UNIT 8:

D&MT YR1"West Side Story Remix"

Monday, 17th May 2021

Today, instead of being with Becca in my normal lesson, I had joined Shelley and the YR1 dance and musical theatre students watching there rehearsed pieces and talking to them about their ideas and what they want for there own individual pieces and duets with each other.

During my first rehearsal watch with the students I had spoken to Destini, Shakira, Henok, Claudia, Zarius, Emanuella, Claudia Cook, Joseph, Tiyana, Bobbi and Sidney about what lighting set and costume ideas they have for there pieces.

Chosen ideas for performance

TECH REHEARSAL 1:

During our first tech for west side story remix, I used the running order that we had discussed in the last rehearsal class I had attended, and went off of some of the ideas that they gave me during rehearsals. Also the actors gave e their music extremely late and was only added into Q-Lab very late which was irritating because of the amount of changes we had because the actors were very un-organised.

Destini-Prologue

- Spot light during prologue performance

-Sidelights

Tech Rehearsal

The first piece teched was Destini's monologue. She wanted to use a spot light with the movers and a general wash as all the others actors enter on stage. Luckily, the day before the first tech Ezra showed me how to work the movers just before their first tech rehearsal as I am meant to learn how to use movers in my 2nd year of the course but Ezra Becca and I knew Shelley and the performers would want the use of the movers throughout the show.

Reiss- 'America'

Piece cancelled

Shakira- 'Dance at the gym'

-Blue red and purple LEDs

-Red and blue batons

-Spot light for middle and end section

During Tech Rehearsal

For 'Dance at the gym' in Shakira's piece everything we had discussed during rehearsals was similar apart from the start of the piece during the acting, we had added pink LEDs and the mirror ball to make the narrative clear for the audience. As the Choreography started for 'Dance at the gym' we had added all the lights Shakira had asked for, the red and blue batons and LEDs to make it clear for the audience to show the rival gangs. The only thing we didn't include during this piece was the spot lights.

Henok- 'Love across the lines (Jazz & Contemporary)

-Side lights (beginning) dark and dim

-spot light (right at the beginning on stage right)

In 'Love across the lines' Henok's Piece we used two spot lights at the beginning, one spot on

Zaris-Angel and one spot on Henok at the start and the lights gradually get brighter and go to the same lights Shakira had with the pink LEDs and the mirror ball.

Claudia- 'Tonight' (COVID) Balcony scene

-Dark and dim as it is on the balcony in the dark (side lights)

-White LEDs

- Back drop of a balcony scene

For Claudia's piece in 'Tonight' we used exactly what she asked for as she wanted it to be dim and dark as it was meant to reflect a balcony and a back alley, so we used the back parcan lights so the light was directly on her as she was standing on a platform and another parcan directly on Henok who was standing centre stage. However Claudia asked for a back drop on the syke using the projector but because Claudia was so close to the syke the light was reflecting onto the syke so the picture wasn't seen very well so the lights couldn't be bright as I wanted them to be.

Zaris- 'I feel pretty' ( Updated version)

-Spot light for beginning

- General wash with bright colours

For Zaris-Angel piece 'I feel pretty' we also used exactly what Zaris asked for with a few other additions to the piece. At the start of the piece she asked for a spot light centre stage when she is on stage alone and the lights gradually get brighter as the other performers enter on stage with a general wash with red and blue batons to make it pink. Zaris also asked for a lighting effect that flashed purple and pink before the lyrics started in the song but as I didn't know how to do effects I made the purple light into a sub instead as she only wanted it for a short amount of time.

Emmanuella-'The Rumble'( hip hop updated version)

-Spot light then leads into general wash

-Red LEDs when stabbing happens in the scene

During Emmanuella piece we changed a lot of her ideas. in the 'Rumble' piece it was very dark and the lights were very low we used the batons and red and blue LEDs to signal the rival gangs. Emmanuella also asked for a flashing effect on the batons at the start of 'Rumble' piece as there was police siren at the start of the music for the 'Rumble' to make the performance more effective. There was also one spot light in between the piece for a short amount of time.

Joseph-'Cool' (Street/Hip Hop)

-Spot at the start

-Gradually gets brighter with side lights

During rehearsals Joseph was having problems with the choreography and song choice and some of the other dancers had other ideas to help Joseph finish off the piece. Half way through rehearsals he decided to add a different song to the original choice of the song and used the the ideas of others to help finish the 'Cool' piece. During the tech rehearsal it started with a spot on Bobbi and gradually the others joined in. As they moved out of the spot, the lights changed to blue and the staged stayed dark and dim, as the piece ended the dancers came back to their starting position and ended with the spot light.

Bobbi-'Dream Ballet' (Lyrical Jazz + Singing)

-Beginning with spot light

-General wash

For Bobbi's pieces we started off with a spot on Henok and gradually moved to a general wash with orange LEDs and a bright light over Tiyana as she was singing.

Tiyana- 'A boy like that' (Singing)

-Spot lights for solo piece and no spot during duets

-Acting scene -Dark and dim lighting before 'Anita' Enters on stage

-When 'Anita' enters on stage lights must be bright

Claudia Cooke- 'Containing Maria & City of stars' ('Anita' also in the scene)

-Spot on 'Maria and Anita' in the beginning( back row Parcans)

-Projection of stars

-Red LEDs for dramatic scene (Anita's scene)

Sidney and Zaris- Finale

-Spot at the beginning and end section

-Blue LEDs

Shakira- Monologue

-Spot light

During second rehearsal watch in the dance studio, Shelley, the students and I had a discussion about what costume ideas they had. Most of them had a lot of ideas for costume changes but Shelley and I thought it would be easier to keep the costumes simple as there are 11 pieces and it would be very hard and stressful for the performers to go back and forth changing costumes without brakes during the show.

EVALUATION

During my unit 8, I decided to take on the role as the stage manager during the final performance 'West Side Story Remix'. I done some research on what it takes to be a stage manger and what the main roles and responsibilities of a stage manager in a small venue with a small amount of staff. I also used a a book called 'Stage Management and Theatre Administration' which also helped me with my research, like the role of a SM, how to prepare for production week, how effects was used before technology, etc.

After the show, the performers, Shelley, Mandy and I all watched the show back over for all of us to give feedback to each other, The performers to give feedback to each other on their acting and choreography and they gave me feedback on my choice of lighting and ideas. We watch the whole performance on YouTube as it was on a live stream the day of the performance.

Destini was the first piece and also the first to give me feedback on my lighting, I decided to use a spot light for a short monologue at the start of Destini's piece then the lights gradually moved into a general wash as the rest of the performers came on stage. The spot light was perfect and she stood exactly on her mark that was put on the stage for her so she knew where exactly to stand and was seen well in the video, until we changed to the general wash when all the other performers came onto the stage and it was very dark and some of the actors weren't seen very well.

The second piece we watched was Shakira's piece 'Dance at the Gym'. The feedback I got from Shakira was very positive as she like the lights changing from blue to red to show the difference between the two groups, but could have been brighter as it couldn't be seen very well through the camera because the camera lens was quite small so it couldn't pick up as much light as it was smaller than the stage view.

The next piece I had feedback from was ' Love Across The Lines' which was Henok's piece. In this piece we started off with two spots, one on Zaris and the other on Henok. The only problem with this, was the dancers need to make sure they stand at their markers so they are in the correct space where the spot light can be directly on them as they are dancing. Also Sidney was also completely out of the light during his monologue piece because he wasn't standing on his mark so his face couldn't be seen. But during 'love across the lines' when it moved onto the general wash it could have been a little bit brighter. Also I felt that the light bars could be lower to help technicians in future as most

For Claudia and Henok's in 'Tonight (Balcony scene)' we used a projection for this piece on the syke and had dim lights to give it the effect that it was dark. The problem with this piece was because we used a projection the lights couldn't be as bright as I wanted them to be because the lights would have reflected back onto the syke and washed out the projection and wouldn't have been seen. Also at the end The lights could have been a little bit brighter as Henok walks off stand so he's seen for his last line.

The next piece was made by Zaris-Angel, 'I feel pretty'. During this piece the lighting was so much better, all the dancers could be seen on the live stream. She also said the the lights went with the atmosphere and the mood during the piece.

The next piece was 'The Rumble' by Emanuella. The feedback from Emanuella was very positive, I was told the lights were very good, everyone was seen well in the live stream. the lights were describes as intense, effective and powerful as the choreography went extremely well with the lighting making it so effective.

The 'Cool' piece choreographed by Joseph. Joseph also gave positive feedback for the lighting choices that I added. Joseph said he felt that the spot light in the beginning with all the dancers centre stage of the piece was very effective and fitted the atmosphere.

'Dream Ballet' was next, choreographed by Bobbi. The feedback I received from Bobbi was also positive but was told that I could have made it more 'dream like' for example with a backdrop or maybe the use of a gobos.

During 'A boy like that' piece I completely messed up the cues during this piece by reading the cues wrong which was all my fault. I read the sound cue and thought it was a lighting cue.

In 'City of Stars', another projection was also used that was for Claudia Cooke's piece with Zaris. A projection of stars was used while the two sang. But watching this piece on the live stream the projection wasn't seen on camera but watching it live from the theatre it was seen clearly. The lights could have been brighter but that would have washed out the projection and it wouldn't have been seen on the live stream or live in the theatre.

Overall, the feedback from the D&MT students was overall positive and gave constructive criticism towards my work which I a happy with as I agreed with all the feedback they gave me. Also I felt that the light bars could be lower to help technicians in future as most of my feedback was lights should or could have been brighter but from where me and my team are in the gallery, the lighting looked completely fine from my view but they clearly weren't according to some.