OUGD603 - Left Bank Opera Festival - Initial ideas & inspiration

From research to this point a number of concepts were drawn up to best showcase the festival. As stated in the brief they preferred that the tension of east and west opera was reflected along with any visuals drawn from the three productions on show. From my research into east and west opera it seems the vast difference of the two is the mix of sounds which seem can sound strange to Western ears. But it is the costumes, variety of facial expressions, the actors' eye expressions and martial arts movements that mostly attract Western audiences, as they contrast massively to western opera. Therefore, I want to showcase these through colour and shapes which are common in Asian opera. Such as the vibrant costumes and detailed masks worn but I also want to combine other visuals I gathered from research. Such as deception, illusion and delusion and these are mainly drawn from looking into Raymond Yiu 'The Chinese Conjour'. The production shows magic but its more about deception and how far it can go, with the story being about William Ellsworth Robinson deceiving his crowds into an illusion. The vibrancy of Asian opera paired with illusion visuals helps evoke magic but also can portray the tension of east and west opera.

For inspiration I looked at Asian graphic design which often use bright colours and a mix of typography to influence the style. I also looked into pattern work which has similarities to the masks used in opera.