Production

Tuesday 16^th October 

In the morning we visited The Rep. Theatre at St. George’s Court (SGC) to sit in on rehearsals for ‘The Wounded’, (a war story with a twist).

Ruth showed us around the rehearsal space, it was fascinating to see how this process works at the top level of the business and I appreciated how very organised everything was.
The stage area had been set out exactly to the size and shape of the space being used at the TA Centre in Kings Heath where the show will be performed. All the props and set were set out in an organised fashion and to as close a standard as will be used in the performance.

It was then that I was re-introduced to an old friend (and sometimes enemy) of mine: the LA85 assault rifle, (aka the SA80), the standard issue British Armed Forces rifle, albeit in air-soft replica form and therefore about a third of its real weight.

We also noticed that posted around the room on the walls were a series of diagrams, Ruth explained that these were character bios that the cast had drawn up during the first rehearsals, describing certain aspects of their characters that weren’t necessarily brought up during the actual show but helped to add to characterisation and make more realistic ‘3D’ people on stage.

We then moved on to the stage management office to speak to Ruth about course work and our jobs on Snow Queen, whilst the Alex’s took turns sitting in on The Wounded rehearsal session.
Ruth explained how I should go about the SQ paperwork, how ‘The Book’ should be set out, how rehearsal notes should look etc. She then provided me with copies of examples from previous Rep Shows. That will be a great help to me to get it all set out straight.
By the time midday rolled around I hadn’t had an opportunity to sit in on The Wounded but Alex N. and I had to leave to get over to MB campus for the SQ rehearsal that afternoon.

Ref. - The Wounded at The Rep. :
http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/event/wounded/

Production

Friday 12^th October

Production session was concentrating on Personal protective equipment (PPE). So I wore my steel toe capped safety boots for the day. It turned out to be quite a big mistake on my part as even though they are lighter than some of the safety boots on the market they are still rather heavy and drag on my bad leg and after walking around in them all day, when I got home in the evening, my knee had swollen up and was extremely painful. So I have now stored them in the control booth at Matthew Boulton so I only need to wear them when necessary.
We spoke for a while on Health and Safety issues in our job and what we should look out for. In my opinion it’s mainly about keeping your wits about you and always using common sense. I realise that in my case I will have to do a lot of self-assessment for certain jobs due to my disability i.e. I cannot climb ladders, and must be careful when lifting heavy items as I cannot squat/lift with my knees.

Afterwards Anthony showed us all QLab a great piece of software specifically designed for creating multimedia set-ups for live performance and installations.
It enables you to design, edit and control audio and video playback with MIDI integration and also live playback options.
Unfortunately it is only available for Apple Mac. Computers so for the moment is unobtainable to me, otherwise I would have already downloaded the free version and would be having a good play with it, as that is always the best way to learn with this kind of software. But any way it was good to get to see how it works and how it can be a very useful tool to us in the future. (We will probably be using it on Snow Queen).
 

Afterwards we went down to the hall to have a look around and get a feel for the space where Snow Queen will be performed. Whilst we were debating the size and placement of the platform/cave structure that will be an integral part of the set Ruth told us our assigned production team roles for the show: Alex N. is Stage Manager (SM) and Props/Costume master; I am Deputy Stage Manager (DSM) and Sound Operator and Alex W. is Lighting Operator.
It turns out that the role of DSM is quite a big one as I have to attend all rehearsals, take notes, keep the ‘Book’ (the bible so to speak of the show containing all, script changes, adjustments, and guides of all lighting and sound cues.)
As the threat of ‘paper-work’ has always had an adverse effect on me, ranging from ‘mild nausea’ to ‘abject terror’ it was with some trepidation that I accepted my role. But then again, I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge and will always try to do my best no matter what, but isn’t that the point of entering Higher Education? To be challenged and taken out of my comfort zone and to expand my work capabilities?

Ref. QLab by Figure 53 :  http://figure53.com/qlab/

Production & RISK 3

Thursday 11^th October

I arrived early at the MAC ready to get down to work with my designated ‘Risk’ group, setting up and filming the ‘memory’ scenes we would be projecting during the performance.
Unfortunately duty called elsewhere as we had an impromptu production meeting with Anthony about the YouTheatre week we would be working on for The Rep. during half-term.

So I was unable to collect the video camera off Ellie that she had kindly brought in for us to use. I explained the situation to my group and being the resourceful lot that they are they decided to forgo the video camera and to use their mobile phones to film instead and we agreed that I would go and find them once the production meeting had ended.

Anthony took us through the information that he had received from the two theatre companies that would be performing during the YouTheatre sessions: Seabright Productions on Tuesday 23^rd and Box Clever Productions on Wednesday 24^th. Both companies had sent very comprehensive timetables, set/lighting/sound requirements, Box Clever had even sent a detailed floor-plan/lighting schematic for their set.
We went through the lists and timetables and organised our own timetables for the week including prep, get-ins, get-outs and listed any lighting and sound equipment that would needed to be outsourced for the week.

We then set to designing the lighting we would be rigging on Monday 22nd so the lighting requirements would be covered for all the shows and we wouldn’t have to change all the rigging each day for the individual shows.
There was an increasing amount of technical jargon being thrown around and by the end of the meeting I found myself feeling that my brain had been filled to capacity and was quite confused as to what everything was, although Anthony very nicely tried to explain what we were talking about I still found myself quite lost. But I’m sure that once I have gotten to see the equipment in question and worked with it for a bit I’m sure it’ll all become clear to me, and I’ll be able to tell Par cans from Fresnels and Gobos from Gels.

By the time we adjourned it was almost lunch time so I went in search of my Risk group to see how they were getting on. Turned out they had already filmed a couple of scenes and that they were just about to wrap for lunch. So we organised to meet up again later and set up for the next scenes which would probably require a bit more organisation.

After lunch I found my group trying to set up for the ‘You’re better off on your own!’ scene. It called for a sitting room type setting and the group chose to use the seating/screen area by the exhibition hall. I was having difficulty finding a suitable angle to shoot from when Alex N. happened to walk by and pointed out something that had been ticking away at the back of my mind: copyright and privacy issues! The copyright issues arose from the fact that we were filming in front of a plasma screen displaying images from the photography show in the hall, I had been trying to find a camera angle that wouldn’t show those images but was finding it difficult to get it right; the other issue was the jukebox blaring in the back ground, not only was it drowning out our dialogue but also playing music that we did not have rights to. The privacy issue was quickly becoming apparent because we had already had passers by trying to include themselves in our shots and we did not have waivers for anyone of them to sign even if we did keep them in the scenes.
I decided to go and speak to somebody from the MAC, 1^st to gain permission to film on the property and 2^nd to ask whether there was anywhere else in the building that would be more suited to our setting requirements.
The lady at the information desk handed me over to a manager named to Camille to whom I explained our situation and requirements, she kindly gave us permission to shoot on the property and helped us to locate an area that fitted our needs perfectly, (a cubbyhole off the foyer that had been used for mini exhibitions but was standing empty just for that day), she also gave us permission to move a sofa from the seating area into the cubby and then back again once we had finished. I assigned Jonothan and Leon to this task as they are both big strong lads and could lift and move the sofa with relative ease. I myself directed them across the foyer making sure that they did not bump into anything or anyone and that they were lifting and carrying safely.
The filming went surprising well and after only three takes we had the footage we needed.
We replaced the sofa to its original spot and left a message for Camille at the info. Desk that we had finished filming interiors, that we had replaced the loaned sofa and thanked her for her help.

The group then went outside into the park to film the ‘I don’t want to be alone’ scenes. I found a perfect location for the park bench shot up the hill by the band stand then helped to find the right angles and ambience needed. We then went down to the duck pond, where I discovered a new job description that I probably won’t be adding to my CV: duck wrangler!
We needed Eve to be happily feeding the ducks on the pond when suddenly they all abandon her for the lovey-dovey couple from the park bench… It was then that we discovered that none of us had any bread or such to entice the ducks over, but we did have a packet of posh cheese and onion crisps left over from lunch. I took the crisps crushed them up to have more to work with, and then rationed them between the actors and myself. I used my own crisps to test the ducks behaviour and figure out how we would set up the shot, then I explained to the actors how we needed to get the ducks to do what we wanted and how I would cue the actors into the shot. We recorded the scene in two takes and hoped that it would be enough footage to work with because we had run out of bait for the birds and they had swum off.
We then went back inside to finish off recording the ‘You’re so boring’ scene.

After that filming was done the group went back to the English Suite to try and devise a way to recreate a bird taking flight. The idea was that the actors would group together forming the general shape of the bird and its wings, flapping, taking off and soaring free. At this point I had to mainly do risk assessments for them, due to the fact that some of the movements they were attempting including lifting each other and hanging off each other were a little too dangerous and I had to steer them away from those ideas. I also tried to explain what a large bird such as an eagle looks like when it takes flight and soars, Amy who was supervising at that point recommended that during the weekend they should research some videos of large birds in flight so they could get a proper idea of how they move.
It was getting rather late in the day so we had a quick recap meeting, organising who would be doing what on the project over the weekend. As I would not be seeing the group again until the following Thursday Leon volunteered to be in charge of all the footage we had collected that day and do any editing necessary. I explained that if there were any emergencies that needed my attention that the group could contact me but that if they needed onsite production artist aid that I had arranged for Alex N. to cover for me whilst I was away from them on other jobs.

Risk 2

Wednesday 10^th October 

It was great to be back with my designated project group. We had a bit of a chat to get reacquainted with each other and the subject matter. We went over the notes from the previous work sessions and added any input from the survey of friends and family we had done over the previous weekend about Risk, the conclusion of which was that we hadn’t been off the mark with our ideas of examples of risk that people will and won’t take in life and the effects of such.

So we decided to carry on developing scenes and concepts from the previous week though I was beginning to feel a little un-easy with establishing staging concepts too far, due to the limited amount of time we had for development and prop making, our complete lack of budget and also that we hadn’t yet seen the theatre space we would be giving the performance in. I tried to steer the group away from too outlandish concepts and to keep it all as easy to produce and minimalist as possible.

The main concept that was developed in the morning work session was that each member of the cast would be faced with a decision whether or not to take a risk in life, that we would see a short scene of something that happened to them in the past that pushed them to not take that risk and that decision would form the individual bar to their metaphorical cage. Later on in the performance piece the characters would discover that by not taking those risks they had trapped themselves in that cage and would have to learn how to break free taking the risk, embracing the unknown future and taking flight.

Towards midday we were allowed access to the ‘Hexagon Theatre’ (the space all the groups would be performing in on Thursday 18^th). Unfortunately we couldn’t access the lighting so the theatre was extremely dark and Alex W. and I had to reconnoitre by the light of a mobile phone and the tiny LED torch on the base of my lighter. One thing was blatantly obvious to us even in the dark, that the theatre was a lot smaller than we had expected, (the rectangular area upstage I strode out as being 4m wide by 1.5m deep there was a curved out area downstage (approximately 6m wide by 2m) but as the front row of audience seating was on the same level as the staging area we wouldn’t be able to use too much of it without getting too close to the audience.
The performance students left the theatre to carry on working and to lunch whilst ‘The A Team’ stayed to sit a while getting a feel for the space, looking at what lighting and A/V options we may be able to access and also talk to Amy about how we were doing with our groups and exchange ideas on how we could develop the production requirements our groups were asking for. 

I voiced my doubts on being able to produce the bars for the cage, bars that would grow from seeds of doubt planted by each character. We discussed the possible materials from which those bars could be made: scaffolding bars, (expensive and unwieldy);  ropes (as we couldn’t access the rigging and each bar needed to be raised individually this was quickly rejected); lights (not too hard to recreate if the bar originated from above but as it was a case of the opposite direction, it would mean sourcing extremely powerful yet small portable lights and also having to use hazing machines to be able to see the shafts of light properly, and thus this was also rejected for being way out of budget and timescale.) A possibility we came upon was to use bamboo poles which the actors could 'plant' themselves, (this was a good option as Alex N. has a number of bamboo poles at home that he could bring in and therefore would not cost a penny to produce). We also noticed that there was a projector in the rigging which could prove very useful for my group: a concept we had considered was to project pre-recorded video representing those memories that steered the characters towards not taking risks.
Armed with all our information we returned to our project groups to help make any adjustments and carry on steering them towards finishing scripts etc.

After lunch we all returned to the ‘English Suite’ (a space I am beginning to dislike as the acoustics in the room are strange and the smallest sound is greatly amplified and when there are groups of people all talking at once, music blaring, etc. it’s just too loud. That afternoon I was developing a serious headache and going into ‘grumpy bear’ mode).

Ellie gave us a short brief on how we should use Harvard Referencing in our blogs and written work. A subject I am sure to find very useful in the future. Ellie had just had some surgery on her mouth and was finding it difficult to talk over the class when they got a bit rowdy so I found myself having to bark at them to quiet down and concentrate on what was being explained to us, the acoustics seemed to work in my favour and even though I hardly raised my voice the class ended up in shocked silence. (I have a feeling that I’m going to become infamous amongst my peers for my ‘Drill Sargent’ discipline.) 

After the briefing I returned to my Risk group and relayed the information about the projector and the cage bars. They liked the projector and chose to run with that concept but rejected the bamboo pole idea, the group seemed to have their hearts set on using lights, so I had to put my foot down (maybe a little too firmly due to the headache/grumpiness) and explain that that concept was just too far beyond our means of budget and time. I did soften the blow by introducing them to the idea I had had that by combining a metal clang sound effect and miming a reaction to an imaginary bar shooting up to trap them they could quite easily produce the desired effect. Plus I believed that it would paint them in a good light to the audience by stretching their acting skills whilst not relying on elaborate props and staging. The group were convinced that this was the best option and so I measured out a space in our corner of the suite mimicking the Hexagon stage so we could proceed with blocking out the various scenes and get down to devising a solid script.

As the day’s work sessions drew to a close we decided that we would dedicate the next day to filming those ‘bad-memory’ videos so they could be edited over the weekend. I went to Ellie to ask whether we could borrow a video camera and explained to her what exactly we would be using the video for. She very kindly agreed to bring in the camera and explained what cable/memory card we would need to transfer the video for editing.