f r o m T H E AT R E t o F I L M

A H i s t o r y o f S e t D e s i g n

S a m W a t s o n

In the beginning, there was theatre,

and more recently, there was film. The primary

difference between these two dramatic mediums

is that theatre is live and that film is recorded;

however, each is incredibly influential on the

other when it comes to set design. Though the

parameters may differ, theatrical and film sets are

still considered a background that aids in helping

the director and actors bring a playwright’s, or

screenwriter’s, story to life.

The Ancient Greeks, around the 5th

century BCE, were the first to have

painted scenery (Hornby 120). The scenery was

painted on wooden screens, and, “was more

representational than illusionistic” (Hornby

120). Since many Greek plays were staged

outside in amphitheatres, the surrounding land-

scape was often utilized as scenery referenced by

the characters (Hornby 121). Typically, the stage

consisted of a platform with a hut behind it; this

hut was used for actors’ entrances/exits, and

costume changes. This was eventually

decorated to become part of the scenery, and this is

perceived as the primary reason why, “two-thirds

of surviving Greek tragedies are set in front of a

palace, temple, or tomb” (Hornby 121). Watson 1

from THEATRE to FILMA History of Set Design

Sam Watson

History of Graphic Design

7 December 2010

The Romans, who more or less absorbed

Greek culture and made it their own, were the

first to use painted structures, such as windows,

balconies, realistic columns, and rocks (Burris-

Meyer 3). It is important to emphasize that these

structures were also functional, as in windows

could be opened, an actor could lean against a

column, etc (Burris-Meyer 3). The Romans were

also the first to use curtains (Burris-Meyer 4). In

modern theatre, curtains are very important for

they signal the end of a scene or act, conceal set

changes, and in instances where a set change

needs to occur but the play is still going action

wise, the actor(s) can act in front of the curtain

while the set is being changed behind the curtain.

The Renaissance is really considered

the genesis of modern theatrical design for

several reasons. The most important is Filippo

Brunellschi’s discovery in 1415 of how to

create, “the illusion of space and distance

on a flat surface” (Wild). Though some, like

Sebastiano Serlio in 1545, experimented with a

slope staged floor to create the illusion of depth,

Brunellschi’s method prevailed and is still used

today (Wild). The painted drop also began to be used

during this period, and in 1608, Ingo Jones began

raming scenes with the use of a proscenium arch

(Wild).

Ruins of an amphitheatre in Segesta, Italy (“Segesta, Theatre”).

The Teatro Farnese in Parna, Italy, built 1618-1628, is the first surviving theatre with a permanent proscenium arch (“Teatro Franese”).

Watson 2

Up until this point, the philosophy

concerning scene design was basically that, “the

scene location was obvious, unimportant, or

stated in a character’s lines” (Wild). During the

19th century, designers really tried to create as

realistic environments as budget and time

allowed. Set pieces began to be three-dimen-

sional instead of two-dimensional, mostly due to

innovations in theatrical lighting (Burris-Meyer

3-4). Starting in 1810 in Germany, there was a

movement to put on historically accurate plays

with emphasis on historically correct scenery

(Wild). Towards the end of the 19th century, the

flat stage floor was broken up platforms, ramps,

and stairs, and theatrical lighting was altered

throughout the play in order to help establish

mood and drama (Wild).

The end of the 19th century brought a

shift to the philosophy of scene design due to the

birth of cinema which, “made illusion onstage if

not useless at best unimpressive” (Hornby 119).

Where cinema can capture dramatic action in the

field, theatre is often confined to an indoor space

with a live audience. So, in reaction to the new

industry, “stage designers began moving away

from realistic illusion to symbolism, the bold

abstraction that depicts nothing, but instead

evokes a mood, an atmosphere” (Hornby 119).

When films are not being shot on

location, they are often being shot on a studio

back lot or sound stages. Like theatrical stages,

they are built in a way that allows them to be

disassembled for either traveling or storage

purposes (Nishi). In the beginning, film sets

were designed in a very similar fashion to

theatrical sets; painted backdrops and false

perspective paintings were still in use, and the

architecture of the sets themselves was still very

theatrical (Sargeant 70). By the 1930’s, however,

serious consideration was given to the relationship

between the set and the framing of camera shots.

In theatre, the audience is free to look at

any bit of the set (though lighting is used to try

to focus their attention); in film, the camera only

shoots what the director wants seen. The materials

and fabrics utilized in film set construction began

to reflect and emphasize certain characteristics

of the characters featured in the film (Sargeant

71). Also, set designers, starting in Germany,

starting building features such as offset

towers that were not built to be filmed, but built in

order to capture certain camera shots (Sargeant

71). By the 1970’s, the architecture of the sets was

constructed with both shot framing, and mood of

the scene and characters, in mind (Vidler).

Unlike in theatre where in the 1940’s sets

described as “skeletal” began to be designed in

the mainstream (Wild), film sets have always Watson 3

been expected to be hyper-realistic (Hornby

130). That is, the audience doesn’t need to use

their imagination to interpret the set for it is

already set out, in full, in front of them. It is

regarded that there are seven spaces of action that

occur on film: spaces of power, private spaces,

labyrinth spaces, transit spaces, stage spaces,

virtual spaces, and location spaces (Caldwell).

With the exception of spaces of power and

virtual spaces, these spaces of action have been

present in the history of film since the beginning

(Caldwell).

Spaces of power make characters,

“appear small, vulnerable, and exposed in a

space designed to intimidate” (Caldwell 43).

These types of sets first fulfilled their potential

during the German Expressionist movement, and

in the 1927 film Metropolis, sets designed by

Otto Hunte, Enrich Kettelhut, and Karl Volbrecht

(IMDB) were used to “reflect the differences

between the elite ruling class and the oppressed

working classes” (Caldwell 44).

Virtual spaces are fairly recent, and

typically consist of actors acting in front of

blue/green screens, and in post production, these

blue/green screens are replaced by computer

generated imagery, or CGI (Caldwell 46). CGI

was first utilized in the 1973 film Westworld, and

was fully embraced by Hollywood in the early

1990’s in films such as Jurassic Park (“Com-

puter-generated imagery”). Many feel that as the

CGI becomes more efficient and cheaper, more

films will replace portions of sets and location

shoots with CGI (Dooley). This has already been

done in films such as Sin City and Sky Captain

and the World of Tomorrow, where very few

physically constructed sets are used (Sin City)

(Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow).

Example of a space of power from the 1927 film Metropolis (“Metropolis Interior”).

Example of a virtual space from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (“Sky Captain Promo”).

Watson 4

The budget allotment for film sets

is generally perceived to be higher than the

money put aside for theatrical set construc-

tion, and with this, film sets are expected to be

historically accurate. If the film is set in the

modern day, it should be as modern as possible,

and if it is set in the past, it should look like

the past, though it will inherently have modern

influences. For instance, the Bible films from the

1950’s, such as The Ten Commandments with

sets designed by Albert Nokazi, Hal Pereira,

and Walter Tyler (IMDB), feature incredibly

colorful and stylized sets to show off the

wonders of color cinematography and

Cinemascope, which were both relatively new

cinematic innovations (Tashiro 42). They also

were heavily lighted to show off the mass scale

of the sets, for the size of the sets often reflected

the size of studio pockets (Tashiro 42) (Carnes).

Though modern theatrical and film set

design may seem worlds apart in construction

and aesthetic, they are both still just background

to the action of the story. With this is mind, it

is not uncommon for set designers to work for

both mediums, and this has been the norm since

the 1960’s (Larson xvi). Both mediums are still

highly influential on the other. Theatrical sets

can now utilize projections to create moving

backgrounds behind the actors on stage, and with

careful staging, projections can even have the

illusion of being three-dimensional

(Blumenthal). The biggest difference, however,

between theatrical sets and films is this: Where

theatre involves the audience to suspend disbelief

when it comes to the set becoming a real place,

to a film audience’s eye, the set is not a set, but a

real place.

One of the sets from Cecil B. Demille’s The Ten Commandments (“The Ten Commandments”).

Watson 5

Works Cited

Burris-Meyer, Harold and Edward C. Cole. Scenery for

the Theatre. Boston: Little, Brown and Company,

1966.

Blumenthal, Eileen. “William Kentridge: Frame by

Frame.” American Theatre 27.6 (2010): 42-47.

Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 3

Oct. 2010.

Caldwell, Thomas. “Analyzing Space and Place: ACMI’s

Setting the Scene: Film Design from Metropolis

to Australia.” Screen Education 53 (2009): 42-

27. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8

Oct. 2010.

Carnes, Mark C. “Shooting (Down) the Past.” Cineaste

29.2 (2004): 45-49. Academic Search Complete.

EBSCO. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.

“Computer-generated imagery.” Wikipedia. 22 Oct. 2010.

Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 23 Oct. 2010.

Dooley, Michael. ‘“Martinizing’ the Movies.” Print 62.5

(2008): 58-65. Academic Search Complete. EB

SCO. Web. 8 Oct. 2010.

Hornby, Richard. “Scene Design.” HudsonReview 63.1

(2010): 119-122. Academic Search Complete.

EBSCO. Web. 3 Oct. 2010.

IMDB. 1990-2010. IMDb.com, Inc. 7 Dec. 2010. Web.

Larson, Orville K., ed. Scene Design for Stage and

Screen. East Lansing: Michigan State University

Press, 1961.

“Metropolis Interior.” IIT College of Architecture. 6 Dec.

2010. < http://digitaltheses.wordpress.com/tag/

urban-identity/>.

Nishi, Dennis. “Building Sand Castles in Hollywood.”

Career World 36.4 (2008)8-11. Academic Search

Complete. EBSCO. Web. 8 Oct. 2010.

Sargeant, Amy. “Film Architecture and the Transnational

Imagination: Set Design in 1930’s European

Cinema by Time Bergfelder, Sue Harris, Sarah

Street.” Art Book 16.1 (2009):70-71. Academic

Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 3 Oct. 2010.

“Segesta, Greek Theatre.” Online image. i-Italy. 6 Dec.

2010. <http://www.i-italy.org/13402/spring-

break-italy-noiaw>.

Sin City. Dir. Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez. Perf.

Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany

Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Bruce

Willis, and Elijah Wood. 2005. DVD. Dimension

Home Video.

“Sky Captain Promo.” Online image. David

Deccio. < http://www.daviddecio.com/

html/film.html>.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Dir. Kerry

Conran. Perf. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law.

2004. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment,

2005.

Tashiro, Charles. “Passing for the Past.” Cineaste 29.2

(2004): 40-44. Academic Search Complete.

EBSCO. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.

“Teatro Farnese.” Online image. History of Theatre.

6 Dec. 2010. <http://theatrehistory2010.blogspot.

com/2010_04_01_archive.html>.

“The Ten Commandments.” Online image. The Digital

Fix. 6 Dec. 2010. < http://homecinema.thedigi

talfix.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60838>.

Vidler, Anthony. “Take One.” Architecture 88.12 (1999):

Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 3

Oct. 2010.

Wild, Larry. A Brief History of Theatrical Scenery. 23

Feb. 2006. Northern State University. 5 Oct.

2010 <http://www3.northern.edu/wild/ScDes/

sdhist.htm>.

Watson 6