elliott-internship

[elliott-internship]

Final Reflection

It was my first time being production manager. I took up the role because I knew I was good at assigning suitable people to certain tasks, keeping track of what needs to be done, and I had just enough knowledge about sound, stage, cameras, lighting, and social media to oversee all the teams. I reminded people to complete time-sensitive tasks, sat in on meetings so that I was updated on what my team members planned to do and the rationale behind those decisions, and gave suggestions that others had not thought of (mostly regarding promotion).

Because my team members were very capable and hardworking, I did not have to prompt them much to do their jobs. Like me, they tended to plan things down to small details. By not leaving things uncertain, we minimised the chance of problems cropping up. But even if things panned out differently than expected, we had the flexibility and competency to adapt. Luckily, everything indeed went well from beginning to the end. Even with absentees and latecomers, there was always enough manpower in each team. Even though we did not stick strictly to the timetable, we were always on track with our tasks. Even though no one had prior experience with lighting, I put together a team that rose up to the challenge.

I cannot imagine Choppa going any better than it had. It was a wonderful experience and I look forward to organising more events, as well as doing lighting for productions.

[elliott-internship]

Week 7 Day 5

We finished relabelling everything quickly. We started soundcheck for the level 2 performers (ORRA). It took awhile because Ahamed was absent and Rhei had to set up both their own Buchla patch and his Makenoise patch. Since Ozi was still needed on stage, I left to go collect the pizzas we ordered.

I had anticipated that the delivery would be late so I scheduled it for thirty minutes before lunch time. We had enough time to eat before the next soundcheck, and the food was still hot. After everybody had their fill, there was only a bit left over. I think we did a good job with estimating the amount of food to get as well as the delivery time.

Christoven arrived for soundcheck at 2pm, but Andy and Natalie were late. Even so, I had planned enough buffer time in the production schedule. Though Eugene and Ming En came early, they did not have to wait for long for their turn. Like the day before, we had downtime before the last act's soundcheck. We let ORRA go again since Ahamed was now here.

The show went off without a hitch. We were very efficient at tearing down, and we were ready to go home at 10:30pm. I was relieved that the event ended without any problems and disagreements. I am very grateful towards the level 3s especially. Everyone did their job well and was a good team player throughout the process of organising and executing Choppa.

[elliott-internship]

Week 7 Day 4

We started the day with a soundcheck for the level 3 performers (Gyoza). Since I was the only person in the lighting team present, I got to exercise full liberty over the controls. I discovered ways of changing the gradient by adjusting just one light. This made it easy for me to improvise subtle changes throughout the set.

We were done with Gyoza's soundcheck very early so I decided to shift lunch time forward. It turned out to be a good decision because Kenny and Patrick arrived half an hour early for their soundcheck. When they were done, we could immediately start on Brian, Dirk, and Yandsen's soundcheck because they were already in school.

Everything went smoothly and we had quite a bit of downtime until George was scheduled to show up. This allowed us to bond. I appreciated that even on show day, the atmosphere was relaxed. Even though some of us were tired from spending long hours at the Cube this week, the overall morale was still high.

There were no issues with George's soundcheck either and we managed to start dinner on time. I wish I had allocated more time for dinner though, because one hour felt a little rushed considering we had to be back at the Cube before doors opened. Shortly before 7pm, I realised that some people may have difficulty finding their way to the Cube so I posted a video on the Choppa account's Instagram story to show its location. I also realised we could have made a bigger poster to attract Lasalle students to our show.

I was concerned that even though around 80 people had registered for day 1 of the show, they were not going to show up. When we started the first set, there were relatively few people in the audience. However, more and more people joined as the show went on, and eventually we were fully packed. The changeovers between each set did not take too long, even with the power issue towards the end. While waiting, the audience members could mingle and check out Brian's modular synth, which was playing the house music.

I think it was a very successful show. We were halfway through relabelling the junction box and the XLR cables for the next day when the technical officers wanted to lock up the venue, but I was not worried because I was sure we had time to do it tomorrow.

[elliott-internship]

Week 7 Day 3

We draped black cloth over the tables and secured them with gaff tape, and did the same for the Nevo railings. We laid out chairs for the audience members and stuck Reserved signs on some of them. When the level 1s arrived, Shreya ran through the stage movement with the crew members. The level 3s set up their gear so that we could do a soundcheck. The camera and lighting teams took this opportunity to practice for the show. Everyone was playing their part, making the most of the time we had. I was happy that we were maximising our productivity.

Previously, when the stage was empty and all we had to work with was the way the lights interacted on the floor, it had seemed like using just one colour for all rows of lights was sufficient. However, with the level 3 performers in position, I realised how flat it looked. I experimented with only turning specific lights on, mixing colours, and using different intensities. The different coloured lights coming from different angles created a unique gradient on each performer. I found this effect much more pleasing than the monotonous presets we had created the day before. I worked together with the lighting team to create more presets, and experimented with transitioning from one to another.

[elliott-internship]

Week 7 Day 2

Sayuthi conducted a lighting workshop today. After his demonstration, he let us create colour presets on the console. I found that immensely helpful because it allowed everyone a chance to familiarise ourselves with the controls. Without this hands-on opportunity, we would struggle to find the correct buttons as well as have trouble with the onscreen controls. I left the session feeling confident about doing lighting for the show.

[elliott-internship]

Week 7 Day 1

Today, we bumped in for Choppa. All three levels met at 10am to collect equipment from the SIA Theatre storeroom and transport them to the Cube. The year ones left for class after that, leaving the rest of us to set up. Herman taught us how to set up the Nevo platform. Yong En and Ahamed volunteered to install the railings and shift the sound, camera, and lighting consoles onto the platform. In the meantime, we moved the front fills, monitors, subwoofers, and main speakers into position. Then, Wai Qi and Gladys set up the d&b amplifiers and the rest of us connected the cables and secured them to the floor with gaff tape.

We accomplished all this before our lunch break. I think we were efficient because the level 2s and 3s had experienced Choppa bump in before, and roughly knew what had to be done. We took initiative and did not require much direction from the stage manager. If the level 1s had been around, we would probably need to state every single step to be taken on the production schedule, and we might have faced the issue of too many people standing around idly because there was no work for them to do.

During lunch, I asked Wai Qi what was left to do and posted the list in the group chat to ensure that everyone was in the loop. After lunch, Rhei and I collected the guitar and keyboard stands from Sam. Then, Shreya, Rhei, and I labelled the XLR cables and connected them to the junction box. We were done by 3pm, and I was glad to be ahead of schedule. It really does not take many people to set up, and we were not affected by people not being present or needing to leave early. However, I think it is a shame that the level 1s could not observe the process.

[elliott-internship]

Week 6

I had to reshuffle the roles a few times because some people informed me that they couldn't make it entirely or had to leave early for bump in or the show itself. We are really short on manpower this year because there are fewer students in the cohort and we are now doing lighting ourselves. I also had to account for the student performers leaving their stations temporarily.

I decided that we will make a sign pointing towards the venue door for latecomers, so that the two students manning the Front of House can double up as stage crew after the first set. I made Zasha stage crew as well because it does not overlap with her artist liaison duties. Shreya will be the one managing this team because she made the stage layout and is most familiar with how things need to be shifted.

The lighting team will consist solely of level 1s mainly because I cannot find a common time slot across the 3 levels for the lighting class to be conducted.

As for the black magic camera team, I planned for Yong En to handle one camera as Rhei is performing, because he can only stay for the first set, and Rhei will take over him when they are done with their set. Moon and I will handle the other two cameras. G and Ahamed will be at the console. When either one is performing, there is still the other person around to do the job.

[elliott-internship]

Week 6

I made a Google Form for people to sign up for the show. Even though there is no COVID restriction on the number of attendees this year, I thought it would be good to know how many people to expect. Furthermore, I believe that getting people to register creates a sense of commitment to the show. Going through the step of filling in their details and submitting the form requires them to decide that they are going, and so they probably will make time for the event.

Currently, 30 people have registered. This number worries me. I am hoping for at least 75 people to show up each day. Even though we are making content for social media, I noticed that the EM students who share the posts do so without including a call to action. Hence, I created an example of an Instagram story where there are important details like day, time, and location, and a link to the Google Form. I also drafted a message that we can forward to people as direct invitations. I think reaching out in this way would be more effective in getting people to RSVP than simply publicising the show.

[elliott-internship]

Week 6

I sat in on a meeting concerning the stage layout. Shreya, Waiqi, and Gladys had already compiled the tech riders sent in by the artists, and had a good idea of what equipment the artists were going to bring.

We had a few considerations: - time it would take to set up and tear down for each set - amount of space each artist needed - Antiwira needing to leave as soon as possible for another gig

It slipped my mind that we could use flight cases in place of tables until Brian mentioned it. I realised their usage made it viable to keep all the equipment on stage from when the artists come to soundcheck -- the set-up for the first two acts can be positioned in front of the last two acts, and be conveniently removed at the half-time mark so as to not block the last two acts.

This saves us the trouble of tearing down after soundcheck only to set up during the show itself, which would require an intermission. The changeover time would be very short, as all we need to do is unplug the cables and wheel the flight cases offstage. This is also beneficial because the artists can pack up their gear offstage soon after their set instead of waiting until the end of the show.

If the equipment at the back makes the stage feel very cluttered, we could always drape black cloth over them.

Upon agreeing that the show will start with everything on stage, Shreya got started on illustrating the layout.

I like the team's natural tendency to visualise how the show would go, as this helps us identify potential problems and circumvent them. By trying to find the most optimal solutions, we minimise the likelihood of hiccups during bump in and show days.

[elliott-internship]

Week 5

I joined Wai Qi and Gladys's Discord call about the Cube layout. Wai Qi shared her screen and I watched her plan the speaker placement in real time. She marked out the sound field and showed where the acoustic deadzones were. I learnt that front fill speakers are needed to cover sound gaps. I also learnt that since there isn't an elevated stage, the speakers can't be placed at an incline. We thus need angled monitors.

Wai Qi did calculations to figure out how many subwoofers we need. She sent us the mathematical formulas so we had an understanding of what she was doing. I feel very lucky to have her on the team.

[elliott-internship]

Week 5

Wai Qi, Gladys, and I had an impromptu discussion regarding the student bands and the assignment of show-day roles on Telegram. I really appreciate having them to talk through things with because we each raise issues that the others have not thought about.

We knew we wanted to keep the year 3s involvement in the performance to a minimum because we wanted to focus on our respective roles. G and Yong En volunteered to perform as a duo, however, we realised that they happened to be the two photographers. We have yet to resolve the problem, but one solution is getting someone else to temporarily take over.

Wai Qi suggested that we ask the year 2s to perform as a duo or a trio but I pointed out that a trio would not be nice because one person from the batch would be left out. A duo could work but I still think getting all four of them to play would be good since they did not get the chance the previous year.

When sorting out the roles for show day, I forgot that we needed stage crew in case we needed to shift things around between sets. Thankfully, Gladys reminded me. I suggested that we should make a sign letting latecomers know that the show has already started and point them towards the door, so that the receptionists can come in after the first act, instead of sitting outside throughout. I feel like they should get to watch the show as well, especially since they are year 1s who have not experienced CHOPPA before. That way, they can double up as stage crew. We can also ask the people manning the cameras on the first floor to help out if necessary.

Wai Qi voiced her concerns about letting mostly year 1s handle lighting. I figured that we were all equally new to this, and as long as we plan for every aspect of the job to be taken care of, we should be fine. I think having 3 people at the lighting console would be ideal. One person watches the performance, another keeps an eye on the cue sheet, and the last person has their hands on the console.

I managed to assign roles such that everyone had something to do during the show, and made sure that when the year 2s stepped away to do their performance, there were still enough people in each team.

[elliott-internship]

Week 4

I made edits to the production schedule. It is still not confirmed because Zasha has to contact the artists regarding their availability for soundcheck. But at least now we have defined slots. I planned the schedule such that we have buffer time between each soundcheck, in case the artist is late or they require more time because their set-up is more extensive.

Now that some artists have sent their tech riders over, I created a Google Sheet to keep track of their requests.

[elliott-internship]

Week 3

Brian confirmed the list of acts for CHOPPA. Zasha, the artist liaison, sent out emails to request for their tech riders.

[elliott-internship]

Week 2

Brian organised a meeting to discuss our needs for the show. There are a few changes from last year. We will stick to the default set-up of having stereo speakers and subwoofers, but the sound console will be downstairs this time around. We need to come up with a layout of the space, factoring in the light board and the standing crowd as well. Furthermore, instead of hiring someone to do lighting for the show, we will be assigning one level 1 and one level 2 to help out.

Waiqi and I had another meeting the day after to plan a rough schedule for bump-in and show days. We talked about what could be improved from the previous CHOPPA. Firstly, we plan to brief the people new to CHOPPA beforehand so that they know what to expect. Secondly, we are cutting down on the number of people we're involving in the bump-in. I recall that last year, everyone showed up at different times and it took extra work to communicate to the late-comers where we were and to bring them up to speed about what was happening. I found this unnecessary because the aisle that we collected the equipment from was very cramped and could not accommodate many people, and we did not need that much manpower in the first place. People wanted to help but there was nothing to do so they had to pretend to be busy. This applied to when we were setting up in the Cube too. Moreover, the level 1s are busy with classes on bump-in days so it makes sense to mostly exclude them. I am confident that the level 2s and 3s can handle it ourselves, and be more efficient than if we had the level 1s around.

[elliott-internship]

Week 1

The level 3s had a meeting to decide on our respective roles for CHOPPA. I volunteered to be the production manager because I felt like the position fit my skillsets best - I am good at organising but I lack the technical know-how for positions like assistant sound engineer and stage manager. After the meeting, I set up a Google Drive folder and created separate Google Sheets to document the meeting minutes, production timeline and to-do list, and production schedule. This way, everyone is kept in the loop even if they miss meetings, and they are clear on what needs to be done next.