Messages

286

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 25, 2011, 01:29 pm »

"i decided the kiwi scene should be reshot in 3D, with fantastic new digital effects unavailable at the time and insert into another new prequel: Star Wars 3.5- vader makes fruit cocktail"

287

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 24, 2011, 10:22 am »

Governor Rick Perry disagrees with your assessment.

288

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 23, 2011, 11:55 pm »

289

The Green Room / Re: Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 23, 2011, 11:08 pm »

On it!!!

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The Green Room / Picture Wars!

« on: Dec 23, 2011, 04:52 pm »

Alright everyone: It's time to start one of the most unique, creative, compelling forum games known to mankind! Without further ado, I present to you...

Picture Wars!

How it works:

• When taking a turn, post an image. (All you have to do is click the button right below the Bold "B" in the task bar and it will automatically insert the appropriate tags [ img ] [ /img ] (without the spaces). Then insert the hyperlink to the image you want to post between the "img" tags. And Done!
  
• The image you post should 'beat', 'kill', 'defeat', 'best', 'destroy' / <insert synonym here> the image posted before you.
  
• If it's not clear how your image defeats the image before you, add a small description
  
• Use common sense when deciding which image to post. Try to avoid nukes, black holes, and so forth
  
• Ironic and funny responses are allowed! In fact, they're what make the game even more enjoyable.
  
• Keep it within community standards! While it may be tempting to "win" by posting a bikini clad lady covered in oil holding a machine gun........that doesn't fly here. PG at most please!!

An example:

Player A:

A lovely house.

Player B:

Player C:

Slowly but surely, but it'll work eventually.

The next person could post an oven (to melt the screwdriver into an unrecognizable blob), a sniper (to shoot the screwdriver out of the user's hand), or one of many, many other options.
Be creative!

Experience learns that it sometimes takes a bit to get running, but once it does, it can be really awesome.

So let's get started!

I'll start off, with the same image used in the example:

291

The Hardline / Re: Re: AEA Break Question

« on: Dec 20, 2011, 06:56 am »

What there should be is a rule against one acts being longer than an hour and a half in run time....

I personally don't consider read throughs a run through. While I understand the first read is intended for everyone to get the the flow of the show, I don't feel there's harm in taking the break. It also depends on the director and if they are stopping to work on something/explain something. If they're doing that, take the break definitely.

That being said, I've also plowed through breaks to finish a read through and tack time onto the break to make up for it. But it's something I will run past the director and cast before we start the reading. I've always viewed this as a discretionary call.

292

Tools of the Trade / Re: Health Products

« on: Dec 16, 2011, 07:27 pm »

Tiger balm for those achy muscles after long days. You'll smell like old people, and will most likely offend those around you, but at least you won't hurt anymore!

I've also heard people swear by arncare which is used primarily for joint/tendon pain relief, but it never worked for me. But I'll just throw it out there in case anyone has the need sometime.

293

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Observational Awareness Training?

« on: Dec 10, 2011, 12:21 am »

Knowing what every cue does is by far the most helpful trick for identifying potential lighting issues as Maribeth said. It's also exceptionally helpful to be very familiar with the channel hook up and dimmer schedule. It will help you identify the potential "problem child" quicker after the show when you're going back through your notes.

The way I help myself for a run is to focus specifically on tech elements during tech. Really watch where everything goes, and how it works on the stage. You've just spend X number of weeks focusing on the cast, and listening to their performance and cadence. It's now time to "rehearse" the tech elements in the same way. Get used to the way the tech performs and the way it flows. Associate what the tech elements are doing in comparison to the onstage action to give it a reference point (ie. Cue starts on this line and completes on this line). Actors play around with their timing but they eventually settle into a pattern. So will the tech.

I guess the long and short of my advice is gain and retain as much knowledge as you can during your rehearsal process/tech process. Eventually you could get to the point where you work on a long enough run that you'll be able to identify differences in a heart beat.

It will come with more shows under your belt. You'll learn how your mind retains the knowledge needed to notice when things have gone awry. But knowing that it is a "weak" point in your SM Skill set already means you're on your way to making it better.

294

Tools of the Trade / Re: Backstage Calling Station/Console

« on: Dec 05, 2011, 11:42 pm »

If you're building the monitor system from scratch (and have the funds) one thing you'd definitely want is the IR camera. Nothing like seeing in the dark! Beyond that....I'd say make sure you have enough room for both your script and laptop on the calling position. Nothing drives me more crazy than having room for only one of those two items.

295

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: Rehearsal length

« on: Dec 02, 2011, 09:48 pm »

There are a couple of ways you *could* go about it.

1) go to the supervisor overseeing the production and bring up the 6 day work week contained in the manual. remind them that productions are only supposed to rehearse 6 days a week and that the day off is not only an industry standard, but also necessary to keep cast and crew refreshed and focused.

2) When scheduling rehearsals with the director, bring the 6 days up to them. And don't schedule on the 7th day.

3) Take a formal/informal poll among your Peers regarding the 6 day work week in the handbook. If they feel like making a thing out of it, write a formal letter of complaint to the department reminding them of their own guidelines and asking that the 6 day work week be enforced, with the student body as the undersigned.

Those are just a few ways to go about it. Don't be confrontational about it per se. Even if you elect to go with option 3, be very formal and not adversarial at all. Stick to facts.

296

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament III - 2.0.11

« on: Dec 02, 2011, 05:24 am »

Well...that explains that. Mystery solved! And they would have gotten away with it if it weren't for that meddling PSMKay!

297

The Green Room / Re: Trivia Tournament III - 2.0.11

« on: Dec 02, 2011, 02:49 am »

I noticed that too. Might just be they didn't update their servers....or changed the policy or something

298

The Green Room / Re: University of Iowa 2011 Stage Management Survey

« on: Nov 30, 2011, 11:43 am »

Nick, what's the AEA twitter feed?  I'd like to follow.

twitter.com/actorsequity

aka @actorsequity

299

The Green Room / Re: University of Iowa 2011 Stage Management Survey

« on: Nov 29, 2011, 05:39 pm »

I'm gonna give this a bump in case people missed it. The survey closes tomorrow. So if you haven't already taken it, please do so. I completely missed this being posted (Stupid tech week......stupid....), so I'm glad I caught the AEA tweet this morning about it.

It's quick, it's painless, and it's really insightful to what's going on with people of our ilk in the industry.

300

Students and Novice Stage Managers / Re: I have found myself SMing

« on: Nov 29, 2011, 02:00 pm »

On one of my early profession SM gigs, I asked the TD if he'd mind assisting me in taping out the set.  I was honest with him and let him know that I didn't have a whole lot of experience in that area.

I once asked in college and the TD, Designer, my staff supervisor all decided to not help me. It was an amazingly fun time. And the floor was never taped right....ever. This forced me to take an intro to tech prod class when I was a super-senior. I gots to hang out with the freshmen, but I finally learned how to read and scale a ground plan.

But to the topic at hand: I'd assume you've already been told you are allowed to tape wherever you are rehearsing. There are many rehearsal studios you'll encounter that forbid you to tape out anything because of the amount of traffic in and out of studio spaces. It may be a moot point if you can't tape at all.

While precision and accuracy are always nice, don't be too concerned if your set doesn't fit perfectly in the space. I've found in general, you can scale your set down about 3-4 feet without anyone being able to tell the difference when they are in the space with the actual set. Don't hide the fact that you've done it, but if you're a few feet off and you shrink things, no one will be able to tell the difference...having wings tends to make people think they have more space.

Beyond that: Maribeth nailed it.