3 ways to create a space that moves you, from a Broadway set designer | David Korins

238,106 views ・ 2018-10-31

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:12
You're sitting there,
0
12999
1462
00:14
and it's incredibly frustrating.
1
14485
3867
00:19
It's maddening.
2
19003
1164
00:20
You've been sitting there for hours,
3
20192
1739
00:21
filling in those little tiny circles with your No. 2 pencil --
4
21955
2952
00:24
this is a standardized test.
5
24931
1341
00:26
You look up, half-erased chalkboard,
6
26296
3364
00:29
you can see that perfectly written cursive alphabet,
7
29684
3176
00:33
the pull-down maps,
8
33590
1986
00:35
you can hear, tick, tick, tick, ticking on the wall, that industrial clock.
9
35600
4861
00:40
But most importantly, you can feel that oppressive fluorescent light,
10
40485
5256
00:45
that death ray over your head.
11
45765
1861
00:47
Bzzzzzz.
12
47650
2092
00:49
And you can't take it anymore, but you don't have to,
13
49766
2535
00:52
because Miss Darling says, "OK, boys and girls, you're done."
14
52325
2880
00:55
So you jump up -- I mean, there is nothing left of you but a vapor trail.
15
55229
3502
00:58
You move so quickly, you slam that little molded plastic chair,
16
58755
3756
01:02
and you sprint down the hallway;
17
62535
1771
01:04
you go past the Lysol smell and the BO smell and the cubbies,
18
64330
3784
01:08
and you push the door --
19
68138
1793
01:09
(Inhales deeply)
20
69955
1116
01:11
and finally, you're outside.
21
71095
1580
01:13
Oh, you can feel the wind on your face,
22
73139
2749
01:15
then the sun on your skin
23
75912
2494
01:18
and most importantly, the big blue sky.
24
78430
3159
01:22
That is a revelation of space.
25
82776
2359
01:25
Making revelations of space is what I do; I'm a designer and creative director,
26
85853
5098
01:30
and that's what I do for a living.
27
90975
1630
01:32
I do it for all sorts of people in all kinds of different ways,
28
92629
2995
01:35
and it might seem complicated, but it's not.
29
95648
2106
01:37
And over the next couple of minutes, I'm going to give you three ways
30
97778
3333
01:41
that I think you can move through your world
31
101135
2094
01:43
so that you, too, can make revelations of space, or at least reveal them.
32
103253
3500
01:47
Step one: therapy.
33
107459
2287
01:50
I know, I know, I know: blah, blah, blah, New Yorker, blah, blah, blah, therapy.
34
110449
3871
01:54
But seriously, therapy -- you have to know why you're doing these things, right?
35
114344
3802
01:58
When I got the job of designing "Hamilton,"
36
118170
2175
02:00
I sat with Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer,
37
120369
2224
02:02
Tommy Kail, director, and I said,
38
122617
1811
02:04
"Why are we telling this 246-year-old story?
39
124452
3085
02:07
What is it about the story that you want to say,
40
127561
2553
02:10
and what do you want people to feel like when they experience the show?"
41
130138
3557
02:13
It's important. When we get that, we move into step two: the design phase.
42
133719
3873
02:17
And I'll give you some little tricks about that,
43
137616
2278
02:19
but the design phase is important because we get to make these cool toys.
44
139918
4551
02:24
I reach into Lin's brain, he reaches into mine,
45
144493
2593
02:27
this monologue becomes a dialogue.
46
147110
1779
02:28
And I make these cool toys,
47
148913
1307
02:30
and I say, "Does this world look like the world
48
150244
2209
02:32
that you think could be a place where we could house your show?"
49
152477
3056
02:35
If the answer is yes -- and when the answer is yes --
50
155557
2508
02:38
we move into what I think is the most terrifying part,
51
158089
3158
02:41
which is the execution phase.
52
161271
1713
02:43
The execution phase is when we get to build this thing,
53
163008
2625
02:45
and when this conversation goes from a few people to a few hundred people
54
165657
4429
02:50
now translating this idea.
55
170110
1670
02:51
We put it in this beautiful little thing,
56
171804
2099
02:53
put it in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" super-sizer machine
57
173927
2859
02:56
and blow it up full-scale,
58
176810
1303
02:58
and we never know if we did it right
59
178137
1802
02:59
until we show up onstage and go, "Is it OK? Is it OK?"
60
179963
2835
03:02
Here's the thing:
61
182822
1199
03:04
you don't have to be Lin,
62
184045
1407
03:05
you don't have to have a book that you want to turn into a show
63
185476
3315
03:08
in order to do this in your real life.
64
188815
1826
03:10
You're already starring in a show, by the way. It's called your life.
65
190665
3257
03:13
Congratulations. (Laughter)
66
193946
1343
03:15
But seriously, Shakespeare said it: "All the world's a stage."
67
195313
3098
03:18
He nailed that part.
68
198435
1164
03:19
What he screwed up royally was that part where he said,
69
199623
3560
03:23
"And we are merely players."
70
203207
1992
03:25
It's ridiculous. We're not merely players.
71
205223
2031
03:27
We are the costume designers and the lighting designers
72
207278
2845
03:30
and the makeup artists in our own world,
73
210147
1951
03:32
and I want to get you to think about being the set designer in your world.
74
212122
3794
03:35
Because I think you can leave here if you do these three steps
75
215940
4086
03:40
and a couple of little tricks, as I said, I'm going to tell you,
76
220050
3047
03:43
and you can begin to change the world
77
223121
1857
03:45
the way you want to.
78
225002
1434
03:46
You want to do it?
79
226460
1164
03:47
OK. Everybody write a show.
80
227648
1316
03:48
(Laughter)
81
228988
1006
03:50
No. Just kidding.
82
230018
1153
03:51
OK. Step one: therapy. Right?
83
231195
3045
03:54
How are you feeling?
84
234756
1681
03:56
That's what the therapist says: "How are you feeling today?"
85
236461
2855
03:59
It's important to remember that, because when we design the world for you,
86
239340
4000
04:03
the therapy is important.
87
243364
2387
04:05
It tells you that emotion is going to become light and color.
88
245775
4315
04:10
A good example of that light and color
89
250114
4104
04:14
is a show I designed called "Dear Evan Hansen."
90
254242
2231
04:16
(Cheers)
91
256497
1015
04:17
"Dear Evan Hansen" exists -- oh my God --
92
257536
1961
04:19
"Dear Evan Hansen" exists in a world of almost all light and color.
93
259521
3560
04:23
So I chose a color: inky-black darkness.
94
263105
2585
04:25
(Laughter)
95
265714
1035
04:26
Inky-black darkness is a color the way that sadness is an emotion.
96
266773
4840
04:31
And this show transforms people, but not before it wrecks people.
97
271637
4261
04:35
I bet you're wondering, "How expensive could the set possibly be to transform you
98
275922
4520
04:40
if you sit for two hours and 20 minutes
99
280466
1997
04:42
in inky-black darkness?"
100
282487
1408
04:43
The answer is: cheap!
101
283919
2154
04:46
Inky-black darkness,
102
286572
1348
04:48
turn the lights on at the right time.
103
288735
1781
04:50
Seriously, think about leaving Miss Darling's class.
104
290540
2613
04:53
Inky-black darkness gives way at the right moment,
105
293177
2800
04:56
we fly away that wall and reveal a beautiful blue sky.
106
296001
4894
05:01
It blows people away and it transports them,
107
301558
2126
05:03
and it makes them feel hopeful.
108
303708
1492
05:05
And we know this because color is emotion,
109
305224
2206
05:07
and when you paint with color, you're painting with feelings.
110
307454
3449
05:12
So think about that emotion, the one I had you file away in your mental Rolodex.
111
312033
3817
05:15
What color is it?
112
315874
1153
05:17
Where in your wardrobe does it exist, and where in your home does it exist?
113
317051
3552
05:20
When we design the show for you,
114
320627
1881
05:22
we're going to use that color to tell you how you feel in certain times.
115
322532
3513
05:26
But also, you know this exists because you put the hero in white,
116
326830
3075
05:29
you put the lead character in red, you put the villain in all black.
117
329929
3286
05:33
It's typecasting. You know that.
118
333239
2041
05:35
So think about it.
119
335304
1158
05:36
But there's also something else that happens in the world
120
336486
2722
05:39
that helps us move through the world in a safe way.
121
339232
2433
05:41
They're called architectural standards.
122
341689
2026
05:43
They make us not fall down and go boom.
123
343739
2248
05:46
Doorknobs are all at the same height. Light switches are all at the same height.
124
346011
3947
05:49
Toilet bowls are always -- thank God -- at the same height,
125
349982
2810
05:52
because no one ever misses the toilet bowl.
126
352816
2153
05:54
But seriously,
127
354993
1723
05:56
what would happen if we started to tweak those architectural standards
128
356740
3369
06:00
to get what we wanted?
129
360133
1309
06:01
It reminds me of the stairs I made for Pee-Wee Herman.
130
361466
3819
06:05
Pee-Wee Herman is a child,
131
365309
1630
06:06
and his entire world is created so that we perceive Pee-Wee as a child.
132
366963
4498
06:12
The architecture and the furniture and everything come to life,
133
372246
3784
06:16
but nothing more important than those stairs.
134
376054
2754
06:18
Those stairs are 12 inches high,
135
378832
2287
06:21
so when Pee-Wee clomps up and down those stairs,
136
381143
2725
06:23
he interacts with them like a kid.
137
383892
2183
06:26
You can't fake that kind of interaction,
138
386099
2220
06:28
and that's the exact opposite of what we ask people in opera to do.
139
388343
4766
06:33
In opera, we shrink those stairs
140
393501
2220
06:35
so that our main characters can glide up and down effortlessly
141
395745
4373
06:40
without ever breaking their voice.
142
400142
1912
06:42
You could never put an opera singer in Pee-Wee's Playhouse,
143
402078
3144
06:45
(Sings in Pee-Wee's voice) or they wouldn't be able to do their job.
144
405246
3217
06:48
(Laughter)
145
408487
1003
06:49
But you couldn't put Pee-Wee in an opera set.
146
409514
2103
06:51
He couldn't climb up and down those stairs.
147
411641
2008
06:53
There'd be no Pee-Wee.
148
413673
1155
06:54
He'd be like James Bond slinking elegantly up and down the stairs.
149
414852
3127
06:58
It wouldn't work.
150
418003
1157
06:59
(Laughter)
151
419184
1017
07:00
Now think of your set, your home, what you exist in every single day.
152
420225
3362
07:03
If you're anything like me, the trash can is just too small
153
423611
2933
07:06
for the amount of takeout that you buy every night, right?
154
426568
2753
07:09
And I find myself jamming like I'm kneading dough at a pizza place,
155
429345
3559
07:12
I'm jamming it in because I don't understand.
156
432928
2640
07:15
Or, maybe the light switch in your foyer
157
435592
2713
07:18
is just stashed behind too many precariously placed coats,
158
438329
3136
07:21
and so you don't even go for it.
159
441489
1836
07:23
Therefore, day after day,
160
443349
2176
07:25
you wind up walking in and out of a chasm of darkness.
161
445549
2692
07:28
(Laughter)
162
448265
1461
07:29
It's true.
163
449750
1156
07:30
But what would happen if the space revealed something about yourself
164
450930
3366
07:34
that you didn't even know?
165
454320
1413
07:36
Kanye never told me specifically that he wanted to be God.
166
456369
4240
07:41
But --
167
461485
1151
07:42
(Laughter)
168
462660
1178
07:43
when we started working together, we were sending images back and forth,
169
463862
4750
07:48
and he sent me a picture of the aurora borealis
170
468636
2236
07:50
with lightning strikes through it.
171
470896
1651
07:52
And he sent me pictures from a mountaintop looking down
172
472571
2640
07:55
at a smoke-filled canyon,
173
475235
2109
07:57
or smoke underneath the surface of water --
174
477368
2458
07:59
like, epic stuff.
175
479850
1296
08:01
So the first set I designed for him was a huge light box
176
481170
3377
08:04
with the name of his record label.
177
484571
1671
08:06
He would stand triumphantly in front of it,
178
486266
2051
08:08
and it would flash lights like a lightning bolt.
179
488341
2262
08:10
And it was epic, but, like, starter-kit epic.
180
490627
2122
08:12
We moved on to a large swath of sky with a tear down the middle,
181
492773
3048
08:15
and through the tear, you could see deep parts of the cosmos.
182
495845
4122
08:19
Getting closer.
183
499991
1471
08:21
We evolved to standing on top of an obelisk,
184
501486
3611
08:25
standing on top of a mountainside, standing on top of boxes.
185
505121
2859
08:28
You know, he was evolving as an artist through space,
186
508004
2503
08:30
and it was my job to try and keep up.
187
510531
1843
08:32
When we did Coachella,
188
512398
1755
08:34
there he was,
189
514177
1152
08:35
standing in front of an 80-foot-wide by 40-foot-tall ancient artifact,
190
515353
4007
08:39
literally handed down from God to man.
191
519384
2367
08:42
He was evolving, and we were all witness to it.
192
522352
2762
08:45
And in his last show, which I didn't design but I witnessed,
193
525138
3194
08:48
he had self-actualized.
194
528357
1492
08:49
He was literally standing on a floating plexiglass deck
195
529873
4330
08:54
over his adoring fans,
196
534227
2033
08:56
who had no choice but to praise to Yeezus up above.
197
536284
5211
09:01
(Laughter)
198
541519
1014
09:02
He had deified himself.
199
542557
1759
09:04
You can't become Yeezus in your living room.
200
544340
2377
09:06
The space told him who he was about himself,
201
546741
2694
09:09
and then he delivered that to us.
202
549459
1800
09:11
When I was 20 years old,
203
551968
1636
09:13
I was driving through a parking lot, and I saw a puddle.
204
553628
3359
09:17
I thought, "I'm going to veer to the left. No -- I'm going through it."
205
557011
3458
09:20
And I hit the puddle, and -- ffftt! -- all the water underneath my car,
206
560493
3461
09:23
and instantly, I have an aha moment.
207
563978
1926
09:26
Light bulb goes off.
208
566463
1345
09:28
Everything in the world needs to be designed.
209
568364
2227
09:31
I mean, I'm sure I was thinking, "The drainage needs to be designed
210
571923
3208
09:35
in this parking lot."
211
575155
1161
09:36
But then I was like, "Everything in the world needs to be designed."
212
576340
3236
09:39
And it's true: left to its own devices,
213
579600
1882
09:41
Mother Nature isn't going to carve an interesting or necessarily helpful path
214
581506
4009
09:45
for you.
215
585539
1284
09:47
I've spent my career reaching into people's minds
216
587569
3479
09:51
and creating worlds out here that we can all interact with.
217
591072
3935
09:56
And yeah, you might not get to do this with fancy collaborators,
218
596309
3090
09:59
but I think if you leave here, those three easy steps --
219
599423
3614
10:03
therapy, who do I want to be, why do I do the things that I do;
220
603061
3966
10:07
design, create a plan and try and follow through with it,
221
607051
4253
10:11
what can I do;
222
611328
1794
10:13
execute it --
223
613146
1273
10:15
I think if you add that with a little color theory --
224
615061
2596
10:17
(Laughter)
225
617681
1006
10:18
some cool design choices and a general disrespect for architectural standards,
226
618711
4451
10:23
you can go out
227
623186
1643
10:24
and create the world that you want to live in,
228
624853
2954
10:27
and I am going to go home and buy a new trash can.
229
627831
2492
10:30
Thank you.
230
630760
1169
10:31
(Applause)
231
631953
2661
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7