MODULE C (Technical production)
Pre-production
Research
Synopsis
This play is about a doctor called Victor Frankenstein who creates an artificial creature composed of corpses, he then brings this creature to life. The monster once created is rather hideous and is rejected by Victor.
These photos show me researching the play in pre-production. I have researched the plot, the synopsis and the themes.
The Plot
Themes
The themes of the play consist of:
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​ Birth and creation- Frankenstein succeeds in creating a "human" life form.
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Alienation- Victor chooses to be alienated because of his desire of knowledge.
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Family- He demonstrates that lack of connection family or society leads to murder.
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Ambition- Shows human beings are deeply ambitious.
Project
Frankenstein
Adaptations
National Theatre
Director- Danny boyle
Danny Boyle is a director of both films and theatre. He has worked on films and productions such as Frankenstein, The Beach and 127 hours.
Lighting Designer- Bruno Poet
Bruno poet is a lighting designer who has designed for many big artists such as Billie Eilish, Tina Turner musical and Miss Saigon. As well as designing for Frankenstein.
Belgrade Coventry
Director- Patricia Bennek
Patricia Benecke directs in the UK and Europe. She has worked on shows such as the Old Vic tunnels and Frankenstein.
Lighting Designer- Grant Anderson
Grant has recently designed The Broons for Horsecross Arts Miss Julie and The Belgrade. We’ll Live and Die in these Towns. Currently he is designing shows for The National Theatre of Scotland as well as internationally for Unigram in Miami.
Pre-production
Production Meetings
Production Meeting 1
In our first production meeting, we broke down the script in groups. We delegated the script into different sections to give to other members of our team to then breakdown the script into lighting ideas and sound ideas.
Secondly, We watched the video of the production to gain an understanding and ideas from the play.
Finally, I went and created a Kit list with my team to figure out what kit we had.
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Production Meeting
Organising a production schedule
Today we organised a Production schedule to make sure the two teams are fully sure of how the two teams were going to cooperate with each other two get the assessment done. We made this production schedule to clearly outline what was happening on the days that we were working on the project.
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Production Meeting
Production meeting 3
In this meeting, we discussed the rig plan to make sure we were all okay with how everything was working and where the base fixtures were placed. In our group, we decided how we wanted our specials to be placed. I then produced a rough schematic on how we were going to cable the whole rig. This schematic went through phases of development and we finally got something that we were happy with.
Production Meeting
Production meeting 4
In this meeting, we discussed how we would put a cue sheet together and decided that the best way to do this was through a joint document. I also presented my ideas to the group on the scene that I designed, I discussed how I wanted my scene to look and made sure everyone was happy with what was happening. We
also discussed creating a colour sheet
which has all the gels were using we also
have made a gobo list as well.
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Get In
Our get in was done collectively between the two groups, We spent two days on the Fit up and making sure we followed a rig plan and put the fixtures in the right place and they were how we wanted them to be. This was crucial otherwise when we got round to plotting it would take twice the amount of time.
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Focusing
Once we had put all the fixtures in the rig we started to focus the lights on how we wanted them to look, We did this in all of the conventional fixtures because they cannot be refocused in the middle of the show whereas Intelligent fixtures can be refocused from the desk. As well as focusing on the different fixtures we also managed to put gels in the fixtures that needed to be put in the different conventionals.
Plotting
After I had focused the fixtures to where they needed to be I then was able to plot my scene onto the desk. While plotting I was working with my team to get my scene and other scenes onto the desk and looking good enough ready for Tech rehearsals which is when we make sure all the cues work and I can perfect any imperfections.
Final performance
These videos show our group's final performance. The things that went well in our group's performance was that we had become very good at combining ideas so that everyone was confident that their ideas were being portrayed in the performance we did. The things that i think that i did well were that i was good at getting my ideas for my assigned scene onto a cue sheet which was then plotted onto the desk. I also used my plotting skills to make sure that the process of me plotting was as quick as possible. Things that we could of improved on as a group would have to be organisational skills so that we knew what was going on instead of getting confused and not know whats going on. Another thing that could of gone better was if as a group we communicated alot better to make sure we were not leaving people out. Things that I will improve on in my next lighting assessment will be my communication skills as well as my skills in plotting.
Evaluation
This project has taught me a lot and helped me in developing my teamwork skills as well as being able to use lighting desks. The skills that i have developed along the course of this project are rigging safely, patching fixtures, plotting specific light cues and working at height. These skills were important to help me develop in further projects as they are important to be able to perform them safely. Some other things that went well in this assessment were my group's ability to stick to a schedule that was set out for them, we also managed to stick to deadlines and we were in fact ahead of schedule at some points. During my scene in Frankenstein, I was given the task of bringing to life the birth of the creature. To do this I used strobe and atmospherics as well as gobos to give the impression that this was a heartbeat. The second part of this scene was the Electricity which was running through the creature, To do this I used bright white light pointing towards the creature, Upon reflection I think I achieved everything and more that was set out for me. If I was to do this again I would change the specific fixtures being used to help create a cleaner look to the performance. The second thing I would do differently next time would be communicate with my peers better as this would aid the production process greater as everyone would know what is happening on what day.