15.12.10

Final Evaluation


By completing this unit I have been able to gain an insight in the theatre and event management industry. I have always been fond of helping backstage in events, assisting and also taking leadership but whilst completing the tasks that I was given throughout the production made me realize I was growing a passion for it and would love to do something similar for living. The ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ production show was a real eye opener for me and right the way through I have been able to learn new useful knowledge such as what you need to take in to consideration whilst organizing the event and why, which aspects you need to cover so that you are not liable for anything to go wrong and much more. I feel that I have become aware of my strengths which were: I am organized and reliable to complete any task on time at a good standard. In opposition the task has also allowed me to become aware of my weakness; being: as ambitious as I am I didn’t like the idea of relying on other people to complete tasks as I prefer having full responsibility. However to me this is a positive weakness I can improve on, even though I am good at co-operating in team work my leadership instincts always kick in, but maybe someday this may just be a skill if I can wisely control it. Moreover, taking leadership and having the determination to be responsible for majority of the tasks is a huge advantage, not many people would want to do this and for me to step forward and want to includes a lot of courage. 

My favourite and most enjoyable task would have to be helping out backstage on the actual production show as it was so intense, I felt so challenged and it was a great feeling especially when the show successfully ended and I looked up to see the crowd giving a standing ovation. It made me really proud of myself and the group and everyone else who put in their time and effort as it all paid off. As an advantage I have also been able to enhance upon my communication skills and self-motivation. My main role included me to work within the graphic designs tasks which included researching previous posters, looking at typography, developing ideas and creating a final design. With previous graphic design skills on Photoshop and good knowledge of how to use a wide variety of materials I felt I was great use to the group. But this was the same for everyone in my group and so when one person pitched an idea everybody was able to contribute another idea to improve it as we wanted to achieve the best result of a poster which would work great with our target audience. Another point I have learnt and recognized during the process of completing these tasks is how important your audience is. Without an audience a show would not be possible because you would not be performing to anyone. In addition I have learnt that during each and every task and also whilst making important decisions and changes you should also pay a significant amount off consideration to your audience.

Doing this project made me aware of my talents in Set design and helped me make a huge decision. I want to study a subject similar to Theatre, possibly event management. I have proven to myself and everyone else that I have leadership, communication and team work skills and during the process I have only improved them.

13.12.10

Evaluation

1.      What practical work did you get involved with for the production?

·         Visual research
·         Graphic design poster
·         Stage management
·         Prop construction
·         Scene painting


2.      What did you find out about the timescale of pre-production work?

·     An Immoveable deadline means you start working along with more pressure as the dates get closer. To help you succeed to complete all tasks on time a reliable system management leader who is organized and prepared to give up a lot of their time can help to instruct all team members with tasks considering the time scale.


3.      What part did you enjoy or feel you were good at/bad at?

·    Graphic Design,
I liked researching visually using digital devices; search engines. I found that recognizing the real touch of 1950’s New York was an important element to get the most precise pictures and information for the poster. As a final point by using my creativity I was able to design a range of layouts and propose them to the rest of my group.

4.      Explain one element of the project you think you have learnt the most from?

·    Whilst working backstage I learnt the difficulties that may arise during a performance which need to be handled straight away. You must be prepared to face any obstructions that may cause the show to not run smoothly. You can prevent obstructions by working in detail, rehearsing as much as you can, keeping check lists and making sure everything is constructively working well. Having a system management is vital and can make a huge improvement in comparison to not having one at all.
You must also need to use precise measurements whilst creating the props and action prop construction. Rehearsing is very important to make scene changes and improvements also to discover queue’s to open and close curtains, different lighting (brightness, position, color etc), sound (volume) and use of props (placements, use, position – background, fore-ground, centre).

12.12.10

Audience Survey & Feedback

We discussed with the director of the show how we’re going to find out who our audience is.

· Finding out who our audience would be - actors family, friends, staff and community of the school
· Where the location of the show be held – school hall
· To whom will tickets be available - actors family, friends, staff and community of the school
·  Where will the promotional campaign be targeted – around the school site
·  How much are the tickets
·  Who does this show appeal to

Audience Survey
Did you enjoy the show?
What did you think of the sounding?
Did the props work well throughout the show?
Did the show flow fluently?
What would you improve about the performance?
Was the plant scary?
How well did the actors act?

Name: Jeet Patel
Did you enjoy the show? Yes
What did you think of the sounding? It was good
Did the props work well throughout the show? Yes, there was a good variety of props which made understanding the show easier
Did the show flow fluently? Most of the time
What would you improve about the performance? The concept of the show could have been clearer
Was the plant scary? For a younger audience it worked well
How well did the actors act? They were decent, most of them were quite confident

Name: Sukhmani Mohain
Did you enjoy the show? Yes, it was funny and very entertaining
What did you think of the sounding? It was good as it built up atmosphere including a lot of suspense
Did the props work well throughout the show? The scale of the props were really good, you could see it had been taken into a lot consideration whilst constructing them.
Did the show flow fluently? Yes however due to some of the actors tone it was slightly harder to hear the lines.
What would you improve about the performance? The duration of the performance was quite long
Was the plant scary? A little
How well did the actors act? They were good however I do think they could have been more confident

Name: Savneet Dhingra
Did you enjoy the show? Yes, it was quite entertaining
What did you think of the sounding? The sounding was really impressive; there was a mixture of songs sung by the actors and the actual soundtrack. I think the engaged the audience
Did the props work well throughout the show? Yes it was really colourful and set the right mood in the atmosphere
Did the show flow fluently? There were occasions where I didn’t quite understand what was going on, maybe a bit more practice would’ve improved the quality of the show
What would you improve about the performance? You wouldn’t really be so interested in a show where the actors are really nervous so maybe a few more rehearsals were needed
Was the plant scary? To be honest it was more humorous
How well did the actors act? The actors were very confident hence there tone of voice was not so clear which caused a lot of confusion

Name: Mukesh Chumber
Did you enjoy the show? A little, it could have been better
What did you think of the sounding? Sounding was good, went great with the script
Did the props work well throughout the show? Yeah they were really creative
Did the show flow fluently? Yeah, it was a script from a well known drama play so obviously it made sense
What would you improve about the performance? Could have been a bit more live
Was the plant scary? Yeah, the outcome of it was really good
How well did the actors act? They weren’t so bad

Name: Gurpreet Bains
Did you enjoy the show? Yes it was really good; a lot of people from the audience enjoyed themselves. Especially as the actors interacted with the audience
What did you think of the sounding? There was a great mixture of sounds which was good as they didn’t use the same sound over and over again
Did the props work well throughout the show? Yeah, whoever created them deserves great credit because it went really well
Did the show flow fluently? Yes
What would you improve about the performance? Nothing in particular, there were probably a few little mistakes however you wouldn’t expect it to all be perfect
Was the plant scary? As a combination of being scary and funny it was good
How well did the actors act? They were good enough

Other members from the audience also said:
“It was very professional looking for a student production. The lighting and sets made it look very convincing”  Mrs. Bansal (Mum 39yrs)
“The show was amazing! Really lively and colourful.” Anisha (14 yrs)
“To be honest I was quite amazed of the standard of talent many of these actors and actresses have, it is very impressive!” Danny (Friend of actor 23yrs)
“Really great performance, great view of the whole production throughout the show!” Mr Richard (Father 44yrs)
“ I wish I had known it was going to be that good, I would have auditioned for a part. It felt like a professional musical” Amrit (13 yrs)




By looking at the results and the comments, the majority of people from the audience enjoyed the show and were quite happy with it which is a great outcome however the main problem occurred was that the actors whom were not clear enough. When I attended rehearsals to observe how the actors were processing throughout the stages I had noticed many of them were excited unfortunately there were a few actors who had a bit of a stage fright. To help them I was able to give them advice to make them feel more comfortable, and they did however I presume with a large audience on the two nights they got more nervous than planned. In addition, in my opinion, I think that on the first day of the show many of the actors showed a little stage fright however by the second day they were much more comfortable. In conclusion I have learnt that 'practice makes perfect' is a perfect saying that intertwines well in this sort of situation. Next time when i undertake a similar task i will remember this so I can improve and result with a better show, which hopefully all the audience will be happy with.