Role Research Assignment

Role Research

When I first received the role of light board operator, I thought that I would be only controlling the spotlights and stage lights. Through my research, I found out that my job scope involved operating the light control board, learning about the various types of lighting instruments and their uses as well as working together with the lighting designer, director and the director to interpret their creative vision into the lighting design. However, my final role as Lights and Sounds coordinator meant that I had to cue both lights and sounds. Initially, I believed that technical jargon such as “animations”, “back projection” and “automated fixture” would be used. However, the technical jargon used in my role was relatively simple,

My research led me to believe that my role in Lights and Sounds department would be an easy one. After the production, I understood that my role was both demanding and difficult. Although it may seem as if the members of the technical theatre do not do anything of significance, this observation is not true as everyone, regardless of their roles, had to contribute equally to the production. Before the production of my class play, I had taken part in another production where the Lights and Sounds Department had done their part unskillfully. This experience led me to believe that if any slip-ups were to occur, I would ultimately be blamed as I was in-charge of coordinating both the light and sound cues. However during the play, the window of the control room was opened and as such the operators of the light and sounds boards were able to witness the production. Thus, I did not have to cue the cues at all. The presence of both the stage manager and the director made my role less effective as I did not have to cue any cues. However, I stood outside of the control room and was able to listen to give advice to the sound operators. I think I did poorly as the other aspects of my duties had been removed. If given a second chance, I would have definitely attended the lights and sounds briefing. If so, my role would not have been reassigned and I would have contributed more to the class. One obstacle my group faced was overstaffing. Our classmates felt that the lights and sounds should be bigger and assigned 6 students. Later, they realized the problem and Yuxuan and I were reassigned to other roles within the department. However, these roles were not well-defined and it reduced our contribution to the production. Through the Drama Challenge process, I learnt that drama and the process of drama-making is an extremely difficult