Success and Fugee. February 2014. Other General Set Designs.

This page is just to showcase some of the other items that were made for Success and Fugee.

I did not have any involvement with them but feel that they shouldn't be left out as they warrant some attention. The backstage crew all work hard to bring ideas and concepts from verbal discussions and initial drawings to fruition.

THE TREE IN FUGEE.

The tree in Fugee was designed and scaled up by Lucy. She also drew the scaled up version onto hardboard as far as I am aware.
I know from other backstage crew it was quite tricky cutting it out but they obviously persevered and didn't change any of the design. It was painted black and used as a backdrop for the Fugee set to give the feel of Africa.
I loved this tree even more so once it was put in place on the set and when the lights were focused on it in ambient tones of Africa it was quite stunning. Well done to Lucy.

THE ORACLE in SUCCESS

The Oracle was made and completed by various backstage crew members. I know one of them was Dan who had done a lot of the construction work.
I loved The Oracle as soon as I saw the uncompleted box standing in the workshop. I didn't know at this point what it was going to be used for but it did look like a fortune telling booth.
So much work went into the constructing and painting of The Oracle and I think looked fabulous once it was completed.
In the play one of the crew members was dressed as a Magician type Character and stood in the box. It had a Crystal Ball (globe) that sat on a shelf in front of him which lit up. Initially it was on castors and rolled into place with the Magician standing on a platform inside. After a couple of shows and adjustments being made to the castors, it was decided to take the platform inside the box away and the crew member shuffled along walking inside the box whilst it was being pushed into place. This was done as the castors were not coping with the weight inside and was proving difficult to roll the box on and off stage, especially as the box also had to be pushed up onto the Giant Monopoly Board.
2 crew members dressed in Turkish garb with Fez hats on pushed the box into place onto the stage, it was amusing to watch. Well done to all those that took part in its construction and the parts that were played on stage.

MOOD BOARDS/HEADLINES. SUCCESS.

The headline boards depicted the mood of the plays themes. Wealth and Poverty.

CHILD'S MASK

Pippa made 2 half masks depicting a child's face. The first was made using 'mudroc' but proved to be too heavy so she had to re-make it lighter.
Neither though was actually used in the play. As far as I am aware Pippa did not like either of them and the actress who it was made for did not feel it was necessary to wear it??!!

Success and Fugee. (February 2014). Tech Box. Sound.

For the week of the 2 shows my duty was to work in the Tech Box again but this time operating the Sound.

The Sound Desk/Mixer at the College has 24 Channels (which are the black button sliders).
The yellow slide switches are the main mix and I was told to just put them all up (L=left, R=right, C=centre)
The blue slider buttons are the faders. These control the level of sound and there are 2 fader sliders. One controls stereo (speaker) 1 & 2, the other controls stereo (speaker) 3 & 4.
Before the beginning of each show the speakers (x4) in the Theatre had to be manually switched on at the plug switches then when you entered the Tech Box you needed to switch on the Mixer, Graphic Equaliser and then the CD Player.

After the end of each show you had to go back down into the Theatre and manually switch of the speakers then go back to the Tech Box and switch of the Mixer, Graphic Equaliser and lastly the CD Player (if it was in use).

Monday saw the Tech run of Fugee and Tuesday saw the Tech run of Success. On Wednesday there was the full dress rehearsals of both shows then Success ran again later on that day. There were further shows again on the Thursday and Friday.

 

Fugee

 

Success Tech Run

 

One of the other students was working as the Sound Designer for both shows and I was to work under their supervision as Sound Operator. They had already sourced the sounds that were required and had done this during the build up to the Tech Run. They had watched the shows during Rehearsals and already liaised with the Director of the shows. I was not involved in this as I had been working on Props.
I do feel after my experience working on Sound that it would also be beneficial to of been involved with the sourcing of the Sounds and learning how to set these up, not only on the computer but also burning them onto the CD's that were later used during the show runs. For me it would of helped me understand more fully the whole process as I did not feel comfortable with using the equipment, did not fully understand how to use it more efficiently and this in turn made me feel quite nervous and I did not really enjoy my experience. I also felt that maybe I could of sourced some slightly better sounds (mainly for Fugee) if it was explained to me how to do this. I am not disagreeing that the Sounds that were used were not correct or any good but do feel that they may of been improved slightly.

Fugee only had 3 actual Sound effects but these 3 were played several times throughout the show, (apart from the car horn sound which was only played once).
They were a car horn, a single gunshot and the rumbling of a truck.
There was an extra Sound track added at the start of the Dress Rehearsals and that was some Rap Music in French. All the Sound effects were played for such short moments but the most crucial thing about the car horn and gunshot was that they were played at exactly the right moment as their timing was crucial to the action taking place on stage.

I do feel that I was thrown in at the deep end right at the start of the week which I suppose I can also add isn't always a bad thing as it does make you keep on your toes, concentrate more closely and learn more quickly and finally you just have to get on with it. Having said that though the experience made me feel a bit lost and I felt isolated as there was no Tutor supervising us during the Tech Run and Dress Rehearsals and I could not full back on him for help and guidance.
With Fugee it was not only my first time operating the sound but also the first time watching the play and first time reading through the script. I found it difficult keeping up with the script that I was trying to follow whilst trying to also watch the play, as it is not the most easiest of plays to follow as it jumps from present to past continually and also from different peoples perspective of what happens and doing this whilst trying to learn how to operate equipment I have never used before I found quite challenging and tiring.
Having said all this though I did get the opportunity to follow and understand the play and felt that it was a good play along with Success which I enjoyed from the start. The difference here though is that I did get the chance to see Success during a Rehearsal and I do feel that it would be most beneficial for future shows if working in the Tech Box is to sit in during a Rehearsal to get a feel and understanding of the show.

As with the Lighting when you are operating the Sound you have to wear the 'cams' to hear the cues given by the DSM. Success and Fugee each had a different DSM and so I was also having to work and adjust to each way the different DSM's operated.
I am aware for each of the DSM's it was also their first time and I noticed the difference straight away with working with them compared to the DSM on the Panto. The Panto DSM would acknowledge me immediately for each show by asking through the 'cams' whether I could hear them. Niether of these DSM's did and I would have to ask them if they could hear me.
On the Panto the DSM would always announce LX or Sound Q stand by and LX or Sound Q go whereas both these DSM's did not do this and sometimes I had to just be aware that it was my cue standing by or going.
Both Tech Run days was a long hard slog and I constantly had either the DSM or the Sound Designer talking to me asking questions which I would then have to relay to the other. We also had the Director asking questions which they would do by shouting up to the Tech Box as they weren't on 'cams'. I felt the Sound Designer felt a bit bombarded with questions and was stressing out next to me which did not make it comfortable for me either and made it extremely difficult to relax and enjoy the experience. Having said that though maybe one isn't to relax and enjoy, I don't know!!
On the second day of the Tech Run for Success we worked through to 6.50pm and didn't actually finish all our sound cues, so the Director just called them up to us so I could mark them onto the cue sheets. This did mean that during the Dress Rehearsal that we did not have the level of the sounds recorded on the cue sheets so the Sound Designer had to estimate the level whilst the show ran through and I recorded the level on the cue sheets for future showings.
Throughout the Tech Runs I also had to write a cue sheet which could be used for the shows.

The Cue Sheets I recorded. 1 for Fugee and 3 for Success.

 

Whereas with the Lights once they had been preset it's just a question of hitting the go button during the show the Sound is different. With Sound you had to make sure the next cue number was correct on the CD player and whilst standing by raise the fader to the level of the sound required so it was ready when you hit the go button on the cue. You then sometimes had to adjust the sound level whilst it was being played and then either gradually fade the sound out or cut it out immediately. It did take a level of more concentration along with the exact timing needed for the gunshot and car horn noises being played at the exact right time. The whole thing gave me a headache during the Tech Runs and I'm not sure Sound is where I have any talent or possibly have any further interest.
During the Tech Run we could not always have the sound available immediately as each sound was on a file on the computer and you had to go from one file to another to retrieve the sound. This again was all new to me as I am not the most computer literate. So I would have to convey this to the DSM who would then make the Director and cast aware to pause whilst we lined up the Sound effect.
The Sound Designer did burn the Sounds and Music onto CD's in order for the shows so obviously it would run with continuity.
During the Tech Runs I was concerned with how I would perform throughout the shows and whether I would be able to follow both the DSM's cues, given that both did not necessarily cue me properly during the Tech Runs. For the shows I did do though after the Tech Runs following the cues were ok as both the DSM's did call the cues correctly.
By the third show I had started to relax but unfortunately for me I had a slight disaster brewing at home unknown to me at this stage and after the show discovered I had sewage pumping out into my garden so I missed the next show and went home to deal with it. Although I did come back for the 2 evening shows I chose not to operate the Sound Desk and watch the Sound Designer do it instead. This was because I still had sewage pumping up into the garden when I left home and my mind was on that. It did give me the opportunity though to watch both shows through fully which I immensely enjoyed and could finally appreciate.

Fugee Dress Rehearsal.

 

During the show I did do earlier on before the sewage disaster I did somehow miss out 2 whole sound tracks in Fugee!!??!! How I do not know! There was also an issue with the car horn Sound effect. On my cue sheet I had wrote to play the Sound when the actors hand went downwards indicating he was honking his horn. I saw him raise his hand and was waiting for the hand to go down to play the sound but he kept his hand in the air, which I later found out was because he was waiting for me to play the sound before he pushed his hand downwards to give the effect of honking the horn. Slight communication issues! I had also played a Sound cue to soon in Success and the actor hadn't finished their line completely before the music was played.

Friday I did operate the Sound for Fugee but again made mistakes. I did struggle more with Fugee than I did with Success. I do not know the real reason for this but can only presume it was to do with the actual Sound requirements differed hugely from each show. Success had music played in parts and the duration was often quite lengthy. In Fugee the Sound effects were short and sometimes abrupt and the cues often would ask for 2 Sound effects being lined up at the same time as they played simultaneously one after the other but in reality it was impossible to stand by on 2 Sound effects at the same time as one had to be played and end before the next one could be lined up then played. This meant that sometimes I was being asked to play the next Sound Cue before I was ready. You definitely have to be nimble and work quickly on the Colleges Sound Desk to make this work which unfortunately I proved not to be. I know that this doesn't mean I couldn't be if I had more time and experience operating the desk but I doubt that this will happen.
During the final show for whatever reason I hadn't set the desk properly when I was to play one of the gunshots so it just didn't happen and that was quite awkward and stressful as the actors were waiting to shoot the gun and for the other actor to fall and die but no matter how many times the DSM called the cue I just couldn't play it so after an excruciating painful time lapse the actors had to improvise and carry on.
I also on one occasion, when there was 2 Sound cues played simultaneously, hadn't bought the sound down from the last cue and raised the sound instead so it boomed around the auditorium then played the next sound at the wrong level, it was another gun fire, so it played extra loud, made up for the gun fire shot I had missed lol.
I do not want to make excuses for my overall performance throughout the shows but I did come in on the Friday still with issues of sewage pumping up into the garden, obviously this did cloud my thoughts and I felt highlighted for me an end to a difficult performance week for me. Can I say a s**t week at home and also one for me at college lol?! The only one I hasten to add that I have had since I first embarked on this course.

Success. (February 2014). Giant Monopoly Board.

The Backstage Team created a Giant Monopoly Board for the play Success. It featured throughout the whole production as it was screwed down to the Theatre floor during the production, this was to make it safe and secure and stop the individual sections that made it up, from moving, it also was done to stop the Actors from tripping over it.

(How the Giant Monopoly Board looked on stage and during the show).

The board was made in several sections and the pictures on the board were hand drawn and I had bought in an actual monopoly board so it could be copied as the enlarged photocopies that had been printed off had lost some detail.

(Stages of the Giant Monopoly Board being drawn and painted).

 

 The writing on the board was scaled up in size and printed on white paper and eventually pasted down in the appropriate section after the rest of the board had been painted.
I was not really involved in the creating of the Monopoly Board but towards the end when the Place Names were pasted on I was asked to help with the finishing touches.
The whole Monopoly Board had been painted green, as is the colour on the original board but obviously when the Place Names were pasted on, which was printed on white paper, this now made the board look unfinished. The Place Names were printed onto white paper as the college did not have green paper in the size required for the photocopy. For the college to of ordered in the correct colour it would of had to of ordered a quantity something like 2000 sheets and we only needed about 40 sheets printed off. The Tutor did not think that we could warrant that expense to the department as the extra green sheets would have no immediate use to anybody, so it was decided that the white surround to each word would be painted green to match the Monopoly Board. That is where I came in!! Before I was asked to help out the Tutor plus a student had tried painting around each individual letter but that was proving time consuming and not that accurate around the edge of the letters. The Tutor than had the idea of dipping a sponge in the green paint, wiping it fully across each word, thus covering the black lettering, then with a damp cloth and working quickly, wiping away the paint from each individual letter. This was also time consuming and fiddly I must admit but did give overall a much better effect.

(Me painting the white background of the lettering).

 

 You was still able to see the word below the paint thus allowing you to know where to wipe but you did have to be careful as if your cloth was too wet and you wiped too hard it was possible that you tore the paper, which I did do slightly on one when I first took this task over. I soon got the hang of it but must admit I did not enjoy this task. It was fiddly and time consuming and frustrating at times but when it was completed it did give me the sense of satisfaction as the finished task did finish the whole complete look of the project.
 I did end up working alone whilst doing this as we were rapidly running out of time to get everything for the 2 Productions completed and the Tutor needed to be elsewhere and the other student that was originally painting the white to green went on to pasting the rest of the name places down on the board. This did mean I had to be extra careful whilst painting and wiping as some of the place names were still wet from the pasting. We didn't have enough time to allow the newly pasted on names to dry as the board needed to be put in position in the Theatre and screwed down for the first performance the following day.

(The Giant Monopoly Board in position and experimenting with the lighting).

Success. February 2014. Casino/Gambling Table.

The Gambling Table had already been made and the top of the table already painted green when I came to work further on it. It needed boxes, letters and symbols to be painted on it to give the appearance of a Casino table. Lucy had already sourced a picture of a Casino table with markings on it as she was originally asked to paint the table but she was then asked to carry on with the Giant Monopoly Board and I took over this task.

(The finished Casino Table)

First I had been given an oversized playing card which the actors were going to use on stage and I marked out in pencil, drawing around the playing card, seven card markings placed in a curve near the front of the table away from where the actors were to sit. I had to find the centre position of the table by measuring it and dividing it in half and then from this position, which I had measured from the back of the table as that had the straight edge, I took a straight edge up from the centre mark to the front, curved edge, marking where the centre was at the front. From here I placed the card which I was to draw round and placed it centrally on the centre line. Once I had the first card drawn in position I was then able to mark the further 6 cards, 3 either side of the middle card. I measured out from the front edge of the table and also from the edge of each last card drawn, the same measurements each time, thus having each card drawn the same distance apart from the edge and each other.

(Marking out the table using a pencil tied to a piece of string and a ruler)

Next I needed to draw a curved box away from the cards but ending level with the end card markings. I did this by attaching a pencil to a piece of string and the other end to a drawing pin. I pressed the drawing pin into the centre mark at the edge of the back of the table and then drew the curved line by pulling taut on the string and using the pencil to draw with. I then had to adjust the string length so I could draw the second line of the curved box below the first line. I then joined up these two curved lines with a ruler to make a complete curved box.

I then had to draw a second box onto the table nearer to the back of the table and below the curved box. This box was just a long straight, rectangular box, again ending at the same point as the box and cards above.

Once drawn I then drew over the pencil markings using a thick black marker pen, again using a ruler to keep the lines straight and on the curve I tied the marker pen to the piece of string and used that same method to get the curved line.

Next I had to draw the 4 symbols of the playing cards, heart, diamond, club and spade, to fit into the rectangular box. I took the measurements of the depth of the box and then drew freehand the 4 symbols so they would fit into that measurement. I then cut the symbols out and placed them in position on the table and drew round them. There was to be all 4 symbols at either end of the rectangular box with a gap between the 2 sets of four. This was to give a space where the Casino Chips were to be placed. I then marked the symbols with an outline of black marker pen.

I also took the measurement of the playing card and drew freehand a star onto paper that would fit onto the card. Once cut out I drew round the star in the centre of each card marking and then again outlined in black marker pen. I also had to thicken up the outlines around each card so they would appear bolder.

The curved box was to have the word 'SUCCESS' in it. On the computer I printed up the word success in a bold font and enlarged it to the correct size and printed it off. I then cut out the letters and placed them in the curved box on the table and arranged them until I was happy with their position and drew around them. Again I outlined the letters in black marker pen and then proceeded to fill the letters in with gold paint, which took more than one coating for it to look good and solid.

I painted the red card symbols with red paint which took 3 or 4 coatings as I did not have a red marker pen. The black card symbols I filled in with black marker pen. The stars on the cards I painted with gold paint again this took 2 or 3 coatings. I had to allow each painted coating to dry before putting on the next.

Finally I had to cover the foam that had been placed around the front edge of the curve of the table. Originally it had been painted black but just after one performance during a Rehearsal the black paint, which was not the correct paint that should of been used, had drastically started to flake and making a terrible mess.

To do this I found some black satin type fabric in the costume room and using a staple gun started to attach the edge around the top of the table, over the foam. I started in the middle of the table and worked outwards. I had wanted some sort of lycra fabric for its stretchiness but they did not have any. The satin worked well anyhow. I had to use 3 pieces of fabric on the table as the fabric I had was not as long as the length of the table. I chose to do it in  3 pieces so the seams would be at the sides of the table rather then in the middle. I had to cut the fabric to the right width after it hung in place with the staples attaching it to the table. Once I had stapled fabric along the whole length of the table I turned the table onto its side so I could staple the bottom edge to the underneath of the table, completely covering the flaking paint on the foam edge. I pulled the fabric tautly as I stapled working from the centre to the outside edges. I have had experience of working like this as my first job on leaving school was as a window dresser and I always worked with a staple gun.

I was pleased with the whole completed look of the table and felt proud when I heard others comment that it looked good.

Slice of Saturday Night. Re-making of Toile. Fitting then adjusting again.

After making adjustments to the original Toile and re cutting out the new adjusted Toile onto pattern making paper, I then cut out a whole newly adjusted pattern in calico again to make a brand new Toile. It was also decided to get the fit of the dress perfect for the actress that I was to make a complete Toile of the dress and not just one half of the dress. I not only did this for the sake of a good correct fitting for the actress but also to get the pattern exactly right before cutting it out in the final fabric as it would prove a costly mistake if I cut the final fabric wrong due to the cost of the fabric.

I also had to make a mock of the sleeve to attach to the Toile as the final piece was to have sleeves.
I was given a sleeve pattern in size 12 which I traced onto new pattern making paper as I needed to make adjustments to the sleeve size and design.

(The above pictures show the original size 12 sleeve pattern and the various stages on how I created a new sleeve pattern to fit my actress that would also have a slight gathered puffiness to it).

I slashed the pattern by making 2 cuts at a slight diagonal, going from the bottom of the sleeve, a little in from each side, up towards the top of the sleeve, going outwards towards the edge.
I placed the slashed pattern onto a new piece of pattern making paper, with a gap between each piece, to the measurement of the actresses upper arm and taped the slashed pieces down. I drew round the pieces to form a new larger pattern.
After cutting the new paper pattern out I pinned it onto a fine gauze fabric, similar to the fabric that would be used in the final piece, and cut this out. This mock in the gauze fabric would eventually be stitched to my Toile cut from calico. I decided not to use calico for the sleeve on the Toile as I did not feel this would give the correct look as it would be too thick and heavy compared to the lighter final piece and would not gather in the correct manner and would of given the wrong appearance.

Again I machined sewed in the shoulder and bust darts and gathered under the bust. I then sewed all the pieces together. I then stitched the skirt onto the bodice. Next I stitched up one side seam and before sewing the other side seam I attached my sleeve. (I had decided only to make one mock up sleeve). The sleeve was to have a slight puffy gathering at the top of the sleeve on the shoulder. I first did a running stitch to make the gather and pinned the sleeve in place before stitching. after stitching the sleeve across the top from one side of the sleeve to the other side, I then stitched along the side seam of the arm all the way down to the hem of the dress.
Finally I stitched up the back of the dress just below the waistline to allow the actress to get in and out of the Toile and this was also allow for the zip to be added in to the final piece.

(The mock-up/Toile of the outfit with a gauze sleeve and solid cuff attached).

We then again tried the new Toile on the actress and yet again we needed to make adjustments! God knows why or how but here goes:
*It needed the length shortening.
*The side bodice seams needed to be nipped in as I had been too generous in the width with my new pattern.
*The front 'V' neck needed adjusting and pulling in tighter.
*The back, zip area, needed to be pulled in.
*The sleeve needed to be shortened and also tapered in from the top to bottom as it was too full.
*The under-bust gathering needed to be moved over due to pulling in the excess on the front seams.
Overall I had been too generous still in my adjustments.

I was happier though with where the skirt and bodice seam now sat compared to where it had been on the original Toile, which was too low.

After the fitting it was back to the drawing board, unpicking seams and taking the Toile apart.

 

 

I had to make the sleeve pattern shorter and taper it in then placed the newly adjusted pattern onto the sleeve fabric I had unstitched and opened up again and then re-cut the sleeve, cutting off the excess fabric.

(The adjustments to the sleeve pattern).

The Tutor re-pinned the calico Toile to the newly adjusted size but had turned the Toile inside out so the pins were now on the wrong side.
I stitched up the sleeve seam and the actress came back in for another fitting, this time trying on the Toile inside out so any new adjustments could be made more easily and yes there was more adjustments to be made with the pins. We also loosely tried on the shorter, tapered sleeve on the actresses arm holding it to the shoulder seam to see how it fitted.
I also made a tubular piece of calico for a mock cuff to try on the actress and held that against the sleeve.

Its been quite a time consuming process to create a pattern from scratch to fit a person well and I do know that once I have re-sewed all the adjustments in place I will need to try it on the actress again. at the end of the day though it is crucial to get the dress fitting correctly and it is much easier to make all the adjustments on a cheap mock-up rather than spoil the actual fabric that will be used on the final piece as any mistakes could prove costly.

(Above is the Costume Designers final design for the outfit I am making along with the fabric that I will be using on my final piece).

I have now sewn along the seams of the dress where it had been pinned in. I have also sewed the fabric at the back tapering from the neckline down to a 'V' shape below the waistline as there was too much fabric at the back. I 've also cut some length off the dress as it was too long. I have also sewn the front seam along the pin line where it had been taken in and am now awaiting to try the Toile once again on the actress.