oh we're putting dsmp on stage? sweet my stage craft knowledge finally comes in handy for a fan project <33 (<- i do costumes mostly and a little bit of lights + set/props) (i haven't interacted with this fandom in months)
so first things first. storytelling through costumes is fucking imperative here. also rip to the actors in advance they're gonna have so many layers
early dsmp we need pristine clothing. armour is perfectly shiny with minimal to no scratches. any form of white clothing is white. wrinkles do not exist. hair is styled to perfection. etc etc.
any make-up should be very subtle; this is the very beginning of... everything. there hasn't been any time for people to make pretty much any sort of mark on this world. (or it back)
hand in hand with this, set pieces should be minimal. there should be a general idea of wide open space, without (m)any buildings just yet.
lighting should be simple but bright, cheerful.
when l'manberg is created, things have settled in a bit more.
set should still be minimal (stage split somewhere for van? rotating set piece?), lighting still bright.
i would keep costumes pristine too, but things like 'dirt smudges' or small rips should/can be incorporated. (excluding dream. he needs to stay as unaffected as possible for as long as possible.)
l'manberg war this all goes out the window.
rips, tears, hasty patches, fake injuries, the white spots on the uniforms should be still recognisable but like... not really white anymore. (again, not on the dream team really.)
when we enter the control room, i want no set. the lighting here can really be used to emphasise how claustrophobic the whole thing is. honestly, the whole war should have stark, dramatic lighting. the duel especially.
post-war, we have this shift. costumes should be... slightly to the left of what they were before. whites are off-whites, patches are trying their hardest not to be there but aren't quite fitting in, shoes are caked with dirt. there's a sense of... fakeness about how neat everything is trying to appear. this should be the most obvious on wilbur.
make-up-wise, we're looking at slightly more accentuated eyebags, cheekbones. everyone looks just a little more tired.
sets are minimal.
until. (except.)
the election. (schlatt.)
the election podium should be tall. imposing. larger than life. a single spotlight hovers on wilbur when he's up there. when schlatt is elected, it's backlit. casting his shadow across the stage. (when tubbo is up there, the lights are almost blinding. and then the lights goes dark. and on stage there is an explosion of colour.)
pogtopia still minimal set, but lighting and positioning of props and what set there is are what should convey scale. tommy and wilbur's costumes should be rough. techno should look Out Of Place, glittering and shiny and still new. tubbo even more so for very different reasons.
manberg should be suffocating in the complete opposite sense. set pieces should be large and swallow up the characters.
when wilbur gives monologues the stage around him (lights) should shrink more and more each time until his world is just him. and the button. (when philza arrives, he should bring light with him. not a lot. but more. the lights widen to reveal the signs on the walls. when wilbur hits the button, the lights should blast open to the whole stage. this part with the set is all about the levels. no one should be standing on equal ground when/after the explosions go off.)
and i'm leaving this ask here because it's stupidly long and also the 16th should be the end of act 1 peace and love <33
OH my gosh, progressing from a simple set with no marks, the bright lighting, I never thought about the space on the stage. Like, yeah, duh, nothings been done yet. It's all green pastures and sunsets of course there's open air. I love dream being unaffected because yeah. And the immediacy of everything breaking down!!!!! All of a sudden they become torn and shallow, still people, still coiffed to perfection, but like, a little bit less so. And The Injuries hshhshhsh.
Schlatts podium..I absolutely agree, tall and imposing, I also think it should have a cartoon-ish curve to it though so there's forced perspective. At the very tippy top there should be that yellow concrete box, I feel like the shadows would be very imposing. I adore the lights-away thing for tubbo- and I feel like to keep in with techno killing so many people there should be little bursts of light accompanied with screams of everyone he killed. Tommy and wilbur could be on short buildings to the side, hiding! Then he winds the enderpearl back and the lights go out during technos shoot. That's suuuuch a good idea it's so perfect...
You've done so much with the set I have no comments...mwah mwah so perfect..tubbo w the bandages seeing techno in his pristine costume..owy
But the wilbur light thing!!! Yes!!!!!!! I don't think you understand how much I love this, murmuring about the presidency fading out above him, the circular spotlight in a pitch black theater, slowing, growing smaller and closed in around wilbur where hes hunkered over, nearly hitting the button against his wrist until BAM! A circle around phil!!!!! Wilbur is awestruck, and the circles start to merge when they talk, wilburs fluctuating back and forth, back and forth, smaller-bigger-smaller-bigger and then BAM. MY UNFINISHED SYMPJONY PHIL! You hear a scream, SCREAMS, Phil's light goes off with wilburs, his world is gone, you hear a sudden fizz of Redstone right before, a gunshot (ITS CHEKOVS) then the curtain shoots open in the pitch black where we had done the button scene opens and the lights go back on to reveal the destroyed lmanburg, tnt explosion sounds still reigning over the scene, niki and tommy across the gaping chasm, wilbur kneeling before it with a boisterous smile on his face, wild eyes, he grabs the hilt of his dads sword (kill me phil!!!!! Kill me!) And we get a front row seat to the lights turning red as soon as it hits him, blurring into that same world-owning circle. The last scene before you see the stage go dark is philza kneeling to gather up his son in his arms, burying his face into wilburs bloody jacket.
So valid and real with the 16th ending act one.imagine intermission that shit is gonna be CRANKED
