MODULE C (Technical production)
Project
The Experiment and Exhibition
Production Meeting 1
In this project, we were given the Brief to come up with a concept of Immersive theatre. We were then split up into groups to talk about our ideas. We came up with the idea to make an IT-type scare maze. We discussed what fixtures and how much space we would need. We also then agreed on an idea so that we could start planning.
Production Meeting 2
In this meeting, our team came together and we decided to finalise a PowerPoint to present to the group. After we had presented our final ideas we were waiting for the producers to choose which ideas they liked the most.
Lighting Mood Board
As a lighting team, my team and I came up with the idea to make a mood board on how we wanted the lights to look and to ensure that everyone was happy with how everything looked. The mood board consists of a concept of the style of lights we wanted to incorporate with the set and makeup departments. We chose these types of lighting so that the audience members can be immersed and they can feel like they are actually part of a toxic catastrophe.
Production Ideas
Research into Escape rooms
What is an Escape room?
Escape rooms are a type of immersive theatre where you and a group of people will be placed in a room and you will be given at time frame to escape the room. Escape rooms can have a range of themes. People who come out of escape rooms say that they as stepping into a live video game.
An example of an escape room would be Experimental escape which is based in leamington spa. This escape room consists of a group of people who are placed in a room and there task is to find the diamond that has been hidden while being under a time limit of 60 minutes.
The trailer for this room can be seen here:
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The Experiment our escape room
The style of escape room was a horror. The plot consists of a scientist who has made a virus, this virus then goes wrong and the group of people that were placed in the room have 20 minutes to get out. During the escape room there are a number of clues to find.
The trailer and the poster can be seen here:
This is the after movie for the Experiment.
Operating the escape room
This show was complex to operate as this was operated in another room. The way we got past this problem was using a software called OBS to stream camera footage so that as an operator I could see what was happening in the room. At the start of the escape room we worked with sound to make sure the alarm sound was going off with the lighting cue. To create this effect we used lots of moving head. We used specific lighting cues to show the audience where the clues were. At the start of the escape room there was a jacket that needed to be lit we used selectivity to light the jacket. When the audience discovered the second clue we used selectivity to also show where the clue may be. When the audience find the clue where the actor jumps out the bed we used selectivity to light the bed to show the audience to go there. Finally, when the audience found the final clue we angled all of the lights to the doctor. We did this to make the audience want to go over to the doctor to give them the cure, This signifies the end of the escape room. A snippet of the escape room can be seen here:
Research into Exhibitions
What is an Exhibition?
Exhibitions are a public display of works of art or items of interest. These can normally be seen in big exhibition centres and usually have solid lighting state.
Examples of a Exhibition is the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome show which happens yearly. This showcases new technology within that industry, These may include things such as: New caravans, new motorhomes and new technology within the camping world. This Exhibition happens in the NEC in birmingham.
Developing Ideas
Researching different types of Exhibitions
To start off with I first had to get a general understanding of the purpose of an Exhibition otherwise, I wouldn't be able to create good lighting states for the Exhibition. This research would aid me in further stages of production meaning that the overall outcome of the Exhibition will be better than if i didn't research.
Creating Rig plans
First draft
In this room, I was tasked with creating a lighting rig that would be able to showcase all of the student's work. To do this I used in total 2 MAC viper performance, 2 Philips Showline LED spots 300, 2 S4 lustr+ and 2 Diva lite 21. These fixtures enabled me to effectively light the work of students. This rig plan was not final and things were subject to change. A rig plan of the room can be seen on the right.
Get In
Once I had done the first first draft of a rig plan I then started the fit up, during this I started placing fixtures where I wanted them, due to there being nowhere to rig fixtures i ustilied the flight cases and i tipped some to create platforms to then place the fixtures on. This can be seen in the video next.
Rig Plan
Second Draft
After we had done the get-in and had all of the showcase in I spoke with the directors they gave me constructive feedback and told me that there needed to be more light on the showcase items so I added in some par 16 and some more vipers to provide more light to the showcase to make sure that everything was lit nicely.
The Exhibition
The exhibition that we held at academy was to showcase the work of the creative pathway students. This involved a section for hair and make-up, a section for set and a section for costume. For this showcase I was put incharge of creating a lighting state that showed of the students work, This came with many challenges. One of these challenges was making sure that the lighting state I was creating didn't clash with the colours of costume as well as the colour of the makeup.
Evaluation
​This project was complex in its own respect there were lots of things that changed along the way this can include the way that the set was changed around as the table originally was pushed against the left wall, but this got pushed into the middle to allow more people to get past the set. The skills I have developed along the way include Rigging, ladder safety, plotting manually without DMX and being able to adapt to the suggestions being made. Rigging or setting up fixtures safely is important; if this is not done correctly, it could injure the audience, I made sure that my crew was setting up the fixtures correctly and safely. Ladder safety was particularly important because if I didn’t go up the ladder safely, I could injure myself or others around me. Plotting manually on the fixtures was another challenge. As I had no lighting desk, I had to control the fixtures manually on the fixture itself this was a challenge because the fixtures reset every day. I also developed skills in being able to rethink and adapt the room I was in. In the case of the showcase, this involved things such as adding 5 par 16 and adding 2 more MAC vipers these gave me the lighting state I was looking for. Things that could have gone better were me personally being able to keep a calm head when things start to go wrong and not stressing out and therefore keeping everyone around me calm.
Production shots for the Exhibition
This was the lighting state for the costume part of the showcase. I chose this lighting state because the costumes were based around sea life and underwater so I chose cyan for that section. On the other side, it was more mythical and fantasy, I thought that magenta was a colour that didn't clash with the colour of the costume.
For this section, I wanted to keep it quite minimalistic making sure that none of the lighting colours was clashing with the makeup. I chose to keep it cool and warm whites this meant that there was no chance of the colours clashing.
This was the only rig I used, This lit up the makeup and set areas of the exhibition with some of the light going towards the other costume section to light that.
This was the lighting state for the costume part of the showcase. I chose this lighting state because the costumes were based around sea life and underwater so I chose cyan for that section. On the other side, it was more mythical and fantasy, I thought that magenta was a colour that didn't clash with the colour of the costume.