Author Topic: PROFESSIONALISM: Doodles  (Read 10396 times)

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Emmy

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PROFESSIONALISM: Doodles
« on: Oct 17, 2005, 11:30 pm »
Is doodling bad rehearsal manners? I find when directors are doing scene work and table work I end up doodling. Is that offensive or bad? Should I stomp this out before I leave college and am in the real world?
« Last Edit: Jun 08, 2009, 10:47 pm by PSMKay »

YesItsKat

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Doodles
« Reply #1 on: Oct 17, 2005, 11:32 pm »
I do it too, all the time.  My SM advisor says it makes me look like I don't care about being there.  I am going to talk to my director tomorrow about it.  I just can't help it.  If I don't have another piece of paper there I doodle right in my prompt script.  ~GUILT~

justsmiles

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Doodles
« Reply #2 on: Oct 18, 2005, 12:36 am »
I dont think its bad, as long as others dont know your doing it. For all they know you are taking detailed notes. And who can blame us for doodling, sometimes rehearsals or notes are not the most interesting things. And we need to stay awake.

ljh007

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Doodles
« Reply #3 on: Oct 18, 2005, 08:27 am »
I guess doodling is not really bad (seems a little rude to me, but I'm a bit stuffy that way), but perhaps you could better harness that nevous energy. Maybe you could make lists of SM supplies to buy, or jot down the day's notes to each department (props, wardrobe, etc), or you could tidy up your calling script, plan out your cue-to-cue in explicit detail, or list tech problems you have yet to solve. If, instead of going into idle in rehearsal downtime, you get those little paperwork chores accomplished, you can find yourself way ahead of the curve later. I usually try to get rehearsal notes done this way, and often I can leave rehearsal with much work already done. It's a good feeling.

YesItsKat

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Doodles
« Reply #4 on: Oct 18, 2005, 06:00 pm »
I already have all that work done by the time I am doodleing.  I spoke to my director about it.  You know, the "am I doing what you want me to do" type questions.  Apparently I am doing "great" and I am "one of my favorite stage managers ever" (pretty good for my first show, no?) I also spoke to him about my doodles and he said he didn't really care.  Which is nice, but I am still going to try to break myself of the habit, because I feel like it is rude as well.  It's like a compulsion!

giabow

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Doodles
« Reply #5 on: Oct 18, 2005, 08:08 pm »
I doodle in my "notes" book all the time.  I find I can focus better if I give the right side of my brain something to do while the left side of my brain is concentrating on something else.

Sounds like a load of bull, I know, but it works.  A design prof I had in college used to encourage us to doodle during his lecture.  He said we paid better attention if we gave our "right brains" something to do.

hbelden

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come on now...
« Reply #6 on: Oct 19, 2005, 10:44 am »
doodling isn't nearly as much of a cardinal sin as a twitchy foot or a tapping pencil.  It's a thousand times better than reading a book, for example.  It's probably even better (in most cases) than typing on your laptop.

The other people in the rehearsal room don't care what you do - 90% of them don't know what it is that you do - so the test is, "Does this activity distract from the work going on in this room?"

If I were doing a two-character Pinter show, I'd be leery of the pencil scratches.  I have poked a pencil into my ankle to silently keep myself awake in a situation like that.  If I were doing West Side Story, most of the time I could be tapdancing in the corner and no one would notice.

I agree with giabow, with the caveat that if doodling is distracting, you stop it.   I don't think it's rude in and of itself, as long as you are fully aware of what's going on around you.
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Mac Calder

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Doodles
« Reply #7 on: Oct 19, 2005, 05:05 pm »
Provided you are not doodling in your prompt book, and rather in a separate notebook or something, it is fine. During a show I have been known to take fill a notepad entirely with doodles. Now that I use my laptop more (typing up all the notes because I am a faster typist than writer, although I still use my prompt book for blocking) I have been known to play those irritatingly ammusing, simple flash games during extreamly boring stretches (ie 10 minute monologues where the actor is stationary.... God I hate them, especially when the actor wants to retake it every time they screw up a line, and the director AGREES... ARGH!!! ) (kitten cannon is my favorite at the moment... I imagine the kitten to be mentioned actor.) You must of course be paying attention and have all your paperwork up to date

MatthewShiner

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Um . .. yeah
« Reply #8 on: Oct 19, 2005, 05:48 pm »
I agree with Scoot.  

If, in rehearsal, you can not find something to do . . . at the very least paying attention, then perhaps you should find another line of work.

Being present, alert and paying attention to what the director is doing and the actors are doing is very important in this profession, especially if you are going to have some hand in maintaining the show - which may not be the case.

Between taking notes, working on the report, trying to figure out who is going to move the 7th chair in the scene change, how someone is going to make the quick change, there is always something to be occupying yourself.  

If you have nothing else, the least you can do is pay attention to what is going on.  

Think of this way, you are the actor, working hard on a scene, you looking up, and there the stage manager is bored to the point they have to doodle to pass the time.  How would that make you feel?
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

hbelden

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learning differences
« Reply #9 on: Oct 19, 2005, 09:08 pm »
My point was that doodling is usually an invisible activity, and therefore people wouldn't know what you were doing.  I agree, it would be perceived as rude by your colleagues - but only if they notice it, and it's affecting how much work you can get done.  If no one notices, who cares?

I also want to say that doodling should never be INSTEAD of paying attention.  But some people just need their hands to be moving in some way, in order to pay attention.  It's a kinetic mode of learning; like some people are visual learners and need to read the material, some people are auditory learners and need to hear the material.  It's far better to recognize what your issue is and to develop a strategy to deal with it, than to ignore it and end up with an uncontrolled, more distracting, character quirk.
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YesItsKat

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Doodles
« Reply #10 on: Oct 22, 2005, 06:52 pm »
I don't doodle because I am bored.  I doodle because I need something to look at.  I enjoy the rehearsal process and I don't use doodleing as an "escape".  I just do it because that's what my hand does when I'm listening really hard.

bearbos

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Doodles
« Reply #11 on: Oct 25, 2005, 12:26 pm »
I believe that a little doodling isn't going to hurt anybody. Every stage manager has their own thing. i think that doodling is harmless. hell, I have seen stage managers playing solitare on their computers or even knitting in rehearsal!!!  Doodling is the least of your worries.

groovygert

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Doodles
« Reply #12 on: Nov 15, 2005, 01:21 am »
i take such detailed notes, its hard for ppl to tell the difference.

 

riotous