Pre Production Process
My role for the escape room was a set constructor, A set constructor interrelates with a set designer to take their design and use their skills to work with other set constructors to craft the design and make the idea into reality. For the escape room, I helped the designer build the golden frame for the set we crafted and painted it too, I also helped to put up the Frame in the get in for the escape room. The Set constructor/painter is a crucial role in a crew as they are the essentially the workhorses of a project, without them the project wont be made. So I played a very crucial role in the team interrelating with the set desginer, production managers and props management/stage management.
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The skills a Set constructor needs are:
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Building technique knowledge (such as crafting hinges with wood)
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Good communication skills
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Good listening skills
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Good time management skills
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Must be efficient and precise
Job Role
Recce and Pre production process
First and for most, we had to do what's called a recce at the location of the escape room (which was the old rep theatre). So the whole crew came to measure each of the rooms we were using. We did this because it allowed us to get accurate measurements of the rooms we were using so we could understand how much space we had to work with. It also allowed us to gain inspiration and create ideas of what we could change to make the rep have the 1920s vibe we were aiming for.
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I inspected the entrance of the theatre that being the bar and the staircase leading up to the actual auditorium. I measured the size of the entrance bar and the stair case leading up. I also took the measurements of the poster frames in case we wanted to replace some of the posters on the staircase.
After taking the measurements of the areas I was assigned to, I went to assist others in measuring the different rooms we would be using, while also discussing with the production managers and set designer a few ideas I came up with to make the building look more 1920's style, for example I suggested putting patterned fabric over the two chairs at the top of the staircase as it made them look old fashioned and fancy, suiting the theme of a 1920's theatre
Before the production began, we needed to advertise it and the production management team decided to create a small teaser/trailer on the BOA Stage and Screen Instagram site; For this I painted the Bar seen in this photo.
For the Escape room itself, for one of the puzzles, a picture portrait of a family was needed, I volunteered to be the dead father in the portrait and had my make up done and brought in a suit and tie to fit the rich aesthetic .
Immersive theatre is different from ‘traditional’ theatre as it removes the stage and audience divide and instead immerses the audience within the performance​ itself making them one with the show and making them more immersed into the performance. An Escape room is similar as the audience does not simply watch a show, they walk around and actively interact with it. an example of a immersive theatre can be the company Punchdrunk.
Punchdrunk is a British theatre company, formed in 2000 by Felix Barrett. The company developed a form of immersive theatre in which the audience is free to choose what to watch and where to go.