Monday, January 21, 2019

Testing the 360 Camera

We were introduced to the 360 cameras that we would be using to film a 360 VR tour. We were asked to get pictures and videos of anything we wanted; our only criteria was to be creative. We came up with the idea of hiring Boris bikes and attaching the cameras on the bikes so that we could film ourselves cycling around.

After about 25-30 minutes, we uploaded our videos and pictures onto a computer and by using Premiere Pro, we edited and added effects to them. One effect that we used was a mirror effect where the videos which we had 'reflected' off of themselves so we would be able to see the footage on one side of the screen and on the side of the screen we could see the same thing but in reverse.

Romeo & Juliet Posters

In order to get some ideas for my poster for the Royal Opera House Design Challenge, I have put together a mood board of posters in order to get some inspiration.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

My Interview at Mountview

Mountview were they first institution to have invited me in for an interview. On the day of the interview, they talked us through what the course consisted of, they then gave us a tour of the building to show us the facilities and because they have recently moved from Wood Green to Peckham some parts of the building were still being built. They gave us the opportunity to ask them questions throughout the day.

Lastly they interviewed everyone individually. At the end of the interview they informed me that they would let me know as to whether or not they would offer me a place the next day. The following day, they emailed me to offer me a place. They also said that they would send me the necessary paperwork at some point in January so that I would be able to accept the offer. The paperwork would also include the method that I shall use to fund the course (tuition fees and maintenance costs).

The interview lasted around 20 minutes. During the interview, they asked me about my previous experience, where I see myself in few years after graduating and my biggest achievement in terms of lighting. They also looked at and discussed my portfolio.

In order to be better prepared for the next interview, I feel like I need to be clearer with my answers by speaking more clearly and provide clear-cut explanations. I also need be a little more relaxed as I was very tense and nervous.

Should I decide not to go university for any reason at all, I would go into the world of work to get experience and build up my CV and portfolio.

Friday, January 11, 2019

UCAS Personal Statement


This is the personal statement which I used on my UCAS application:

I love the buzz of live theatre. I like the idea of hard work building up to something tangible and then it’s show time. There’s the hush when the lights go down, the thrill as applause rings out, and keeping on your toes in between!
I am a member of the National Youth Theatre, having come through a highly competitive selection process to win a place at the NYT’s Backstage Course (Lighting) in the summer of 2018.
This gave me a deeper knowledge of the subject and a big boost to my confidence. The course was a steep learning curve, combining classroom teaching with hands-on experience in lighting live performances. The show I worked on was performed in the round so I learned about the difficulties of lighting a performance in this type of space compared with a traditional end-on theatre. I also gained a better understanding of how integrated all of the theatre departments are and how they work together.
Ever since I saw Mary Poppins float above the audience with her umbrella, I have been captivated by technical theatre and wanted to get involved. I won the award for best stagehand at my school’s musical productions and became lighting technician for my GCSE drama practical exam.
Now I am studying for a UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma in Production Arts, with a particular interest in lighting.
I have been technical director for a college production of Frankenstein where I worked with the director to create and program the lighting cues. I also operated the lights for four performances. Last term, I was board operator for A Christmas Carol.
At a weekend workshop I saw what lighting designers have to think about when designing a rig, for example how light may spill when lighting someone, how colours are used, how shadows are created and how those might affect the intended mood or setting.
Passion, regret, sadness: emotions that can be portrayed with carefully selected gels and well-thought out focusing of the lights. With technology that is constantly evolving, lighting is a discipline that never fails to captivate me.
That is why I want to pursue a career in stage lighting, first as a lighting programmer and operator, and later as a lighting designer. For now, it’s about learning to materialise the designer’s creative ideas, to manipulate the lights in such a way that makes the audience shed a tear or fills them with delight.
The next step is to become an expert in lighting and to maximise my opportunities in theatre by taking my education to the next level. I am looking for a course that offers a high quality degree with an emphasis on practical training and hands-on experience. My main area of interest is lighting but other areas of study could help towards a broader understanding of technical theatre.
In the longer term, I see myself working on big shows in the West End or at the Royal Opera House, or perhaps outdoor shows like the Edinburgh Tattoo or Glastonbury.
I like to travel and am fluent in French. If I do not remain in London, I could see myself taking my skills to Broadway, Cirque du Soleil or on tour.
The camaraderie of the team means a lot to me. I would be a great addition to any student cohort because I am friendly, enthusiastic and eager to learn. I have always been a good team member.

The Future of Lighting Technology (Draft)


From the outdoor Greek theatres to candlelit plays to the modern day tungsten lights. Lighting has come a long way since the start of theatre. Even today, when the lighting department has advanced technology available to them, theatre lighting is continuously making technological advancements with LEDs being used more often as they are more energy efficient than the conventional generic lights making them more environmentally friendly; most of the energy that tungsten lights use gets wasted as heat causing theatres to leave a massive carbon footprint. This is why the European Commission is passing a new legislation whereas theatres are going to be forced to change their tungsten lamps with LED ones.

This is great for the environment but not so good for productions as there is yet to be a suitable LED replacement for the tungsten lamps. It is easy for individuals to get rid of their incandescent lamps and replace them with LED lamps but for theatres, it is more complicated than that as replacement screw lamps for theatrical fixtures are non-existent. This allows for only one option, that is to change the entire light which is costly because LED lights are expensive. Due to the fact that conventional theatre lights are really reliable and have the ability of having a lifespan of a number of decades, changing the tungsten lights with LED ones is also wasteful. Doing this would also mean that you have to change all of the control systems because LED units have more complicated electronics within them that necessitate a new structure to use.

To add to the complication, the way the human eye is made up causes it to struggle to perceive the boundaries of the colour spectrum. In order to counter this, the colours that are the most vivid have to be put at a higher intensity to allow the audience to see them clearly. This entails more power to be drawn by the light which defeats the point of the LED fixture being more energy efficient.

A viable solution to get around this is to fit the luminaire with gels. The problem with this though, is that it renders the light inefficient because you are blocking out the light that you do not wish to have causing some of the energy to be wasted. Needless to say, this takes the European Commission’s efficiency principle and throws it out the window. To make a light as efficient as possible, you only want to produce the light that you want to have.

Consequently, the European Commission means well but it is not going about the matter with the best approach. With climate change being a serious issue, we do need to think about reducing the carbon footprint of theatre lighting and increasing the energy efficiency is a good way of doing that but as it stands we cannot replace the conventional tungsten lights with LEDs whilst maintaining the same standard of lighting shows because despite the fact that LEDs have the useful feature of colour mixing with an in-built colour palette, lighting designers continue to favour the tungsten halogen lamps because of the natural and warm light that they produce as supposed to the cold light that LEDs emit.

In conclusion, theatres will eventually replace their lighting rigs with LEDs which will decrease the carbon footprint of theatres but not before the required technology has been developed allowing LEDs to do what the tungsten halogen lamps currently do in order to make them a suitable replacement. The cost of LEDs also needs to drastically decrease because presently, substituting all of the tungsten lights will take a massive bite out of the budget of the theatres that can actually afford to do such a thing; let alone the smaller ones that can’t.

Royal Opera House Design Challenge

For the Royal Opera House Design Challenge I have decided to do Marketing Strategy and Design. My idea is to do a virtual tour of the Royal ...