Stage Design: How Theatre, Film and TV Sets Are Made

What stage design is, and who does it

Stage design (also called scenography) means designing the space where a performance or display happens. It is not only for theatre: the same skills are used for puppet theatre, exhibition spaces, concerts, TV studios and film.

A designer reads the story, talks to the director, makes sketches and scale drawings, and chooses materials. In show business many roles work together:

• Director: decides how the story is told.
• Set designer: plans the scenery.
• Costume and props people: make what actors wear and hold.
• Lighting designer and technicians: shape the light.
• Scenic artists and carpenters (workshop): build and paint.
• Stage manager: runs the show on the day.

The stage and its machinery

A traditional theatre has an auditorium (seats) and a stage. The opening the audience looks through is the proscenium. The sides of the stage are the wings, where actors wait and scenery is stored.

Above the stage is the fly tower: a tall space with metal pipes called battens. Ropes (or motors and counterweights) raise and lower backdrops, curtains and lights. Anything "flown" out disappears from the audience view in seconds. Lights hang on bars above and at the sides. Some stages also have trap doors in the floor and a revolving stage.

The designer must check the real size of the stage and the height of the fly tower before drawing a single wall.

Painted, sculpted and structural scenery

• Painted elements: a backdrop or a flat with a picture of sky, a street or a forest. Light and cheap, they make a place by picture alone.
• Sculpted elements: three-dimensional shapes carved or moulded, such as rocks, trees, statues or a throne. Often made from foam, clay, papier-mâché or resin.
• Structural elements: parts that must hold weight or define space: platforms, stairs, ramps, doors, frames. They are built strong, because actors stand and move on them.

Good sets mix all three, so that the audience believes the place.

Building the set in the workshop

Frames, flats and platforms. A flat is a light wooden frame with cross-bars, covered with stretched cloth (canvas or muslin) or thin board. A platform (rostrum) is a strong box-frame with a deck on top and steps. Both are made to be moved, joined and stored.

Scene painting. First seal the cloth with a size coat, then draw the design (often with a grid to enlarge a small sketch), then paint big base colours, then details, light and shadow. Distance matters: the audience is far away, so brushstrokes and colours are bold.

Sculpture and moulding. Shapes are carved from foam, built on a wire or wood frame, or cast in a mould using plaster, resin or papier-mâché. Then they are painted to look like stone, wood or metal.

Materials. Fabrics (canvas, muslin, velvet), paints and pigments, light foams and strong resins. Always work in a ventilated place, wear gloves and a mask, and use fire-retardant materials near lights.

Light, costume and props

Light changes colour, depth and feeling. Warm light feels like evening or comfort; cool light feels like night or fear; a narrow spot makes the audience look at one actor. Lights are hung on bars and aimed. A lamp at height h with a beam angle θ lights a floor circle of width 2·h·tan(θ/2).

Costume (what actors wear) and props (things they hold or use) must match the style and colours of the set. Mobile structures (wheels, turntables, sliding panels) let the scene change quickly.

Theatre, film, TV and exhibitions; digital tools

In theatre the audience sees the whole set from the front for the whole show, so it must be solid and quick to change. On a film or TV set the camera frames each shot, so only what the camera can see is built. Walls may be missing, and the set can be larger or smaller than a stage.

An exhibition design guides visitors through a space with panels, display cases and light.

Digital drawing. Designers draw plans, sections and 3D models on computers (CAD and 3D software) so that the director, builders and lighting team see the same picture. New technologies include LED walls that show moving backdrops, projection on set surfaces, motorised stage machinery and 3D printing for props. A good design still starts with a clear idea and a scale drawing.

Try it

In the 3D: in step 1 move the backdrop slider and see how a whole scene "disappears". In step 3 slide the Build control and say aloud what you added at each layer. In step 4 try warm, cool and spot light: which one feels like evening? Which one feels like a scary night?

At home: take a shoebox. Cut one side open. That is your stage and proscenium. Draw a sky on paper and tape it at the back (backdrop). Make a tree from cardboard rolls and crumpled paper (sculpted). Make a step with a small box (structural). Shine a torch from the top, then through coloured paper, and see how the mood changes.

Key formulas and definitions

• Scale: real size = drawing size × scale number (1:25 means 1 cm on paper = 25 cm real)
• Steps needed = platform height ÷ rise of one step
• Area of a flat = width × height; paint needed = area × coats ÷ coverage per litre
• Light pool width = 2 × height × tan(beam angle ÷ 2)

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Making a platform from weak material. Actors stand on structural pieces, so strength comes first.
• Designing without checking the real stage size and fly height. Always measure first.
• Painting small details that the audience cannot see from far away. Think of the last row.
• Using the same set plan for film and theatre. A film camera needs only what it sees; theatre needs all sides the audience sees.