COKEhead - - Final Pass

COKEhead is an examination of how far advertising in our society will go and the way it will forever alter our lives. When underprivileged people cannot afford medical services they can have their health care underwritten by large corporations. However, these decisions can have dire consequences. In COKEhead we are shown Nestor Cole's valiant attempt to fight the monster that he has created, a monster that has grown larger and more powerful than he ever expected. Through the plight of the 'Branded' we see a society that shuns some and vilifies others, exposing how the masses can turn a blind eye towards the abuse and neglect of a section of humanity, begging the question; "Have we learned from our past? Are we doomed to repeat it?"

My approach for COKEhead was to create a world that, like the world of advertising is very presentational and slick. There are many moments when characters break the "fourth wall" and directly address the audience. These moments are usually used for exposition, but also serve as a background for some of moral lessons that creep into the story. In my first exploration of the play I used a lot of large scale logos to show the overwhelming barrage of ads that rule our lives as city dwelling people in the modern age. In my initial research I found that the average person living in a large city is exposed to more than 3000 advertisements a day. Another major element in my first exploration was a wall of copy from famous ads, meant to be so busy that it would become "noise" or pattern.

One of the biggest problems I had with my first pass was that it seemed too fantastical. For the message of this play to get through, the world must register as possible, not realistic, but within the realm of the real. The first design was really lacking a sense of grounding. I was watching the television show Mad Men and the opening titles heavily informed my design in this latest pass. The set consists of a large building wrapped entirely in LED screens, much like the buildings of Times Square, which change with every setting in the play. Much like my first idea, logos are predominately featured on these screens. When the action moves to a fast food restaurant the images are those of McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King and others. When one of the characters is waiting for the bus the ads switch to those of transport, both enticing and insulting the character. When the character of Will Purdue is executed the screens go to "snow", visually telling us of his grim demise. The choice of LED screens was made because of the cold, harsh, light that they give off.

I think that this design is very powerful and serves to tell the story very well.