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IB Theatre - Production Proposal (first assessment 2024): Production Design

This guide provides resources for the Production Proposal internal assessment task for IB Theatre (first assessment 2024).

Conveying your Theatre-maker Intentions

Example of mood board - WSAIBTheatre, Gretchen Nordleaf-NelsonThe key is visuals.

In Criterion B of the Production Proposal, you convey your ideas for using production design to fulfill your intentions for the whole play. How will you interpret the play script into the physical world of the production to make an impact and to make meaning for an audience?

Consider set design, lighting, costume, props, sound, and colors.

You need to use both text and images to express how production elements will contribute towards meeting your intentions.

You do not need to draw your designs. You can create mood boards for the set, costumes, or lighting. You can include links to sound effects. You should not use photos or images of other set designs or costume designs. Instead, use photos of your idea of what you want the physical world of the play to look like in your production.

See below for help with creating color or mood boards, and for suggestions on how to create your visual designs. Look to other pages in this section for help with set design, lighting, costumes, and sound.

Color Palette Generators

Mood Board Gallery

Set Design Mood Board example from EdTA (Educational Theatre Association
Character-specific Costume Design Mood Board - EdTA (Educational Theatre Association)
Set Design Mood Board
Costume Mood Board for Jane in Jungle Book - Goodman Theatre
Set Design Mood Board for 'Gypsy'
Costume Design Mood Board Example
Mood board - WSAIBTheatre.org, Gretchen Nordleaf-Nelson
Costume Design Mood Board for IB Theatre Production Proposal
Mood board for IB Theatre Production Proposal - WSAIBTheatre.org, Gretchen Nordleaf-Nelson

The Role of the Theatre Designer | National Theatre

Creating Your Visual Designs

Possible methods of expressing your production design ideas visually include:

  • Photographs of 'looks' you have created yourself
  • Mood boards and colour palettes/wheels
  • Set and scene models
  • Ground plans (bird's eye view, to scale, of set) and lighting plans (same, but for lighting fixture positions)
  • Sketches (3D, front view or side view detailed drawing of a scene, costume, lighting state etc)
  • Diagrams (using icons and simplified sketch to connote interconnections or spatial relationships, including schematics)
  • Fabric, material and texture samples • Images sourced from books, online and live experiences (cited of course).

Finally, short paragraphs or passages of text can be used to explain the elements that are tough to convey in image and annotation, but remember that this section is about the whole play. You can leave specific moments for criterion C. Be specific with costume designs: fabric, colour, cut, pattern - sizes and shapes matter too.

Adapted from "Creating your visual designs", pp. 8-9, Production Proposal, Student Information Booklet, IBDP Theatre, First Assessment 2024, by Kieran Burgess. The booklet is available for download on his website here.

         

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