Quick questions on Individual Project Design: HSC Drama practical

Specialty. The student chooses one of five design specialties (set, costume, lighting, sound, or promotional) and submits a portfolio for that specialty only. The student cannot submit across multiple specialties.

What set design does. Set design creates the physical space the action happens in. Decisions include: the geometry of the playing space (proscenium, thrust, in-the-round), the relationship between actors and audience, the use of levels, the period and style of any furniture, the surfaces (textures, materials), and how the set serves the play's structural needs (multiple locations, transitions, climactic moments).

What costume design does. Costume tells the audience who the character is, where they sit in the social order, and how they are changing. Decisions include: period, social class, character development across the play, the relationship between costumes (palette, silhouettes, contrasts), and the practical demands (quick changes, blood effects, dance sequences).

What lighting design does. Lighting reveals the action, shapes the mood, directs the audience's eye, and structures time. Decisions include: colour palette, intensity, angle, focus, and the rhythm of cues across the play.

What sound design does. Sound creates atmosphere, signals location and time, supports emotional content, and structures rhythm. Decisions include: music selection, sound effects, foley (live sound), the use of silence, and the relationship between live sound and recorded sound.

What promotional design does. Promotional design tells potential audiences what kind of production this is and persuades them to come. It is the first visual contact between the audience and the play. Decisions include: image choice (photograph, illustration, typographic), tone (serious, comic, dangerous, intimate), and how the design speaks to the target audience.

The choice of play is the foundation of the design project. Strong choices give the student something to design with:

Beautiful drawings without a rationale. Markers want to see design choices linked to dramatic meaning. A portfolio that is only renderings without the explanation does not show the student's thinking.

The student chooses one of five design specialties (set, costume, lighting, sound, or promotional) and submits a portfolio for that specialty only. The student cannot submit across multiple specialties.

The portfolio is for a hypothetical production of a chosen play. The student is not producing the play (no actual production); the portfolio describes what the production would look like.

A physical (or, increasingly, digital) portfolio is submitted to NESA at the end of the year along with the logbook.

The design must be theatrically realisable. A set design that requires the stage to fly twenty actors is not realisable; a set design that uses three doors and a revolve is.

Set design creates the physical space the action happens in. Decisions include: the geometry of the playing space (proscenium, thrust, in-the-round), the relationship between actors and audience, the use of levels, the period and style of any furniture, the surfaces (textures, materials), and how the set serves the play's structural needs (multiple locations, transitions, climactic moments).

Costume tells the audience who the character is, where they sit in the social order, and how they are changing. Decisions include: period, social class, character development across the play, the relationship between costumes (palette, silhouettes, contrasts), and the practical demands (quick changes, blood effects, dance sequences).

Lighting reveals the action, shapes the mood, directs the audience's eye, and structures time. Decisions include: colour palette, intensity, angle, focus, and the rhythm of cues across the play.