Monday 12th May - Deadlines from Last week.

Today's little work load.

Props costing list. This is a chart showing all the props needed, whether they will be Bought, Built, Borrowed or Scrapped, who will be dealing with each item, and an estimated costing of each item:

Projected Budget Sheet

Schedule. This is a breakdown of all my deadlines, what needs to be done and when, and also my basic calendar for the next 3 weeks!

Props Time Line

Sunday 11th May - Updated Props Chart

This week I have sourced most of the rehearsals props from the university props store. Most of them are inappropriate for use in the play itself so I need to continue looking for alternatives.

I have also updated the list since the last one I uploaded based on a meeting I had with Ali the director, and also based on the rehearsal notes sent out by Becca (SM on the book)

Updated Props Chart

Friday 9th May - Moon Texture Tests

This morning I spent about 3 hours trailing around all of the charity shops in Carlisle trying to find the aforementioned wooden crutches my other half had seen....they apparently do not exist! There a couple of shops I didn't manage to check, but I am holding out until our "School Trip" to SandySikes scrap yard on Monday, in case there are some there, before I spend half my budget on buying a pair on the internet. I have decided not to make them because they need to be as practical and comfortable as possible for Natalie, and I think that a sourced pair would be a lot more reliable.

This afternoon, I played around with paper mache and wall plaster for the texture of the moons mask. I decided to try these two options first because they can done for free, as we have the materials we would need in the university already.

There were the results (unpainted)

The paper mache wasn't dry at the time of these pictures, but it was already clear that it wouldn't work, the look is very amateur and not at all what I was after.

The plaster worked a lot better to get the desired, cratered effect, but because of the nature of the material, once it is dry, if dropped, it is so brittle it would just break into pieces. There for I have decided that the mask needs to be made of ModRoc.

This is a type of plaster of paris that comes in strip form, ,can be molded around the mask wearers face for extra comfort and be built up. It will hold its shape well, and if layered well, will not break if dropped. I am told that the uni shop sells rolls of ModRoc for £1 a roll and that 1 roll will cover 3 faces worth. I can also create a very similar effect with the ModRoc as I have with the plaster here.

Friday 9th May - Crutches Research

Yesterday in the rehearsal notes we were informed that one of the girls in the cast had torn her Achilles tendon and will be on crutches for the foreseeable future, meaning we must locate a pair of crutches in-keeping with the shows style of 1830s Spain.

These are the best options I have come up with so far:

Ebay, brand new theatre prop crutches. £24.75 (to arrive by 15th May)

Ebay, second hand, currently at £4.99, collection only from Liverpool.

Ebay, Second Hand, Currently at £5.00, Collection Only from Blackburn, Lancashire.

My Boyfriend also mentioned that he saw a pair in a charity shop in Denton Holme whilst chair shopping. I shall go and investigate this today.

I have also put a note out on all of the "Things for sale in Carlisle" Pages to see if anyone has a pair we could borrow.

I hope to have found a pair by Wednesday of next week. (14.05.2014)

Thursday 8th May - Rehearsal Props and Moon Designs

Today was a bit of a mishmashy day. Spent the morning desiging the moon mask for one of the cast members. I'd post pictures...but I left my sketch book in the production rooms.

I then gathered up all the props I had found for rehearsals, borrowed two embroidery hoops and some needles from the sewing resourcea at uni and made the two hand embroidery props ready.

 
After I'd gathered everything together I went into the rehearsal room after the days rehearsal had finished and  marked out the Props Table and popped everything I had on there ready. I still need to locate 3 lanterns, which I will ask Gregg to do for Wednesday, a skein of red wool and another couple of axes.

Thursday 1st May - My Job Roles!

Just a quick post today, my first draft of my Job Roles document that is required for the module. More research to follow and a more detailed description with research to back it up!

Job Roles Draft 1

These glasses and trays were found from the props store by Gregg today ready to go into rehearsals Tuesday morning.

Wednesday 30th April - Mega Meeting Day!!!

Today we had like 7 meetings!

Well, not literally! The started the day off with a Techie Chat, where we spoke about all the things we wanted to talk about in the production meeting later on in the day with the director.

Then spoke to Sarah (our production manager) about my job roles and what exactly it is I shall be doing. (Will post up my first draft of my job description tomorrow)

I then spent the afternoon finishing off my props list ready to have a meeting with the director about which props he requires, and which he requires as rehearsal props etc and which props I can make myself. Need to look into doing some hand embroidery, I have had a look on www.UrbanThreads.com already to get some ideas about one of the props I need to create.

Here is my semi-completed props list:

Props List - Blood Wedding

Also had a meeting with Emma and Cece to discuss costume designs, make-up, effects, sourcing and making. The costume brief sent to us by the director:

Costume Brief (Written by Alisdair-Director)

We then had our production meeting and discussed with the director everything we had previously discussed during the day.

I also gave Greg (my first year minion) the task of finding 8 glasses and 2 trays for rehearsal purposes. I have given him until Friday the 2nd May in which to do this, so the items can be ready and in the rehearsal room for rehearsals to start back on Tuesday morning.

Here are the minutes from our production meeting:

Blood Wedding Production Meeting Minutes 30/04/2014

I have a deadline to send my job description to Sarah for proofing for noon tomorrow (1/5/2014).