We started bump in for the 3rd show at 1pm Saturday 31st Oct. WHAT A HOT and STICKY day BUT we got all the flats up and half dressed by about 4:30pm. It took us a while to get started, I think due to the fact it was so stuffy in the studio, we tried getting the flats in from the warehouse so we could have to roller door closed for the aircon which helped. After an hour or so we pretty much settled into our various jobs ie Sam etc on constructing the bathrooms, while I started dressing the basement and lockers. So by 4:30 the lockers and half the basement were actually ready and dressed, leaving only the posters and a few bits of furniture for Sunday.
Im finding it difficult working with Liam, he has done some work in regards to the set dressing however it seams I have to instruct him and tell him what to do otherwise he will just stand or sit there watching the rest of us bump in.
While im ranting, just a little comment on Maddy. She has done a fantastic job designing the set however her disorganization has led to others having to fill to pick up her slack a little. I volunteered to take back the projector at 9am for Maddy and when I got there there were heaps of items needed to be returned so I ended up spending half an hour walking around TV land trying to pick up the slack from Maddy's doing, I didnt mind returning everything it just would have been nice if she was more organized. OTHER then that we have all worked so well together and we seam to just know our jobs and who can do what IE i needed something screwed to the flat so I got Sam to do it etc. Im looking forward to working on bigger projects with everyone next yr.
Im still trying to work out what I want to do ie lights, costume? Ive enjoyed set dressing even though it was not a hard set to dress ie just got everyone to bring in their rubbish and brought stuff down from the warehouse, BUT I think it would be fun dressing a set with a decent budget etc like interior designing and i find myself noticing the layout of everyday rooms of the house etc. Ive also started to be more confident within the uni, getting to know names of contacts etc which means I feel I could do better in a more organizy job which I enjoy like stage managing. Its been awesome fun sitting in on JUNGLE REHEARSALS and seeing the development from an actors perspective.
SUNDAY- we met at 10am to finish dressing etc which only took a few hours. For this 3rd show of SKINS we've been asked by BRUCE to include a few working lights at the back of the set to help with the depth. We'll use Bruce and Scots lamps from their offices. If I can find the steamers I bought from 1st show we'll be using them for this set.
MONDAY- After Designer BBQ about 2pm was record for the 3rd show. It was slow getting started due to proddies trying to work out shots and actors having trouble with Audio so we ended up being 40mins behind schedule. BUT they ended up cutting a scene so we didnt bump out too late. We were still able to bump out the lockers and bathrooms while the basement was still being used which helps SO MUCH. It was SOOO HOT so thankfully we had the hands of all the proddies making bump out extremely quick. Cant wait until the last show. But maybe not the cleaning up of the warehouse bit...
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
JUNGLE- The beginning of it all
I am Stage Manager Assist and Lighting assist for our 2nd year theatre project 'The Jungle'.
Director= Kim
Sound= Blue
Lighting= Maddy
Set design= Jeff
Stage Manager= Laura
Costume= Pink
I would have loved to be lighting designer as I want to learn a little more about it and enjoyed designing the lights for our Cloudtreet mock up set design, which was my very first attempt at designing lights. However I feel as though Ive been able to contribute a fair amount to the lighting design. At one of our meetings with Kim where each department presented their concepts, Maddy, Peri and I sat down for about an hour to work out a lighting plan. I had asked Maddy a few times to involve me more in the designing, however it was not until this day that I actually found out a lot of key lighting decisions ie such as having a single light bulb. Maybe Maddy forgot that she could get help from her assistants, which made her quite stressed, BUT we were able to come up with a pretty good lighting design just by discussing each scene. We worked out how many lights we would actually need and their colours.
So far for Stage Manager assist ive helped Laura source props which has been organized via emails from Laura of lists of items still needed. Laura, Liam and I spent some time in the warehouse gathering props needed for the play and also sourced some items fro our own personal belongings. The OXYGEN TANKS have been a bit of a hassle. I rang the hospital, a Dr surgery, the uni nurse and they all seemed to not have any available and also said that oxygen tanks are very expensive and most people wouldnt wont to even lend them out to us. I have an oxygen tank trolley and cords BUT no oxygen tank. We were able to get an oxygen mask however STILL no tanks. We are thinking it needs to be a large drink bottle sized tank, so maybe cover a drink bottle. OR just have a bag with the mask coming from it. I think now Kim wants to have it hanging from the back of the wheelchair.
I have now attended 3 rehearsals which have been awesome experiences. I had never done SM before nor have I ever sat in on a rehearsal. Laura refreshed my mind on some SM short hand and blocking notations etc. Laura is amazing at SM shes a born SM for sure. I guess it comes with practice but im amazed at how she can call lines as well as get all the blocking down. We have a system starting now where Laura gets the blocking down while I prompt lines. Its actually a lot of fun and I would love to have a SM position next yr. BUT now im even more stuck as to what I wanna do lighting, costume, SM???
I CANT WAIT TO SEE THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!!
Director= Kim
Sound= Blue
Lighting= Maddy
Set design= Jeff
Stage Manager= Laura
Costume= Pink
I would have loved to be lighting designer as I want to learn a little more about it and enjoyed designing the lights for our Cloudtreet mock up set design, which was my very first attempt at designing lights. However I feel as though Ive been able to contribute a fair amount to the lighting design. At one of our meetings with Kim where each department presented their concepts, Maddy, Peri and I sat down for about an hour to work out a lighting plan. I had asked Maddy a few times to involve me more in the designing, however it was not until this day that I actually found out a lot of key lighting decisions ie such as having a single light bulb. Maybe Maddy forgot that she could get help from her assistants, which made her quite stressed, BUT we were able to come up with a pretty good lighting design just by discussing each scene. We worked out how many lights we would actually need and their colours.
So far for Stage Manager assist ive helped Laura source props which has been organized via emails from Laura of lists of items still needed. Laura, Liam and I spent some time in the warehouse gathering props needed for the play and also sourced some items fro our own personal belongings. The OXYGEN TANKS have been a bit of a hassle. I rang the hospital, a Dr surgery, the uni nurse and they all seemed to not have any available and also said that oxygen tanks are very expensive and most people wouldnt wont to even lend them out to us. I have an oxygen tank trolley and cords BUT no oxygen tank. We were able to get an oxygen mask however STILL no tanks. We are thinking it needs to be a large drink bottle sized tank, so maybe cover a drink bottle. OR just have a bag with the mask coming from it. I think now Kim wants to have it hanging from the back of the wheelchair.
I have now attended 3 rehearsals which have been awesome experiences. I had never done SM before nor have I ever sat in on a rehearsal. Laura refreshed my mind on some SM short hand and blocking notations etc. Laura is amazing at SM shes a born SM for sure. I guess it comes with practice but im amazed at how she can call lines as well as get all the blocking down. We have a system starting now where Laura gets the blocking down while I prompt lines. Its actually a lot of fun and I would love to have a SM position next yr. BUT now im even more stuck as to what I wanna do lighting, costume, SM???
I CANT WAIT TO SEE THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
SKINS- 1st bump in
So we had our first record last week which seemed to go very smoothly. We were all pretty well organized for bump in and seemed to get the set up quickly, i guess we had a good practice with SLOU.
The toilets look so real:
The basement area was fun to dress as it did not need to look pretty, just a messy junky room so could chuck bottles etc around. Everyone brought bottles, rubbish, clothes and locker stuff as I had asked which was really helpful. I think the crates and stack chairs really add to the junky basement feel. The muddy, streaked walls didn't come out as much as we had hope ie like previously done in the 3rfd yr show DEAL, however theres nothing much more we can do to them, the brown colour is good enough for now. There was some confusion as to what the Basement area was actually supposed to be. I thought originally that it was one of the character's parent's basement at their house, however it has now been explained to be a basement more off a street then a privately owned area.
The locker space works well, despite the fact that we could not get as many lockers as preferred, which does make the space seem a little staged or empty. I really like the junky locker items, it is a true interpretation a a school area. we told the actors many times to play with the lockers and pick the items up etc however they seem a little reluctant to do so but we'll see how it looks.
I was afraid, as were most of us, how the sets were going to fit in and if we would have enough space for the cameras, due to the floor plan actually being drawn outside the yellow line area, BUT they worked perfectly and there actually seemed to be a fare amount of space in between sets.
I think for next week we wont need to change much, I don't really have time to muck around fine tuning it and we have received a lot of nice comments so it doesn't need to have more time spent on it. We have been told some working lamps could add to it however I dont have time for the next shoot, it is something to work on for the shoot in 2 weeks.
The toilets look so real:
The basement area was fun to dress as it did not need to look pretty, just a messy junky room so could chuck bottles etc around. Everyone brought bottles, rubbish, clothes and locker stuff as I had asked which was really helpful. I think the crates and stack chairs really add to the junky basement feel. The muddy, streaked walls didn't come out as much as we had hope ie like previously done in the 3rfd yr show DEAL, however theres nothing much more we can do to them, the brown colour is good enough for now. There was some confusion as to what the Basement area was actually supposed to be. I thought originally that it was one of the character's parent's basement at their house, however it has now been explained to be a basement more off a street then a privately owned area.
The locker space works well, despite the fact that we could not get as many lockers as preferred, which does make the space seem a little staged or empty. I really like the junky locker items, it is a true interpretation a a school area. we told the actors many times to play with the lockers and pick the items up etc however they seem a little reluctant to do so but we'll see how it looks.
I was afraid, as were most of us, how the sets were going to fit in and if we would have enough space for the cameras, due to the floor plan actually being drawn outside the yellow line area, BUT they worked perfectly and there actually seemed to be a fare amount of space in between sets.
I think for next week we wont need to change much, I don't really have time to muck around fine tuning it and we have received a lot of nice comments so it doesn't need to have more time spent on it. We have been told some working lamps could add to it however I dont have time for the next shoot, it is something to work on for the shoot in 2 weeks.
Monday, October 19, 2009
SKINS
After receiving the Set designs from Maddy via Blue, I went through the warehouse with Liam and gathered anything we thought was 'Skinesk' and set them aside. I typed a list of items we were using and any other items we might need to get else ware for each set. Maddy designed 3 areas, the BASEMENT/versatile/party space, the LOCKERs space and the BATHROOM space.
At our design meetings I asked everyone to start collecting their McDonalds/take away wrappers, beer/soft drink bottles and anything they thought would be suitable for the set. I didnt want the set to look to much like everything came from the warehouse, which is not easy with NO budget. I passed on the jackets/hats etc to the costume designers.
After stressing out a bit about when I was going to be able to get permanent markers, spray paint and toilet paper, I remembered Liam on set dress as well and got him to be the run around/get everything guy, which was really helpful.
I went into the warehouse a couple times leading up the the first record and during bump in just to double check everything was still there and had not been taken by anyone else. I kept reminding costume, Liam and others to bring their required items writing lists etc. It all seemed to go pretty smoothly and everyone was very organized. Ive also written down everything that each person has brought to the set so nothing gets lost and added it to my Skins file.
the painting was done pretty efficiently on the SUNDAY mornings ;-( but it was all done a lot quicker then SLOU we definitely know what we're doing more now. I went to buy some more liquid nails for the tiles and started tiling, we ran out of the glue very quickly however if we put less on I was afraid they would fall off. BUT fingers crossed they will be ok for the 4 shows.
At our design meetings I asked everyone to start collecting their McDonalds/take away wrappers, beer/soft drink bottles and anything they thought would be suitable for the set. I didnt want the set to look to much like everything came from the warehouse, which is not easy with NO budget. I passed on the jackets/hats etc to the costume designers.
After stressing out a bit about when I was going to be able to get permanent markers, spray paint and toilet paper, I remembered Liam on set dress as well and got him to be the run around/get everything guy, which was really helpful.
I went into the warehouse a couple times leading up the the first record and during bump in just to double check everything was still there and had not been taken by anyone else. I kept reminding costume, Liam and others to bring their required items writing lists etc. It all seemed to go pretty smoothly and everyone was very organized. Ive also written down everything that each person has brought to the set so nothing gets lost and added it to my Skins file.
the painting was done pretty efficiently on the SUNDAY mornings ;-( but it was all done a lot quicker then SLOU we definitely know what we're doing more now. I went to buy some more liquid nails for the tiles and started tiling, we ran out of the glue very quickly however if we put less on I was afraid they would fall off. BUT fingers crossed they will be ok for the 4 shows.
-SKINS-
Production designer= Michaela
Set Designer= Maddy
Set Dresser= Kerri and Liam
Costume= Peri, Gab and Pink
Props= Laura
Set construction= Bel and Jeff
I am set dresser for this terms tv project, SKINS. Which I am very glad about as it will give me a chance to be more involved in a set based role. We are designing for 4 shows. The idea behind the plot is a drama of Australian teens in a technical collage from a mid/lower class status, who are mixed up in drugs and alcohol.
There was discussion about whether we design one set for the 4 shows and set dress them differently however our budget is way to limited for this, and have decided to keep the same set for each and adapt it each week only as needed. Eventually we should have a pristine set that has evolved over the 4 shows.
The show will be shot using multi cam ie 3 cameras. We are not aiming to recreate the original show, we wont to adapt it to an Australian version with our own take of the script
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