PETER PAN LEARNING JOURNAL.

AC1 Introduction

Within this term of BOA stage and screen within B1, me and most of my classmates

around different courses within BOA (peter pan was introduced to us as a major project

that all year 13’s needed to partake within.) peter pan is a musical theatre being held

within the old rep theatre located within Birmingham, and the show runs over the

course of 4 week with 38 performances.

The purpose of this peter pan project is to record the live capture of the peter pan

performance, so that me and our team are able to showcase and promote the peter

pan theatre performance within not only the theatre, but also on different social media

platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and old rep theatre website, also successfully

doing this to showcase and promote to the public so that hey can understand and see

what the show is all about.

The client for this project is the Old rep theatre, for their Christmas show

The brief for this project that I am taking part in I to record the live capture, make

enticing and interesting social media promotional videos and posts, and to promote the

Christmas show for the public within Birmingham, and possible even audience members

outside of Birmingham. Adding onto this, part of my brief judging off my role within the

peter pan project is to get professional credit for the work that we are volunteering to

do and to get work experience within a live capture/theatre.

2. Target Audience

The target audience for peter pan ranges from the ages 6+ due to how the show is

appealing to audience members even from such a young age and could even interest

people much older. The demographics as mentioned before (including factors such as

age, sex, gender, race, religion) are people with a very wide age range, and of any age, as

the show is open to everybody and anybody. There is no specific gender, race or religion

that you need to be in order to watch this show.

The psychographics of this show include factors such as hobbies and interest. For

example, this show especially appeals to audience members who have a deep passion or

love for Disney, or audience members who enjoy performing arts and fairy tales. Due to

this show is a Christmas show, it is typical for a Christmas show to be perceived as magical

or like a fairy tale; this factor is more aimed at the much younger audience, as younger

audience members are more likely to still view Christmas as a magical time of year, and

peter pan is able to amplify this throughout the genre and atmosphere of their show.

We have been able to successfully determine the target audience for this show, like how

I’ve mentioned before, throughout the atmosphere and genre of this show, also judging

off the time of year that this show has been showcased to the audience members.

Idea Generation

The codes and conventions, especially for theatre live capture, consist of rules such as

types of shots to use aka the camera placement and who to track during the

performance, what different camera angles to use whilst you are recording a theatre

production so that you are able to focus on different points within a show and where to

cut (jump cut) in order to show different angles and focus points within a show.

For example within lesson, when we were revising the different codes and conventions

present within a theatre live capture, we ended up watching the popular Broadway

theatre production ‘Hamilton’ showing the different camera angles and where the correct

times would be to cut in order to show different points and perspectives of a show.

Adding onto this, we also studied a live capture within a traditional theatre production

that didn’t include music; we watched the famous production including the globally

known actor Benedict Cumberbatch, where he impressively performed in the production

‘Frankenstein.’ Me and my classmates noticed how a live theatre capture had relatively

less jump cuts, and took more time to track certain points within the show, due to how

there was no music, and the production was overall a more laid back yet effective project.

In comparison to a live capture theatre that includes music, we noticed that Hamilton had

much more and more consistent and rapid jump cuts, as there was much more going on

within he show, as it included extra elements such as singing, dancing, and more people

within the ensemble that the audience members will focus on, whilst within Frankenstein,

there is less to try and pay attention to, and you can focus all your attention on one aspect within the show, whilst there are multiple aspects within a live music theatre capture.

6. Formats

The important and mandatory codes and conventions of theatre social media and

promotional material consist of elements such as interaction with the public, promoting

the show throughout photos, videos and temporary stories, sharing different elements of

the show such as costume, makeup, broadcasting and ticket prices to the public, also

including visually appealing content for the public to see and understand.

For example, within class in a few lessons, me and my classmates studied different

theatre/ Broadway shows that promoted their show in different ways, for example, we

studied how the popular theatre production ‘SIX’ a production based around the six wives

of Henry the 8th, promoted their show; they posted multiple different promotional

content such as reels and posts including pictures on Instagram, and continuous

promotions within their own website. They are also available to post their promotions for

their show on different platforms, for example the theatre that the show would be held

in, and even different fans would help promote their show due to how keen they are

about the show, and how much they love it.

This type of promotional behavior is very common within different theatre productions

trying to promote their show and is very relevant to any sort of business trying to

promote their brand; it is a very well-known tactic globally.

7. Formats: Matte Paintings

Matte painting are digital ‘art’/ pictures created on apps such as pro-create (not real

paintings,) matte paintings can vary in appearance depending on the brief given to the

person, for example, they can be seemingly dark, light, unusual or relatively realistic

depending on what the client wants for their project.

Within Theatre, matte paintings are usually used throughout a show to create a

background for a show, for example within peter pan, there would be different matte

paintings projected onto the background of the stage, so that it creates an illusion of the

character being in different settings for the audience members watching the show.

Matte paintings are very useful for major theatre productions as it helps production crew

at the time not have to worry so much about what stage set they need to bring on and

off, or set up before hand; with matte paintings, you would typically only have to worry

about setting up the projections in the correct order, and in the correct positioning so

that each scene is conducted out in the best way possible so that the audience members

can see how each background is meant for each scene.

Within the creation of matte paintings, you are able to experiment with what different elements to add in within your creation, so that you are able to elevate the scenery as much as you possible can.

AC2 Problem Solving

Within the peter pan project that I partook within as camera operator, me and my team

members decided to plan out where we would set up different cameras and why we set

them up that way. We tested different placements for the different cameras being used,

planning out the different angles being used during the show so that we were clear in

what different perspectives to focus on when filming the stage, we also carefully planned

out and practiced what different characters and moments to track; this means planning

out which camera would focus on which character(s) all throughout the show. Me and my

camera team partook within a scratch take, where we were able to share our different

ideas on how to set up each camera, and what we could do to effectively film the

production in a clear and practical way, so that each character within the show and

positioning of for example the ensemble or set would be clearly seen when filming, as

well as using effective shots to truly portray key elements of the show.

From this, me and my camera team for the Peter pan musical were able to determine and

decide which camera would for example be still, focusing on the entirety of the show, and

which cameras would track for example the left or right side of the stage, tracking key

elements of the production on their side (the side that the camera was being placed.)

This immensely helped me and my camera team, as we were now clear on what to and

what not to film, so that we didn’t result in capturing the same footage on different

cameras, resulting in a lack of diversity within the shots being used for the live capture

within peter pan.

11. Testing & Experimentation

As mentioned before, me and my camera team for peter pan live capture had specific

days where we would practice our skills in setting up certain equipment. This involved

setting up equipment such as trip-pods, cameras, handles for the camera (so that we

were able to effectively track different elements on stage with less struggle) connecting

the correct wires to specific cameras, and taping downs wires so that none of the crew, or audience members when it came to the show, would trip over the wires.

Throughout this process, we had to ensure that we set up all this equipment in a certain amount of time. This was mandatory due to how we had to ensure that we set up on time on the show day so that we successfully were able to film the full show without missing any of the production due to lack of time management skills. This process truly helped me and my camera team understand when and how quickly we should be setting up all of our necessary equipment before it was time for the production to start. Partaking within this experimentation also helped me and my camera crew for peter pan highlight the strengths that we had, and the weaknesses that we needed to improve on before the shoot day. For example, one strength that all camera crew upheld all throughout each experimentation process was setting up the tripods correctly, and successfully attaching these cameras to the tripods: we were able to do this process swiftly, meaning that we were able to do the same when it came to the day of the shoot. One element within setting up that me and my camera team understood we needed to improve on was taping down the wires correctly.

We understood that not only did we need to speed up the process of taping down the wires, but we also needed to ensure that we taped them down securely with enough tape over all the wires to that they would lift up during any moment of production. Throughout all the practices that we partook in, we were able to immensely improve ourselves on time for production.

12. Risks & Limitations

Throughout the planning process of the camera work for the Peter pan live capture, we

highlighted different problems that we could encounter, and the risks that would come

from this.

We understood that when production came there could possibly be problems when it

came to the public also being in close proximity with not only our camera crew, but also

our camera equipment. From the public, risks such as the public accidently damaging our

camera equipment, the public interfering within the different camera shots when filming

the production, or even down to the public tripping over equipment, especially wires

(which the camera crew were also vulnerable of.) Another crucial thing that the public

could interfere with way before production is booking out specific seats within the

theatre so that Me and my camera crew could place our equipment somewhere practical,

also so we could set up in those specific places and film without disruption.

Aside from the public, there were also risks and limitations that we could face when

needing to transport all equipment to the theatre. Although these risks and limitations

that we thought of were in fact very possible at any moment In time, we were able to

plan in advance to overcome these risks. For example, with public risks and limitations

that we could face, we ensure to do things such as booking out relevant seats weeks

before opening day so that we had a safe and secure place to place our equipment and

film, which also links to how we were able to prevent any damages exposed to us and our

equipment, and how we were able to set up everything correctly to prevent any injuries, or any public audiences from interfering with our shots on production day. Another problem that me and my crew encountered on production day was patching up the cameras to the vision mixer; it ended up being a problem with the type of Wi-Fi network that we connected our cameras to, which we then fixed by connecting to the correct network. From this, we ensured that in future, we would double check all elements of set up, so that we wouldn’t encounter another irrelevant problem like this in any future projects.

AC3 4 5:

https://youtu.be/KXAePP7HMWs?si=O2aqyTrHh303M8kT