Dear XXXXXXXX
Thank you for supporting the 2014/15 Madama Butterfly Design Challenge with the Royal Opera
House, which, as a member of the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural we have been
working on since October 2014.
As a college we value the input of industry professionals, and in particular the outside eye you bring
having not seen the student’s other work. For your information the students have been working
through the below process, and the attached briefs will give you further detail.
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Since October the students have gone through a process of designing one part of the
production based on a single Director’s Vision
They have been mentored by their tutors through a process of research, experimentation,
and selection before creating a model of their final design
The aim was that they come up with original ideas and start to collaborate with the
Director’s Vision, asking appropriate questions and raising relevant concepts through their
portfolio
You are making a selection that will be seen by a Royal Opera House representative before a finalist
in each category is taken forward to the Covent Garden judging in March.
Please find as part of this pack each of the Design Briefs, the Director’s Visions and judging form.
There are 7 sheets following this cover.
You should bear the below in mind when judging with the tutor:
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You are judging the process as well as the final piece, so has the designer shown how they
came to the final design?
Does the Design take the brief on a creative journey of exploration based on the Director’s
visions?
Does the designer’s portfolio demonstrate relevant design assumptions (i.e the costume if
they are designing the make-up) in order to fulfil their final piece?
We look forward to hosting you at our college for the judging on xxx at xxxx and please ask for xxxxx
when you arrive.
Many thanks
(lead contact name)
The Madama Butterfly Design Briefs
The below briefs and Director’s visions can be found online at
http://www.roh.org.uk/learning/schools-and-colleges/design-challenge
The production you will be working on is the opera Madama Butterfly. You will choose one of
the Director’s Visions which will focus and inform your design choices.
We will need to see concrete knowledge of opera as an art form, of Madama Butterfly and a clear
demonstration of how this knowledge informs your design choices. The following list is a research
guide:
Opera as an Art Form
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What is opera, and how does this affect stage design?
How does design aid the telling of the story?
Madama Butterfly
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What is the story and how is it split across the Acts?
Who are the main characters?
What visual items are mentioned in the synopsis such as important props or furniture? How do you
want to incorporate these items into the design?
Set Design
Designing for the Stage
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How is the set affected by the time of day, period and season
What practicalities do you need to think about when designing a set for an opera
The progress of the opera – how many changes of scene are necessary and how will you move
efficiently between them?
THE CHALLENGE
Please ensure that these elements are in your final research and designs:
Research - Produce a portfolio (which may be a sketchbook) that shows initial ideas and thinking on
the themes and background to the opera, and concept experimentation that communicates set
design ideas for a production of Madama Butterfly, to be staged at the Royal Opera House. These
designs should be inspired by one of the Director’s visions
Your research should include your personal response, as well as artistic, to the themes and context
of the story. This will include an exploration of the issues raised and how the production you are
working on reflects them.
Final Design – the second part of your portfolio should take your research, ideas and thinking into
a final design concept for the whole production with an outline and artist drawing of each set
piece.
Final construct – Construct a detailed model box to the dimensions of 1:50, which should be 55 (w) x
50 (h) x 42 (d) cm, or use your college’s software to demonstrate your final design for one scene .
This design should be for one setting within the narrative of the opera, which may or may not be a
whole act. You may use computer software to design and display your model box.
Costume
Designing for the Stage
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What practicalities do you need to think about when designing a costume for an opera singer?
How is the costume affected by the time of day, period, season and mood?
How do your material choices react under stage lighting?
How does designing for a large stage affect your designs?
THE CHALLENGE
Please ensure that these elements are in your final research and designs
Research - Produce a sketchbook that shows initial and final sketches that communicate your
costume design ideas for three characters from Madama Butterfly. Your research should include
your personal response, as well as artistic, to the themes and context of the story. This will include
an exploration of the issues raised and how the production you are working on reflects them.
Final Design – Construct a costume that could be worn by one of the characters in a scene
in Madama Butterfly. Explain why you have chosen this scene and how your costume relates to the
character and the scene. You may choose to construct a full-size garment or a quarter size garment
on a model.
Marketing, Strategy and Design
The production you will be working on is the opera Madama Butterfly.
As Marketing Designer, your brief is to research, plan and create a marketing strategy and final
marketing piece to promote the opera Madama Butterfly to young people (aged between 11-16
years old) who are visiting the Royal Opera House for the first time. You will choose one of
the Director’s Visions which will focus and inform your design choices.
We will need to see concrete knowledge of opera as an art form, of Madama Butterfly, and a clear
demonstration of how this knowledge informs your design ideas. The following list is a research
guide:
The Royal Opera House – Understanding your Client
Opera as an Art Form
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What is the Royal Opera House?
How does the Royal Opera House currently use marketing to reach their key audiences?
What information does the Royal Opera House currently include on their marketing materials?
Understanding your target group
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Who is the target audience for Madama Butterfly and how will you plan to reach them. Be creative
in your use of materials: web pages, social media and other means of communication?
Opera as an Art form
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Who are The Royal Opera and what kind of repertoire do they perform?
What would an audience be looking for in a piece of communications that might be specific to this
art form?
Madama Butterfly
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What is the story and how is it split across the Acts?
Who are the main characters?
THE CHALLENGE
What will the marketing strategy be?
You will take from your whole strategy one element from the list below to take forward into a
developed piece
Your final marketing material can be:
- A poster
- An e-flyer
- A flyer
- Series of postcards
- A social media campaign
- An app*
It is important that the final design fits into your marketing strategy and relates to your research
about the art form, the Royal Opera House and your target group. It is important that we
understand your thinking behind the decisions you have made.
Please ensure that these elements are in your final pitch:
Research –This will include your background research, the strategy and design process, and can be
displayed through sketchbooks, PowerPoint, CDs, DVDs or photographs.
Your research should include your personal response, as well as artistic, to the themes and context
of the story. This will include an exploration of the issues raised and how the production you are
working on reflects them.
The strategy needs to tell and show us who your design is aimed at and how it will fit into the wider
marketing campaign. Think about how you can show us the full strategy even though you are only
focusing on one piece; this could be through a breakdown of the other elements or some basic
images of the companion pieces
Your Final Design – produce a poster, flyer, a series of postcards, E-flyer, social media campaign or
app* and submit your initial design ideas and your final product.
Hair, Wigs and Make-Up
We will need to see concrete knowledge of opera as an art form, of Madama Butterfly, and a clear
demonstration of how this knowledge informs your design ideas. The following list is a research
guide:
Designing for the Stage
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Why do we wear make-up on stage?
What are the differences between stage and beauty make up?
What can hair, wigs and make-up tell us about characters and the story?
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What do hair and make up styles say about the character, for example, who the character is (e.g.
uniform, gender, status, wealth, occupation, age), where the character is (e.g. inside, outside, in the
city, in a desert) or what is the occasion? (e.g. formal, informal)
THE CHALLENGE
Please ensure that these elements are in your final research and designs:
Research - Produce a sketchbook that shows initial research into opera as well as sketches that
communicate hair and make up designs for five characters from Madama Butterfly. These designs
should be inspired by one of the Director’s visions.
Your research should include your personal response, as well as artistic, to the themes and context
of the story. This will include an exploration of the issues raised and how the production you are
working on reflects them.
Final Design – Produce your designs for one of the characters in two different acts and provide
photographic evidence of your model.
See below for other resources such as Understanding your Client and various other films to support
your work.
Director’s Visions
As a designer, you will be working and collaborating with the Director of the piece. The Director will
have a strong feeling of how they want to stage the piece and the themes that they want to focus
on. Choose one of the four Director’s visions below which will help to focus your design ideas:
Option 1
I believe that Madama Butterfly is an opera which needs to be treated with absolute purity. It is
widely regarded as being close to operatic perfection, so why mess with it? For this reason, I would
like to see a design that is accurate to the time and place in which it was originally set. I want to see
Nagasaki in the first decade of the twentieth century.
Option 2
Madama Butterfly is a story that transcends time and place. One of the reasons, apart from its
exquisite music, that it is still such a firm favourite is that its themes are timeless. I would like to
emphasise the timelessness of the production by placing it in a futuristic setting. Since we have no
idea what the future is going to look like, it is up to you to decide on how it will look and feel. Make
sure that all your choices are ones that will work to enhance the themes of the story.
Option 3
I would like this production of Madama Butterfly to make reference to the constant state of war that
the world finds itself in. In order to do this, I would like you to select any current conflict from
anywhere in the world and use that as the setting for this production. We won’t be altering the
libretto, but I would like to show where we are through the design.
Consider why it would be that Butterfly’s family would be so opposed to the match. Her conversion
to Christianity is clearly a key issue in the original, but what is the equivalent in your interpretation?
Option 4
I want to demonstrate that this opera has relevance for us today, where we live. I want to show
Butterfly as being “one of us” – a young girl, from a community we know well, who has fallen in love
with someone of whom her parents don’t approve. Let us see in the design of the show what
implications this will have on the rest of the characters. How can we make this story one that speaks
directly to us in our time?
Design Challenge Judging Form 2014/15 (as an example of what you will be provided with)
Judging Date:
Student Name
College:
Category
(Set Design,
Costume, Hair,
Wigs & Make
Up, Marketing)
Director’s
Vision
Judge Name:
Criteria - Score out of 3
(0 = no evidence / 1 = weak /
2 = competent / 3 = strong)
Supporting
Creativity
Practicality / fit
evidence
&
for purpose in
demonstrating
imaginatio final design
thoughts and
n in
process.
designs
Comments
Shortlisted?
Yes/No