The Production behind the Snow Queen was generally very fun and I believe our final piece was to a very high standard.
I learnt many important things through the Production side of doing the Snow Queen. What became very clear to me is that you don't need a big budget to make a good set. You simply need imagination and hard work. With the exception of the paint, our trees were made completely out of used items which would've been thrown out had it not been for our performance. Newspaper, cardboard tubes and bamboo sticks is all we needed to make two huge trees. Our overall budget was probably around £70 and what we got out of that was absolutely incredible. The Snow Queen's palace, the Royal Palace and the Forest looked incredible. The Flower garden could've been better but I'll go into more detail on how we could have improved that later. Next time, I feel that it would have been sensible to have put on more 'evening' sessions. We only had one evening session- the day before the performance. It's here that the set took shape and the scenes came together. In this session alone, we made the entire set for the Royal Castle. This included making the Balloon Archway and decorating the chair and table with 'Royal Garments'. We also put the Snow Palace scene together during this evening scene and also ensured that the trees in the forest stood up voluntarily. All of this emphasises just how important this session was. Only one member of the group failed to turn up and I think this makes it clear that teamwork is important when it comes to Production as the more people there are on hand, the quicker and easier the job is. This leads me onto my next point that I believe everyone should have come to every Academy session each Wednesday to get set done more efficiently and quickly. Having more people at Academy would have got the set and props done quicker and we would have had more time to prepare for the actual performance.
There were several sessions and parts of sessions that I found interesting in the lead up to The Snow Queen. I loved making props and set in general because I enjoy practical work and making the set and props gave me an insight into what the performance was going to look like. Making the trees, in particular, were a lot of fun as we had to work in small groups when making the trees. I also loved the very first lesson of all when we drew a theatre and labelled all the different parts and jobs that you would find in a theatre. This taught us all the different things that go on in a theatre and also gave us ideas of what areas we would like to work/concentrate on. I also enjoyed making mood boards although I think next time we should have made them before we started making set as it would have kick started our ideas and given us a clear understanding of what we wanted to do. We had already started the set; in fact we had most of the set done, so the Mood Boards were based around what we had already done- not our ideas.
I would like to pursue and explore the role of Costume, Hair and Make up as a result of working on The Snow Queen this term. I think costume is the most interesting part of the production and it's one of the most important too. Costume and Make up have the power to create a character in their own right and the transformation that is has on people is so interesting. Just take a look at Lizzy who played the snow queen. She was completely and utterly transformed with her blue dress, white cape and blue/silver make up. Costume and Make Up help you stay in role as they make you feel as though you ARE that character and is if you are living that character. Costume and Make up in theatre is always over the top and exaggerated and this interests me as you have the opportunity to make make up and costume completely OVER the top.
I believe my contribution to the production process was very effective. I made a wide range of props and set which included flowers, trees, sleigh, balloon archway and the forest floor. I put a lot of time into the production side of the Snow Queen and I actually enjoyed it. I made sure that I attended every Academy time that I could and I believe this shows just how much of a team player I am. In Musical Theatre everyone needs to pull together to ensure that everything is made/done to the highest possible standard. The more people who work together on a job, the quicker and more efficient the job is done. All the set and props I made stayed together and were sturdy even if it took me a few attempts to ensure so. My attendance and punctuality is 100% which definitely helped the production as I was always there to help and chip in. I was very resourceful- making flowers out of yoghurt pots and tissue paper, trees out of cardboard tubes, bamboo sticks and newspaper, a cardboard sleigh, balloon archway and collected fallen leaves to paint/put underneath the trees in the forest. Next time we could improve our contribution by doing certain weeks where everyone focuses on one scene or piece of set. We did whatever set we felt like during production process and I feel that it would've been a lot more organised and effective if we had different weeks for different allocated scenes and this way we would have got it all completed a lot quicker.
The only parts of the production process that I found frustrating was when people didn't turn up to rehearsals or sessions. It really does affect the group even if one person is missing as it means there is one less person to help with set and props which does make a big difference. I also got frustrated and found it difficult to make the flowers by using the glue gun at first. But I eventually grasped the idea and I believe this is the case for everything that I found frustrating or difficult. No matter what the problem was, I managed to sort it out and accomplish what I needed to do eventually.
I loved the production process of the Snow Queen.....I can't wait until our next Production!!!
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