Production Week:Thursday

THURSDAY 28^th March 11am-12pm:

Thankfully we had a later start on the Thursday because of having a show the previous night, the previous show went smoothly will some problems but I have evaluated all of the roles  for that performance. The first thing that happened was that we had been feedback from the Director and Musical Director, their overall feedback was amazing and they were really pleased with the performance. As the wireless Microphone mixer I know that I had to step up and make the next show even more smoother when it came to mixing them. There we adjustments that needed to be made to some aspects of the sound but we were going to do this before the next show.

After this the Band did there warm up along with the cast vocal warm up, and then the band went over a couple of numbers with the cast. Then I requested for if we could go over a couple of the harder musical numbers that I messed up a little on the previous show. I just wanted to have a go at them and work out where I was going wrong so I could improve them on the night and give the audience a better musical number to listen to. After all of this was over and done we started the usual pre-sets of everything and the cast got their wireless microphones.

The only change sound wise to this 2^nd performance was that I was going to be do the extra announcement about the strong language used during the show. Other than that everything went ahead as normal.

Evaluation:

My evaluation of the performance would have to be that I felt it went a lot smoother, but there were still parts that needed to be improved, at parts during this show we were fighting equipment that was at points playing up, especially when it came to the wireless microphone on the characters of Julia and Robbie. We experience times where we lost the microphones and then also points where we had to cut off the microphone to stop feedback from happening. The sound crew role of dealing with the wireless microphones during the performance was done really well, but at points when we needed to get information about why a microphone wasn’t working we weren’t able to get hold of the person dealing with it, and the problem wasn’t solved as fast. We also started to experience terrible noises coming from the bass guitar, in the end we had to have it one mute or only on a fraction. One of the worst parts that we had been experiencing for a while was the wireless guitar microphone, it seemed as though it was picking up a radio frequency because every time we turned it on we would hear a radio start playing. In the end we couldn’t actually find a solution to this and still have no idea why that noise was there.  Although I think as a stressed out crew we managed to get through the situations and pull out some excellently sounding musical numbers. The band also were sounding 40% better than the previous show and was on track to sounding the best it has since the start. My mixing of wireless mic’s was still off in places but I was finding ways to deal with this and was trying to turn bad songs into better sounding ones as much as possible. As a sound crew we worked well with eachother, even if we at points snapped at small things but that was entirely down to stress levels being through the roof.

During the break, we talked about how the last show went and what we needed to do to get the best sounding show yet. One thing we worked out that could be the key was the levels for the band, the plan was to keep the band at a low level at the start of the show and gradually bring them up during certain numbers and towards the final numbers. This show then lead to a better sounding performance. We attempt to try and fix Robbie’s guitar microphone but we couldn’t find a solution so where going to have to work around it. My plan was just going to have to give it volume when he is playing and bring it totally off when he isn’t, so I was going to have to pay a large amount of attention to that part as well as the other mic’s.

With the last show approaching once again we had to make sure all the presets were done and we then implemented our plan to bring the band right down. One thing we found out just before the start was that we had 2 spare batteries, so if a wireless microphone died or needed new batteries it wasn’t going to happen. But to our advantages/thankfulness all the microphones had plenty of battery life to get them through the show.

Evaluation:

The final show was the best show no questions asked, I really stepped up the mixing of the wireless mic’s and cut the amount of mistakes down to only a couple through-out. As a sound crew we worked really well with eachother and experience no wireless mic problems during the show which was s huge bonus. And best on all when we did change the way we were going to be mixing the band it worked to our advantage and everything just slotted into place. Fine there were still really small things that weren’t brilliant, but if we had a couple more show we would have been able to make this show sound amazing.

Even though we came into this really hating the fact they had chosen such a hard show to do with the Live Band, wireless mic’s and the venue not helping us with certain aspects, we came out of it pleased with what we had achieved, as a sound crew we worked amazingly well together and by the last show me and will were a unit helping eachother out through-out the performance.

Unfortunately even through it took us a day to set-up, 4 days to get right, everything had to be totally de-rigged during the get out, during this everyone came together including the cast to get everything taken down/apart and then taken back over to the college. Impact Productions came back for their equipment and we helped them gather up all of their cabling, the 2 speakers and amp and then we gathered up all of our equipment and made sure that everything was taken back over to the college. 

Production Week:Wednesday

WEDNESDAY 27^th March 9am- 11pm:

So today was the day of the first performance so everything had to step up a gear and made sure that everyone and everything was ready for tonight’s performance. Unfortunately Will wasn’t able to come in until later so I was mixing the band and Microphones for the first rehearsal that day, which didn’t mind because I was only going to touch the band mix if I really had to. While the cast and band once again were doing there warm ups I started to look through the script so I could start to remember microphone changes. I also started adding notes at the beginning of scenes of what character had what microphone to remind me. After the first rehearsal of the day we got really positive feedback from the director saying that the sound really had improved since the day before which was huge leap forward.

There still was a couple of issues to address but these were only minor at the moment which was a really good sign that our work was starting to pay off. Some of the thing we had to change were the volume levels coming through the 4 foldback speakers we had and then a slight change in volume on the PA. I had to make a slight adjustment to the mix of the keyboards so that the Musical Directors wasn’t overpowered by the others.

Just after I had made these adjustments I had a break like everyone else before we moved onto a dress rehearsal, we were going to face new challenges here when it comes to the wireless microphones placement on their costumes. The one costume that we had to worry about was Julia’s Wedding Dress, because Erin has a great voice but it hasn’t got a huge projection to it so we needed to make sure we were still picking up the vocals and the speech.

Not long Will arrived with a box full of adaptors and extra cables that we order a while ago for the show, we now could change parts of the band set-up to make it sound even better because it meant at place we could do a correct job instead of a botched job like we had. After we had finished off these minor changes it was time to do the Dress rehearsal before the first show. This went alright, I was still making a couple of mistakes but I was just going to have to try not to make them on the night. After we had finished we did ask to go over certain numbers once more just to try them again and for me to take some notes. We had one final job which we remembered right at the last minute which was that we had to create a safety announcement with some of the characters, Will raced off to create something on the computers while I tidied up the sound area so it look tidier to the Audience.

Evaluation:

The first show in my opinion could of gone a lot better in terms of the mixing of the wireless microphones, I managed to make quite a few mistakes and cause a couple patches of feedback, I think this also was down to the fact I had only done it 2 times before this one so was still trying to figure out the play itself, the band was still maybe a bit to loud for some people liking but again it was still an on-going mixing battle through-out the performance, the radio sound that came with the guitar was rather much louder at parts so we need to see if there is anyway we can attempt to change this. Also right on the opening number and for a small period after we totally lost the lead actors microphone, we didn’t know why because after a small amount of time it just came back and started working again. For the first performance give the time we have had as a team we worked well together and tried to overcome the rubbish parts. There are a couple of things that need doing before the second show but we also need to take on board the director and musical directors feedback.

Production Week: Tuesday

TUESDAY 26^th March 7.50am-10pm:

On the Tuesday I seemed to arrive ridiculously early so the first thing I decided to do was continue the tapping of cables backstage where there were walkways. Again there were a lot of cables running along the floor from the staging to PA Systems etc.. So I taped all of these down to help with the safety of cast and crew when working backstage during the performances. I then also used duct tape to help keep the huge multicore cable above the Fire Exit, and then put a layer of tape over the cabling that ran down the wall.

Today was going to be when we got to do our Technical Rehearsal’s and then go into a full run-through for the first time, so today was going to be a stressful and fun filled day. By the time everyone had arrived everything had been turned on, while the band and the cast were doing their vocal warm up’s we were preparing the wireless microphones because they were going to be used during the technical rehearsal so Mark who was going to be mixing them started to practise. The technical rehearsal for sound was really only for the microphones. We only made slight adjustments to the band during the rehearsal, at points I did jump in and help Mark out with the wireless microphones at points where they got a bit harder.

The main points that came out of the technical rehearsal was the fact that one that the wireless microphones weren’t sounding great but this was just because it was the first time we had rehearsed with them, and then the cast were complaining that they couldn’t hear the lead actors over the band. To solve the second problem we rigged up my personal PA System at the front of the stage, then we purely sent the wireless microphone mix through them so the cast on stage would be able to hear cue lines etc...  Also during the Technical Rehearsal we did sort of play around with the mix of the band just to see what sort of effect certain changes would make.

After the technical run through and lunch, we went into just a normal no stopping run-through so that everyone could pick up on areas that they either needed to rehearse or if there were parts that needed changing.  After this it was apparent that there were musical numbers that needed to be rehearsed again and certain scenes as well. Also they were all saying that the band was still too loud and the volume needed to be brought down and the microphones brought up a bit, so we adjusted the way we were mixing everything through the speakers to alter how it was sounding, and the volume was adjust a tiny bit. One thing we did add at this point was that we added in a limiter to the system which meant we could make sure that the sound doesn’t get any louder than the level we set.

One task that we did have to try and figure out how to do was trying to get a Wireless microphone working on the lead actors guitar. Impact Productions had provided us with and adaptor for a guitar so it was all done for us all we had to do was plug it in, but we needed to add distortion to the guitar for the songs otherwise we weren’t going to be getting the right sound. After several different attempts/methods we got the now Wireless Guitar working with the distortion, but the downside was we were now experiencing a weird interference. What was happening was when we turned up the wireless guitar microphone we got a radio playing alongside, luckily it was a lot quieter than th guitar so we would be able to hopefully hide it during performances.

What then happened is they started a full run-through and aimed to get through as much of it as possible before they finished for the day, after this the stage crew realised that they were short-handed when it came scene changes and backstage duties so they needed and extra hand, Mark who was operating the wireless microphone wasn’t 100% confident with the mixing for this show so volunteered to help out with stage, I then moved onto doing the microphones for the show while Will who was just overseeing/assisting us now was going to be mixing the band.

Once everyone had disappeared we began to try and fix and eradicate the radio sounds that were coming out of the speakers when we used the wireless guitar, but this went no-where and whatever we tried failed so we knew we would just have to work around it when it came to the performances. Also we tried to help the acoustics of the theatre by sliding the thick black curtains past the PA speakers and then facing the speakers slightly towards them, when we then played sound through it, it didn’t sound like it had changed but we would need the band to see if it had made an effect. After this we packed up and called it a day.

Its here Production Week: Monday

MONDAY 25^th March 8.30am-10pm:

On Monday morning we didn’t have specific roles to stick to for the time being it was a case of all giving a hand with bring the equipment over to the Theatre. We all worked effectively here and managed to cut down the time it took by assigning everyone with a selection of the sound equipment to bring over, this meant that we only ended up doing 2 trips instead of multiple. After everything had been transported over to the theatre along with the set, this is when I started to work purely on a sound front, while the other members of the production team started on the construction of the set.

When it came to the three sound crew roles, at this point I was purely concentrating on the sound set-up, I found that this would more effective because personally I prefer to be left to complete a task on my own, also as I was going to be mixing the band it was my responsibility to complete the set-up of them. Shortly after we had arrived and finished bring most of the sound equipment over except from the Instruments, Impact productions arrived with the hired equipment.  

The first thing that impact did for us was assemble the staging that we had hired, this meant that the minute it was set-up I could start to get equipment into the places it needed to go and then start the huge job of cabling. The most important job that we had when it came to the sound set-up was the 50m Cable that connected all elements of sound to the mixer. This cable had to be run along the wall but also over 2 Doorway’s in order to get to the mixer, so this was going to present challenges. First thing I did was just unroll the cable into a pile and then placed the multicore part to it at the back dead centre to the band. Then with the help of Mark we managed to get the cable along and up to where it needed to go.

After this was done I had to get it all plugged in to the mixer and get everything powered up. What I did was get a huge blue flight case that is used to transport lights. After the Lights had been rigged I borrowed the case and used it as a sound desk for my Mixer. This case just happened to be a perfect size because we just managed to slide it down one of the rows of seats which added to it stability. Once I had this desk I placed the big 24 track Soundcraft mixer onto the desk and started to plug in all of the XLR Ends into their rightful XLR Sockets. Then after this we just had to get some power to the area for everything that needed power.

My next Job was the positioning of the band, the whole band had not long before brought over everything they needed, so it was my job to place everything where it needed to go. The first thing to be placed was the Drum Kit, this was the biggest item to fit onto the stage. I also got Joel the drummer to actually give me a lesson of how to assemble the drum kit while I was helping him set it up which was educational. After he was in place I started to place the keyboards where they needed to be and then moved onto the guitars, the amps were not going to actually be used as speakers but were being used for their effects to the instrument, I put the Bassist and Guitarist together along with the Reed player. These were all placed together because it was the best use of the space no other real reason. The three backing singers just were placed next to eachother but they had a section to themselves this then also looked like how conventional back singers are placed. After we had finished the Musical Director wanted to go ahead and just do an acoustic warm up which was fine because it meant we could carry on with other things.

Just after this the cast started to arrive in the theatre, this was a shock to us because we were expecting to have the day to ourselves so we could get on and get everything sorted without disturbance, this idea was obviously wrong. They had come over because they wanted to start doing some rehearsals in the space that they were going to be using, which at the time they arrived was covered in equipment, cables, set and just general mess but this wasn’t our problem. Because of their arrival we knew they were going to want to use the band to do some rehearsals so we would now have to rush to get the whole band microphones up and get everything connected. For the time being we weren’t going worry about the wireless microphones and purely aim our efforts at the band.

Just after 2pm Will who would be helping/assisting and supervising with the sound on this production arrived, by this time I had only connected up the microphones. So he then helped with pointing us in the right direction for what we needed to be doing first and so on. So Me, Will and Mark began the plugging in of all the Amps and keyboards into the cable drum XLR Inputs, but making sure we were writing down what was going into each input so we knew when it came to working it all out on the board. We also had to set-up the 2x EVSX300 Speakers and Amp that we hired as a band foldback, for this we had to run wires underneath the stage but to do this we used some string and just pulled it through. One thing that Will had provided was the Clip on microphones for the Drum Kit along with 2 Condensers and then a Clip on microphone for the saxophone. The whole process of connecting everything up and making sure everything will be able to be hear, was a long job that had to be rushed because of being pushed to finish. Because of this we made a huge mess of the stage which was then covered in wires. 

Because we were being pushed for time, we decided to set-up any other PA system while they were rehearsing, this would project the sound of the band towards the audience, it also meant that we could share the volume through 4 speakers instead of 2 meaning we were avoiding breaking the speakers but also it would help to make the whole general sound better. As none of the tracks had been EQed it didn’t sound very good and it would have to be correctly levelled and tweaked. During these rehearsals we were getting on with other jobs that needed doing.

The Cast rehearsed for a couple of hours before heading off and then once the band had finished there rehearsing, we could now fix the mistakes that we had made when rushing to get everything plugged in. I personally couldn’t believe the state the band stage was in and I had a OCD Moment where I neatened/taped and untangled all of the cabling on the stage. After about an hour of me doing this I finally finished, the whole appearance of the stage looked 100% better. 

My Role as a ASM during Production Week

During the production week my main role/focus will be that of the sound department, so instead of concentrating 100% on the assembly of the set, sorting of props, painting the last parts etc.. I will be focusing on the set-up of the band, mixer, fold back systems, dealing with microphone issues and sorting out the PA Systems being used to provide sound to the audience.
Then during the show my role is the mixing of the Live Band, and controlling the level of sound coming from each instrument/amp/microphone and mixing them through into the speakers. I will also help with the Pre-sets and jobs needed doing before the start of every show, and the interval pre-sets/jobs, but my own focus will be that of sound.

Its Production Week on Monday!

So after weeks that have felt like years, we are now at the stage were Production Week Starts on Monday. We have finished about 90% Set with just small things to do next week, but these are only small things which is good because it means that these little jobs will not take up a huge amount of time.

Our Production week lasts 4 Days, Monday the 25th-Thursday the 28th of March. The Schedule as it stands right now is as followed:
Monday:
Tech Day, we have the theatre for a the whole day so that we can do all the major jobs like, The band Staging set-up, all the lighting rigged, sound set-up (Microphones) + All the cabling layed out ready to be plugged in etc... also at 9am on the Monday the Hire Company (Impact productions) will turn up with all the hired equipment/lighting/sound and staging, they also provided a technician to help set up the staging and the lighting. The plan is to stay until most of this is done so that is ready for Tuesday Morning!
Also at some point the Band will turn up with all their Instruments so that they can be set-up with microphones, amp plugged in etc... Me and will would then proceed to mix and equalize each and every instrument. 

Tuesday:
The Cast would then come over to the theatre at 9am ready for a full technical rehearsal (with Wireless Microphone) and this would last until whatever time they finished. In the lunch break we would then fix any technical issues or set problems ready for when the cast return after lunch. When they return they will either proceed with going over parts of the play that they weren't happy with that needed more practice. Then they would go for another run-through getting as far through the play as possible.

Wednesday:
The Cast would again turn up at 9am, to get straight into Costume ready for a Dress Rehearsal. As we had a performance at 7pm that evening, all technical issues needed to be addressed and sorted by then, (the sound was proving to be the hardest to sort out and this was my department during the show). We would then do the same as Tuesday and go over areas that the Director or the Technical team weren't happy with, and then follow this with the final rehearsal before the first show.
All pre-sets would be made and the cast would go for dinner, we would then fix any problems or do any last minute adjustments that needed to be made.
Then we would have the first show at 7pm-10pm (Approx)

Thursday:
There would be a later start on the Thursday  but the time would depend on how well the Wednesday night performance had gone. If all goes well we would come in and just get ready straight away for the matinee performance at 2.30pm. If there were areas that weren't as good as we wanted then we will be asked in a little earlier to fix/go over these areas.
There would then be the 2.30 performance and then after this a break/if there were still set/technical problems we will try and solve these before presetting for the evening performance at 7.30pm.
The Cast would then all return, get changed and ready for the last performance of the show, the show would go ahead at 7.30.
After the show had finished, straight away the Get-out would begin and the whole set and everything in the theatre would be taken down, packed away and either returned to the Hire company (Impact  Productions) or taken back to college.
After this was done we would all go home and enjoy our holidays.

ASM Theory Lesson Work

This was done a long time ago, but  I have only just remembered to upload it, we did this in a theory lesson to get a better understanding of what happens during Production Week, so that when we came to it ourselves we had a better understanding of what was going to happen.

A Week in Tech:

Monday:

·         Normally have your get in at 8am, including rigging and the fit up.

·         Then around 12pm you would try and start focusing, this will be going on for the majority of the afternoon.

·         Between 4-5pm approximately you would start the plotting, this could take on average 1-3 hours (or for big shows it could take longer)

·         Then at 7pm you would start your tech run, you might not finish the tech run but would make a start.

·         At approx. 9.30pm you would finish, at this time stuff like set painting or if the floors needed painting then this is when it would happen.

Tuesday:

·         You would then arrive at 9am and carry on with the tech run.

·         Then at approx. 4pm you would start the dress rehearsal.

·         The between 8-9pm you would finish for the day.

Wednesday:

·         You would start with a couple of run-throughs at around 9-10pm or what time the Director Requests.

·         You would be touching up any little details that haven’t been addressed in concern to the set, props, and costumes.

·         You would then have a show at 7pm.

·         After the show you would pre-set the show ready for the next performance.

Thursday:

·         You would normally arrive at 10-11pm and check all of the pre-sets are still in the right place.

·         You would then sit down with the director and he would have written a list of notes while watching the performance, which will all be addressed by cast and crew.

·         You would then take a break and then come back ready for a 1.30-2pm show.

·         This show would normally finish around 5pm and then you will pre-set again ready for the evening performance.

·         Then 7.30pm Show.

·         Then at the end of the day you pre-set again for the next show on Friday.

Friday:

·         You will be called in at around 11-12pm ready for the 2pm show.

·         This would be the last show so you would strike and put away as much as possible.

·         After this is done the crew would be allowed to go home.

Paint... Glorious Paint!

Before we could even start painting on the designs and the actual colors that the flats would be during the show we had to put down a base coat of white. We used Rosco white to start off but when we ran out we moved onto basic Matt emulsion. We needed to put down a base coat of white because the canvas absorbs the paint so this puts a layer onto which we paint our designs.
This process of putting a base coat of white on each flat that we were going to use took forever, ages and after (or throughout) we were all hurting and tired from constant rollering of brushes. Luckily there were certain flats that we didn't need to paint so we left them and put them to one side and just concentrated on getting the white on so we could move onto the actual painting.

In terms of Health and Safety when we started to paint everything, we made sure that we vented to room by opening most of the windows to give a good circulation of air within the painting environment  We also made sure that we took regular breaks and avoided breathing in to much of the paint fumes because this could effect our breathing.

When it came down to picking what to paint onto what flat, it fell down to me as the set designer to decide what to paint and how to paint it. I had a vague idea of what I wanted from the minute I started designing my set but I did rethink certain parts after looking/listening to what my other classmates were going to do, doing this helped because it led to greater outcomes.

This was an image that I just found
that looked near perfect to the effect
I wanted to get.

There were 3 Sections to the set that needed to be painted:

1: The Dumpster: From the start I knew this would be bricks, just bricks like the outside of a building. The bricks would obviously be faded and one would be different to another and these would cover the the window flat and also the 0.25m wide flat. Because it needed to be as realistic as possible I went and measured a brick and made some templates of a brick. Me and Danielle then drew the outlines of hundreds of bricks onto these flats ready for them to be painted.

2: The Wedding Venue (a Touch of Class Banqueting Hall): This was really a late decision on what color to paint these 3 flats, the Doorway and the 2 x the 1m flats. I knew that I wanted it to look like the inside of wedding venue and back then it was very one color, and very light and pale... so we went for a light blue. Dan (HND) then volunteered to paint all 3 flats in the same color. He did this because it meant the whole thing would have the same brush stoke/painting pattern across it so there wouldn't be any patches that looked out of place.

3: Robbie's Basement Bedroom (Basement being Key): Originally on my model box I had painted these flats a light cream/peachy color. Originally I was happy with this choice but when it got round to have to decide on what we were going to paint onto the flats I thought of a different design idea of breeze blocks, these would then show the representation of the scene being in a basement environment and it also the plan was to then decorate the flats with posters/t-shirts and other items. I decide to again create a template of a breeze block to use to draw on the design/pattern which would then be painted later.

For all these designs, I had to draw up on all the designs (with Danielle's help on the brick sections). This took some considerable time but it gave us a clearer understanding of what paint onto the flats.

After all the decisions had been made, we proceeded to move on a implement our designs. What actually happened what that after Ii had marked out one of the 1.75m x 3m Flats, (which also happened to be the window flat), with the brick pattern that I wanted in which I had included a wooden mantel, I mixed up/helped mix up the paint (Rosco) that would be used to paint the bricks. We went for a reddish brick color but it did have a touch of peach/cream to it, we then added a darker red color on top of this to create the desired effect. After the paint had been mixed Hannah, Amy and Mark made a start on the painting of the brick design which had been drawn out. This was a time consuming process but this was down to the fact that they had to be visually effective and also add to the whole image of the Dumpster section to the set.
After the main bricks has been painted we mixed up a light pale/cream color that would be used to represent motor/cement used to form the walls, we then we around each brick and filled in the blank sections that we included into the design. This was a much quicker process but it finished off the whole design and added that finishing touch needed.

As you can see in the image (Above) the brick effect worked excellently when viewing it from a distance, (This image is from a later stage, that I added onto here because I didn't have any other images). Hannah, Amy and Mark did an excellent job at bringing my vision to life and once again if we hadn't all contributed ideas, skills and teamwork into the mix the final outcome wouldn't of been as good.

I then started to make some progress by starting to paint the breeze blocks, I just repeated the whole preparation process by mixing up some grey paint to use, I made sure it was like a distorted dark grey. I managed to create a color that I was happy with and went about painting the breeze blocks on which I had marked out onto a 1.75m x 3m flat and a 1.25x 3m flat.
(This picture is also taken from later on during production week, but I added it to show how we had design and painted it.)
I used a much larger brush compared to the others who were painting smaller bricks, this did mean that I was done alot faster but still managing to get the effect that I set out to achieve.
Again we used the other paint that we made up to finish off the bricks we then used this to finish off the breeze blocks and this worked nicely.

After these 2 Sections had been done we moved onto the flats that will represent the 'Touch of Class Wedding and Catering Venue' and these were the easiest of them all, because they were just going blue all over, as a group we did discuss if we should paint on a pattern across the top of the flats to break up just the huge expanse of color and then also add a block along the bottom and around the door as well. We decided against this due to a couple of factors, we had a lot to get done ready for the show and this wasn't going to be a quick job and we didn't know if it would turn out good for sure so didn't want to risk having to paint over it and start again.

In conclusion as a group we all worked together to complete, design, mixing of paint, drawing of the brick and most of all the painting of the designs. We all took different roles and used our strengths to help get everything done. The whole process of getting these all done did take a couple of weeks but by the end of it they were all looking ready to be assembled and used for the final set, but most of all we were all happy/proud of what we had achieved and it was looking good. The next couple of lesson/the last couple leading up to production week are going to be now focused on completing everything ready for it to be taken over to the theatre.

Finishing off the Scenic Flats Doorway and Window + (Canvasing Time)

After completing the easy flats we moved onto constructing the Doorway and the Window/Fireplace (we choose Window). These worked the same way as the other they just had extra sections of wood that needed slotting into place and they were alot more fiddly than the rest. But again we managed to assemble them at a good speed because we all helped eachother out and all worked together. 

A trick that we used to make it easier to assemble these 2 flats was we put out some chairs to it was raised up this allowed for us to rest the small fiddly sections on the chairs instead of juggling 101 different pieces of wood, this work in our favor massively and helped speed things up.

Now that we had completed the construction of every last scenic flat we had to complete the job and canvas the front of them so that the can be painted time and time again for many shows other than The Wedding Singer.

This was going to take all of us working together to get this right because it needed to be pulled tight over the framework and then stapled into the frame with heavy duty staples.

In the photo (Right) You can see all of us have a section of the canvas that we are holding, I am putting some staples in at one end of the canvas as like a point at which we start to stretch from. After this we all stretched the canvas as much as possible and then staples down the sides holding it in place.

Finally we trimmed away the waste canvas and folded it all up and placed in a pile to be used elsewhere if needed (some of the spare canvas was then used to cover the sinks instead of using plyboard).

We then repeated this process over and over again until all the scenic flats had been wrapped in canvas, I think we did all feel like we had done alot over the last 2 sessions we had been working on them for and Ii personally could see the set coming together bit by bit.

This wasn't the end, well for me... I decided that I wanted to sort out the canvas that covered the window and also the doorway. To do this I had to cut around the inside of the section that needed to be opened up leaving enough fabric to be tucked around the wood, this would mean it would still keep all the canvas stretched.

After doing this I proceeded to stretch and staple this fabric back to the flat, and when completed on both you had a window opening and doorway and neither of which had messed up the stretch on the rest of the canvas.

(This is me inside the window cutting around the inside to form the bit of fabric that looped around.

Arrival and Construction of the Scenic Flats

Finally the arrival of the scenic flats meant that we really could get a start on making some serious progress towards the finished set. The whole Scenic flats came flat-packed so the first job was for us to unpack everything and organize it all, Dan one of the HND students took control of this, which was good because it then meant that I could clear the space needed for us to have room to move when assembling them.

Once I had cleared the room and shifted all tables, chairs and bags etc.. to the end of the room there were several piles on the floor of different types of wood. The company hadn't sent us the easiest set of instructions either but we managed to figure out the basic concept on putting one of them together. Dan's approach was for us to put together one of the 1.75m x 3m flats to start with to see how they are meant to be constructed and then do the rest. We also made the decision to leave the Doorway and Window/Fireplace till last as they had a couple of more complicated aspects to them.

The first scenic flat definitely caused us the most problem and headache and seemed to take forever to get together, but once we worked out certain things to do that make life easier we finally managed to get it done, there were several steps to putting together the standard flats:

• Drill in each corner section at each end of every 3m piece of wood
• Then screw in the middle shoes dead center at 1.5m (this we used a measuring tape, and then marked center with a small pencil mark).
• After this was done you had to put wood glue within each corner piece and middle shoe sections.
• you then left this for a couple of minutes before getting the cross sections and slotting them into the appropriate slots.
• and finally clear up waste glue and then lay the flat down for the glue to harden.

 After we had worked out the process of constructing all the flats in a effective manner, I sort of gave everyone certain jobs and we unintentionally created a production line building the scenic flats, we had:

• Hannah and Amy = They were in charge of firstly marking out the center mark (1.5m along the wood) on the sections of wood.
• Me and  Danielle = While they did this I placed screws into each corner section and middle shoes, and then screwed them were they were meant to be positioned, Danielle helped with lining up the middle shoes and holding the pieces of wood in place while I screwed.
• Mark (Also with the help of Hannah and Amy) = then applied the glue to the corner sections and middle shoes.
• Then All of us including Dan (HND) = Slotted in the cross sections to one of the side panels, we then stood this up and finally slotted the other side panels down onto the cross sections.

They then got layed down on-top of each-other with a section of wood between each one and left so that the glue could dry. We then moved onto the next flat and so on.

After we had completed all of the big 1.75m x 3m Flats we moved onto the other differently sized flats, because we now knew what we were doing we managed to fly through these using practically the same system we used for the big flats.

 Here is some examples of the set-up we had for the differently sized pieces, we flew through these and this was down to us all working together and by all full filling the role that we had been given.

The Star..... of DAVID!! (Jewish Bar-Mitzvah Scene) and a Trolley sink thing.

Over the last 2 Thursday practical sessions we have made progress on 2 main thing really, because we are still waiting for the scenic flats to arrive. There were two pieces of set that we knew we would be able to build quickly and check them off the list of things to do. We came to this conclusion because we had alot of wood left over from a piece of set used during 'Dracula' that were perfect for the Star of David and we already had spare pieces of wood that were right for the construction of the trolley being used for sinks.


The Trolley: (Unfortunately I only have 1 photo of this, and its of a wheel!)

This one piece of set is used during 2 scenes in the show, both time they are meant to look like sinks, as a group we decided that putting the whole thing on wheels would make it so much easier to bring on and off of stage. We just drilled on 4 dolly wheels that were stripped from the piece of set the wood originally was used for. These were easily fixed onto the frame work that I built. I worked on just the concept of constructing a basic frame.
I found this image on Google when looking at possibilities. I used this as my basic guide and it worked out for me because I managed to get the whole frame measured, cut to size, and assembled within 2 hours. I stuck to this design pretty much just adding on some extra supports along the top of the trolley where the sinks were going to be glued just for extra support if someone decided to lean on it. We managed to find some ply board in the cupboard for the top and the side pieces that we needed, we then cut this down to size using a jig-saw.
When it came to using the jig-saw we clamped it safely to to of the work benches away from everyone else in the room, I then wore protective goggles and a mask to stop any dust getting in my eyes or mouth, after cutting out the piece I packed the jig-saw away and unplugged it so no-one hurt themselves.
The plyboard was unfortunately bent and warped so we placed them on the floor and placed heavy tubs of paint on them to try and flatten them out, this worked out for the 2 top sections but didn't work for the sides and front sections which were to warped and were refusing to flatten out.
(In the end we had spare canvas left over from the scenic flats which we then used to cover the front and sides of this piece of set.)

(Here is me using the jig-saw and then me trying to flatten the plyboard before cutting it)

The Star..... of DAVID:
This massive and also essential Star of David is used during the Jewish Bar-Mitzvah Scene, it is there purely to show the audience that it is a Bar-Mitzvah. When it came to the construction of this because it was a case of finding stuff to do instead of wasting production time we used what ever wood was available to us.
In the end we plan to paint the Star a light blue, with possible some white to it as well, first of course we will give it a base coat of white because the wood is black at the moment.

Thankfully there just happened to be enough wood to make a complete star. We layed out all of the bits of wood swapping them around so it looked vaguely symmetrical  we weren't going to put hours of work into this because it is on for about 2 minutes during the show. Once we had sorted out the shape of the star we went about glueing each bit of wood together at the joints, we used wood glue because it is strong and is 1 million times better than PVA.
After we left the glue for a couple of minutes me and mark went around drilling screws into each joint as well to give it that final support. We experienced alot of cracking of the wood when we were drilling but we resolved this by putting wood glue into the cracks and letting it harden, this then strengthened the weak spots.

 (Here are me and mark working on the construction of the Star of David)

Showing the Finished Set Design to the Cast + Talking about Costume and Props

One of my jobs because of the fact that my set design had been picked to be used, (Although we had actually created a brand new set design in the process of making the alterations), meant that I had to go talk to the cast and walk/talk them through what we had planned and explain to them all the aspects of the set and then if needed answer any questions (no questions were really asked).

This went really smoothly and they all seemed to appreciate the amount of effort that we had all contributed to bringing together the final design.They also were amazed at parts at what we had planned including the 'Robbie's Bedroom Section' and other parts as well. We did have to explain in detail that this was a complicated show in terms of production and alot of time, hard work and effort will be going into getting everything done and completed in time for production week.
I had to explain about the amount of technical equipment e.g sound, lighting etc.. that is also going into getting the whole show sounding good and also looking good.

While we had the whole cast in front of us we went on to explain that we are only a team of 5 Students and a HND Student, so we all had 101 jobs to do, because of this we asked that they look at the Prop requirements and tell us if they have any at home or know where to get a certain item, also we asked that they sort out their costumes and if they had spare items to share and help others get their costumes.

Finally we have a finished set design, plus we go internet shopping! (Well the tutor does)

After hours, days, weeks, months, years.... Ok well after what felt like years we finally stopped destroying models and sat back and decided we had a finalized set design for The Wedding Singer. We had a long list of set that needed building. But at the same point we had to work out how other aspects of the set would come together.

In the end our Tutor went online and bought a scenic flat kit for us to construct that would give us flats to paint on and use as walls to create backstage space during the show.
This is the image they provide on their website (Right), (http://www.stagesuperstore.co.uk/) and it shows you the basic set-up of what you get. We would have to build them all ourselves but this is something that can be reused and reused for shows to come after this one. The best thing in my opinion about the package is that it comes with different sized flats, including:

• 4 x Kit A (1.75m  x3m)
• 1x Kit C (2 Flats) 1:(0.5m x 3m) 2:(1m x 3m)
• 1 x Kit D 2 x (0.75m x 3m)
• 1 x Kit E (Doorway) (1.75m x 3m with a doorway of 0.75m x 1.9m)
• 1 x Kit F (Door) (0.75m x 1.9m)
• 1 x Kit H (Window/Fireplace) (1.75m x 3m with a gap of 1.2m x 1.2m)

The scenery kits come ready to assemble, they are very stable and have corner pieces and stretcher shoes that maximize the strength of the scenery flat. The flats then get covered in canvas which is stretched and then  stapled to the scenery flats ready to be painted.

The Designs: The Painful Process/Destruction of Model box (PART 2)

Like I mentioned previously these designs were a process we went through to figure out the best way to include a full live band onto the stage, we also had to get the directors approval and make sure the designs were possible.
This period of time was incredibly stressful and many of our model boxes went through major surgery and reconstruction to create new set designs and figure how we were going to make it possible, we also had to take into consideration the amount of Sound equipment that would also have to go onto this platform to power and be able to mix the band.

As I said most of our model boxes had some surgery and alterations done to them, but most of all mine and Danielle's, mainly because they included the vital parts to the set. It was a period of time were we were having to think very hard to get things right and we all had to work as a team to get the new models made so we could evaluate each design and figure out if it was right or not.



Design 1:

The first of the designs is shown in the picture (Right) and it was the fist in the raised platform idea, this is pretty much the design that Danielle used in her set design just we double the amount of platforms used. We placed them in the T shape because of the effect we wanted to make, allowing set/cast/crew to come on from the sides and also for set it sit flush up against it. The platform is 2 meters tall, this allows for people to walk underneath it, this would mean that cast could come onto stage via this 'walkway' and also make transitions between scene changes faster because it allows a quick exit off stage. We then said that we would plan to decorate and create flats to fit onto the raised platform decorating but also supporting the whole structure, we would be able to decorate to whatever fitted best (personally the Wedding Venues corridor).
In terms of Health and Safety for this idea we knew that railings would have to be used to avoid band members falling off of the platform (these would of added an extra £15 each to the price). The Scaffold legs that would hold up the platform would be 2 meters high and have bracing down the sides, also there would of been a set of stairs down stage right allowing for everyone to get onto the platform.

Design 2:

The second design as you can see is just a slightly altered version of the first design that I showed you, this actually came first and really is the prototype to the one above. The reason behind the 2 Level platform was to allow for the whole band to be seen by the audience and none to be hidden behind others. Of course by lowering the first set of platforms by 0.5 meters meant that there was no access to come out from underneath it but there was the possibility of using it as a backstage walkway with the sides covered by flats. The block that is positioned in front of the band stand is purely for set and visual purposes. This was for the wedding singer band to use during certain scenes, in the end this was not needed and just a waste of space.

Design 3:
Hard to explain without a picture (Oops) but this again ran with the concept to a double raised platform this time to the stage left of the theatre, this still allowed for access through the doors for cast/crew and also would of allowed for set to merge into the structure.

After the director said yes to looking into the designs we phoned and email Impact Productions with questions about the designs and found out that they were possible, the downfall came when we got the quote through to do DESIGN 1 and it came in over the quote for all the lighting, sound and microphones at £1,000+. If we had the money we might of proceeded with the idea and then use of these designs but it was just far to much money.
So in the end we went with a much more basic, affordable and really more sensible and realistic design, the

Design 4: (The Chosen One)
This literally was Design 1 just with it legs chopped dramatically down to only 0.25 meters. We still had the same T Shape and the same amount of platforms just at a much lower level. (In the end this worked out to be very practical as the amount of sound equipment/work that went into setting up the live band was huge and was easier when they were down low).
This change in design didn't seem to effect the look of the set design when we placed it into the model box and it fitted together nicely.

The Painful Process of Figuring out how to get the Band Stand to work/altering (Destroying Mine and Danielle's) Models (PART 1)

One of the hardest parts to this Production process was trying to figure out how to get the Band Stand/Stage in the right position on stage so that the audience could see them, they could see the play unfold so they made there visual cues and so they didn't take up to much stage space or got in the way of the Actors and scenes.

In my original design I hadn't included a band stand/stage in my model because it wasn't made 100% clear to me that the band was needed to be visible. When I found out of this change that needed to be made I instantly went to Danielle who had included a concept for the band stand/stage that was visual to the audience. Her design was based on the concept of the band stand/stage being on a raised platform approx 2 meters high, set would then come from under the raised platform to form certain scenes while the band play above the cast.

I liked this idea from the minute she started describing the concept to us all so the minute I had to rethink a band stand/stage I started thinking about a new design using the concepts she had created, also something that was key was making sure that it was possible in terms of implementing this final concept onto the stage for the show. At this point we had a total of 12 Musicians to cater a space of including:

• 3 Vocalists
• 3 Guitars
• 3 Keyboards (Including the Musical Directors)
• 1 Bassist
• a full Drum Kit
• and then finally a Reeds player (Saxophone and Flute) who needed a bit more space than the others.

Because of this we had to provide a large amount of space but also try and save as much space as possible, we as a group worked out that we would need 8 Steel-deck sections (8m x 4m) and this would give us the most amount of space possible without having to cut band members.

We came to this of using 8 Steel-deck sections conclusion by testing out the spacing within the model box of the Woughton Theatre that was made for this show so we had the ability to test out spacing and concept that we thought of and have a visual representation of what we wanted to do.

In the end I tried about 4 big set designs for the Band Stand/Stage, 2 of the 4 Designs were very similar with just a few changes but then the other 2 were very different. Unfortunately in the end the design that was picked was the most boring/easiest of the 4 but this was due to the others being possible but to expensive to construct for the production that we were putting on.

The first 3 design/concepts that were drawn up, built to scale all worked on the concept of having the band on a raised platform above the cast with set/cast coming from under it, of course this would raise health and safety but we contacted Impact Productions who were hiring us the Lighting, Staging and some Sound Equipment about their policy and if it was possible. The response was a YES it is possible they would just need bracing and supports so we included this when we were figuring out designs.

ASM Theory Lesson 1 (Props List)

One task we had to complete as one part of the ASM Role for the Wedding Singer, this task was making a props list for the show, this list would then be forwarded to the Director so that he can select which and what props he would like to actually be used in the show.

To create the Props list we had to read through and look through the entire script, reading the stage directions picking out props that are mentioned. I used Microsoft Excel on windows because it is a spreadsheet software so it allowed me to create the list really easily. I had 5 main headers and a 6 section of smaller headers.

1. Prop - Here I put the name of the prop that I found within the script and listed it here.
2. Page - I placed the page number to help me with finding the prop again in the future if I needed to look at the scene.
3. Scene - Again so it made it easier in the future for me to find it I listed the Scene, also this will help with prop logistics on the show.
4. Character - This is for production week mainly, because it will help with logistics on the show and helping us get the right prop to the right character also the fact I know the scene that prop is in helps us even more.
5. Description/Details - We added this header so that when it came to either making, finding or buying the prop we had a vague description on what it should look like/be.

The 6th Section was made up of 6 mini sections:
Make,
Find,
Buy,
Borrow,
Hire,
Done,
These mini sections were created to be like a checklist to help with keeping track of what progress we had made in terms of props. When we made the props list we would tick off what we would do to get the certain prop be it Make it, see if one of us or a member of the cast had one and borrow it for the show, buy from charity shops or ebay. we did this purely to give a ruff guide to how we should go about sorting the Props out.
When it came down to getting the props down, Hannah took the lead role in sourcing and sorting out the props for the show, we all helped in certain ways but Hannah was the leader in making sure we had everything on the night.

Research into ASM Job Roles (Taken from a previous Essay)

During the first term I was on the course I had to do an essay into Assistant Stage Management and Deputy Stage Management plus other Roles. I decided that I should include the research I did into the role of an ASM in my Blog as a way of showing what I should be doing during this process. This is then also a guide for me to complete my role/job the way it should be.

ASM’s (Assistant Stage Managers) and DSM’s (Deputy Stage Managers) come under the stage management team along with the PM, SM and CSM, Most ASM’s will have the role of a DSM at some point in the career in the theatre industry and All DSM’s will have been ASM’s before becoming a deputy stage manager, some students come out of university or college looking to become a DSM and they will have had to of done a lot of work experience to become one, because one of the main skills of being a DSM is knowledge of how a theatre works and runs.

Analysis of the Roles, Functions and Skills needed and used by a ASM (Assistant Stage Manager):

An ASM is a member of the stage management team, and is usually a stage hand that will have knowledge and experience of all aspects of a theatre but they will also usually have one area that they specialize in be it lighting or Sound etc… The ASM’s assist the SM (Stage Manager) and the DSM (Deputy Stage Manager) during the whole production process of a show and on help with the performances in many different ways. The roles of an ASM usually vary depending on the Size of the show, the budget, amount of staff and what the show is about.

ASM are used on larger scale show, touring shows and small scale theatre companies but their roles will vary depending on which one they work on due to many factors, there are advantages and disadvantages to work on any type of show as a ASM.

Assistant stage managers usually have a wide range of roles and responsibilities when it come to a production and this is because they will have skills in all areas of the theatre and thus can help out with all aspects of it, the typical sort of roles they would do is assist the set designer and construction team in the building and painting of the set as long as moving scenery that will be used during the performance, then on the nights of the performance will take cues from the DSM and SM and move scenery on, off and around the stage during the performances and these will be called stage cues in the DSM’s “book”.

So for example theatre companies like The National Youth Theatre will have a lot more ASM’s for stage productions compared to The RSC because the National Youth Theatre do productions and projects with a lot of technical aspects to them whereas The RSC tend to have a permanent set for most of their productions and just have actors bring on the props they need, so then the ASM or ASM’s would be responsible for those props getting to the right actors and to make sure they are maintained and kept in good condition. The for small local theatre companies like Rare Productions and The LLTC they will only have 1 or maybe 2 ASM’s so then they will be doing a lot of work during the production process and on shows because they have a smaller budget to pay for lots of staff so then usually the ASM will double up doing Lighting or Sound and maybe even costume depending on size and nature of the show.

When theatre companies choose to dance shows like The National Ballet School in London there tends to be a lot less props or staging for this production, so ASM’s would usually help out with costumes or costume changes during the shows, or they might be doing onstage lighting or sound duties during the performance or just generally looking after the cast and dancers. Then you get dance shows like Chicago in which there is a lot of set and props used so then there will be a lot of ASM’s doing different roles all co-ordinated by the stage manager.

Advantages and Disadvantages of being a ASM (Assistant Stage Manager):

Advantages:

-          Great theatrical work experience and you will learn skills and gain more knowledge of how a theatre works and you will be able to specialise at a skill if you get work in a large scale theatre company.

-          If you get work in a small theatre company and you love to work hard then the job of an ASM is great here because you will be in charge of many different roles and responsibilities during production and on the actual shows.

-          Being a ASM can lead to you getting a job as a DSM or being able to go off an specialize in one field e.g. Lighting.

Disadvantages:

-          Depending on the size of the production job you are doing you might only have a small role or maybe loads so it could be a bit boring or too intense for some people to handle or like.

-          ASM’s work a lot of hours and need lots of work experience in theatres and will have to work long hours to get this work experience.

-          If you’re a ASM on a touring company you will be travelling a lot and be away from home for periods of time, also you will be on the road a lot.

In conclusion of the roles of a ASM (Assistant Stage Manager) it really depends on many factors to what they do or what skills they need, most ASM’s have lots of overall skill in every department because they would of started in smaller theatre companies have to do multiple roles but then when they get into larger scale productions then they will be given a specific role to fulfill  Also ASM roles depend on the genre of show they are working on so roles will vary if you’re doing a musical or stage show to if you were doing a ballet.

Start of the Production Process of The Wedding Singer

At the Start of term me and my class attended a Production Meeting with the Director and Musical Director who was also co-directing the show The Wedding Singer. In this meeting the director used his Script to help him visualize scenes that were included in the show and then explained his ideas and concept to us as a whole. This helped us to gain a detailed idea of what they wanted the final set to look like. The whole was through the meeting we would all jump in and add ideas and discuss how certain aspects could be brought to life etc...
A massive aspect of this Production Meeting was for us to make/take notes throughout and to also visualize the Scale of the Production/Project that we were taking on and to be able to understand exactly what has to happen in the period leading up to the 3 Shows.

Before the meeting and weeks before we were told that as part of the course we would be marked on Model Box Making and Scale Model Construction which ties in with Set Design. We knew the first one of these would be one for The Wedding Singer so it was essential we made notes about the set during the meeting.

Then for a couple of weeks as a class we all got on with the research, development and then the design for a Set for The Wedding Singer. One of the 5 Designs would then go onto be constructed and used as the Final Outcome.

These lesson which happened mainly on a Thursday from 2pm-6pm (also we then carried on the work at home on the days we were not in college and also at other points in the week) would be dedicated to individual work and not class work so that we could complete the task within the deadline because we wanted to get onto the practical/construction stage as fast as possible.
When the task deadline came to a end we had the Director (Ashley) and the Musical Director (Dave) come into one of our Lessons to be talked through our Set Designs and how concepts came together to form our Final Design.
After all the Sets had been viewed they went away and made a decision on which design they wanted to be used, and when they got back I found out that they wanted my set design to be built as long as some changes and alterations were able to be made to it.
The Alterations that needed to be made included:

• Band needed to be seen/visible to the Audience.
• More Space made for the Dance Numbers.
• also aspects and design concepts for my other classmates design needed to be merged into my design.

The biggest problem for my set design was figuring out where to put the band, because originally I had them backstage and not visible because I didn't realize it was essential for them to be seen. This I had to think about leading up to the next session in which the modifications to the set design would be made and hopefully we would then have a model to go by when it came to construction.