Task 4 Evaluation essay:
We as a theatre company have had many production meetings
whilst we have been working on great expectations. A production meeting is a
meeting in which you talk about what is going to happen in the show and
distribute roles between the cast and crew. We all had interviews to see which
role suited us the most, and which role we could do the best in. We had to fill
out a sheet of questions (attached) which asked us about our roles and what we
thought of different roles. I went for the Marketing director along with some
others. I had researched the part well. The marketing manager’s role is to
promote and sell tickets. To do so they manage all aspects of the theatres
publicity and advertising material which includes fliers, posters, press
adverts, brochures, newsletters and website pages. They oversee their content,
design and production and arrange distribution of all printed material.
Sometimes in smaller theatres, this role includes press and public relations. I
filled out the sheets and was interested in the role hugely. I could work well
with others in the role and seeing as I did work experience in a PR company and
my option in school Media, I thought I would suit the role and handle it well.
I was researching what I could do to promote the show; starting a website,
handing out fliers, fundraising etc. I knew that the role would be carried out
with efficiency, commitment and independence
Due to a swap of teachers I was then put as Assistant Stage
Manager in which I specialised in props also working with the props group, with
a couple of others in my class. I again researched Props in theatre: A prop is
an object used on stage by actors. Small props can be referred to as hand
props. Whether it's a small hand-held prop or a piece of furniture, the
National Theatre's Props Department is responsible for sourcing or producing
props for all of the National's productions. This collection contains videos
that demonstrate the different techniques that go into making all sorts of
theatrical props, as well as giving an insight into how the props department of
the National Theatre operates.
I enjoyed working in props and the first thing we did was,
go through the script and find all of the props in act 1&2. I think props
had a big part to play in the production but not particularly in ours. We
sorted through the props as if any production and these are the notes i took
down for props in the production meetings.
PROPS:
-By next week, we will have done more background research
into the time era of the play and what would have been seen in those times. It
would give us a good use for what to get for props and which props would suit
each character well.
- To go to the props department and see what they can
provide and what we don't need to supply ourselves.
- To set deadlines to which pages we can go through and pick
out props
I think overall I worked well in a team and researched a lot
about props and their meaning in theatre.
I am going to evaluate the past 6 weeks in our production
meetings, using the minutes I have taken and my own opinions on how all of the
roles worked out in the production. My production role throughout the last
vital couple of weeks was ASM specialising in props. I think I worked well in a
team and researched and put extra, outside meetings, work into my role. I think
I could have tried to incorporate the other roles with props and talked to
other people in the cast and crew to get a better idea of some things. Another
weakness was time, because I had originally researched and was interviewed for
marketing so it took me a week or so to get into props and understand them, on
the other hand a strength to this was that I had to research props and ASM
quickly, so I learnt a lot about them. In Great Expectations, I played Young
Estella, in act 1, meaning i was in scenes for the whole scenes, so I wasn't
backstage a lot. This meant I couldn't control or handle the props side of
things, which is why; we did so much pre- production work. Because we
researched so much , and wrote all of our notes down we could communicate with
others to what they wanted as props and how they could provide that themselves
or somebody else in the cast. This meant on the day, people had their own props
under control so we didn't have to worry about it all whilst we were in stage.
The teachers were very supportive in all of the roles, and me and Ben also
worked with Kim for some weeks as she was in costume to try and intertwine the
props and costume.
My production role towards in the last weeks of the performance
was ASM, working specifically in props with Ben and Kim. We had researched Props
in theatre over time, and had a good idea of what we had to do in ‘pre-production’.
A property, commonly shortened to prop (plural: props), is an object used on
stage or on screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In
practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a
stage or a set, distinct from the actors, scenery, costumes and electrical
equipment. Consumable food items appearing in the production are also
considered properties. We firstly went
through all of the script, writing down props including food, objects and even
costume, depending on what costume it was.
