Deacon Blue. December 2013. (Non College)/Midas PA Console

Had the opportunity to not only go and see Deacon Blue but to chat to the lighting technician and take pictures of the lighting and sound desk, which blew me away, as after working in the tech box for the Panto, the show desks were so much more complicated looking.

 

The large picture above is of the sound desk. I did not get to speak to the sound engineer but the desk blew me away with its size and the amount of monitors it had.

I was informed that the PA Desk was a Midas XLX and the cost of it was £170,000.00!! Beats the value of the desk at college.

After coming home and doing some research on Midas Consoles I couldn't find a XLX but did find a Midas XL8 which to me looks like the Console I took a picture of. Apologies to Midas and anyone in the know if I am incorrect in saying this.

I decided to give some information here about the LX8 but do take a look at www.midasconsoles.com for any more information, as this is where I have gained all the information I am about to write. Most of it in my own words :-) 

Midas Consoles are used for many major world tours and the company have been in business since early 1970.

The LX8 is used for live performances as the easy-to-use control surfaces have been designed to allow for fast navigation when required without the need to hunt through "layers" or "pages". The user navigates the system and identifies channels by colour and groupings which the user themselves create. This allows an individual approach to mixing, rather than working within hardware dictated numerical limitations.

The Midas daylight viewable screens ensures that the user never needs to mix blind no matter how bright the ambient light is.

I watched a short video clip of a sound engineer called 'Big' Mick Huges that works with Metallica and he was enthusiastic about the XL8 saying it has time saving plots and is only restricted by your imagination. He went on to agree with the interviewer that if using an analogue system when you reach the capacity it can then limit you to what you can do from that point on.

He enthused how the XL8 offers endless possibilities and did not agree with what some engineers claim to believe: that it takes away the creative decision making. He felt the analogue system was limited and that there was no limitation using the XL8.

He said some people would say that you can't get a decent rock guitar sound but he disagreed and felt that he could hear the individual guitar strings and says if anything digital gives too much intelligent ability and gives endless possibilities and that it is down to the engineer to use it to its full advantage.   

 

 

 

The above picture shows the lighting desk which had a touch screen. On the right side monitor was a list of the songs that were in the show, in sequence that they would be sung.

I struggled to hear the lighting technician as I was speaking to him during the sound check before the show plus also he had a Scottish accent that I had difficulty understanding.

The desk was quite cool, sadly I am not technically minded so am not the one to explain it the best.

 

Just some pictures of the show - showing the lights.

 

 

Just had to take a picture of my parking ticket for the evening (bottom right picture), it's the cheapest concert parking I have ever paid. £1 for the whole evening and in the car park directly next to the venue. Guildford Borough Council you rock!!!!

 

 

 

Christmas Carol. Props.

I did not work on anything for the Christmas Carol Production but I did go watch it and I just love Props, so again I thought I would include something of this on my Blog pages.

Paige made the original Christmas Pudding and there was a comment that it was too large but when I looked at it I could not see what the complaint was about as I thought the Pudding looked good but when I saw the first show it clearly was too big. They had put a prop chicken on the table and when they had to put the Pudding on the table they had to deliver a line saying it was such a small Pudding which was amusing as it was easy twice the size of the chicken on the table lol.

So before the next show Pippa had to make a smaller Pudding, as Paige was not available. The new Pudding was much smaller and I am sure would of looked more appropriate on stage. It also was probably still wet as there was not much time to complete the task before the next show. That's showbiz!

The top left picture is off the second Pudding and the bottom right picture is of the original Pudding. The bottom left picture shows the 2 Puddings together to show the comparison in sizes.

The other Prop I was intrigued with for the show was the door which had to have a slit in it for the ghost of Marley's head to poke through, (at least I think that's who head was to stick through as I am writing this half way through January and I had watched the play before Christmas).

 

The set was quite basic, which I have discovered since my journey has begun at college, that often the stage settings are minimalistic and crates seem to be used a lot.

The bottom right picture shows the chairs backstage, behind the curtain, where the Actors sat whilst waiting their call onto stage and clearly where they changed into their costumes.

I love being involved in the Theatre and being involved backstage and just enjoy taking pics of what happens to help make a production take place. 

Slice of Saturday Night. Fitting of Toile and adjusting of pattern.

Finally was able to have the first costume fitting of the Toile I had made, on the Actress, for the 1960's dress.
First thing that needed adjusting was the arm sleeve holes, which I was fully aware needed doing anyway. The original armhole did fit but it would of been uncomfortable.
After taking away some of the fabric the Tutor and I re-tried the Toile on the actress but decided to take some more away, this was to allow the armhole to fit even better and allow more movement for the arm and to allow space for the sleeve that was going to be added to the costume.
We needed to pin the top of the skirt up higher onto the bodice so the seam sat on the actresses waist as it was too low.
Next we needed to take the bust dart in deeper so the fabric of the bodice would sit better over the bust as there was too much fabric in the bodice. The neckline was also adjusted to a 'V' shape.
The Actress also wanted to have a long sleeve on the dress so it was decided that the sleeve would be of a sheer 'see through' fabric, slightly gathered at the top going down to a 4" cuff, where there will be a slight puffiness of fabric gathered at the top of the cuff.
Due to needing to make a sleeve we had to take further measurements of the top of the actresses arm and of her wrist, plus around the lower arm where the top of the cuff would be.
As we had pinned the skirt up higher onto the waistline, it meant that the dress hemline was now shorter, so I would now need to add an additional length to the dress and as the actress wanted it to be just below her knee, I felt a further 2 and half inches added to the hemline would be necessary.
The final dress is going to be made in a black or dark blue fabric, with possibly a bit of sparkle added to the front of the bodice.

After sitting and pondering for a while about the adjustments that needed to be made and not sure where to start, I did make a start by drawing a pencil line across the bodice at the point where that should now end, above the edge of the top of the skirt where that had now been pinned up.
I then took all the pins out that were holding the skirt to the new position so allowing me to take the side seam apart, initially up to the bust dart, so I could see how much needed to come off the bodice, which was to be an inch. (Picture below shows the pencil marking on the Toile of the adjustments that needed to be made, plus the original adjustment markings I had made on the paper pattern, before deciding to re-draw a new pattern).

Originally I cut an inch from my paper pattern that I had made and then proceeded to take the bodice and skirt seam apart so I could open up the mock-up and adjust the new position of the armhole against the paper pattern.
I started to attempt to make the adjustments to the paper pattern but then decided it would be easier to actually make a whole new paper pattern allowing for the new adjustments. I had discussed this with the Tutor and she was in agreement as we both felt it was essential for the outfit to fit my actress well to boost her level of confidence during her performance. It was also decided to make a whole new Toile once the new pattern was made and then try the new Toile on my actress before proceeding to make the final outfit.
I took apart the whole Toile but before doing so I marked the new bust darts on the old Toile with pencil and where I was to move the gathering to as well. I unstitched all the seams and took out all the pins, so I could start again. I cut an inch off the mock-up so when I drew round it, it would now be the correct length. (See pic below).

Initially I forgot to take out the back shoulder dart and bust dart and opened up the Toile and drew round both the front and back bodice sections onto new pattern making paper. After carefully looking at the newly drawn pattern and examining my original Toile I realised the new pattern wasn't right and took apart the darts and re-laid the Toile back onto the pattern making paper over where I had drawn and re-drew round the Toile crossing out the lines I didn't want. After asking the Tutor to check my work, as I must admit at this point it was making my head explode (lol), I cut the new paper pattern out. I marked on the new pattern where the back shoulder dart and bust dart should be. I also cut out a new skirt pattern, adding extra to the length as the actress told me she wanted the hem to be just below her knee. 

Panto. Scaling up Bushes and Clouds using an overhead projector. December 2013.

Theatre will often work to a 1:25 scale. But not on this occasion!  :-)

The original pictures of the Clouds and Bushes had been drawn by one of the Tutors onto paper, they were drawn to a 1:10 scale. After careful deliberation though, by the Tutor who was helping us to scale them up and transfer them onto hardboard, it was decided to do the clouds at 1:10 and the bushes at 1:20. I think this was differentiate the clouds from the bushes but no longer can remember for sure.  :-(

 

First the original drawing had to be traced onto tracing paper, which I did do, this was because we needed to use the drawings on an overhead projector.

 

 

Normally you would use acetate but we didn't have that, so we used tracing paper. The reason you needed a see through paper was the light of the projector would shine through the drawing and then project this image onto the hardboard.

Lois and Poppy I recall, then worked out the scaled up dimensions onto each individual drawing with the aid of a scaled ruler. Each picture of the clouds and bushes was then cut into individual squares which could be used separately on the overhead projector.

 

 

 

Some of the clouds and bushes, due to their size, had to have a straight line drawn through them and divide them into 2 sections. This was due to the fact that when they were projected onto the hardboard to the correct scaled up size, they were too large for the hardboard. The above picture shows this. When they were drawn up they were each given a letter to identify them and numbers as well, if they were to be divided into 2 sections, so we were able to then join the correct pieces together afterwards.

 

 

Each individual traced cloud and bush, along with its scaled up measurements, was then placed on the lit up overhead projector. The hardboard was placed at one end of the workshop and the projector was moved to a position, so that once it shone the image onto the hardboard it would be of the correct scaled up size.

Once the image was at the correct size someone, and I did take part in this, then drew around the projected image onto the hardboard so it could been seen and eventually be cut out.

This whole performance did take time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panto. General Pictures of Behind the Scenes. December 2013.

I decided to add a page of general pictures I took behind the scenes during the Panto week.

The first picture was taken from the Tech Box of the stage in normal lighting and one of the same scene with the general lighting off and the stage cyc lit up in blue.

Next is a picture of the stage being swept, which was done before every show and one of the sound desk in the Tech Box.

 

Finally a picture of the dressing room where the actors got into their costumes and awaited their call onto stage. Billie was the Wardrobe Mistress and Lois assisted her. The room was furnished with many chairs for all the actors to be able to sit down on whilst they waited and also to keep some order to the room I would imagine.

 

 

Panto. Painting and hanging of Calico Trees. (December 2013). /Painting of Theatre Floor for Production.

Before the Trees could be painted, fabric tabs were machined sewn onto the top of the trees to enable it to be hung in the theatre. This was done by one of the Tutors.

One of the students was asked, whilst the making of the Trees was taking place, to research stage tree scenery, to give inspiration on how we could paint our Calico Trees.

 

The above picture shows the tabs sewn onto the top of the tree and also our scaled drawing that we originally worked from, coloured in, to show how the final piece was going to look.

 

The research pictures that were to inspire us.

 

The Calico Trees were finally painted by our Tutor. Due to their size they were laid out on the theatre floor on top of plastic sheeting, which was taped down, to secure it to the floor. Obviously the plastic sheeting was laid onto the floor to protect it from the paint being used.

Once painted they were hung in place with a note pinned to them as they did need another coat of paint and we didn't want the drama students thinking they were finished. It also gave us an opportunity to see how they were to look.

We did not use the Header, that we had drawn out from a scaled drawing, to hang between the 2 trees.

 

 

To hang the trees in the Theatre, the scaffold tower was used. The tabs on the trees were secured onto the truss.

 

 

 

Once the trees were dry from the first coat of paint, they were once again laid out onto the theatre floor upon plastic sheeting, and more detail shading was applied, again by the Tutor. (See picture below).

 

 

After the Theatre was used for painting the Trees, the floor was painted black so it would look fresh for the Production. Apparently it gets a coat of paint on a regular basis. The paint is applied by a team of workers (students and tutor) by roller brushes on long handles.

 

 

 

Panto. Applying Stage Gauze to the Calico Trees. (December 2013).

Once the Scaled up trees had been cut out of calico we had to add stage gauze to the top back parts of the trees.
We had to do this to give the leafy part of the tree, at the top, support, so it wouldn't droop down once hung in the theatre.
When we first found the stage gauze, which had been stored in the lock-up in a black bin bag, we discovered, for whatever reason, it was absolutely soaking wet! We hung the gauze to dry outside over the fence and dress rail, hoping it would dry and air sufficiently so we could use it. It did have a terrible musty smell to it at this stage.
Thankfully it did dry ok and we was able to use it.

 

We laid the top part of the calico tree out on the workshop floor and cut stage gauze to fit the cut out sections of the tree at the top, thus filling in the empty gaps with gauze to support the leafy part of the tree so it would not droop and fold in on itself.

 

 

We then glued the gauze into position on the back of the calico. This was quite time consuming because the gauze is predominately a holey fabric, so it took a lot of glue to secure it.

 

 

After the gauze was secured in position, (see above picture), we had to allow it to dry before it could be painted.