Stage blocking: is a theatre term which refers to the precise movement and positioning of actors on a stage in order to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera

Sightlines: sightlines is a normally unobstructed line-of-sight between an intended observer (or spectator) and a stage or arena for example, sightlines are a particularly important consideration in theatre and stadium design

Stage directions: Stage directions are directions given to the actors by the director. They involve the physical movement of the actors on stage. The actors are supposed to note the directions in their scripts.

Upstage: upstage is the part of the stage furthest from the audience.

Downstage: downstage is the part of the stage closest to the audience.

Stage right & stage left: Stage left and stage right are instructions when acting. Stage right is the actors' right, facing the audience, and stage left is the actors' left, facing the audience.

These stage terminologies help us direct the actors in the right directions on stage and also help us in giving the right orders to the crew.

It is important to know what they mean because if you do not know the meanings of these terms you are not able to communicate clearly with the crew.

There are many different types of staging in entertainment, these include:

Street performance/mime

Festivals

Dance    

Ballet

Awards/presentations

Fashion show

Puppet show

Film

TV show / quiz /chat show

Reality TV

Opera

Orchestra/classic music

These are all the different kinds of performances there are and these images are illustrations of how or where they are performed. I believe the main reasons people show their work is for recognition and for personal satisfaction.

What is a mood board for?

A mood board is used for visual research to aid the set designers understand what the stage should look like. The mood board we had to make was about 1950s New York. This was so that we could design the set for the show we were doing “the little shop of horrors”. It also gave us an inspiration for our design.

I researched my theme by looking into life in 1950s New York, this included going through many different website and researching into several magazines looking for answers.

I found the best images in the internet but I also found some good images in magazines and scanned them onto the computer and used them on my mood board.

I used the mood board to help me design the miniature version of the set because it gave me an idea of what it was like in that period.

I used the image to also help guide me in the right direction when It came to the design of the final set because I had to make it look as convincing as possible.

Audience feedback

The audience thought the show we put on was amazing and here are quotes from the audience.

“The show was amazing, really lively and colourful.” Jane 45

“The big plant was scary.” Mandeep 7

“It was very professional looking for a student production.”Khurum 19

“The props and the background were very amazing especially the giant plant.” Steve 64

“There were some scary parts but the songs were amazing.” Sarah 41

“I wish I had known it was going to be that good, I would have auditioned for a part in it.” Mike 25

“If I had to score it out 10 I would give it a 10 because it was brilliant.” Tony 51

In my opinion the show was very successful and judging by the response from the audience they agree with me on this point. I think the reason the show was better than we all expected is because everyone worked their hardest to make the show the best it can be.

Health and safety

The health and safety of the actors, the crew and of the audience is the most important aspect of any production. All the health and safety laws are available on the “health and safety executive”.

One of the laws the site gives advice on is the managing of the crowd safely. The site says “From a commercial point of view large numbers of customers may be desirable. But excessive crowding and poor crowd management can lead at worst to crushing, injury and even death and at the very least to such anxiety and stress that visitors decide not to come again or recommend a visit to others.”

The kind of things we had to consider during the production of our show was:

Pre production

1.     Use of power tools: wear safety clothing

2.     Cutting equipment: use cutting mats and cut away from body

3.     Use of paint and glue: use water based liquids and clean up spills

4.     Heavy lifting: work in groups and use backs not knees

5.     Ensure props are safe for performers: make sure it’s not too heavy and does not have any sharp ends.

Production

1.     Crowd control: make sure the venue is not over crowded

2.     Fire: clear announcements and signs

3.     Props being lost/misused: keep under control of prop manager

4.     Height hazard, falling off stage – clear announcements to cast/crew, pulling curtain during blackouts

5.     Moving scenery: crew have specific well rehearsed job roles

Models and working to scale

The main aim of creating a model is to define all the scene changes and to predict what the sight lines will be like. It is also used to design and experiment with different ideas and to find out where the actors will be place. We constructed the model by making small models of the props using card board and images of 1950s New York as the back ground. The equipment we used to build the scale model of the stage were scissors, card board, colour photocopies, a ruler for the measurements and craft knives. For theatre the scale of the model is usually 1:25. The method I used to experiment with 1950s New York was to find images of New York that resembled the kind we saw in the movie.

how other musicals are staged

How other musical are staged

“Cats the musical”

“Les miserables”

“Chicago”

"miss saigon

interview with professional stage designer

Interview with professional stage designer

The reason I became a stage designer was because of the love I developed for the theatre from a young age.

The main challenge of this industry is all the competition.

The main thing you need to succeed in this industry is a lot of ambition and a lot of skill.

This job is mainly freelance which means you do not get a regular pay check.

This means you need to be much disciplined in how you spend your money.

3D design is the subject area you need to base your expertise in.

The pay can be very good for example if you work in film or TV you can make up to 500 pounds a week.

You need to have a good agent who can help you find work.

The good thing about this job is that you will never be doing the same thing twice or in the same place twice.

You also need to be extremely creative to do this kind of work.

The other good thing about this job is all the travel.

This job can also give you very high levels of stress, this is due to all the responsibility you have.

The biggest challenges include managing at times very tight budgets and deadlines and you also get no job security.

The most important skill you need is good communication skills.

client meeting

Client Meeting                             

My client is Ms Jones. She is my client because she is the director of the show. In our first meeting we presented Ms Jones with the mood boards of 1950s New York we did in at the start of the year and plans for the set and the measurements of the plant. The feed back we got from Ms Jones was that she really liked the colours we used and that she appreciated the hard work we put into the project and informed us of the little time we had. We knew that we were going the write way on the colours but we needed to work a lot faster to be able to reach the deadline. It was important for me to discuss my progress with the client so that they can understand how far along we were and give us ideas of how we can make improvement on them.

Staging types

The audience is on three side of the stage as if the stage has been thrust forward. This can be very apparent like a cat walk or more like an extended apron stage.

The audience is positioned in front of the stage, and the stage can be looked upon like a picture frame. The ‘frame’ itself is called the Proscenium Arch. This is the style of most traditional theatres.

The audience is seated all around the stage on four sides. A few theatres in the country are permanently arranged like this. Sometimes this type of staging is referred to as being in-the-round.