Creating an image for #NTW19 Little Dogs
As creative designers working on National Theatre Wales's visual material, we often get asked how we create an image, what the process was, and how does an idea arrive at a finished visual. We've documented the process here of creating the recent image for Little Dogs.
Each project starts with an initial meeting with the creative team... including the production director or script writer, this session allows us to get an understanding of the production, the story, the values, what's unique, what do we need to communicate to the potential audience, and who are the audience...? It's an interesting session, we get to know so much about the production and get to ask questions... we read scripts if they are available, but more importantly we speak with the creators one to one... This is one of the most enjoyable parts of the process.
From this initial meeting we start building a bank of research, images, notes and sketches around some of the ideas we are starting to formulate. Research is formed from a library of visual materials that we constantly collect and update as part of the Elfen library, we draw from this initially and then more specific research within the project context. There is always an interesting balancing act between the image that a production director has in his mind and the image that we need to convey to the audience, sometimes they are both one and the same, sometimes they are not... but we have to work on this aspect and find consensus by looking at visual materials together rather than independently.
The Little Dogs Image
The shoot itself started at 6.30am and took around 5 hours, Once the shoot has finished our work starts again, the shot has taken hours of compilation and retouching work, each scene was shot individually and stitched together, the final image is made up of over 5 images. We work closely with all the partners involved and art direct the project, from initial ideas through to the photoshoot and further design of materials for the production.
Each project starts with an initial meeting with the creative team... including the production director or script writer, this session allows us to get an understanding of the production, the story, the values, what's unique, what do we need to communicate to the potential audience, and who are the audience...? It's an interesting session, we get to know so much about the production and get to ask questions... we read scripts if they are available, but more importantly we speak with the creators one to one... This is one of the most enjoyable parts of the process.
From this initial meeting we start building a bank of research, images, notes and sketches around some of the ideas we are starting to formulate. Research is formed from a library of visual materials that we constantly collect and update as part of the Elfen library, we draw from this initially and then more specific research within the project context. There is always an interesting balancing act between the image that a production director has in his mind and the image that we need to convey to the audience, sometimes they are both one and the same, sometimes they are not... but we have to work on this aspect and find consensus by looking at visual materials together rather than independently.
The Little Dogs Image
Our initial research work for this project was done around the strap-line, "Across the city, hearts are beating and the mating ritual has begun" as well as some of the original ideas from the Dylan Thomas story. The initial ideas where about telling a story of the dark shadows in the city and the glimpses of warmth and affection, contrasting with the cold reality of life. We looked at a lot of documentary photography projects of nights out in cities, we looked at how these photographs had a real sense of here and now.
The idea for Little Dogs involved telling a story through a static image. We wanted a glimpse a moment in time held still, we need to find a location that had a reality to it, with some more poetic story lines, that might involve love contrasting with lust. The toilets were a canvas for the story, the cubicles offered us a metaphor for windows on the lives of the characters, each one had a story to tell.
The next steps involve the practical side of the project, finding a location, organising actors, costume, makeup and props, this involves a partnership between us and the theatre's team.
This particular project involved extensive location research to find the toilets for the photo shoot, I think we visited over 20 in all sorts of locations, before finding the one used for the shoot! It needed to be accessible as well as practical.
The next steps involve the practical side of the project, finding a location, organising actors, costume, makeup and props, this involves a partnership between us and the theatre's team.
This particular project involved extensive location research to find the toilets for the photo shoot, I think we visited over 20 in all sorts of locations, before finding the one used for the shoot! It needed to be accessible as well as practical.
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