaven was man's true father, but no one on earth. The king got up to ask who they were, and she told him. He said that his wife had silver hands, but she had natural ones, to which she replied that God had given them back to her. Then she went to retrieve her silver hands that had fallen off and returned to show the king.

The Golden Bird

Every year, a king's apple tree is robbed of one golden apple during the night. He sets his sons to watch, and though the first two fall asleep, the youngest stays awake and sees that the thief is a golden bird. He tries to shoot it, but only knocks a feather off.

The feather is so valuable that the king decides he must have the bird. He sends his three sons, one after another, to capture the priceless golden bird. The sons each meet a talking fox, who gives them advice for their quest: to choose a bad inn over a brightly lit and merry one. The first two sons ignore the advice and, in the pleasant inn, abandon their quest.

The third son obeys the fox, so the fox advises him to take the bird in its wooden cage from the castle in which it lives, instead of putting it into the golden cage next to it. But he disobeys, and the golden bird rouses the castle, resulting in his capture. He is sent after the golden horse as a condition for sparing his life. The fox advises him to use a leather saddle rather than a golden one, but he fails again. He is sent after the princess from the golden castle. The fox advises him not to let her say farewell to her parents, but he disobeys, and the princess's father orders him to remove a hill as the price of his life.

The fox removes it, and then, as they set out, he advises the prince how to keep all the things he has won. It then asks the prince to shoot it and cut off its head. When the prince refuses, it warns him against buying gallowsflesh and sitting on the edge of wells.

He finds that his brothers, who have been carousing and living sinfully in the meantime, are to be hanged (on the gallows) and buys their liberty. They find out what he has done. When he sits on a well's edge, they push him in. They take the things and the princess and bring them to their father. However the bird, the horse, and the princess all grieve for the prince. The fox rescues the prince. When he returns to his father's castle dressed in a beggar's cloak, the bird, the horse, and the princess all recognize him as the man who won them, and become cheerful again. His brothers are put to death, and he marries the princess.

Finally, the third son cuts off the fox's head and feet at the creature's request. The fox is revealed to be a man, the brother of the princess.

The Two Brothers

A rich goldsmith and a poor broommaker were brothers. The broommaker had two identical twin sons. One day, the broommaker saw a golden bird in the woods, knocked off a feather, and sold it to his brother for a great sum. He pursued the bird again and found a golden lamp. A third time, he brought back the bird itself, and his brother, who knew its powers — that whoever ate its heart and liver would find a gold coin beneath his pillow every night — had his wife cook it. But his nephews came to the kitchen to beg, and when two bits fell from the bird, they ate them, and the gold coins appeared beneath their pillows.

The goldsmith told his brother that his sons were in league with the devil, and persuaded him to abandon them. A huntsman took them in and taught them his trade. Once they were grown, they begged his permission to seek their fortune. He was pleased, because they talked like brave huntsmen, and let them go, giving them a knife with directions that if they ever parted, they should stick it into a tree, and when one returned, he could see how his brother fared, because the blade's side would rust if it went ill with him.

On the way, they nearly shot a hare for hunger, but it begged for its life, offering to give them two young hares instead, so they let it go. The same happened with a fox, a wolf, a bear, and a lion. The young animals showed them a village where they could buy food. They parted ways, each one taking half the animals, and drove a knife into a tree where they parted.

The younger came to a town all hung in black, where a dragon had eaten every young maiden except the princess, who was to be given to it the next day. The huntsman climbed the dragon's hill and found three cups and a sword. He was unable to wield the sword until he had drunk from the cups.

The next morning, the princess was brought to the hill, and the king's marshal watched. The seven-headed dragon came and breathed fire, setting all the grass ablaze, but the animals trampled the flames out. The huntsman cut off six of its heads and its tail and had the animals tear it to bits. The princess distributed her necklace among the animals, and gave the huntsman her knife, with which he cut off the dragon's tongues. He was exhausted and told the lion to keep watch while he slept, but the lion was also exhausted, and told the bear to keep watch, and so on down to the hare, who had no one to tell to keep watch. The marshal cut off the huntsman's head and forced the princess to promise to say that he had rescued her.

The animals woke and would have killed the hare, but it said it knew of a root that would restore the huntsman, so they let it fetch it. The huntsman thought the princess must have killed him, to be rid of him, and wandered the world. A year later, he came back to the town and found it hung in red for the princess's wedding to the marshal. The huntsman bet with the innkeeper that he could get bread from the king's table, and sent the hare. The princess recognized it by the part of her necklace, and sent a loaf with it. The innkeeper would bet no more, but he sent the fox, wolf, bear, and lion for meat, vegetables, confectionery, and wine.

The king wondered at the animals, and the princess told him to send for their master. When he arrived at the castle, the seven dragon's heads were displayed, and the huntsman opened their mouth and asked where their tongues were. He produced the tongues, and the princess confirmed his story. The marshal was executed, and the huntsman and princess married.

One day, he hunted a white stag and ended up alone in the woods. An old woman begged to come near the fire, and asked him to strike his animals with a wand so they would not harm her. This turned them to stone, and so she was able to turn him to stone.

His brother found the knife all rusted on one side, and went in search of his brother. He was welcomed as the young king in the town, but put a sword in the bed between him and the princess. Hearing what his brother had been doing, he set out to the same woods and found the same witch, but refused to strike his animals. When he shot his gun at her, she was proof to lead, but he tore off three silver buttons and shot her. He made her restore his brother, his brother's animals, and many others.

The brothers went home, telling their tales. On hearing that his brother had been accepted as him and slept in his bed, the young king cut off his head, but repented of it. The hare brought the root again, and the brother was restored. They returned to the town, and the princess could recognize her husband by the necklace on his animals, and asked him why he had put the sword in the bed that night, revealing to him that his brother had been true

Initial Prop Designs

After doing some research in to fairy tales and finding a few that i thought that i could work on i decided to do some initial designs based on the stories that i found. The first designs are based on the fairy tales "the wonderful musician"  and "the white snake". I don't think much to the designs as they are just basic quick sketches of animals and significant objects from the plays so there is not much behind the designs. I don't think that working in this way is working as i am focusing on more than one play meaning there are to many elements to think about and to much to focus on, so i think the best think to do will be to find on tale to use through out my project.

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Tuesday, 21 April 2015

The Start

As i have now idea of how to start my Fmp i decided to start by just reading some of the Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales and picking out some that could work well as a theater production to help getting some ideas flowing.

The Strange/Wonderful Musician

A fiddler, wandering in the forest, gets bored and longs for company. He starts to play his fiddle, which draws to him a wolf, fox, and hare, none of which is the company he seeks. Using the animals' admiration for him and playing, he tricks each of them into becoming ensnared or trapped so that he can continue on his way alone. He finds a companion that he seeks, a woodsman, but at that time the wolf has worked itself free, and frees the fox and hare on his way to pursue the musician.

Just as the animals come upon the musician with the goal of doing him mischief, the woodcutter steps in front and protects him with his axe. The animals leave, and the musician thanks the woodcutter with another song, and then leaves.

The White Snake

A wise King receives a covered dish every evening. A servant is curious one night when he retrieves the King's dish, he discovers a coiled white snake under the cover. The servant takes a small bite and discovers that he can now understand and communicate with animals.

Shortly afterwards the servant is accused of stealing the Queen's ring. He is given one day to prove his innocence or submit to punishment. After having given up, he sits awaiting his demise when he overhears a goose complaining about a ring stuck in her throat. The servant leaps up, grabs the goose and hurries to the kitchen. When the cook slits the goose's neck and finds the missing gold ring. The King apologizes and offers the servant land and riches. The servant declines accepting only a little gold and a horse on which to see the countryside.

On his journey to a town the servant first encounters a number of animals in distress, including three fish out of water, ants at risk of being trodden upon, and starving raven fledglings in a nest. In each case the servant heeds the call for help, and in each case the grateful animals respond with "I will remember and return the favour".

In the town the King has announced that he wishes to marry off his daughter, but any suitor must agree to complete an arduous task to the end or be put to death. After one glimpse of the beautiful girl, the young man agrees. The King tosses a golden ring into the sea and tells the young man to retrieve it. He also adds that the young man must either bring the ring back, drown retrieving the ring, or be drowned upon returning without it.

Immediately three fish appear floating a bit of seaweed ahead of them, and on the seaweed rests the King's ring. Astonished, the King agrees to the marriage of his daughter to the young man. However, the daughter sets him upon another task of refilling sacks of grain that she has spilled in the grass. The young man is discouraged because he believes it impossible to gather all of the grain from the ground and he lies down and falls asleep shortly. When he wakes, he looks over at the sacks that were empty the night before. To his surprise, they are now filled with grain with not one grain missing. The Ant King had all of the ants working the entire night to fill them.

Still not satisfied with this suitor, the daughter sends him off on another undertaking to bring her an apple from the Tree of Life. The man did not know where the Tree of Life stood, but he set off anyway. After he had walked through three kingdoms, he heard the three fledglings say that they had retrieved the Golden Apple for him after flying over the sea to the end of the world where the Tree of Life stood. Extremely thankful, the young man took the Golden Apple to the princess, and split it with her. The two married and lived in undisturbed happiness to a great age.

Brother and Sister

Tired of the cruel mistreatment they endure from their wicked stepmother, who is also a witch, a brother and sister run away from home one day. They wander off into the countryside and spend the night in the woods. By morning the boy was thirsty, and so the children go looking for a spring of clear water. But their stepmother has already discovered their escape, and has bewitched all the springs in the forest. The boy was about to drink from one, when his sister heard how its rushing sound said "Whoever drinks from me will become a tiger".

Desperately, the girl begs her brother not to drink from the spring, lest he transform into a tiger and tear her to pieces. So they continue on their way, but when they come to the second spring the girl hears it say, "Whoever drinks from me will become a wolf". Again, she desperately tried to prevent her brother from drinking from it. Reluctantly, he eventually agreed to her pleas but insisted he would drink from the next spring they encountered. And so they arrived at the third spring, and the girl overheard the rushing water cry, "Whoever drinks from me will become a deer". But it was too late, because her brother had already drunk from it, and changed into a deer.

Their stepmother however soon discoversd that they are still alive, and plots against them. One night, she kills the queen and replaces her with her own disfigured daughter, whom she had transformed to resemble her. When the queen's ghost secretly visits her baby's bedside for three consecutive nights however, the king caught on and her stepmother's evil plan was exposed.As the initial feeling of despair cleared up, the children decided to stay and live in the woods forever. The girl would take care of her brother, and tied her gold chain around his neck. They went to live in a little house deep within the woods and lived there happily for some years, until they were disturbed one day by a hunting party and the king himself who had followed the strange deer home. Upon seeing the beautiful girl, he immediately asks her to marry him and she accepts. Thus she became queen and they all live happily in the king's castle. Time passes and the queen gives birth to a son.

The queen comes back to life and her stepfamily are tried for their crimes. The daughter is banished into the woods, where she is torn to pieces by wild animals and her mother is burned at the stake. At the exact moment of her death the boy becomes human again, and at long last the family is reunited. They all lived happily ever after.

The Valiant Little Tailor 

A tailor is preparing to eat some jam, but when flies settle on it, he kills seven of them with one swipe of his hand, or "blow." He makes a belt describing the deed saying "Seven at one blow." Inspired, he sets out into the world to seek his fortune. The tailor meets a Giant who assumes that "Seven at one blow" refers to seven men. The giant challenges the tailor. When the Giant squeezes water from a boulder, the tailor squeezes milk, or whey, from cheese. The Giant throws a rock far into the air, and it eventually lands. The tailor counters the feat by tossing a bird that flies away into the sky; the Giant believes the small bird is a "rock" which is thrown so far that it never lands. Later, the Giant asks the tailor to help him carry a tree. The tailor directs the Giant to carry the trunk, while the tailor will carry the branches. Instead, the tailor climbs on, so the Giant carries him as well, but it appears as if the tailor is supporting the branches.

Impressed, the Giant brings the tailor to the Giant's home, where other giants live as well. During the night, the Giant attempts to kill the tailor by bashing the bed. However, the tailor, having found the bed too large, had slept in the corner. Upon returning and seeing the tailor alive, the other Giants flee in fear of the small man.

The tailor enters the royal service, but the other soldiers are afraid that he will lose his temper someday, and then seven of them might die with every blow. They tell the King that either the tailor leaves military service or they will. Afraid of being killed for sending him away, the king instead sends the tailor to defeat two Giants along with a hundred horsemen, offering him half his kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage if the tailor can kill the giants. By throwing rocks at the two Giants while they sleep, the tailor provokes the pair into fighting each other until they kill each other, at which time the tailor cuts a small mark near the giants' hearts.

Seeking to prove the tailor and make him earn his reward, the King sends him after a unicorn, but the tailor traps it by standing before a tree, so that when the unicorn charges, he steps aside and it drives its horn into the trunk. The King subsequently sends him after a wild boar, but the tailor traps it in a chapel.

With that, the King marries him to his daughter. The tailor's new wife hears him talking in his sleep and realizes that he is merely a tailor. The King promises to have him carried off. A squire warns the tailor, who pretends to be asleep and calls out that he has done all these deeds and is not afraid of the men behind the door. Terrified, they leave, and the King does not try to assassinate the tailor again. The tailor lives out his days as a king.

Thursday, 2 April 2015

Statement of Intent


SECTION ONE – Your Final Major Project (guide 150 words)
What is the title of your Project? What will you work towards producing and what is your proposed end point? Explain how this relates to your work and ideas from the Pathway Stage and how it extends your knowledge, understanding and creative ability.

The title of my FMP is “Fairy Tales” in which I will be looking at tales by The Brothers Grimm [4]. I intend to make props some of which will be moving props/puppets that would work for a stage production. The theme of my FMP links well in to the previous work that I have done and the pathway stage, as fairy tales link well with the folk art project where I looked at folk plays. I will use the research into mechanisms used in puppets and be able to continue and extend this research during my FMP.


SECTION TWO – Influences, Research, Sources and Ideas (guide 150 words)
What are the influences, starting points and contextual references and why are they relevant to your ideas? Indicate the subject areas you intend to research and the likely sources of information including any museums, specific locations, performances, etc you plan to visit. However you should not make extensive lists in this section. Instead you should compile an accurate bibliography correctly acknowledging all references including texts, periodicals, websites and video/DVD’s etc. Enter your bibliography in the APPENDIX.

I will start my FMP by looking into fairy tales by finding a tale that would work well as a production such as The Two Brothers [5] and The White Snake [6]. These tales will be the starting point for all my ideas and designs for props that would be using in a production.

I will continue to research into the technical side of puppetry to further my knowledge and also extend it in to props and take inspiration from designers such as Basil Twist [1] and production studios such as Handspring Puppet Company [2]. I will also be visiting the Harry Potter studios [3] so I will be able to do research and see the props that were used during the making of the films. I will also hope to go see a play or musical at a theatre and take note of how props were used in an actual production.

SECTION THREE – Techniques, Processes and Timescale (guide 150 words)
Refer to any techniques and processes you intend to use. Describe the range of media and materials relevant to your project and how you may use them to explore and develop your ideas. Include aspects of studio practice, workshop procedures or the use of particular equipment and software etc. Provide an indicative timescale for your project and indicate the manner in which you intend to divide your time in order to investigate, develop, produce and evaluate your project appropriately. This should be a meaningful plan to you and should be personalised to your project. You may wish to write your plan as a daily or weekly schedule in which case enter your timescale in the APPENDIX .

I intend to use a wide range of materials experimenting to find which material is best to get the effect that I want and for what I intend to make. I plan to use lightweight materials as I found from my previous work that have done that lighter materials work better for making props, so I will use wire, paper mache and possibly foam and other materials that I find when doing research. I will begin by doing research in to fairy tales and props and then taking that research to inform the designs that I will do for the production. I will then take a few of the designs the one that I feel work the best for a production and then develop them in to full scale props.




SECTION FOUR – Method of Evaluation (guide 50 words)
How will you critically review and analyse your work and determine if it is successful? How will you identify directions for on going development? Do you have a method to record the critical response to your ideas? How do you propose to assess the success of your Final Major Project and what will be your methods of evaluation? Unit 9 requires you to produce a supporting statement at the end of your project. This section can inform your analysis.

I am going to evaluate the work that I do both on my blog and in a sketch book, I will evaluate by analysing my work to see where it has gone right and where it has gone wrong. Then taking that evaluation to see what I need to do next and how I can improve the work that I am doing.


APPENDIX
Use this appendix for the bibliography and timescale for your Final Major Project.

1: http://www.basiltwist.com/

2: http://www.handspringpuppet.co.za/
3: http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/
4: http://www.grimmfairytales.com/en/stories
5: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/grimm/bl-grimm-2brothers.htm
6: http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-36.html

Initial time plan for FMP

Week (Monday to Friday) Proposed Activity Resources

1. Initial research and ideas. Research in to props and fairy tales to find tales that could work well
for a production and do initial design ideas based on them.

2.  “                              ” “                              ”

3. Developing ideas & research further. Take some of the initial ideas and develop them further continuing research to inform ideas.  

4. “                            ” “                                ”

5. Experimenting & developing Experimenting with materials to produce ideas, further developing ideas and research.

6. “                                ” “                                 ”

7. Developing final ideas and producing. Taking the idea which I have decided to develop as if it was a production and developing it into my final idea and begging to produce props for final outcome
8. “                               ” “                              ”

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Tracy the Parade Horse

Using the automatic drawings and the designs that i had done for the horse from the parade i then decided to have a go at making it. I made it by making a simple structure out of wire which i then covered with glue and tissue paper. I used these materials as when i made made the hoodening horse i found that the materials that i used became too heavy, making it hard and slightly impractical to use. Using these materials worked well as they made the structure really light and easy to use but still strong enough that it can be handled and won't brake easily.