The Theatre of Ancient Greece

Following on from 'The open door' album cover, the lighting in the image i feel is really important. There's always been this superstition about the light and dark in theatre, which arrives from the very start of the theatre in ancient Greece. It was known that if you were on stage right you were righteous, on the side of the good. If you were on the stage left then you were in the wrong, side of the bad.
The Greeks always believed in the Gods such as Zeus and Hades and that there was always this battle between good and evil, which were always depicted in the Greek theatre.
There are four qualities of Greek Drama;
1- Performed for special occasions (to worship Dionysus)
2- Competitive (Actors and playwrights competed)
3- Choral (singing was an important part
4- Closely associated with religion (stories based on myth or history)

I found it quite difficult looking for the right answers and back up evidence for the meanings of lighting in the theatre so i interviewed a fellow art student who before hand was studying in the performing arts named Gareth Wild.

Evanescence - The Open Door

For my new project 'Modern Masters' i have chosen to study and depict the album cover 'The Open Door' by Evanescence. I chose this cover because it shows the contrast between light and dark, pretty and Gothic.

Just by glancing at this image it brings up questions such as; Where is she going? Who is she? What time era is she from? Why is she glancing back? Why is there such a contrast with the dark and light? All these questions i will be looking to find a suitable answer.
Words which i think describe this image are; Fairytale, mysterious, pretty, door, lighting, Gothic and medieval.

The photographer of this photo shoot was a man called Frank Ockenfels. He is a very versatile and flexible photographer who is competent in working with alternative processes. He has a very unique style in presenting his work within a sketch book by using simple line drawings and layers.

 Evanescence are a very unique band and no one has really put a label on what style of music they are. I think the best description of who they are us from lead singer Amy Lee;
We're definitely a rock band, but the twist is that the bands music is epic, dramatic, dark rock.'

Peter Coulson

Recently I have been researching photographers for a project i am currently doing called 'Modern Masters'. In this project I have to recreate a CD cover, therefore researching photographers and their techniques is really important. The image above was produced by a photographer named Peter Coulson. From looking at his work, it is clear that he predominantly deals with more of a twisted horror side of photography.

Although this image is simple, I personally think that this image is really effective by use of contrasting colours and the cut of the hair which adds that extra dark, edgy feel.

There is something unnerving about this image, it makes you question why is this 'angel' binded and put in a dark room? Why is her facial expression distressed? In my opinion that's what makes this photograph simple but effective.

This photograph shows the different angles that Peter Coulson investigates, it also adds another dimension to the image making it seem as though shes coming out of the picture frame.

 Mood Board of Peter Coulson