Day 5: Sheer enjoyment!- Many Meetings & Visit to Hire-archy

Today has been SUCH a strong, positive, productive day. Many more like it please!
Started the day by having a much needed meeting with Will, John, and Emily Cheetham- the Scenic artist. This was such a valuable meeting, and it was really good to get a lot of things straight in terms of dates and priorities etc. I am really glad to have Emily on board as she has such good experience with the AUCB productions, but also I know her well and I really trust her not only to get everything done, but get everything done to a good standard, I'm sure she's a real asset to the team.
We talked through A LOT of things, primarily logistical, but I was really very keen to bring-up something that I felt was worryingly glossed-over at the last meeting, and that's the question of getting everything BLUE. As I expected, this is something I'm going to have to make a huge compromise on- due to budget, but mainly due to time constraints and the every very fast change-over between Much Ado and Canterbury Tales.
Basically, the floor will be blue (tiles painted and stenciled straight onto the rough theatre floor surface), the rostra will be blue, the scaffold will be blue, the balcony will be blue, and a couple of boards at the polar ends of the theatre space will be blue. I've been told that whilst the play is in progress, the lighting will be as such that you won't really notice that the far walls are not in fact blue. Whether this is the case or not, painting them blue is not an option, and putting up boards is too expensive, labour-intensive, and time-consuming. There were another few things that popped-up that I need to think of design solutions for, such as the yellow plastic hats and feet on the scaffold- not very period at all- not very Much Ado- not very aesthetic. We talked about maybe putting decorative balls on top of the vertical scaff- a bit like bed posts, to hide their yellow hats, and perhaps sculpting some 'piles of powder' or spices or rocks of something to cover the yellow feet.
We also talked about the paint-effect on the pool, the positioning of the tiling, the sort of paint needed, and the tasks myself and Emily had to complete within the near future.
NOTES

• Make a mood-board/folder for Emily asap
• Rosco paint? will emulsion do?
• Balls on top of verticals- garden centre?
• Need somewhere to store the normal chairs. 
• Don't forget to do my 'visual scene breakdown' asap too. Job for the weekend maybe?

Emily and I have agreed to go paint browsing/shopping on Thursday and bring back some blue samples to try.
I also need to get the stencil done before next week ideally. Maybe something I could talk to Kirsty about?




Straight after this meeting, I sat in on a meeting that Sarah and Emilie had arranged with Mandy to clarify their roles between them as buyer and supervisor. I am SO glad I sat-in on this. I really had no idea quite how much I can delegate without 'taking the piss'. It's nice to know that I'm actually not too involved in all the logistical stuff, as I know that logic and organisation are 2 skills that are fairly thin on the ground for me. It's also nice to know that if I miss something interpreting my own designs (like the need for socks of vests for example) it's not actyally solely my responsibility. Phew! After this meeting AND the meeting this morning, I feel so much more relaxed about getting everything done- I think I've learned that it won't just be me, in the Studio Theatre, with a paintbrush in one hand, a sewing needle in the other, the budget written on my arm in biro, covered in blue paint, in a pool of my own tears.  I have got a team and I should use them, within reason.
This meeting also gave me the opportunity to chat to lovely Mandy about some things I'd been mulling over. Firstly, we made sure she knew that we'd potentially found Benedick's jodhpurs so that they probably won't need to be made anymore. Secondly, that I thought that Don John's uniform would be a good thing to make. This idea came from 3 motivations:

1. It seemed such a shame to have all these beautiful uniforms shop-bought, that would actually be really nice to make.
2. Anna had expressed to me that she was worried that she wouldn't get to do any 'proper making' and that her and Lucy may just have loads of alterations to do.
3. Unlike all the other uniforms, this one really does seem IMPOSSIBLE to source, and if it wasn't made, it really would be a case of redesigning it.

Mandy seemed like she thought this could be possible, which was such great news for me, but I will await her final decision next week once she's gone over the designs.
Mandy had started to print the designs on the printer in the staff room, and I have never seen such an accurate representation of colour- they had printed so well compared to all the horrible printer issues I have experienced along the way. The CAD pad is still out of action, so I'm not sure what to do about printing my designs A3, as my printer doesn't seem up to the colour matching no matter how much editing I do.
Filled with printer-optimism, I headed to the library in order to print out A4 copies of the designs to take with us to Hire-rachy afterwards. But instead of being greeted by wonderful colour-matching, speedy printing, and a generally stress-free experience... it was quite the opposite. In the end I ended up with about 1/3 of the designs, printed all purpley and dark. But it would have to do. Lacking an i-pad, there's not a lot you can do when out sourcing other than just bring the paper copies with you.

Hire-archy
 Shortly after the library printing fiasco, Sarah drove us to Hirearchy in Boscombe, which I have to say is one of THE most amazing places to be tucked away in Boscombian-surburbia. The lovely man who runs it had the most terrific tash, which made me trust him immediately.
I cannot describe how wonderfully surprised I was by simply HOW much we could source from here- all for what seemed to be quite reasonable prices. We couldn;t get a good look at too many 'specific' pieces because a lot of it is size-dependent, but we will get the actors' measurements tomorrow, then send them along with the designs and a wish-list to the guy who owns it and then have arranged to return on Thursday so that he can find us specific items which he will then put on hold until the show date- in the meantime welcoming us to bring the actors along to the shop for fittings and whatnot- what a lovely fellow!
So we found:

• The ALMOST perfect striped blazer for Benedick
• Everything needed for The Watch, Dogberry, and Verges- shorts, pith helmets, jackets, shirts.
• Black Jodhpurs for Don Pedro
• Military trousers with red stripe
• Blue military jacket for Don Pedro
• Hat for Don Pedro
• Tall Cream Pith hat for Don John
• Garrison caps 
• military regalia- braiding, medal-straps, medals, sashes, sword-straps.
• Riding boots
• A green tweed jacket for Don John

So much more than we imagined we'd be able to get, and it's cheap (ish) and it's local, and  it almost seems too good to be true. Such a good end to a good day!

 Potential Jacket for Dogberry- more beige less green in real life.

 Blazer for Benedick if size is right for Will. Unfortunately the middle stripes are black rather than blue, but I honestly think this is the closest we are going to get- at least without spending 5 times the money.

These are actually navy, but my concern is that they do look very black- might be better off sewing red ribbon onto normal blue trousers from the highstreet.

Whilst I was in the shop a very very very very strange occurrence happened. So as we talk to the owner about how it's a production of Much Ado About Nothing set in India, the radio that he has on in the background suddenly starts talking about ..... Shakespeare...... but not just Shakespeare... Much Ado About Nothing.... but not just Much Ado About Nothing... Much Ado About Nothing set in India. So whilst we were in the costume shop, with my designs, talking about the production, and how we're doing an 'Indian Much Ado About Nothing', the radio does a 10min segment on the RSC production of Indian Much Ado, focussing in on transfering Shakespeare into an Indian context, followed by an interview with Myra Syall.
Out of all the times we could have been in the shop, out of all the shops we could have gone to, out of all the radio stations he could have been playing, out of all the London shows they could be talking about, somehow we ended up spookily listening to Radio 2 narrate our actions as we bumbled round the shop trying to 'transfer Much Ado into an Indian context'. One of THE most bizarre experiences.

Day 4: Costume Store

Today I met with Mandy, primarily to transfer to her my "complete" collection of costume designs, but also just to have a little chat with her and the other staf members about if there are any hand-in requirements for this nit, and what exactly I'm meant to be documenting and how. Seems to me that the blog is a good base to underpin the work on this unit, but I should back it up with a sketchbook/production journal, ensuring that I keep and record all my emails and contacts,as apparently I'm getting marked on my ability to organize and use initiative and whatnot. For now, I will focus on just getting everything done production-wise, and if this means just writing notes haphazardly and presenting and collating eveything together at a later date, that's fine. But I think, just to make things easier for me when this time comes, I will really really really strive to keep the blog updated on a daily basis for the next month or so, so at least I know the basis of what I did on each day, and my reflections at the time.
So I feel a little more relaxed now I have a bit more information about all the academic side of things- although really, as I've thought from the out-set, this project for me is really more about personal development ready for leaving uni and for development of my portfolio- I really want it to be the very best that I can do, and if that means I have to sacrifice focus from the academic/'paperwork' side then so be it. However, I am also aware that the criteria that I am probably being marked-on for this unit, are a list of practices etc that would actually make my life easier if I fulfilled them, and therefore I should probably feel the NEED to keep a sort of production journal as I go anyway.

I then met with my costume supervisor to have a meeting about everything: any progress she had made with sourcing, planning out the rest of the week, and most importantly, riffling through the costume store at uni to see if we could source anything then and there. First we looked through he Arabian Nights costumes from a few years ago, which I have to admit, we thought would be more fruitful than they were. Unfortunately, the straw that broke the camel's back was the conflicting colour schemes- a lot of the costumes from Arabian Nights were centred around blues, pinks, greens and purples, whereas Much Ado is mainly oranges, yellows, and reds. I'm happy to compromise on A LOT of things, but the colour isn't really one of them. Another issue was that a lot of the costumes had a very 'fantasy' element about them- and were not really realistic enough to find a place in the immerisive world of Much Ado. Moreover the fabric choice was too shiny, and alas therefore inappropriate for this production. All of these things are such a pity because the costumes were so beatiful. It made me and Sarah quite whistful- for more makers, more time making, and a much larger budget. But- if we pull this off it will be even more impressive because we have been so limited in these areas. I say limited, but I'm of the strong belief: who needs 10 makers when we've got Anna and Lucy?
So in the end, we pulled out a select few items, and a couple of accessories, mainly for costumes for the 'messenger' or 'boy' or the band or something- i.e. nothing that matched any of the designs. We found a long red cloak that could be useful for the Sexton, but it seemed to be cut for a woman and it had big imaginative embroidered borders on the sleeves and openings which we would have to disguise.
We then had a look in the general costume store with a list of things we thought we might find:
-most things for both of Don Pedro's costumes
-military trousers
-Some of the stuff for the Watch

-Maybe a striped blazer for Benedick
-Boots
-Maybe some of the hats/helmets.
We were quite disillusioned by how much (or little) we actually did find, until Helen showed us these:

How perfect are they?
We don't know where they came from or how they got there, all we know was that we certainly weren't expecting to find them ANYWHERE. We had these 'over-sized' jods down as a make for sure, but since stumbling across these, it seems too good an opportunity to watse.
However, this is where I have to be careful. I know what I'm like, and if I stumble across something that I'd already told myself I wouldn't find, I get so overwhelmed by excitement at finding something that basically matches, that I completely fail to see it in a true light- willfully ignoring any flaws due to a love of coincidence. So I had to have a long, hard look with Sarah and admit to myself, that although the CIRCUMSTANCES for finding the trousers may be perfect, the trousers themselves are not. Obviously we need to see them on the actor, which incidentally we can do this week as I'm mid-way in arranging some preliminary measuring times with the actors. However, on first look my main thoughts are:
-They large in the right places but also large in the wrong places too- very baggy lower-leg, may be difficult to get leg into boot, very baggy round the waist, and they almost have a 'drop-crotch'.
-This excess baggyness also leads to a problem with the way tha fabric falls, at the moment I have a bit of an issue about the fact that the thigh shapes don't stand rigid enough, and that actualy all the excess fabric causes a lot of folds and pleats in areas that shouldn't have them. I don't know how much we're allowed to adjust things from the store, but with a little tweaking (depending on how they fit the actor) they could be amazing.
We also put aside a walking cane for Don Pedro.
After the visit to the costume store, Sarah and I had a productive meeting where we scheduled the following week ahead, made some lists, and talked through some issues. One important thing that Sarah did ask about was the masks and whether we are still having extra 'dressed-up' clothes and accessories for the principle characters in the Masquerade Ball scene. As my updated script/costume breakdowns indicate below,  have definitely cut that idea. Mainly because of time and budget, but also for the more logical reason that the masked ball scene actually happens very early on in the play, when supposedly the audience are still getting used to the characters... so if all the characters' faces are covered, what else is there other than the costume (and maybe voice) that can help the audience identify who is who. Therefore it's actually quite important for the costumes not to change at this point. However, this discussion did painfully highlight to me that I need to do SOMETHING to sort out the mask situation. I know there were plans to get model-making involved but I don't know whether that has gone ahead- another thing to talk to Doug about.


Our week-plan looks something like this:

TUESDAY: meeting with Emilie and Mandy to discuss roles of buyer vs supervisor. Visit Hire shop in Boscome- Hire-archy.
WEDNESDAY: Fitting with the actors.
THURSDAY: Deadline for finding and ordering the cropped military jackets.
FRIDAY: Trawl Winton and Boscome vintage and charity shops.
SATURDAY: Potentially visit costume lady in New Milton.

We also made a couple of rough shopping lists.

 
Things to look for at Boscombe Hire Shop:

• 3 x military trousers
• 2 x yellow & blue Garrison Caps
• 4 x beige squat pith helmets
• 1 x white tall pith helmet
• medals, sashes, and straps.
• Waistcoats
• Don Pedro's admiral-esque jacket
• Don Pedro's hat.
• Shoes/boots.

Things to look for in Southall (8th Oct):

• Turban/ turban fabric for Claudio and Benedick's uniforms
• Leonato's little cream hat.
• Purple fabric swag for Leonato.
• Dhoti fabric/ readymade dhoti
• Pomp-pom shoes
• Yellow turban- Balthasar
• White dress tunic x 2 (to dye for Claudio and Benedick's uniforms)
• Sash/scarf for Benedick and Claudio's uniform.
• white/cream frock tunic (claudio- wedding)
• Red wedding turban
• Red fabric swag- Claudio
• Little cream skinny trousers- Claudio
• Wedding garlands x 2
• Hero's various jewllery
• 3 piece wedding sari
• 2x teal choli
• 2x extra long saris in brigh red and yellow- large print.
• purple sheer sari
• Orange choli
• Flower? Lotus hair piece?
• Cream turban
• Karma bracelets
• Red trousers/swags for Friar
• Antonio's little teal hat
• Long plain cream tunic (Antonio).
• Mirrored purple choli
• Beatrice jewellery
• Deep red silk harem pants
• Yellow patterned sheer fabric.

So there's a lot to get!!

Day 3: More Designs, More organizing

Sunday,
Today I worked hard to try and complete my 'To-Do' List for the weekend, but alas there are a few designs left to do: Beatrice's bedwear, The Sexton, Boy, and Messenger.
The reason I have left these is because I need some clarification from the director. The Sexton is the most straight forward and I should allocate some time aside to do him, but there are various issues surrounding the other characters that I'd like to clear with Doug before I do the designs, and he emailed me to say he'd like to meet asap to discuss, so I won't do anything just yet.
I also updated my important documents to send to Sarah to help with her costume plot, below are my revisited Script Breakdown and my revisited Costume Breakdown.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=31843A379A3CA19!123&authkey=!AHsALpahCGOaFSs

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=31843A379A3CA19!124&authkey=!ANRDa4R-mkKpqkQ

I also did some more research into jackets. During the initial Production Meeting last Friday, I remember Rebecca saying that my drawing of Don John's jacket was unclear... or more accurately 'you've drawn it wrong- do a technical drawing'. So I did a bit of research into how the jacket would open, and actually my drawing is ALMOST there, the problems being that the openings don't quite line-up and the bottom of the overlap down the centre front tapers up the wrong way because it would actually be the other side of the front that would be overlapping. I found this image of a Napoleonic jacket, which although is a different cut, the opening has much the same technique and method, so it really helped me to understand.

I've also been trawling the internet for Nehru collared jackets for Conrade and Borachio, I found a few, but chef's jackets may still be our best bet. I found this one on ebay which I think we could dye, but it's so expensive...... and 80s.....


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Boys-White-Mandarin-Nehru-Collar-Tuxedo-Dinner-Jacket-Wedding-Ringbearer-6B-/400296329583?pt=Boys_Wedding_Attire&hash=item5d3385416f

I also did the designs for Balthasar and Friar Francis.

Day2: Organizing and Sourcing

I started today by trying to contact the landscaping company that does the university campus to see if they could give me some tree-help. Alas, as I suspected, they go by normal working hours, so I'll have to try again on Monday morning so that I can get the measurements of the base for the tree to sit in to John asap.
Sarah had sent me some links to jackets that we could potentially buy-n-dye, but I'm a little bit concerned about a few things:
http://www.dennys.co.uk/Patrol-Jacket/groupproduct/410/
This was the link Sarah sent me, which is amazing. I honestly didn't think we'd be able to get white jackets with those collars, but apparently chefs jackets are the answer. However, I am concerned both with the quality of the fabric and the length of the sleeves.
On the same website I found these:
http://www.dennys.co.uk/White-Nehru-Jacket/groupproduct/4111/
Where the sleeves look a better length, but the fabric concern is still pertinent. Also the female jacket looks a far better cut than the male one, but I doubt we could get away with using the female jackets presumably due to paneling that is shaped for the bust and hips.
But we shall keep searching.


I then trawled a few shops in Pokesdown, most notably 'Clobber' where I found a few things that might be useful. I found a blazer that's not perfect but could work for Benedick- but it was way too expensive. If I decided we'd like it then I could maybe have a chat about them massively reducing the cost, or maybe they'd be happy to hire it. An even better find was a perfect (!!) white nehru jacket! Just like the ones we'd been looking at on Denny's but for only £12!!! However, a few problems as follows. Although the fabric quality was perfect, it looked like it MAY be coated- in which case it wouldn't be dye-able. And the other (main) problem being that there was only 1, and we would need 2 exactly the same. Still, £12- bargain!

I can't by anything until we've done measurements, which I need to email the director about scheduling in on Monday week when the actors return.
In the evening I did some tile research, but I have a feeling that getting real tiles for the top side of the well is going to be SO pricey, given that half of them need to be ornate.  And although I found some beautiful ones on some websites, they are all WAY TOO EXPENSIVE.
http://www.euromkii.com/category/motif/repetitive-patterns?page=3
Having talked to the rest of the team, it seems that everyone needs some role-clarification. The Costume Supervisor and the Costume Buyer are unsure where 1 ends and the other begins, and the technical assistant is also at a loss. My Set Assistant is a designer on another show, so I don't know how much she's expected to commit. And I for one have NO idea how much I'm meant to be delegating, how much I'm meant to be doing myself, what I'm handing-in, when I'm handing in, and what I'm supposed to record during this project. I was just sticking to the blog and file approach, but since talking to one of last year's designers I've realised that I might need to do a production journal and also an on-going sketchbook. But this is something I need to bring up with a tutor next week methinks.

Day 1: First Production Meeting

Now that I'm back in Bournemouth, things are really starting to kick-off!
Today I spent some time making an 'ultimate sourcing list' which I'm sure will be added to over time,  I've printed out multiple copies which I then distributed at the production meeting.
Here is a copy:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=31843A379A3CA19!122&authkey=!AKyKIx6KDgTzWIU
At 2:45 I had my first meeting with Sarah my wonderful costume supervisor and we basically just talked through everything that would be needed for  each design and how we would go-about obtaining these things. We're both still a bit stumped about the yellow uniforms, but we think sourcing white jackets and dyeing them is definitely the way forward. We talked about going to Southall next week but that plan has since been altered via the production meeting. We also had a talk about to what extent props were part of the costume team's responsibility, and where to draw the line.

At 4:00 I had a production meeting in the theatre with the director, the production manager, the head course tutors, and my student team (minus one of the makers and the scenic artist). It was a whirlwind of a meeting and I came-out feeling totally bewildered and overwhelmed- I'm just going to make lots of lists and then hopefully I'll know where to start.

General Notes:

• Flame retardant fabric for the seating will be really really expensive, sacrifice making it 'indian fabric' and just use normal display fabric with a couple of runners sewn along some of the cushions.
• Get Flame-proof display fabric from MacDougals, again will be expensive.
• Benedick will be splashing in the pool and will need rubber boots for that scene.
• Kirsty the technical supervisor has a meeting on Monday afternoon which I might try and get in on, so I know what her role is.
• The first 2 weeks of rehearsals will be off-site in Winton. 
• The Set needs to be basically complete after those 2 weeks to enable the actors to rehearse in the space.
• The floor is really important to get done asap.

Costume Notes:

•  -Look at Denny's and Alexander's for jackets, also livery companies.
  - Look in Army surplus stores and online for the watch
  - Research the right type of braid we need to embellish the jackets (thickness etc)
  - Look in the costume store at the Arabian Nights costumes to see if there is anything suitable

Set Notes:

•   Balcony: The laser cut screen could restrict the view of lighting, sound and DSM too much. They could be out on the balcony or the pattern could be more open.
• - Need a plan B for the audience entrance in case of Rain
• - Illuminated fire exit signs need to be visible
• - Wooden Ladders not widely available due to health and safety regs, if there is a ladder there it needs to be usable.
• - Need somewhere else for the actors to sit, perhaps a couple of wooden benches. These could be used in the wedding scene and could fit under the stairs when not needed in the space.
• -Make sure all fabric is fireproof, buy it in the right colour, don't dye it.
• - First 2 weeks of rehearsals will be offsite, the third week will be in the theatre with the set as near to complete as possible.
• -Tech rehearsal will probably be 24th october, Dress 25th in the afternoon before the evening performance.
• -Scaffolding painted a distressed blue not solid colour?
• - Send John images of swords and he will source them.

So I've got a lot to be getting on with, but I'm not quite sure where to start. So I made a to-do list for the weekend.

SATURDAY
am- Tile Research
am- Try to contact Banyards about tree.
Mid- Visit Pokesdown to try Vintage Shops for Striped Blazer for Benedick.
pm- (go to the bank)
pm/eve- Update Script Breakdown and Costume Plot- send to Sarah
eve/night- (finish unpacking)

SUNDAY
am- Complete remaining designs (6)
eve- Brief Maker about missed meeting.
night- catch-up.

Lads on Tour

Lads on Tour part 1:

Conrade and Borachio.....

Ladies in Waiting

Margaret and Ursula are now complete.
The research for this actually took a lot longer than anticipated.
It took me a long time to find-out the names of the types of Saris that I wanted to use. Both pictured are special traditional Saris each using 9 yards of fabric- much more than the usual amount. This creates a Sari that is more practical for moving, and less sleek and elegant than Lady Hero's attire. It also took me a long time to get the colour-scheme right, in terms of balancing the colours of the rest of the production,

I know the composition is a little squashed, but I felt that it was important to have both the servants on the same design, as the colour interaction between the 2 costumes is really vital.