This morning I arrived before 9am because we had someone come in to give us a talk about a survey. After this talk I went to the studio and made sure the sound was set up. I transfered my PA notes from my script with all notes on for every role onto the new group B only section of my 'production pack' because my script looked messy and would have caused confusion. We had a rehearsal. It went terrible! I was confused about timings because I wasn't sure whether to look at the VT times or my stop watch! Then my Director started calling out cues for floor manager / sound / lighting which was supposed to be coming from me which confused everyone, they listened to him and I didn't know what to do because he called it 45 seconds early. I knew what and when to cue so this made things hard. The sound wasn't very good. We couldn't hear anything in the gallery. The lighting was okay because it is quite a simple set up. Camera was okay once I turned up the volume on the head set. This was very worrying. Hours from the show and it was an awful rehearsal. However, I had the sound issue sorted and I told my Director not to speak to anyone on my behalf and to just trust me that my timings are accurate. He assured me it wouldn't happen again. The actors arrived (all but David, Stanley Buttons). We had an actor run through which was the opportunity to have all sound people in the gallery and I went through exactly what was needed until they understood and definitely knew how to work everything and what to do if a mic fails. The sound issue was resolved, I had all input levels set which give the best sound I could possibly have. David (Stanley Buttons) still wasn't there after the rehearsal. I called his house number. His wife give me his mobile number which was switched off when I called. This was very worrying but luckily he eventually arrived!
Make-up and costumes were put on and everyone was preparing. I did a last sound check to confirm that my levels were fine. The 15 minutes lead up were very scary. I stayed as focused and calm as possible and told my sound assisstant exactly what to expect (he knew from previous rehearsals but this time no mistakes were allowed).
My first section (sound) went okay. My mic's didn't peak, all sound in the gallery / studio was clear and the music was cue'd on time. I think the only issue was I cut the sound from the VT a split second too fast causing some sound to be cut off. I cut exactly when the PA said 'we're live' so I don't know why this happened. But it is not a major issue.
Group B which I was PA for went well too. I cue'd everything, we started on time and finished on time. I did have to use the 'air guitar' cue which the actors knew meant leave the rest of the script, say 'ah I've had enough of this, lets just get to the music' I cue's the lights to go down then the music started. This was just so that my section finished on time. Hannah (Christine Charles) didn't manage to get her shirt off in time but it didn't really matter. I was happy with how this section went.
For group C I was on lighting. I only had two cues. I had to solo bus 9 when the judge spoke once. Then solo / flash bus 19 (the red gel) when the alarm was going off. I liked how the music and lights stopped at exactly the same time.
For group D I was on camera 2. This went okay too. No problems from what I know of.
I can't wait to watch it back and see where we went wrong / where we improved over time. The past few rehearsals we have had have been a bit of a disaster. I think we all had a bit of a panic but when it came to the actual show everyone performed really well and worked great as a team!
The floor manager thanked the audience, we sent them upstairs for refreshments and had cast / crew photographs. Everyone was relieved that it went smoothly. I then had to quickly drive home and bring the flowers and chocolates Charlotte and I bought for Jess and Sophie for being really good Production managers. We appreciate how hard they worked to bring the show together. They stayed up late / made schedules / sorted out problems / motivated people and supported us all. We wouldn't have had a show if it wasn't for them so we had to get them something as a thank you. When I returned, the studio was locked up (I wanted to collect the mic's up) so I have to start de rigging in the morning instead.
Tomorrow, Mike wants to see our graphics package. All I need is a compliment slip and my DVD template updating.
I always said I would miss multi-camera when it is over. I have enjoyed it so much! Big thank you to Mike and Richard. And well done everyone!!!!!
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