The props at use.

The performances went well and all props were on stage when needed . There was no mistakes every one knew where the prop was if they were using one. Also nothing got damaged. The main props such as the dog cage, laundry box , wheelchair and puppet box were fine and a success on stage. All the small props all looked really good and professional.

The image with the buckets , is when the orphans have to wash the floors. But the buckets was just old buckets we burrowed from staff. We spray painted them silver/grey to make them look metallic and like heavy metal buckets.

There is also an image with the wheelchair that we made . It shows how we put old wheels on a old rocking chair, to make it look like an old wheelchair.

The image above that is the NYC scene , this is were the dancers use the cigaret holders we brought from a craft shop.

There is also a picture with a young boy reading a newspaper this is the paper i made getting used in the hooverville scene .

The last picture rite at the top is Warbucks using an old fashioned phone around in the 1930's we had this laying around at school so we burrowed it.

I think the props were used effectively and everything went well for the night. However Sian and I were both involved in the production so we could not be back stage so we set everything up each night before we went on stage and told the people back stage who needed them and gave them a list.

Research history of thearte

I have researched the history of theatre and chose to do it on musical theatre . I started by looking up when musical theatre came about , and talked about the golden age. Researching this give us a good idea on how productions have changed over the years and an understanding on Annie. By doing mine on musical it shows how music has changed also over the years.

Doing this research i feel it helped me give a real understanding of the development over the years. Though to improve i could of used more images in the slideshow to make look more presentable and an idea of what musicals were about.

PLTS

I think iv improved alot from the start of the module. At first i wasnt really up for the job and was very confused about what i was doing and what a stage manager was, but after i had researched i felt a little more confident. It also helped having sian cause if one of us was struggling we would help each other out.
I was also worried because iv never been great at wood tech and thought i would end up killing myself or someone. But i became more confidnent using different machines.

Team workers

TW1-worked well with sian to are goals ( the props)

TW2-Talked through, to what we wanted to do and came to agreements

TW3-Talked about what suited each of us and each week came up with a role for each of us

TW4-Took in sian's ideas in and other teachers and staff to consideration

TW6-Asked questions and anwserd clearly to what people said and listend and gave feed back

Self Managers

SM2-Made plans and wrote down a day to day of what we were going to do each week to get things complete by the goals we set .

Effective Participators

EP1-Talked to each other when confused and needed help, when were not to sure what we were doing.

EP6-Took in consideration other ideas even if i didnt always agree.

Independt Enquirers

IE3-Thought about problems that could go wrong with are props

IE4-Look back on what i had done and how well i done.

Creative thinkers

CT1-Think out the box and stuff that could happen , but is about of range from what we could do.

Reflective learners

RL1-Went back and assesed on how well myself and Sian had did.

RL4-Delt with praze and critizism well and dont take it to heart

Day by Day by Day

Wednesday 4th november

Mrs kent came in and spoke to us about how we had been getting on . This is when we decided to create the puppet box and come up with designs ,though next week is when we will start making it. Also we have to get the wheelchair as soon as possible. We made a bid on ebay but lost it on the last minute , so we came to the conclusion we would just make it .

Wednesday 11th november

Today we planned to make the laundry box, and decided to make more use out of the puppet box. We will decorate the opposite side so it holds space , wood and money .
We still were stuck and confused about the wheelchair and needed to stop ignoring it , as it is a main prop of Annie .

Wednesday 18th november

Today the Dog cage will be finished, i will Spray paint it and do about 2-3 coats to give it that strong metal look. We will meet with sir to put breating holes in the puppet/laundrey box and we then finally had finished the prop . We will get the trey complete with the wheels so everything could be swapped and easily moved about on the night. At this point hopefully everything will be looking really good .

Wednesday 25th november

Sunday there will be an all day rehersal for Annie and Mrs kent will want to use all the staging and props, everything will be used and looked well on stage and very professional. It will go all well on the night and we have every single prop needed. For the rehersal we will have the wheelchair.

In the end i got hold of an old rocking chair from a second hand job for £15 and attahced two bicyicle wheels to it, it looked quite good, wich was a suprise.

Wednesday 2nd december

Today is the first performanc and sian and i had finaly finished and had every prop behind stage and in the exact place it needed to be in. So hopefuly everything will go to plan for the night. We decided we would help amber to decorate the Foyre for when the people watching the show could come in and look at the rehersal progress and auditons. We gave it a very christmasy theme. It looked well presented and proffesional and good !

The little things matter

After alot of desiging and making, we had falled behind with the little props that will always be needed. So we used sians check list and got the things we needed as soon as possible , some were easy to get hold of like dusters , buckets, brooms, brush's, plastic cups, trays etc. Some were easy to make like shopping bags, this was simple as we just got bags and stick an old logo of and place them on the bag .
The logo above is one of the pictures i printed out to put on the bag.

It was getting closer to the performance , so Sian and i had to meet with the stage manager and sort the props out i had and what side of the stage they had to go. But sian had forget her list so had to go home and get it, This wasted a little bit of are time but we got all done that nite so it wasnt to much to worry about .

This is were my communication skils got boosted, because we had to communicate and as a prop manager it was quite a demanding job, at first i wasnt to sure if i was confident anoth, i still need to be a tad more confident but i think im getting there.

Creation of Props

Wednesday 18th november

We are still creating props and having weekly meetings with mrs Kent the client in the music room. We have been making a puppet box for a small child that will be one of the actors to get in and out of easily and safely, I places think wood in the box to make it safer and wouldnt harm the child.
For the box we used it was an old box stored in the drama office, that wasnt needed but had currently been used in a school production a while back. When we recieved the box it was just a box with no lid. So We went to the tech department and cut the top of to make it a lid and sand it so it was smooth.
Though we couldnt just push the box on stage so we wanted wheels on the bottom of it so it was easy to move. But i came up with an idea that we could make a tray kind of thing with wheels on that so the box could just fit on it. Though we had problems so we had to come up with an idea with out it slipping it of. So i decided we could put corners up on the corners of the tray so the box would fit on nicely.

Though for another prop we need to make a laundry box, So talking to the client, the three of us came up with an idea of using the puppet box as the laundry box but just having it the opposite side. So what I did was Paint over the black strips on one side of the box so it was all 1 colour whilst Sian printed the logo and letters we designed.
By using the same box it ment we saved money, space and wood so it was a very good idea that i was proud of.
When the words and logo had been printed of and the paint had dried we glued the letters on and and painted them, sian and i did this together.

I feel as this is quite a hard job that has to be done in a time limit, i think its best you work as a team and me and sian are doing well working together, As we havnt be distracted yet and are getting everything done.

Another Prop we had to create was a dog cage, this was quite simple, all we had to do was make it out of wood and make it look old. So we cut out loads of wood in 2 differnt sizes and differnt amounts of each wood . We had to make a rectangler base at first so we could hammer the wood in to place. I found this easy because it didnt matter as much if it was jaggerd as it is suppose to look old and horrid.
When we had finished we Spray painted it a metal colour. I also came up with an idea as this has to be wheeled on stage we could just place it on the tray we used earlia. It was the same size as the box so it was replacable easily behind stage.

(The pictures at the top is the planning i did of the dog cage, puppet box and and laundry box.)

Organising Props.

Wednesday 21 october 2009

Sian has created the colour coordinate check list.
Yellow-what we already have
Blue-What is currently on order or being made
Orange-Can be bought easily
Green-Can be borrowed easily
Pink-Hard to find or get hold of

This helped us alot and i was really greatful of sian for doing this. Im glad we came up with the idea as it was helpful to know what props we needed soon . We both felt Sian should do this cause she said it was her storng point and she would get in done quickly and the sooner the better.

This day i was paying more attention to researching and making the newspaper of the time.
I found this easy because ict is a strong point of mine, and all i had to do was go on pages on the imacs and quickly find a newspaper template and change all the words and give it an oldish theme. I thought i did this well. Once i was done i had to photocopy it so i had about 7 with spares, as they were for the dancers , so they could easily get ruined. I also had to stick them on card to make them extra stronger and i printed them on a3. I was proud of myself and thought i got quite alot done on the computers today.

Props Needed

Wednesday 14th October 2009

Sian and I had to organise what we were doing on a weekly plan and know exactly what we were doing.
We have been asigned to create a Puppet box for are first main prop.
Today Sian researched shops of the 1930's so the actors can use the corrct bags on stage .
Though i went through the script and noted on a sticky note every prop we needed. At the end of the book was full of yellow sticky notes. I then had to write down on plain piece of paper the scenes and the acts when there needed so it was easier to understand then the yellow filled script.
Sian and i came up with an idea that sian would make a check list and colour coordanate the props , so we had the main ones in one colour and the ones that were easy to get in an other etc.

Also I had to research about the 1930's what shops were around in them times and the logo from that time. Sian then saved them so we could come back to them later and print them.

http://www.tiffany.com/, i used this website because in the performance annie receives a necklace from tiffany's.

I also researched Macy's because it was big make in the 1930's http://www.macys.com/.

We both had to have a meeting with the stage manager about the arrangments of props. We were talking to her about a prop that we were strugglig to find, So she helped us out but still had nothing. If we could still not find this prop wich was a wheelchair we will have to make one.

I feel Sian and I are both working well together as a pair , but are also talking on independant jobs well. At first i thought it would be easy then i realised all the stress so its still a bit confusing, but hopefully it should all work out fine and everything will get finished on time.

The production

At school we are currently putting on the production "Annie". Are school is a large school that tries to puts a production on every year at Christmas. Alot of students want to get involved from all years.

We have all been giving rolls that happen backstage. These jobs are jobs adults would normaly been given . We didnt know who we were working as Mr Coulson and Mrs Kent chose who to go with and what rolls to be given.

I got put with Sian, and we are now Props managers. Are rolls are to design, create and buy props for the production. Sian and I will use the techonolgy department and they are letting us use the machines.

As some props we can buy we've been given a budget of £50.
As a group we all have to attend meetings with Mrs kent in the music room each morning on Wednesdays. We will talk about what we plan to do and are achievements and ideas she suggests.
When i first got given the roll, i thought it would be easy just making things, But there is alot more to it . Also in the Job we have to make sure each prop is on the right side of the stage and it gets put on stage at the exact time.

Plan of what i need to do :

-I need to find out what props are needed for the production

-I need to find out when they will appear on stage

-I need to find out what size the props will be

-I need to work out were i can buy props from

-I need to know what to make props from

-I need to find out were i can borrow props from

-I need to make sure all props will be safe

-I need to work with the stage manager to work out the props needed and if she feels they are suitable

-I need to work out were all the props will be so they are on the right side of the stage