Montage: https://vimeo.com/873183423?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=23057876%5B/embed%5D

Capitol video: https://vimeo.com/873918496?share=copy

This week is when everything we have been working on over the past few weeks has finally come together. Our vision is no longer only a vision, but is slowly but surely becoming a reality which we are all very excited about. Prior to class this week we had planned to get all of our footage completed and ready to be edited for the montage video. In Wednesday’s class we spent most of our time at The Capitol theatre where my group was able to really start to plan out the order of events, lighting, music, assigned roles, props, and how we are going to set up everything in The Capitol theatre on the day of our performance. We have selected people from our group to be responsible for different roles on the day such as having a “priest”, a tech person to control music and lighting, and other roles such as being a part of the ceremony and handing out pamphlets and roses. We played around with lighting at the Capitol and decided on a deep red to signify the depressing, eery vibe of the funeral, along with the dramatic Dracula theme song as the coffin is ‘buried’. We had one final shot to film for the other group’s video which required use of the screen in the Capitol. This was an easy shot that we managed to get quickly. Towards the end of of class we decided it would be a good idea to do a full run through with music and lights as if we had an audience. This was very successful however we had one concern which was the moving of chairs on and off the stage. It took us a little while to set it up during the performance which is not ideal as it can be distracting for the audience. We do not have class on Friday due to the teacher strike which means next week is our final time to go through everything before the performance. Overall, we are very happy with how everything has planned out. As we have finished all work, it is now really about finalising props so they are ready for the performance, and practicing it all together and from start to finish to minimise any issues on the day.

This week we got together in class and had a big discussion within our group about where we are all at in terms of the assignment, making sure we are on the same page. The AFL grand final was this weekend so Friday’s class did not go ahead, meaning Wednesday was our only time in person to speak in person. As our large group has split into two smaller groups for the different parts of the project to make it easier to complete everything and assign roles, we were updating each other on what still had to be done and what has been completed. The coffin, our main prop is nearly ready, and Lu has suggested painting it black to fit the tone and vibe of our performance, which we all strongly agreed on. We also discussed which props everybody might be able to bring. We have assigned roles also including the designing of the pamphlets and the poster. We also discussed the ‘costumes’ we will be wearing which will be all black to fit our vibe of the funeral. The montage group is doing well, we are currently in the middle of collecting more clips to work with. From the draft that was made, we discussed briefly that a main takeaway was changing the pace of the montage, making it faster with more clips and shorter clips. As we collect more sources for the video we will discuss this further next week if more changes need to be made. The group filming the video have completed almost all filming with a little more to do, then the editing process will begin. It has been important for both our groups to stay on top of what the other group is doing to ensure that when everything comes together for the final performance and presentation, that it all works together and flows. I believe next week we want to try to bring everything in for a sort of dress rehearsal. Obviously not everything will be entirely finished but we will have enough that we can run through the timing and organise how every aspect is going to play out one after another in the performance. Communication has been great and we are all starting to get very excited for the final product.