Rehearsal via Skype

[GalFriday]

I am currently working on a project that is continuing rehearsal beyond it's original contract dates. As a result many of our designers are moving on to other projects and leaving their assistants to finish up. Our Aerial Designer left two weeks ago. After the Executive preview the creative team decided they wanted to redo the flight sequence. So he has been reworking it via Skype/iChat from backstage at his current show. There are so many issues with the reasons why this arrangement was needed but that is an entirely other topic.

Here is my question. Have you ever used Skype, or another Video service, in a a rehearsal process. Was it successful? What were the drawbacks? If you have never used this type of service for rehearsal can you imagine an instance where you might?

We have found sometimes the video is jerky so we are also using an iFlip and a mobileme account to post videos. Our designer can watch them and give us feedback to reprogram. This has been a stressful way to reprogram but a lot better than not being able to have his input at all. I did have a moment the other day when I was quite impressed by the technology we were using. We were using music from an iPhone through the amp, recording with an iFlip, posting to MobileMe and were joined by our AD on iChat....this rehearsal is brought to you by Apple...

[KMC]

I have used something similar to this, though it was in an academic setting.  Though instead of a skype-type solution, we had a proper webcam set up (not your garden variety Best Buy webcam, but a commercial unit you'd find in a conference room or something along those lines).  The idea was that if a certain member of the design or production staff only needed to see a small piece of a tech rehearsal or a run through they could tap in from home instead of coming all the way in to the theatre for one small detail. 

The other benefit was that faculty members/advisers could tap in to see how their students were doing, though the merits of that are debatable as I don't really see that as a viable substitute for a physical presence on an adviser level. 

It was quite a nice setup, and very secure.  The webcam was a standalone solution and plugged directly into a standard ethernet connection.  It also had a built in mic to allow for audio.  It was a specific web address that was not published and couldn't be found on a search, and also required a username and password as an additional layer of security. 

After my production was closed I decided to see what this thing was all about and tapped in from home to watch another production in tech.  The video quality was superb, and the audio was passable.  One of the major benefits was the level of convenience, and it was nice to be able to look in and see what my peers were doing.  For me, the major drawback was that I couldn't wrap my head around the show by watching it on a computer monitor.  Maybe this was because I hadn't been involved in the production from day one, but I found it tough to put myself "there" being an additional step removed.  I think that would be the biggest drawback for me is you risk losing the context of certain elements or moments.

As far as success or failure, I don't really know.  We didn't have this for any specific purpose.  The idea was more experimentation and playing around, which is one of my favorite things about academia, the freedom to experiment and push the boundaries of your field. 

Anyone else used this technology?

[Maribeth]

I used Skype recently in a rehearsal situation- it was a new play and the playwright was on the other side of the country. We used it fairly sparingly (I think only twice) to allow her to see the first read-through and to allow her to see a run after she had given us a new draft.

On the whole it worked well- I think it was just a computer-store quality webcam that was hooked up to a router. For the read-through, the only real difficulty we had was getting all of the actors speaking in the shot- I sat with the camera and moved it to capture who was speaking. (It was a very large cast). For the run with the new draft, we set it up in a stationary position and left it.

We had a few connection problems - we tried using a wireless connection at first, but once it was hooked up to the router it was fine.

[snowie86]

While we were rehearsing a show in Italy, the director Skyped and video iChatted us. (We had to put in the AD as one of the characters because one of our actors got deported)

It worked very well, and he was able to watch rehearsal and give notes after.

[nmno]

I'm working on a show with multiple companies spread throughout the world.  Skyp and iChat have proved valuable especially for the companies NOT located in NY, where most of the staff is.  We've used Skyp/iChat for dialect appointments and dramaturgy work w/ the AD for new company members, note sessions with the AD (a couple of times, the AD has had to leave before making distributing all the notes), and for meetings to discuss production issues.  A few of our leads have a weekly voice lesson that they do via skyp/ichat.

[Millie]

nmno - you sound like you might be working on the same show as me - just one of the other companies
I've found that Skype is great in principal, however in Australia, our internet is nowhere near as good as it is stateside; being hideously more expensive is the major issue, we have download limits of maybe 60gb per month for a really large plan, and when you have 4-5 hours of video skype sessions per day, it can chew through your data allowance.  And sometimes the computer/internet just decides to be painful and not work, which can be very annoying when there is work to be done.
However it is better than the other option (which has happened over here on other shows) - live satellite feeds with several cameras to stream a run of the show to the director on the other side of the world.  I wouldn't even want to think how much that would have cost to set up...