Detail View: Graduate Thesis Collection: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941): Production Design Influencing the Character’s Psyche

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941): Production Design Influencing the Character’s Psyche

Bell, Rachel J.

Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Production Design

Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Production Design

Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

"This graduate thesis in production design utilizes the tools of the craft to redefine the classic tale of good versus evil in the 1941 film adaption "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." My goal as a designer is to reinterpret the script to fit the framework of the story, which ultimately serves the character’s narrative. After developing a script breakdown, I established that the script would benefit from a change of setting in order to heighten the horrors of anxiety of the time period. I changed the time period from Victorian London to the World War II era with designs to support Dr. Jekyll’s fascination in the unethical practices of human experimentation. The subject of this thesis is to highlight the juxtaposition of good versus evil in Dr. Jekyll and his alter ego Mr. Hyde by externalizing his struggles by applying environmental psychology. Environmental psychology will define the motivators behind Dr. Jekyll’s behavior which my designs focus on two locations within his home and to present the underlying theme duality of nature."

Keywords: production design, reinterpretation, narrative, script breakdown, good versus evil, World War II, human experimentation, environmental psychology, duality of nature

Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design

2019-05

PDF : 28 pages, illustrations (chiefly color)