Author Topic: Short Form ans Symbols  (Read 11905 times)

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Shmoolix

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Short Form ans Symbols
« on: Apr 04, 2012, 01:57 pm »
Hello there! I was curious of what people do to shorten there actions or short form of verbs.
In my class they give you the basic SL, SR, CS, w/ etc. But I would like to know what other short for and or symbols you use to make it less clutered when making a prompt book.

Thanks!

iamchristuffin

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #1 on: Apr 04, 2012, 07:48 pm »
Do you mean for blocking?

↑ for stands (or ↑J for jumps),
↓ for sits (or ↓C for crouch),
X for crosses the stage...

Is that the sort of thing you mean?
C

loebtmc

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #2 on: Apr 04, 2012, 09:36 pm »
many of my symbols don't exist on a keyboard but work great - for example, P with an arrow at the bottom is put down, stem circles up is pick up. G with an arrow on the flat cross level part of it is give to (wish I cd illustrate) - and all character names are encircled, while cues are boxed and, for me, standbys have nothing.

Jessie_K

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #3 on: Apr 07, 2012, 11:33 am »
I use the Greek letter delta (looks like a triangle) for change.  I learned that in math class.

bex

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #4 on: Apr 07, 2012, 12:16 pm »
I tend to draw a lot of pictures of furniture & set pieces. I typically make a key and keep it in the front of my script in case someone else needs to look at my blocking notes.

A tall skinny rectangle with no bottom is my symbol for a door- if there's more than one door on the set I give each door a 1-letter abbreviation like K for Kitchen or U for Upstage and write that letter inside the rectangle.
I do the same thing with chairs- a stick drawing of a chair and then I label the bottom part (under the seat, if you will) with a letter or a number- Chair 1 & Chair 2 or R for Red Chair, etc.
You will have to sing for your supper & your mortgage, your dental coverage & your children's shoes, over & over again while people in desk jobs roll their eyes the minute you start to complain. So it's a good thing you like to sing.

missliz

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #5 on: Apr 07, 2012, 11:00 pm »
An arrow circling either left or right for an actor countering for another.
I personally would like to bring a tortoise onto the stage, turn it into a racehorse, then into a hat, a song, a dragon and a fountain of water. One can dare anything in the theatre and it is the place where one dares the least. -Ionesco

MatthewShiner

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #6 on: Apr 08, 2012, 01:05 am »
I use  "W/" for with a LOT
I use "-" for to

F X- SL w/G

Fred X to SL with Greg

(As opposed to X SL - which reads to me as cross stage left

p/u = pick up

I use the delta symbol as well - but I use it to mark in the script a good place to "take it back to".

K with an arrow pointing down = Kneel




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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.

loebtmc

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #7 on: Apr 08, 2012, 01:51 am »
Quote
K with an arrow pointing down = Kneel

Yup - and arrow up to stand from it. Same w arrow thru S for sit or stand.




MatthewShiner

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #8 on: Apr 08, 2012, 12:35 pm »
after i typed that I took some blocking off the TV in the hotel I am In . . . I don't usually take blocking so all of this is not something I am in strong practice for.

But I use a lot of arrows (cross behind, cross to, climb over)
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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.

Amie

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #9 on: Apr 08, 2012, 10:10 pm »
Some of the symbols I use also can't be visually illustrated here.

I use a "dot" to indicate "to"
I use "P with up or down arrow" for Pick Up or Put Down
I use a "circular arrow" for "around"
I draw a little "L with a line coming down from the bottom" as if a little figure is sitting down for "sitting"
I draw little steps for stairs.
I use the "/" to stand for "of" like A x SR/Bed (Amie crosses stage right of bed"

I am also learning Laban notation which has helped me some in notating movement or thinking in those terms.

I hope my descriptions make sense, but they work for me!  I discover which symbols work for me, as the ones that I naturally write as I am taking blocking.  These are the ones I don't have to think about anymore: they are just part of my (now daily) vocab.

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BeccaTheSM

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #10 on: Apr 09, 2012, 11:58 am »
I like "inf" for 'in front of'.

I use the "/" to stand for "of" like A x SR/Bed (Amie crosses stage right of bed"
I use "o" for of. A x SRoBed. I find that it feels better the way that I write.

I am definitely in the furniture shape school of thought. Although, for some furniture pieces I find that an abbreviation of the word is faster... "sett" for "settee", "dsk" for "desk", "ctr" for a counter (not to be confused with "ctr, circled, with a directional arrow" for countering another actor).

One thing I've started adding in lately are notations of QC (quick-changes) and QX (quick-crosses). It's great to scan across the page and see "QC Tom" for easy reference.
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos. - Stephen Sondheim

Amie

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #11 on: Apr 10, 2012, 12:33 am »
QC for Quickchange is also one I use. But I have never used QX for Quick Cross.

Regarding using blocking notation because "I find that it feels better the way that I write"... that's exactly how I find what works for me too! :)

I also have recently (as of this most recent show) started to use "ntr" for Enter and "xit" for Exit.  Yes, in lower case.  I did this because I ended up having so many UPPER CASE notations and found it easier, faster and more efficient (the way that I write) to use these notations. So instead of "A XIT USR" I can write "A xit UR."
~ Amie ~

“This whole creation is essentially subjective, and the dream is the theater where the dreamer is at once: scene, actor, prompter, stage manager, author, audience, and critic.”

BeccaTheSM

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #12 on: Apr 10, 2012, 12:47 am »
There's also a second level to the "it feels right the way I write" idea -- There's a value to the way I say things in my head as I'm writing them down. The reason that your lowercase "ntr" and "xit" work (at least why it makes sense to me) is that it sounds like I'm actually saying the words when I write those abbreviations -- the first letters say their own name (kindergarten, anyone?).

If I didn't feel like I was somehow writing the word, I think it might take me longer because I would end up trying to ACTUALLY write the word before I got to the abbreviation/symbol.
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos. - Stephen Sondheim

drewski91

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #13 on: Apr 10, 2012, 05:52 pm »
A lot of the ones I use are what loebtmc described above and came from the "Schneider Notation System" ...but only the ones that make sense to me and I can remember off the top of my head: give, take, above, below, stand/sit/lay, and a lot of the body parts are the first ones that come to mind.

I also found I wanted quick symbols for "to" "enter" and "exit," so I invented:

- to (as in Actor x - L of SR bench)
< enter
> exit

I circle all people (a one- or two-letter initial for each) and box/square all furniture/set pieces. BN= bench, CH= chair, BD= bed, X=platform.

You can see the Schneider system here, about 3/4 of the way through the document: newbielink:http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/dd_sm-hndbk.pdf [nonactive]

EDIT: page 129, to be precise. CTRL-F is your friend.  - PSMKay
« Last Edit: Apr 11, 2012, 12:49 am by PSMKay »

BeccaTheSM

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Re: Short Form ans Symbols
« Reply #14 on: Apr 10, 2012, 11:27 pm »
Ooh, thank you for the link!! I've never officially looked at a system; I've just developed my own system over the years.
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos. - Stephen Sondheim

 

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