Stage Design (N0212A310006)

Programme objectives

Instruction in the programme is based on the blending of art, humanities and technology, which develop students’ personal characteristics and their focus on specific areas of stage design. The Master’s programme is a decisive phase for shaping an artistic personality and is determinative for further professional development. An important characteristic is the ability to “think differently”.

Pedagogical supervision is based on students’ ideas, their original notions and their own solutions, and it helps them develop and identify their projects’ further artistic possibilities. We understand pedagogical supervision in the Master’s programme as a creative process. Teachers are mainly inspirational personalities with unassailable artistic credentials, their own production and ability to reflect theoretically.

The applicant must have completed the Bachelor’s degree programme at DAMU’s Department of Stage Design or another Bachelor’s degree programme in a related field.

Instruction takes place in three specialised studios:

• theatrical stage design
• costume and masks
• film stage design

Profile of a programme graduate

Profile for theatrical stage design

A programme graduate is able to:

• create a conceptually well-conceived, distinctive, comprehensive scenographic project of significant artistic quality
• present and defend a stage design project, resolve a work’s material and technological conception, create a conception for a lighting design, inspire a creative team, and direct the artistic aspects of the realisation of an artistic work
• create a model and the relevant documentation for a work, and with his/her own artistic solution to co-create the presentation of a dramatic work in public
• assign the production of specific stage design objects, props and furnishings
• reflect theoretically on his/her own artistic work.

Graduates can apply their skills in all types of theatres including theatres abroad, thanks to their language skills.

Additional abilities and skills follow from the individual project completed within the scope of the programme.

Profile for costume and masks

A programme graduate is able to:

• manage costume design for theatre, film, television production, etc.
• create independent conceptual solutions for costume designs
• devise, draw or otherwise artistically communicate individual designs for costumes and masks within the scope of this conception
• create design documentation, select suitable materials for the costume design, defend and provide a rationale for his/her conception
• choose appropriate methods and approaches for the production and realisation of a work based on his/her own artistic designs.

The graduate is capable of underpinning his/her choice and solution with arguments.

• adequately realise certain atypical artistic details and artefacts, including final costumes, and thus create a necessary artistic prototype which serves as a model for production in theatre workshops
• manage partial changes during the course of rehearsals and collaborate with the whole creative team
• present his/her proposals and the costume design project, defend it in front of other creators and implementers, the theatre production team, the film production team, make-up artists, etc.

Graduates with this specialisation will find employment in all Czech theatres as well as in foreign theatres. Additional employment opportunities are in the area of film production and work for television, including costume designs for multimedia production.

Profile for film stage design

A programme graduate is able to:

• be a fully-fledged member of the creative team for an audio-visual work
• use the acquired knowledge to create a stage design
• use the acquired knowledge to realise a stage design
• address technical and economic problems of a film work
• hold any position in the art department of a film crew from decoration designer to illustrator, to costume director, to the film’s main set designer.

Rules and requirements for creating study plans

General information about admission process

Theatrical stage design: Applicants must submit and defend their own individual Master’s programme project, which must be in accordance with the programme of the Department of Stage Design and within its technical possibilities (max. two-page text attached to the application for admission). Applicants must also submit a set of works (portfolio), which provide a justification for the proposed project. Entrance examinations take place in the form of an interview.

Applicants from outside the Department of Stage Design must attach to their own programme of study a visualisation of the related scenographic solution and pass a one-day talent examination. The accepted project will form the basis of the individual study plan.

Costume and masks: Applicants must be graduates of a Bachelor’s degree programme in stage design or a related field. Applicants must submit and defend their own individual Master’s programme project, which must be in accordance with the programme of the Department of Stage Design and within its technical possibilities (max. two-page text attached to the application for admission). Applicants must also submit a set of works (portfolio), which provide a justification for the proposed project. Entrance examinations take place in the form of an interview. The accepted project will form the basis of the individual study plan.

Film stage design: Completion of a Bachelor’s degree programme in the field of stage design, architecture or a related field; a presentation of works elaborated at home; talent examination and admission interview.

Applicability to other types of academic programmes

Parts of the state final examination and their contents

Other academic duties

Characterisation of professional practice

Anticipated job placement for graduates (typical employment)