The final week had arrived. I was excited to see all our work come together for the performance, and finally let others see what we worked on. We had a calm week, focused on finishing tasks (e.g., the poster and programme), rehearsing and the mixing that had overrun so far.
On Tuesday, I planned to come to college to finish the mixing and mastering so we would have more rehearsal time on Wednesday. I asked Bluebell to send me the logic files along with the individual tracks so I could use them on the college computers that have logic. When I came in, I spent the first-hour troubleshooting; the computer wouldn’t recognise the logic file Bluebell had sent, meaning I couldn’t work on the files. I could have used the individual tracks to recreate the recordings and master them, however, I had started mastering all the songs, so if I did this I would just be catching up to where I already was. I wanted to solve a problem we had, and I almost did, if the technical issues didn’t stop me.
On Wednesday, I had to finish the mixing and mastering. It was the main priority for the group, as well as me. I used Bluebell’s laptop to continue the work and finished the remaining songs (Wish You Were Here and Acceptance) and checked the songs I had done, to make any minor adjustments. Alongside this, we discussed the poster and programme as a group to decide on how it should be laid out, as well as how many copies we should make. When I finished mixing, we printed out the programmes and arranged them into their booklet form. I think I mixed the songs quite fast while maintaining high attention to detail. This was another good example of us distributing work as a group, to make sure we could maintain a high standard, and be efficient with our time.
At the end of the day, I got Bluebell to send me the tracks I worked on earlier that day, so I could compile them into one audio file for the performance. I also used the intelligent mastering software on my laptop to make final adjustments to bring the tracks more clarity, in addition to a limiter, to ensure all the songs are of a similar volume. All these adjustments demonstrate high attention to detail, but also made Dan Fox’s job easier for the performance: he could press play and not have to focus on the songs anymore while he would control the volume for the theatre.
On Thursday, we spent our day rehearsing, as we had finished all the remaining tasks the day before, as we had planned. We had little to worry about except for the performance, and how the screen would be set up, as Dan Fox didn’t have the time to construct the wings for the stage. We then discussed with him that we should hang it from the rig at the ceiling of the theatre, by stapling the sheet to a length of wood and tying a rope around it, which was our backup plan. Before rehearsals, we planned to bring empty bottles in to represent an alcohol addiction for our protagonist in the play. These would be used in the anger, depression, and acceptance scenes, and proved to be effective as they made our set look more professional and well-thought-out in comparison to having the few set changes we had in the play before.
Another problem on Thursday was our grave prop. Sometime in the days before, our grave prop had been destroyed by someone and left for us to find on Thursday morning. This meant we had to borrow resources from the art department again to construct another one. Our quick thinking and organisation skills allowed us to conduct this with little fuss and little impact on our rehearsal time for that day.
The final performance on Thursday went well. We set up in an interval during the FMP show with speed. Our set design and gloomy lighting meant the audience was greeted with a mystery when they came in. This instantly had the audience interested before they had seen anything. Our show started with the first song and ran straight through to the end. I put silent gaps between the songs to create suspense, but also allow us time to add/change the set when we needed to. The audience's reaction by the end was as we had hoped, they were tearful and moved by our piece. We collected £43 in donations after the show, which is a figure we are pleased with considering the small audience. The recording of our show will be on my website.
On Friday, we all went to college to review how the performance went, make our donations, continue written work, and watch other performances. As a group, we felt the performance went well, with few errors (these being a delay in displaying the placards, so not significant errors). So, we thought it wasn’t far off a perfect performance, especially because of the audience’s reaction. We have always been tight as a group, so we were all pleased with the result and felt it a shame that we would all be doing individual work now, but we will watch the video and discuss the performance again when we can. I also started this entry for my reflection journal, to get the most vivid recollection of the performance (as it was the day before), and it was the only written work I did all day as watching performances would take up most of it.
Last week I wanted to complete all the remaining tasks this week. I am pleased that we did so in the two days before our show, as it meant we could relax and prepare mentally for the show, leading to the best results, which were what we acquired.
Next week, the plan is to write my final evaluation. I will look back on the events over the last two months and discuss the skills I have learnt, honed, and perfected, as well as how this weekly reflection system has benefited me and my contribution to the project.
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