Student Check lists

[FHSTechDir]

First off I'm glad I found CB, the knowledge here has been a big help. I've been reading for awhile but now I have some actual questions.

The High School that I work for has a program where the high school seniors put together a musical for the middle school students. All aspects of the musical is directed/designed/teched by the seniors. We have done this for about 4 years now and we have been rather impressed with how well it has been working.

Thus far we have just provided the students with a budget, some verbal coaching, and adult supervision but we are now looking to provide them with some more guidance. We would like to put together several check lists of things that should be done and when and then progress reports to file as well. We can then use the list/reports as a way to evaluate whether the show is feasibly possible. Eventually these list could develop into a way to provide a grade for the project but that is pretty far off.

My questions then are ...
Has anyone done something similar to this?
Does anyone have some check lists that have worked well for them?
Any suggestions about another way to approach this?

Thanx,

David
Technical Director, Freedom Schools - Freedom, WI

 

[briancon7]

I work on a mostly student run show, and it infuriates me when the teacher who supervises lighting and sound checks up on us and says that all we did was wrong purely because of his experience. Its good to keep information going between you and the students, but don't get overbearing because it takes away the creativity and the fun. Good luck

 

[FHSTechDir]

Good point! I remember my high school years and the only way to learn sometimes is the experience of something going wrong. This is the goal of this program and is therefore the way I teach. However when safety is a concern I am the first to say stop. Thanks for the advice.

 

[briancon7]

I completely agree that you need to make safety the number one priority, just don't get in their way of a design until it becomes out of budget.

 

[Footer]

When I taught, I turned one show completly over to the students to do. It was pretty much a fiasco. I did not have any checks in place, I just let them go. You do need to have a series of checks in there as you go. I would probably look at is as a series of mile-markers. IE... six weeks out... you have X done... 5 weeks out... you have Y done. That will not only allow you to get an idea as to what is going on but also make sure they stay on track. Have them submit budgets, have them submit drawings, have them submit concept statements....

Also, the attitude that you don't want someone breathing over your shoulder if you are trying to design is pure hog wash. In the "real world" you always have someone breathing down your neck with your design, be it a producer, director, or artistic director.

My feeling always was that I would let my students do whatever they wanted design wise as long as they could convince me that they were doing it because the show/piece called for it. They could not design something just because it looked cool. If they had a concept and we could afford it, go for it.

 

[FHSTechDir]

Footer,

This is exactly the vision I have for how the checks/mile-markers would work. I also love the idea of submitting a budget, great way to teach financial responsibility. You also bring up a valid point about some one breathing over your shoulder. Teaching the way the real world works is ultimately the goal I'm going for. Thanx for the advise. Now just the challenge of creating the mile markers.


David

 

[Footer]

The first ones are easy to make, the later ones are a bit harder. If we are just concerned with students on the tech side of things, I would emphasize the stuff that will make any tech process grind to a screeching hault such as...
Run sheets showing scene shifts
Sound Q sheets
Lighting Q sheets
Costume changes
Whatever else I am forgetting

Before they start, I would give them a sheet saying what all has to be done and let them devise the calendar and hold them to it.

I found too often students would talk and talk a project to death without actually getting to how it applies to what they are doing. I had some students who came up with awesome ideas but had no reason to do what they wanted to do. They also could not take that idea and turn it into something functional. Let them fly as far as they can, but remind them that gravity still exists. Make sure that the ideas they want to do can be carried out onstage. Don't say "no, that won't work" but ask "how do you see that working?".


One story that relates to this.....
I had students come to me wanting to do projections for a show. We had one decent projector so I said go for it. I then find out the next week that they plan on doing projections on every wall and have told the rest of the student directors they are going to do so. The student directors run with it and they actually start working on content and working it into their pieces. I then had to ask my students how they expect to get projections on the other walls and they tell my they are going to borrow projectors from the library. Our library projectors were 600 lumen powerpoint projectors that are meant to be used a 4'x5' screens... and they wanted to cover a 20x30 wall. I had to kill the idea and have them just focus on one area. It worked well in the end, but had I let them run with it without stepping in tech would have been a painful process because a lot of changes would have had to be made.

And to the students out there... the reason we do this sort of thing is to make sure you are not going down a path that will give you a result you won't like. We will let you make mistakes, but we won't let the show go under because of your mistake.

 

[FHSTechDir]

I also have to consider more than just the technical side of things and go back earlier in the process. Prior to this job assignments/titles were left to the group of students. We had alot of toe stepping and jobs going undone. The last show we ended up with three directors each with theirr own concept about how things would look. As you can imagine it did not go well. In the end the show was a success but some changes are needed for the future. I'm thinking the first step will be narrowing down who will do what and then creating a concept for the show. Then we can move into some of the finer details.

I agree about how students can talk big about an idea but when it comes to it the follow through is lacking. I have seen this many times myself. Getting the students to see the big picture early is tough.

David

 

[briancon7]

I can't agree with you that students are not able to run a show on their own. Over the summer I worked on a show that had no one over the age of 20. For the entire show we had a little over $40,000 with around 120 fixtures including 2 fiber drops. During the entire process there was only one problem, and that was an actor going dramatic because they were not the center of attention.

 

[Footer]

I can't agree with you that students are not able to run a show on their own. Over the summer I worked on a show that had no one over the age of 20. For the entire show we had a little over $40,000 with around 120 fixtures including 2 fiber drops. During the entire process there was only one problem, and that was an actor going dramatic because they were not the center of attention.

I'm not saying students can't run shows, I said my students had trouble putting up a show start to finish without hitting major road blocks. Every show I did in my 2 venues students ran start to finish. I did the designs for the mainstage shows but they ran them.

 

[FHSTechDir]

I'm not saying students can't run shows, I said my students had trouble putting up a show start to finish without hitting major road blocks. Every show I did in my 2 venues students ran start to finish. I did the designs for the mainstage shows but they ran them.

I agree. Students are certainly capable of running a show and they have in my venue. I also feel that when it comes to creating a show start to finish students are capable as well with some guidance. In this case the guidance will come in the form of checklists.

 

[briancon7]

Regardless of how you decide to have the show run i wish you good luck.