The Making of our 2024 Season

What was the brief for the 2024 Season? 

For Season 2024, we really wanted an overarching creative concept that tied all the productions together. ‘Every step a vibrant story’ was developed to bring together the colourful characters and stories from literature, history, and imagination that formed the Season.

What is the marketing team's involvement in the lead up to and on the day of the Season shoot?

For the marketing team, the Season Launch planning starts six months out with a briefing from the Artistic and Executive Director. Within the initial planning, we discuss the specific productions, and how we can visually represent this with our Creative Director. From here, the Creative Director and marketing team develop several concepts for each production, that are then presented back to the Artistic and Executive Directors for approval. 

In the lead into the shoot, the marketing team led the creative development across the project which included input from Queensland Ballet’s Artistic, Executive, Production, Technical, Costume, Hair and Makeup departments, as well as the external Creative Director, Makeup, Photography and Videography partners.

For the shoot the marketing team had a number of varied jobs including sourcing a mirror for Cinderella, lighting for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a snow globe for The Nutcracker, as well as making over-sized spools and buttons for Coppélia and developing makeshift stands for the trees in The Nutcracker.

The 2024 Season shoot was a lot of fun and delivered exceptional creative output.

Special mention to Harlequin Floors and the M·A·C Cosmetics creative team for their support of the 2024 Season shoot.

Which was your favourite wig to create and why?

I’d have to say the wigs for Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon. For many years I worked in the fashion industry doing hair for fashion shows and it was nice to visit the world of high fashion.

For a character as iconic as Coco Chanel, where did you get the inspiration from?

A couple of years ago I was given Chanel’s book to read so I was very aware of her history. I looked back on some of Chanel’s older catalogues of fashion shows and adapted some of her models' most iconic looks. As for Chanel herself, I stayed very true to her iconic statement look.

There was a total of seven different sets to be shot over two days. Can you please share the process and what is involved in pulling off such a mammoth task?

A lot of pre-planning is done with the team months in advance, with discussions involving the creative concept and how this might translate into scenery, props and theming requirements for each shoot. Each idea is discussed in detail, and then a lot of spreadsheets, schedules and discussions around resources are mapped out with the team, so we can ensure that everything is delivered on time and that our deadlines are always met.

Consideration with scheduling, bumping in and out the scenery, flooring, theming, props, atmospherics, lighting, costuming and hair and makeup is worked out so that the flow between each shoot is seamless. To try and be as efficient as possible for this year’s shoot, our Technical Manager Staging, Ben Marcolin, built reversible walls for Coppélia and Cinderella. This meant that we could quickly change over the scenery between these two ballets with less impact on needing additional resources to build and construct a second set of wall flats.

Which set was your favourite?

I loved the Midsummer Night’s Dream tree from this shoot. This was hand crafted, built and scenic arted by Josh McIntosh, who was also our Set Designer for Peter and the Wolf (Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre 2022) and The Little Mermaid (Talbot Theatre, Thomas Dixon Centre 2023). Production and Costume requirements for A Midsummer Night's Dream were also the most involved to pull together. It was a culmination of scenery construction and build, lighting magic, projection and atmospherics (smoke/haze) to create the perfect image. A lot of planning and research went into this shoot, [but] being able to stage it inside our Talbot Theatre meant we were able to draw on equipment in this space to add further dimension and magic to the shoot as well, which we haven't had the opportunity to do before.