Discovering Scenotechnic Movements

Aims

• Give students the skills to propose, install and manipulate scenotechnic movements to meet an artistic demand according to technical and safety requirements.
• Apply acquired knowledge, procedures and skills
• Gain knowledge of the different historic machinery types used for different scenic movements, and their design
• Understand how the different historic machinery mechanisms work
• Develop skills to find technical solutions to artistic needs
• Develop skills to set up mechanisms
• Develop skills of manipulating mechanisms during performance
• Develop skills of planning, and technical and human resource management
• Develop skills of teamwork and leadership.

Key Information

Number of learners	Minimum 2, Maximum 8. At least 2 people are required to be able to set up the mechanisms. For 2 people the required time for the setups should be increased. 8 is the largest recommended group size, to ensure everyone has an active role in the project.
Number of staff	1 teacher with knowledge of historic stage machinery.
ECTS Credits (if applicable)	Approximately 2.5 ECTS credits

Learning process

	Lecture/seminar	Lecture, presentation, discussion (face-to-face or online)
X	Making project	Making a model, mock-up, plan or design (physical or digital)
X	Performance project	Making a performance or demonstration (live or mediated)
	Records and Archives	Interviews, photographs and videos of artefacts, annotating archives, creating learning materials (physical or digital)
	Independent study	Reading, researching, analysing and evaluating learning materials (physical or digital) in groups or alone

Type of learner

X	Student of technical theatre
X	Student of theatre design, architecture
	Student of theatre arts
	Professional
	Researcher
	General public

What You Will Need

Duration and schedule

This learning activity involves solving several cases or small practical projects. Each case addresses a type of scenic movement or a combination of them.

Each part of the activity has a duration of 4.5 hours in the lecture room.

Estimated student’s preparation time at home: 3 hours.

The teacher’s preparation time depends on the type of lecture room (preferably a small theatre) and the technical resources available.

Each project follows the same structure:

Preparation - usually over one week (students’ homework 3 hours):

1.  Delivery of the brief to the students with enough anticipation so they can work on how to solve it.
2.  Students present the solution and proposed mechanism to the teacher for review and approval.
3.  Students deliver a project plan and list of the required technical equipment.

Project (one day - 4.5 hours)

1.  Preparation: Setup review, task distribution and equipment gathering
2.  Setup: Setup and adjustment of the design mechanism
3.  Rehearsal: Rehearse the movement and adjustments
4.  Play: Execution of the movement according to the script
5.  Discussion: Analysis of the weaknesses and strength of the proposal. Proposals for improvements.

Room or type of space

A small theatre or workshop with some type of grid or flyloft (for vertical suspended movements) and scenic floor that allows fixing and screwing.

Equipment

Historic types of stage machinery and technical equipment, according to the cases to be solved. This could include:

• Counterweight bars
• Components for setting up counterweight systems
• Pulleys
• Ropes
• Rail systems
• Stage wagons
• Gearbox drum
• Scenographic elements (flats, suspended objects, parts of a set, etc.)

Required tools: hammer, screwdriver, drill, saw, hex keys, and so on, according to the equipment to be used.

Materials (consumables)

Expendable materials to perform the setup: gaffer tape, screws, cables, wood sleepers/boards, etc.

Process

Preparation

Prepare a safety briefing and risk assessments, following the safety standards and regulations in your locality. This workshop involves lifting weights, rigging overhead, and working at height. Make sure everyone involves knows how to follow safe working practices and the risk assessment.

Prepare briefs for the different cases that students have to solve.

Each case must describe a scenic movement of elements (not the used mechanism) related to a timeline or music fragment indicating the moment of execution and its duration. The description of the movement can be complemented by a stage plot or sketch. If the element to move has some specifications that need to be taken into account (size, weight, anchor points, etc) include this in the brief.

Example of a case description:

After the first 4 musical measures and when the sound of the wind comes in, a cloud must appear from the left-hand side of stage and travel to the right-hand side while the wind keeps blowing (8 musical measures) and finally disappears.

The first cases should describe simple movements that need to be solved by using simple mechanisms. The resolution of each case should imply the use of a different type of mechanism (counterweight, gearbox drum, hoist, rails, etc).

The final cases should describe complex movements that combine several mechanisms and techniques (stage wagon + counterweight vertical movement, diagonal movement with rail and counterweight, flight of person, etc).

Also, prepare the scenographic elements to be moved. Simple elements are best (curtains, flats, suspended objects, parts of a set, etc.).

The learning activity

The activity is divided into three parts: preparation, execution and evaluation.

Preparation:

1. Give the safety briefing.
2. Give the brief to the students.
3. Students analyse the brief and develop a proposed mechanism to provide the required movement.
4. The teacher analyses the proposal and approves the proposed mechanism, or suggests some modifications If necessary.
5. Students create a list of required equipment, tools and resources and return it in time for the items to be prepared
6. Students create a plan for the day of the project.

Execution:

1. Review the proposed plan by all the participants (10 min)
2. Analyse any safety issues and put in place control measures
3. Distribute tasks in the group
4. Check the requested materials, equipment and tools
5. Set up the mechanism
6. First performance test
7. Make modifications, adjustments and fine-tune
8. Rehearse according to the artistic requirement
9. Perform (with audience if possible)
10.  Disassembly

Evaluation:

1. Identify the strengths of the mechanism
2. Identify the weaknesses of the mechanism
3. Evaluate the mechanism’s suitability to satisfy the artistic requirement
4. Propose improvements
5. Evaluate the process, and the overall success of the project. What has been learnt?

Assessment and feedback

Give feedback to students during the final discussion of each case and at the end of the whole activity if several cases are studied.

You can use an assessment chart to assess different aspects of learning. Each assessed aspect has indicators to determine its accomplishment. Some of the items are for assessing each student individually and some are for assessing the whole group. Teamwork and leadership are key features of stage technician skills.

Our Experience

Tips

If you use music, always use the same fragment of music for all the cases so students get used to it and become more skilful during the operation.

Deliver the brief to students with enough time to check their proposed mechanism and suggest modifications.

Allow a certain amount of error in the students’ proposals so when implementing the mechanism dysfunctions can be solved and some amount of tuning can be done. Solving dysfunctions on sight and system tuning are valuable skills.

Make all the necessary equipment, materials and tools available at the start to avoid loss of time. Give some room for improvisation (extra tools, equipment and materials).

For each case, designate one student as team leader to organize the group and distribute tasks during the execution.

For the final execution of the movement (after rehearsal), get other teachers or students to attend if possible, so the situation is more realistic and students put in more effort to perform a precise execution.

Time control is important when implementing the mechanism. The implementation of the mechanism should always be achieved and the movement should always be executed even if it doesn’t work as expected. Students benefit from analysing errors and proposing improvements for a hypothetical second setup.

Safety Notice

This workshop involves lifting weights, rigging overhead, and working at height. Make sure you follow safe working practices, and if in any doubt, consult a competent theatre technician. Always undertake a risk assessment, following the safety standards and regulations in your locality.

Additional information and resources

• 

  Wing flats on floor tracks and clouds on overhead track

• 

  Detail of wing flats on floor tracks

• 

  Clouds rigged on a track

• 

  One-person swing ("bosun's cradle")

• 

  One-person swing ("bosun's cradle")

Credits

This learning method was made by:	Aleix Soler, Jordi Planas, Jordi Massó
Institution:	ESTAE – Institut del Teatre