Designing and Building of the plant

 

 

         

These are different images from the start of the making of the plant. The Photos above are us making of the leaves for the bottom of the plant. On the photo above is me painting the top of the plant’s mouth green. The other images included the making of flowers for the florist scene. For this we had used pieces of metal and different coloured tissue paper. It also includes the making of the wall. This was done on to a large piece of paper with brown paint and a sponge.

            
I had planned out the props for the stage by making the same thing but miniature to see how it would come out if I made it bigger. I had also measure a proper size for the plant because it has to be big enough for the audience to see but not big that it take up the whole stage. We had to consider appropriate colours for everything for the plant, flowers, and the wall. The important thing I had also considered is the suitable materials for everything. We had to build everything from scratch.

 

These pictures above are the images of us planning for the making of the plant.

The two images below are examples of the final product on stage at the production.

 

Stage Designs

 

 

These photos shown above are ones that we had put in a model box. Firstly I had researched images on the theme “1950’s New York”. I had then printed and cut the images, and then I had stuck the images on poly tile to make it 3D, and just laid it out on the model box on how it would look on the real stage.

 

 

 

These are some of the pictures used in the model box.

 

The first picture is an image of the "Mushnik Florist" sign that we had to make. We decided as a group to try this sign, but we didn't end up actually choosing it for the final piece, because it was the wrong colours - it had to be brighter so can stand out, as it was too dark. The second image above is the final design that we had chosen as we had tried out different idea for the Mushnik florist idea again and then we ended up choosing this one because it was more visual and can see it better on stage as it’s more noticeable for the audience and the people at the back of the hall.

Publishing The Event

This was the Final Idea for the “Little Shop of Horrors” Poster. I had done this with a group. I had researched different “Little Shop of Horrors” Posters on the internet and came to a conclusion of the final idea.

I had researched different “Little Shop of Horrors” posters and analysed the titles and the images used on these posters. Finally the leaflet above became the final idea for the poster that will go around school. We had chosen this final idea due to the bright colours and eye catching text and image, this is important because the target audiences are teenage Students, so I thought it would look nicer. We had been careful of the legal considerations such as the copyright issue.

This is one of the posters that we had planned to use as our final idea, but it isn’t the final idea because we didn’t like the layout , colours and it doesn’t look to attractive for teenage students.

After a lot of planning and researching I finally came up with this idea of a poster. I liked this one because the blood drips from the title and give a sight into how the production is going to be like. The plant opening its mouth at the front of the poster shows it might eat something/someone.

It’s very useful to have information so the details for the event are at the bottom of the poster e.g. venue, time, date.
 

Audience

We had attracted the audience by making posters to come to the “Little Shop of Horrors” Production. We had included things such as the date, time and where it is. The target audience was Heston Community School students.

The audience feedback was: -

     “The big plant was scary; did it really eat that man?” (George 5 yrs)

     “The show was amazing! It was really lively and colourful.” (Anisha 14 yrs)

     “It was very professional looking for a student production. The lighting and sets made it look very convincing” Mrs. Bansal (Mum 39)

     “The props and background were impressive, especially the giant plant and how it got bigger and bigger in each scene, that was the best bit. It really looked like it was eating people” Mr. Edwards (Teacher 59)

     “There were some scary parts and the songs were very good” (Faizan 16 yrs)

     “I wish I had known it was gonna be that good, I would have auditioned for a part. It felt like a professional musical” (Amrit 13 yrs)

     Personally I think the play was really good. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and really get into it and even join in with the singing. Also I think the production was appropriate for teenage students.

 

Interviewing with Professionl Practice designer.

We interviewed a professional production designer who had been working in theatre, film, and television since 1990.

What fascinated you in to production design?

I had always loved theatre as a child since she saw I saw my first pantomime. When I realised I had a natural ability for art, it made sense to become a theatre designer.

What sort of problems did you encounter?

It’s a very competitive industry, you have to be highly ambitious and really good skills to succeed, and also you work on a self-employed free lance basis which means you have to find your own work. You have to be disciplined with cash flow.

What qualifications did you take?

You have to have aptitude for art and design; it helps to be interested in history as well. The other qualifications are 3D design; this is the subject you have to be strongest in. I had also done a bachelors degree in theatre design, a master’s degree in Film/TV design. I had done a foundation course before the subjects. All of these took me 6 years.

How do you deal with finding work?

You have to get yourself an agent to find you work who then takes a percentage of your pay as a fee. You should also network with the people in the industry.

How much did you get paid?

The pay is very good in film and television, especially in commercial work. In commercial work, you can get over £600 a day, this is because it’s a free lance job, and you have to balance periods of unemployment.

What are the pros and cons of being a designer?

The pros for being a designer is that it’s extremely varied, you are always doing something different. It’s also extremely creative. You also get paid well when you are the head of the department, and the best thing is that you get to travel a lot.

The challenging parts of being a designer are that it’s a very high responsibility and stress; you also have to manage tight budgets and deadlines. The job is very insecure as you may not get employed for a long time. This is a very demanding job it may take over family life.

Have you ever had a bad review?

Yes actually once. This was due to a technical issue about sight lines. You have to make sure the entire audience can see the stage.

What’s it like showing your work to an audience?

It is very exciting, especially in some nights, when you sit amongst the audience and they have a positive reaction. You realise that you have a significant impact in how much the audience enjoys and understands the performance.

Evaluation

For the production ‘Little shop of Horrors’ I got involved in with different things. Before the show I helped out to make the plant – this included sketching, wiring everything together, and painting. On the actual day of the production, I helped put the plant on stage. We made miniature scales for the set so we could see what it looks like in big size, and then helped paint everything. I lent a hand in making the tools of the dentist chair, and the flowers for the set. We used different coloured tissue paper and scrunched it up to make it look like a flower. This is all included as prop construction. As I made most of the props and helped construct and what everyone else in the group should do. This helped with my organisational skills.                                                                                   

I helped with selling leaflets at the front door. We sold them for 30p; this helped with my selling skills and communication with the audience. I had also helped out backstage doing the curtains – opening and closing them. I also helped with the Graphic design of the poster. We decided to use black and red colours to make it seem that the show will be adventurous and dangerous. As the colour red shows blood and jeopardy.  We put all the details at the bottom of the poster e.g. venue, time, date etc. We’d also included a big image of the plant on the front as it’s the most important thing about the show. With some help I also made the ‘Mushnik Florist’ sign to go on stage, as well as the set painting. I didn’t want to make it to big otherwise it would take up the whole stage and not to small otherwise the audience at the back wouldn’t be able to see. I got involved with stage management this included in helping getting the guy in an out of the plant the technical requirements of the show such as the model box and the plant. I also got involved with the Visual research this incorporated with the 1950’s mood board, and mind map. This helped me gain more knowledge on my research skills as I had to explore different words and images related to 1950’s New York. I had to also be aware of the Copyright issue.  As you can see in my other file, after all of these things that I got involved with I had to make sure of the Health and Safety Precautions for the production – before, during and after.

One element of the project that I consider that I’ve learnt from the most is when I was working back stage with the actors/ actresses, client, and the whole team production. I feel that any difficulty that arises I overcame and handled without delay as you have to be prepared to face anything that may cause the show not to run efficiently. You can prevent things like this from happening by rehearsing as much as you can, keep checking lists that need to be done, make sure everyone is available when needed and that everything works constructively well. Having an organisational manger is very important and can make a huge improvement in comparison to not having one at all.

I’ve also learnt that while creating the props and action prop construction we needed to be precise of the measurements. Rehearsing is fundamental as you can improve for the live show and make any arrangements such as when its queue to open and close curtains, the different lighting (brightness, colour, position etc) sound, and the use of props (position and the placements of the background.

What I found out from pre production work is that Pre-production is the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance’s. We worked hard when the show was coming close to the deadline by researching more information and having a timescale. If we work with pressure during his time then I feel it’s important in planning a performance because the show can go on smoothly and you know what to expect. To be more successful in finishing all tasks given it will be good to have an classify and arrange a management leader who will give up their free time to help instruct and teach all the team members with tasks bearing in mind the time scale.    If we have a strict timeline there will be dis-advantages like everyone will have to work quickly while achieving high standard work, but most of all its good because the work will be done. During pre-production, the script is broken down into individual scenes and all the locations, props, cast members, costumes, special effects and visual effects are identified.

I believe that I was good at showing my artistic skills when I got involved in the graphic designs of the poster, the drawing of the “Mushnik Florist” sign on stage, and also making miniature scales for the set, and when I helped paint everything. Also I felt I was good at the finding of the images. This was useful for me as well because it assisted me with my researching visually skills by using search engines.

I feel that I was bad at meeting the deadlines straight away after the work was given even though I did get it done. I’m also a perfectionist, so I want everything to be complete up to standard and I have high expectations in my own work, and I want to do well and I tried very hard in the whole production.

Stage Direction Terminology

Stage Blocking- Stage blocking is one of the most basic and technical elements of play direction. Blocking provides the backbone and structure needed to make other elements a reality. Blocking is the choreography of actors' movements throughout the entire play. If a character needs to exit the scene, for example, the actor must be able to move naturally towards the exit. The director's goal is to come up with a plausible means of getting that actor across the stage and through the door, window, and transporter beam.

Sightlines - A sightline is a 'line of sight' between spectators and the stage or playing area at a venue (for example a stadium or theatre). This is a radial view and a good sightline will allow a spectator to see all areas of the venue stage. It is recommended that the spectator's eye height must be not being lower than 800 mm above the stage.

Stage directions - In theatre, the stage is a designated space for the performance of theatrical productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience. To an actor facing the audience, "left" and "right" is the reverse of what they are for the audience.

Upstage - is an open source server-side application that has been purpose built for Cyberformance: multiple artists collaborate in real time via the Upstage platform to create and present live theatrical performances, for audiences who can be online (from anywhere in the world) or in a shared space, and who can interact with the performance via a text chat tool. It can also be understood as a form of digital puppetry.