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Hey, everyone.

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Welcome back.

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The focus of today's session is image.

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One of the ways a director's
vision is realized is through design.

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There are many types of designers
for the theater.

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Today, we're going to focus on costume,
mask, and puppet design,

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which are all inspired by images.

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Let's look at one way
that Julie Taymor's vision

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for how The Lion King
would appear on stage

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was realized through costume,
mask, and puppet design.

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When I was designing the lions, and I would
say, Well, what do I need to say, lion?

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I don't need all that fur.

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I don't need literal paws.

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Maybe just a tail.

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Just the mask and a tail,
and then let the actor suggest it.

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Like when Sello does

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the movement of the shoulders
moving forward, you can get the strength.

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He doesn't have to be on all fours
doing that.

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He can get the strength of the lion
with the movement of his shoulders

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as he comes and walks.

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And then you also get the duality
of some tough guy.

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Julie's vision of the double event,
in which the human actor

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and the animal character
combine, is evident in the costume,

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mask, and puppet designs of her production.

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A big part of a director's job is
communicating her vision to the design team,

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because
Julie Taymor is a visionary artist,

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she did lots of jobs in The Lion King
in addition to directing.

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She even designed the costumes
and collaborated

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with Michael Curry
to design the masks and the puppets.

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Usually, these jobs are done
by different people, but one of the cool

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things about working in the arts
is that there are no hard-and-fast rules.

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Like all theatrical arts, design
is based on a process

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with three basic phases:

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inspiration,

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imagination,

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and execution.

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These phases can be broken down
into several steps.

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Generally, costume,
mask, or puppet designers

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read the play and learn
as much as they can about the plot,

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characters, theme, and context.

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Meet with the director to discuss the play
and the director's vision,

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the sources of inspiration.

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Incorporate inspiration and employ
unique imagination to

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create a conceptual design,

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usually in the form of a sketch.

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Get the director's feedback,

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often in a series of discussions,
and incorporate changes.

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Begin execution by building
the actual costume, mask, or puppet.

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Schedule fittings with
the actors to

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make sure everything fits and

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moves appropriately.

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Then they make adjustments
during rehearsals as needed.

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The process for set, lighting, sound,
and other design is similar,

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although some of the steps vary
based on the discipline

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and the part of the creative process
in which it's implemented.

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Whereas set, costume, mask,
and puppet design often start

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long before the actors are even cast
in a production.

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Lighting and sound are usually imagined
while the actors rehearse

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and are executed
during technical rehearsals.

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Let's take a closer
look at some costume, puppet,

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and mask designs from the Broadway
production of The Lion King.

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Central aspects of Julie Taymor's vision
for The Lion King onstage were

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the image of the circle,
and the incorporation of cultural elements

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from around the world.

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Let's see how these influenced the design
of Mufasa's mask and costume.

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Though, with the thing that,
as a director,

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and sometimes director-designer, is
you're always looking for the abstraction,

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the ideograph abstraction
of what the whole is.

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And it's very simple

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in The Lion King. It's
the circle, it's the Circle of Life.

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It's the sun.

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It's Mufasa's head, it's the circle.

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Now check out this Timon puppet.

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You'll see a totally different
approach here.

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Yet Timon still looks as if he belongs
within the world of The Lion King.

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The global inspiration
here is in the puppet itself.

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Timon is inspired by the
Japanese tradition of Bunraku puppetry,

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in which people manipulate large puppets.

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The material used in this Timon puppet
naturally gives him a twitchy

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movement of a meerkat.

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Notice how the puppeteer is dressed

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in green to represent humans, jungle,
home, and in tribal patterns,

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true to the look
and feel of The Lion King.

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If Mufasa represents

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the balance of the Circle of Life,
Scar represents its destruction.

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Unlike the circular design of Mufasa,

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in the Scar costume and mask,
we see lots of angles and jagged lines.

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The designers indicated
these are both lions by using the same

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material and color palette,
but we instantly see the difference

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between these two characters
when looking at their costumes and masks.

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In our exploration of image,
we looked at the design process

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and examples
from mask, puppet, and costume design.

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Today, you'll have a chance
to create your own designs.

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Have fun!