Mid week Thought …

Ok, So it’s now thursday and been at scottish opera for just over a week now.

To be really honest, I’m still not happy! – I try my hardest to push through but can’t, I’m really not Happy at all and it’s still got to do alot of things in my previous blog, Another point i forgot to mention in my previous post which made me write it in the first place is what we got told on our Welcome meeting – One of the most common phrases used was “this is YOUR Learning” and kept ephising on YOUR. We have been told in previous years that this is a new course and your the driving of this course, you learn what you feel you want to learn. – Obviosuly I didn’t want an opera, but i got it, I don’t want to do it but i have too – Is this Your learning i’m feeling??? or that the academy doesn’t want to hire someone in because its costs them?? – thats the feeling i get.

If  it is part of the course to do a management role in the your third year – Something which was not releayed to us, We got told you must do one opera (which i’ve done) – then why can’t i be envolved in opera 2/3 – and Be DSM for that, I would feel i have less pressure and more time to experiement at smaller scale DSM then gradually build up. To be honest I’m probs not going to be happy until this expereicne is over (If I have to do it). Just because of all the shit, thats happened – And i hate saying this , But a part of me was thinking of leaving!! -   I shouldn’t feel like this, (and obviosly i’m not going to, It’s to near the end) Why am i paying to attened. when my views, opinions and choices don’t matter.

But .. there has been some tips that Sophie the DSM has given me for furture shows – She is amazing, She has taught me more about DSMing than in the nearly three years i have been at the academy – This is not right at all!!!

Below are some tips that Sophie gave me;

* Rehearsal S.B Cues. For Purpose of ASm/Sm to  S.B in Rehearsal for set/props

* keep the rehearsal room moving – Time

*Find the balance of who is in charge of the R.Room

* If the stage manager is present, Make them give calls to let the cast get authority before going on stage

*Try to Know the score inside out ASAP

*Have production schedule (main) and (Daily) beasy access.

* The way it’s sung can differ from score – Don’t pannic find next available known place.

*cast breakdowns easy at hand

*If using post-it’s as blocking method, transfer to book every night, if possible

*Use a soft led pencil 9easy to make changes)

* keep relaying with director (Don’t be afraid to ask)

* Stopwatch to keep an eye on time in rehearsals and time of breaks.

*Set up room for next session before starting back ( i.e after breaks)

* During Past pace scenes, try and pick out Certain pieces that will help you follow the score, Solos, Beat counting is the easiest and simplest.

*Pictures ofsetting of props in blocking can help with setting back.

* Keep an eye on breaks, make sure to start back on time.

* Highlight figure numbers to help findn wghen going back/forward or skipping.

* Mark if Cue light will be needed/beside a particular cue (little note)

* Basic structure to block first in rehearsals, then go back when rehearsed again and add detail if need to.

* When blocking Dance moves, Use same language as the Choreographer to find it easy to relate to use, – Use groups iof dance moves and lable them pose1 etc, to save time writing.

* notepad to take notes lol

*If having discussionson stage, Get up and get involved to save time and to help with any probs.

* Split the books into acts – Especailly if it’s a big score.

*Use Prompt side (PS) and Opp. Prompt side (OPS) for entrances/Exits ect.

*If you recieve a  new cue point from yuor director, and you have time, inform your SM teamas soon as.

* Make sure to try and keep in the loop with the directoras thwey sometimes just communicate with the ASS.stage managers/SM

*If sections are cut, tape tiogether pages, just incase pages or sections are re inerted then all is together.

* If at all possible, try and keep score inbuilding to prevent it being lost.

* Depends on the mood of the room, , turn the pages quietly as it could disturb the director.

Remid the director of time before the break.

 

So i usually end off with saying it has been a good wekk and i’ve really enjoyed myself, but i’m not going to lie or be fake and  try to please other people because i’m sick of being soft – I haven’t really enjoyed myself, – ok i have learnt some good stuff- but still unhappy.

Mixed Emotions …

ok, so it’s now 3.20 am and i can’t sleep – been up all night thinking and to be honest crying!.

Just got so many mixed emotions right now, I keep trying to tell myself that this will be a good experience, and it will be worth it in the end, but little things nag me and make me so angry, which realy REALLY upsets me.

-Firstly this allocation s classed as work experience, and if we don’t have enough time during the rest of the year, then this will be my W/P – i’m sorry but NO. It’s not my problem that the academy can’t sort there course out and only have 4 stage managers in third year, this should not change or effect our learning whats so ever!

- I’m trying to understand and see this as a learning experience on a management role, and that the genre doesn’t count!! but i tell you its sooo does! – the thought of spending 4 nearly 5 months on a genre that your heart and sole isn’t into and you have no interest for makes me sooo sick! ok! score reading will be such good value for when i work on musicals, but shouldn’t we get score reading classes weekly anyway?

- I think what annoys me, upsets me, makes my blood boil is that my voice is just not being heard! – lets make this clear – I NEVER CHOSE TO DO AN OPERA!! – this wasn’t in my choices, so why give it to me? – ok i get told because they think i’m the best to do it, i could learn alot from it etc … but its not what i chosen so why make me do it  - if the academy are surprised at why i’m so negative about opera its becuase i NEVET CHOSE IT!!! Seriously why give us the choice when it doesn’t matter,  got none of my allocations i asked for, NONE!!! – Jusr because its opera 1 time and we need someone to do it, doesn’t mean they have to choose someone, I personally feel i got chosen in a way because the academy know i’m soft, I find it hard to say no, and view my voice as i don’t wanna upset people, so i think a little reason is if they give it to me i won’t say anything!

- We got told in second year we have to do atleast one opera! – DONE!, i’ve took part in an opera!, i can say i’ve done it, got the t-shirt … Now in third year have got told we have to do an opera!  - Where was this outlined, Not in the prospectus, never, why am i only hearing this now? and is this true????? – One of my collegues is meant to be on opera three, but they wanted to take work experience, after talking to head of dept. looks like they now can do there W/P …… Again WHY!!!! – If this does happen i will be soooooo pissed off, hurt, annoyed, because i got asked by andrew panton to work on the xmas musical theatre show, I really wanted to get imvolved, be SM/DSM for it, really get my teath stuck into it, But Hey you guessed it not happning… so tell me? why can the W/P student get out of opera 2 to do something they feel very passionate about?

I hate feeling like this .. i really do, it’s not me at all, i hate to be so negative, i try to be soo positve but i just think, it’s not wht i want to do, can you blame me?

i seriously could go on .. but the more i write the more i want to scream and cry more – i know how gay of me and pathetic – but this is really effecting big time!, and i feel blogging is only where i can get my voice heard!!

i should head to sleep! ….

Things that Make you Go MMMMMM??

Now just finished my second day sitting and observing in the current scottish opera’s production, I now have a better undertstanding of what the DSM actually does.

This morning i met with Sophie who is the Deputy Stage manager and we had a little chat about the book. She asked me if i had ever DMS’d before, and I told her only basic DSMing for Musical theatre. I found it soo helpful to have someone so nice and supportive helping me.

she gave me so much tips and tricks to have a good DSm book these include;

* Two page colums instead of three, so take out the S/B and Calls colum and have you S/B and calls with your cues -      This way it is easier to cue from as your eyes just have to focus on one section and not having to jump back forward. Also everything runs in chronologic order and so you know you will have time to s/b and make calls in time.

* Place Cues and blocking around the area of where it happens on the score – This then helps with time as if the director or another memebr of crew need to add a cue or piece of blocking into the score then i can slot it in without rubbing or changing the layout, Unless it can’t fit. also to finally after all blocking in place then decide if you want a line to connect it up to the score.

* Use Symbols Instead of numbers for blocking – this helps with again any aterations that get made you could spend alot of time adding in point numbers which could confuse as with symbols can be different and distinct all the time.

* Have picture scene by scene images beside for quick reference – this Helps with a visual guide if  not all of the set is available, gives a clearer view for blocking purposes.

* To have a small diagrame of the basic stage/set outline on each blocking page – This will help with blocking as especailly with war and peace trying to get individual blocking down for 85 members will be tough, so a visual diagrame would help save time.

* Keep Blocking Simple and precise – this will mainly help with time and be able to help with taking down more blocking,  also if have to reference to a member of the team it can be easily read and delivered.

* At the side of the score have Scene/Song No’, Top of page have Scene Name/ or main characters. - this is more of a map of the score, so i can easily identify the area of the score and know for quick reference.

* Different Colour post-its for blocking/cues -  this will help with sorting out what is what, if it is blocking or a live cue.

* Keep a “last cue” method – this will help with easy referencing, and saves time if you have to go have to back to a previous cue or a particular bit in the score.

Stopwatch & record - Have a stopwatch and time the scenes or songs and record in the blocking for reference may come in handy for a lighting cue or flting cue.

 

These are just a few of the methods and tricks that i have learnt on the first day of  meeting the DSM. I’m sure over the next week i will learn more. below is some questions i would like to answer;

*Does the DSM stand by the reharsal room or the Ass. Director, Or is this just different for various companies?

* When do you feel you have to go onto stage and get involved?

* What methods do you take on to tackle first time blocking?

* Do you use the “Circle Method” to help you find your palce if lost?

* What’s the best method to advice a member of the cast/crew about a particualr place to start from?

                                                                                                                       

HopefullyI will have these questions answered over the next few days – and hopefully more.

Three important questions i would like to answer are:

* What have they done well? – I thought that it was great to have a props master who is just in charge of props, and i think this links to where the ASM’s don’t prop they just help run the actual show, so i think thats really good as the prop master can  keep more attention on the welfare of the props.

* What Have they not done so well? -  I think at the moment i feel that there is no actual person taking control of the room, for example sometimes it’s the stage manager and then other times it could be the ass. director or the director. so it can be quite hard to find who is in charge of the room.

*What could they do to improve? – Not alot i think to make one line manager in charge of the reharsal room and so it makes it consitant.

Overall, I’m learning alot about the opera experience and how they run a professioanl rehearsal room, so it should give me alot of tips and tricks i can take with me to when i DSM war and peace.

To be honest i still feel alittle depressed to be workin on an opera, but i just got to think it’s only 5 months and when i leave i can work on all the musicals i want too when i leave :D

 

New Year – Not in that way though!

Well, it’s a new year – for academic reasons , to be honest i’m really happy that i”ve started back. I had a fantastic sunmmer, only had one week off. I was involved in the musical theatre at the fringe which as i say every year was excellent, working on shows that i feel so happy about and that i love.

So I started back at uni yesterday and it was ok, I’m now on opera 1, which is a big step and a massive challenge because i havne never professionally DSM’d before so i know it’s going to be an adventure for sure, But i want to take this expereince and turn it round make it positive and use it to progress my learning and exoperience of score reading which i do need alot of when i’m working on musical theatre.

We met with john duncan who is a stage manager at the Scottish Opera, who is lovely and really helpful. made me feel really confortable. we went into rehearsals of there show which they are working on today to get a feel for opera on a more professional level. The set was amazing, it was a tv studio set up – the opera is about a cheesy soap opera very funny – Even though i can’t undertstand what they are saying. the set is a massive green screen stage, which makes it very cool and looks great and exciting to work on, I would love to work that show cause i’m really interested in TV aswell.

We never did any physical stuff today, i think partly due to the DSM still ill, and that john himself only joined yesterday. so we were left to watch and get a feel for everything, i took specail attention to the ASM’s to see how they worked with John and how he worked with them and the director. It was great to see the collaboration and that the rehearsal room was so relaxed, i think that was the fact that everyone knew what they were doing and aslo they are all professionals at the end of the day – not saying we can’t be professional – but having that professional attitude really helps.

In the Thick of it.

Ok, So I havn’t blogged in a while, But i’ve had a lot on my mind recently.

At this stage we are now two weeks away until the dress rehearsal, i feel at this moment of time ready and feeling confident on the weeks coming.

The last few weeks have been tough i must admit, I’ve been i’ll due to stress and other problems that i find with this course but i won’t delve into that ( i don’t want to get myself worked up again). I think the last weeks have been putting alot more pressure on me because i havn’t got a desk that i can call mine and have a notice board, i’m constantly going from the Academy to SYT every five minuets, i just find it a waste of my time having to go down there to ask any questions etc, seeing that we were promised by SYT that we would have an ofice and we havn’t so it makes the process harder, I know in the “real world” this can sometimes happen but we should have these facillities.

I’m very pleased with my ASM, She is working so hard by getting loads of props and her phoning skills and confidence have risen dramatacly since the start, which is great, and the few tips i have given her have made her feel more confident. Her atittude ith the rest of te team is great, she communicates well and gets on with everyone. I find mysef not having to give her as many jobs or keep telling her what to do as she just gets on and goes to the next task.

I’m finding managing paperwork and budgets Etc good at the moment, The budget is on track and we have managed to secure many props for free/ or borrowed. so that has kept the budget up!.

I feel like i’m managing my team well, I must admit i did go through a faze of not having debreif just a brief in the morning, but i’ve started up again and i can see improvements with it, and see how vital it is. I’m in good contact with the designer and that helps move the process along with conformation of props etc, so that makes it alittle less stressfull.

In the next coming weeks i want to really push myself and make myself achieve the highest i can out of the tech rehearsal, which i must admit i’m feeling nervous for, but i’m sure with a little guidance from John i will feel more at ease and be able to take on the task at hand!.

A Stage Managers Night’s Dream!

Ok, do firsty the title sounds weird but thought id just spice things up alittle.

So second week gone aready!..

I fet more prepared this week as i had drawn up a weekly schedule for my ASM, i had briefed her tha this is subject to change, and to be fair it did, i tried not to change it drastically and i never only slightly changed, soit was mostly correct only the mark up session changed.

This week for my ASM was much more productive it was a great time to get stuck into the props list and we are currently doing quite well we are searching like crazy for a couple of awquard props and Laura has managed to set up some viewings with the tron and contacted some companies about some antique torches so i feel we are at a good place. But i know next week i will step up the pace again and try to have alot more props put in place, I think the tactics i will put in pace to make sure my ASM tries her hardest  to secure these props i will off an early finish at the end of the week or a late start in the day! – but i will see how the week goes!

Personallly i’m finding at the moment great, I’m coping and enjoying just the whole organisation side of it, I love this part of sitting at a computer (office space) and doing paperwork and phoning and running around trying to get things together, Find the quick “think on your feet action” a great part of this job title. And then i wil like it also when we go into the Theatre as i will be interacting with people and being in a Theatrical Enviroment, so i feel i have the best of both worlds. I also think this is a great first allocation for me to be involved in as my first Stage management role, Because it gives me time to try things out, and find my own way of doing things, experiemneting with paperwork.

John had asked me to answer to questions – What iv done well? and What have i done that’s “Shitty” -  i feel what i have done we was the Briefing and debriefs, this is such an important part of a teams communication especially when i’m based up at RSAMD and rehearsals are at SYT so its not so convient, I think what iv not done so well in is i think the first week of organisation with my ASM, i think thats truely down to the fact that it was such a quiet week and it was my first time having someone else to worry and manage, so it took a while to be thinking in that way, but as i said the second week was better with the schedule,

So second week in and i’m loving it, I’m not realy looking forward to the mark up next week as im not the best at mark ups but we have all tuesday morning so its a good so plently of practice and time.

Stage Manager at Last!

I must admit, I find it realy weird being in charge. because being ASM for the last year and half you just get into a routine and it becomes clockwork by the time you’ve done that role a few times.

But now that i’ve moved up to stage manager, this alocation gives me the chance to try out things i have noticed by my previous stage managers, things like communication, and time control. At the moment, i’m coping and enjoying the experience, i think this is becuase it’s fairy quiet ive tried to keep my Ass. stage manager occupied by looking out rehearsal props yesterday afternoon, but seeing there arnt much props and rehearsals don’t begin until friday, i had 2 days to try and keep her occupied, and i knew there wasn’t anything for her to do at this moment in time. I had been previosuly asked by Sam ramsy, if she can be “borrowed” for a day to help her move some set pieces, which i thought would be idea because i had nothing for her to do. but Sam didn’t need her so i decided to give her the day off today (Thursday) I hate giving days off especially right back after easter holidays, but i much prefer to give her a day off rather than dragging her in and having nothing to do with her.Things should pick up next week, and i have said to my ASm that this week will be a quiet one. Friday there is a run through so i will send her to that, so that will be good. in the afternoon, we may have our prop refrences, so we canstart looking at “show” props, but i don’t realy want to rush ahead and get it all done becuase then it will leave alot of time n our hands which is kinda good becuase my ASM can go to rehearsals and get a good feel for the show. but when the rehearsals are just focusing on 2 characters i don’t really see this being a practical time being in there, so i can save some proppy stuff for those kind of days.

I find myself at the moment maniging my team well, we have meetings throughout the day, and we all communicate during the day, so thats realy good!!

MSND

Finally the time has come for me to take on the role as Stage manager. I knew about this role for about a year, so i knew what i was working towards.

Before the easter holiday i knew what production i would be working on, (midsummer nigths dream), after much changing about. I didn’t do much prep work in the holiday due to staff “out of office” so i had to wait for the term to begin to actually get some real answers. aslo i had the impression that we would have a whole week of peop work and rehearsals would start the following monday, so this gave me time to sort everything out and get the mark up down int he rehearsal room. Unfortunalty this wasn’t the case rehearsals began on the tuesday so we only had a day to plan everything. I wasn’t so much as pannicing, i was tryting to think of what i need most for the tuesday then i could spend the rest of the week getting other stuff together.

I met with Laura my ASM on monday morning and i gave her a “introduction pack” this included a production schedule, a crew contact list, SYT information, Props list & matrix. and a copy of the script. i also gave a brief talk about the week ahead and the plan of whats going to happen. we met with Mark saunders my director and we introduced ourselves and he answered any questions we had, so that was good. we are having a slight script shortage which has lead to me or laura having no scripts but really if Laura is in rehearsals alot then she will be able to pick up the play quite easy and can do a running list from them and ill see what i can do about another script.

On the tuesday it was a fairly easy day it was messed up with the fact Sarah was off ill, so we couldn’t get access to the prop stores, so i decided to take my team down to the SYT earlier and we can set up the rehearsal room. Prior to going down made some signs and guidelines for them and a made a contact list for them and a copyof the production schedule.

I prepared a wee speach to give them all about the rules and fire reguklations for the SYT but unfortuanly never goees to plan, it was sort of brokwen up through out the rehearsal but i got all the information i needed to give them, we also took them around the venue to see the space etc. So the last two days have gone well, off to a very slow start but we knew this would happen looking forward to the weeks ahead and any challenges that rise up.

Prop Store Elective

The last four weeks of this term before Easter was to choose an elective.

First of all i decided to choose DFTV which was to experience being an Firs t Assistant Director, or a floor manager. I was really looking forward to experiencing this, and was eager to started.We got started and it was very slow. I felt the whole project to be UN organised i didn’t know if that was down to the first time it was being done or lack of communication.

So finally during the second week i decided to change to to Prop store management, this wasn’t on the list of different electives to choose from, but me and Vicky were both eager to take up a project which we started in first year which was to organise and sort the props store. When we finally got the go ahead to do it, we were both really looking forward to taking part and getting started again.

The day we started we went full blown into it, I was really excited to pick up where we left from, We set up a table with a photo area and i set up my laptop, I was going to use microsoft office projects to collect all the data,  which i originally thought would be good because you can create loads of sub folders and pages so categorising the props would be easy. But there was a whole issue with uploading it onto a website and so we decided to scrap that idea and just write the information down onto paper and we can record it later on, The Information we were recording was a brief description of the prop, Colour, size and quantity and quality. We started off by rattling ahead and taking pictures which at the start we thought was a great idea, we got through about 400 items and then decided we shall stop and try and find a piece of software that could accommodate our needs.

We both searched for a while and came across a nifty little software tool which was EZ Thumbnail builder which you created your project and upload all your pictures, once you have done this you can sort all your pictures into different categories which is great for this project, you can add descriptions and dimensions which is handy to have. Once you have done this you can now upload the save project onto either a website or a website creator programme like macromedia dreamweaver or Microsoft office. This really handy to keep track of alot of things and update things easily. But unfortunately it’s not free and it costs $29.00, which is abit bad because it only has that feature but not any booking feature.

Vicky quickly looked at Flickr which is great because we could upload straight to a website and create different subcategories and let them share all with people online. again the only bad thing is that we can only upload a certain amount each calendar month, so it was going to be a slow process at the beginning trying to upload all the props, but in the future it will be easy to update.

We are hoping to look into booking point which will follow soon in the next post.

So far i have found this Elective really good i think its great to learn about looking after a prop store because Im going to be a in house stage manager then i will no doubt have to look after the props store store, so its good practice. I do think it was an easy brief but in reality trying to sort through all the props its harder than it looks.

Scenic & Costume Class!

Very short blog on the Scenic and costume class.

Started with scenic was great, had a introduction to colour matching, and a little history of paint. We then had a little challenge of a quick fix of touching up paintings for the stage, and it was great, abit hard, but we all did it eventually and was a good challenge to see if we could do it under pressure.

In the afternoon we started our costume class with making a Pillow for when we are DSM’s, It was good and a nice relaxing class, using the sewing machine which i love useing and trying different techniques which may bennit me in the future.