Final Project Process

Well, my initial idea was to make my final project with strings, nails, and screws. As we can see i got the nails and screw's part all worked up but couldn't quite incorporate the strings. So i went over and got some paper clips because that was my last resort to make this so called necklace work. I attached the paper clips alternating sizes, and then I inserted the screws and nails.







My final project did not turn out they way i wanted it. My whole idea for Gjerd's necklace was to be a collar choker type necklace with different lengths of nails and screws and possibly thumb tags hanging down from the center. I feel like it would have symbolized her evilness and since she is gradually turning into a troll, the nails piercing her skin wouldn't effect her.

Final Rendering

Character Sketches With Swatches

Costume Specific Research Images

Concept Statement and Collage

A concept for:

East of the Sun West of the Moon

“East of the Sun West of the Moon”is a play that paints a picture of a love, jealousy, promises, expectations, etc. Its concept has been exposed to majority of the readers when they were young relating to Disney fairy-tales.

Central Idea: Love, Jealousy, Broken Promises, Needs and Wants.

Graphic Image: Victorian Era, 1888 time period. Colorful on family events, but also Dark and Gloomy.

I have quite a few ideas for East of the Sun West of the Moon. We can instantly relate to the play as a Disney story, but the story line of the play can be tweaked into many different themes. For example, comedy, serious, or thriller. This particular play allows me to approach the concept in many ways but I will collaborate two famous themes and make them one.

So right off the back we can already feel that the play reminds us of Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. So my approach to this play would be to set it in the Victorian Era. I feel like this time period would be perfect especially for a family who is not well off. Their clothes would pretty much be portrayed as rags. For the majority of the family scenes the concept of color can be more visual, in the sense more eye catching like in Cinderella. But by the same token I would really like to put the concept of “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” in this play. I feel like once Tove is sent off with the Bear, the play takes a new turn. I feel like the imagery of the play turns dark and sort of dead. A black and gray color scheme would be perfect. I would try and design certain parts of apparel for the main characters I am not quite sure what, maybe a glove for Tove, or the prince's glove, and would customize it myself that would fit that particular time frame of the play.

Character Analysis

In my first blog, I will be doing a character analysis of 4 major characters from the play East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

My first choice of character would be Tove, the fifteen year old heroine in the play. From the very start of the play we can view Tove as a very simple, beautiful, and family oriented girl. We see that she comes from a not so well off family, and is the only one who cares so much about the well being of her family members. This attitude of her leads to a drastic change in her personality from the beginning of the play to the end. She matures from being the caring fifteen year old to a feisty young women who is out to find her true love.


Tove's character reflects an image of my sister. She is the same way, when it comes to family and determination.


My second character analysis would be of the Prince. While reading the play, majority of the students including myself got the feeling of the fairy-tale Beauty and the Beast. The Prince's character in East of the Sun West of the Moon, resembles the character of the Prince in Beauty and the Beast. The only difference is the transformation, but their motive and purpose is the same. A rich 20 year old handsome Prince, who is a scary looking Bear during the day but by night time transforms into a handsome Prince. We can also witness how hard the Prince is trying to relieve himself of the spell that the wicked stepmother has casted on him, and we can also see how much he truly love's Tove.


My next character to analyze would be Tove's mother Gjerd. Gjerd to me comes off as this old, grumpy, and demanding women who instills favorites in her children. We can already get a sense of that from the very beginning of the play. She doesn't seem to respect anyone in the family and has the most say in the house. We can slowly see her cruel side coming out when she sends Tove with the Bear for her greed. We can almost see her transforming into this greedy women and slowly into a Troll.

Gjerd's character is very similar to Cinderella's step mother. In Cinderella we can see how she is a two-faced person who only favors her daughters and treats Cinderella very badly. Same goes here for Gjerd who does not care about any whatsoever and quite similarly bullies Tove around. I also included a picture of a Troll to show the transformation of an evil/cunning Gjerd to a hideous Troll! Also a real character to be played as Gjerd would be Glenn Close, because she has portrayed in Negative roles like 101 Dalmatians and then she has played a positive role yet a demanding one in Air Force One.

Lastly, I would like to analyze Gunnhild, the ugly 17 year old sister. Right away we can see that Gunnhild and Gjerd have formed a team against everyone else in the house. Again this goes back to the comparison of the step-mother and sisters in Cinderella. They have their posse and viewed everyone else below them. Same goes for Gunnhild and Gjerd, they don't even respect Olav. Their jealousy seems to rise towards Tove, and we can envision Gunnhild portraying the ugly princesses.
Once again, here I have shown how Gunnhild transforms from the ugly sister into an extremely ugly troll princess. I got this picture from Disney's Cinderella because I feel like she is quite similar to Cinderella's step-sister. Also as a real life character I would cast Sarah Jane Morris from the ABC show Brothers and Sisters. I feel like Sarah is pretty and with a bit of make up can play the role of Gunnhild extremely well because it would suit her. Her character in Brothers and Sisters is a bit different from Gunnhild's character but I can just vision Sarah in her shoes.


How do these traits inform of costume choices?

These traits inform costume design, because the designers can sit down and imagine what they should create for a certain character. To dress the character in the right costume, all of the traits come into account. It gives the designer an idea of how to fit that character in the absolute perfect outfit starting by age, personality, status, relationship to another character, motivation, desire and other things.

Tove- She seems to be a beautiful girl, and in the beginning of the play she would be dressed in very old clothes that are not appealing, but as she transitions into a young women and the Prince's wife we can see her dressed in a rich outfit that falls down to her feet.

Prince- Well he's the Prince, and I feel like the clothing concept of the Prince in Beauty and the Beast would work well with the Prince in East of the Sun West of the Moon. Blue seems to bring out the royal look and would fit the Prince well.

Gjerd- I feel like Gjerd's character is dressed better than anyone in the play. She seems so demanding, it gives me the idea that she wants to be the best among them all. And if she is dressed the finest among everyone, then for her its her way to portray her strong personality.

Gunnhild- She seems to be a competitor with Tove. I feel like she tries to outdo Tove in everything. I would say in the beginning of the play Gunnhild is dressed slightly better than Tove. Plus she is older and not as pretty as Tove so she has a kind of jealously towards that.