Has Anyone Worked On These Shows

[simoncarter]

Hi their, I am new to this forum, I am a degree student and I have to do a specialist investigation as part of my work, I have choosen theatrical illusions in musical theatre and have choosen 3 shows, being

 

* The Phantom of the Opera

* The Lion King

* Wicked The Musical

 

I have tried to find information about the illusions on this forum but no luck and I cant really find anything usefull on the net, but thats me, so if anyone has worked on these shows and would like to tell me how certain things were done, I'm not to bothered which ones they are please either post them on here or PM me

 

Thanks

Simon

[LampTramp]

We all should get paid to do these kids home work/degree courses for them!!!!!

Have a look at the show web sites...then the credits which list the creative team there you will find the names of the people that designed the effects etc..

I had a look and found out loads of info, I am sure you can do the same eh???

Best of Luck :)

[mac.calder]

You will find that a lot of the big name shows involve a confidentiality clause in their contracts, pertaining specifically to special effects. If there is a specific effect you wish to achieve - or rather wish to know how it could be achieved, then maybe some blue-room'ers would be able to assist, however a straight "How were the SFXs achieved in showX" is hardly going to garner decent responses.

[Ynot]

You could also try searching the Blue Room for these shows...

 

I happen to know that in the annals there is a particular reference to one of the flying effects in Wicked, with a link to a web page...

I won't link to it as you'd probably learn more by searching...!

 

:) :) ;)

[paulears]

Moderation: It is interesting to note that two pleas for help were posted today for higher level study programmes. One has generated a lot of detailed responses, this one hasn't.

 

The OP, Simon, has simply asked some very generic questions - in the other, the OP set out what he was doing, what he thought and asking for corroboration and permission to use as a citation.

 

I think what makes people wary, is that you have chosen theatrical illusion as the focus, but have picked three quite well known shows that surely, you should already know about, if this is an area of interest. After all - why pick a subject you are 'empty' on, when one that you already have loads of info on would be so much better. Although not meant, I'm sure, the post does come accross as a do my work for me kind of plea.

 

Perhaps if you expand a little, tell us what you already know, and the detail you need, we can help - other than that, I doubt many positive comments will appear.

[T*ny]

I'm fairly certain that they didn't use real animals for "The Lion King". They probably would have had to make do with "actors".

 

A simple question for starters - have you actually seen any of the shows? That would be the sensible thing to do - and then come back with some specific questions.

 

By the way what sort of degree are we all going to get at the end of this?

[boatman]

Moderation: It is interesting to note that two pleas for help were posted today for higher level study programmes. One has generated a lot of detailed responses, this one hasn't.

 

The OP, Simon, has simply asked some very generic questions - in the other, the OP set out what he was doing, what he thought and asking for corroboration and permission to use as a citation.

...

 

I think it's also interesting to note that the one which received a great deal of positive response could correctly punctuate and capitalise his writing. The lack of this ability seems to lead to an assumption that the OP is lazy in everything not just their written English.

 

There's a lesson in that alone.

[dbuckley]

For the Lion King, start reading Julie Taymor's books. For Wicked, get thee to youtube, theres vids that show exactly how some stuff is done.

[simoncarter]

I think it's also interesting to note that the one which received a great deal of positive response could correctly punctuate and capitalise his writing. The lack of this ability seems to lead to an assumption that the OP is lazy in everything not just their written English.

 

There's a lesson in that alone.

 

Sorry, but I found this offesive, as far as I was aware, this was an informal forum so I didnt think perfect English was a rule, sorry I must I have been missleaded. Thanks for all your HELPFULL! info for the ones that gave it.

 

The main illusions I was looking at were in Phantom of the Opera.

• How did the Phantom disapear at the end of the show with his mask left on the chair.
  
• The projection of the Phantom pulling his cloak over the cast on the gauze,
  

These maybe obvious answers but not everything is as it seems.

 

Thanks

Simon

[mbthegreat]

This is the main problem with Blue Room, you are far more likely to get criticism of your grammar than any helpful advice, especially if you are either a student or a new member. To me, asking someone more experienced than yourself for help of advice is a perfectly resonable course of action, but some mebers of BR seem to take being asked questions as a personal insult.

 

It is saddening that any useful help is drowned out by the personal attacks, sarcasm and English Language commentary. How can one expect new talent in the industry to be nurtured when anybody asking for help is instantly shouted down. Most people in real life are more than happy to exlain something to you, at least at a basic level, but some mebers of BR won't give you the time of day.

 

For example when I asked the duty tech at my place of work on my first shift "Can you teach me to use the 520, I have never used one before", rather than respond "Go and read the manaul, and your grammar is awful, therefore you are lazy" he sat down with me for 20 minutes and taught me how to record chases, cues and submasters.

 

What happened to "If you don't have anything helpful to say, don't say anything".

[djw1981]

May I refer the two posters above me to http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=9126 and suggest they read paragraph 2 carefully

Write clearly and accurately.

It's important that we understand exactly what it is that you are asking. If you are capable of doing so, write in proper english, using no abbreviations, and use punctuation. If we have to spend time deciphering your post we might not have time to answer it.

(My emphasis.)

[Ken Coker]

"Grammar goes beyond formal rules of correctness. It is a means of representing patterns of experience...It enables human beings to build a mental picture of reality, to make sense of their experience of what goes on around them and inside them"

 

M.A.K. Halliday: "An Introduction to Functional Grammar", 1985; cited by G.Kress & T.v.Leeuwen "The Grammar of Visual Design", 1996, p2.

 

 

KC

[mark_s]

This is the main problem with Blue Room, you are far more likely to get criticism of your grammar than any helpful advice, especially if you are either a student or a new member.

 

I'm a student, and I've never received any real criticism. Maybe it's because I know when to ask someone else and when to not be lazy and search for the information myself, and because I have the ability to post something that can be read without spending half a day deciphering it. Why should people spend their time answering you when you can't be bothered to spend time making your posts remotely readable?

 

If anything, the one thing that annoys me about this forum is the amount of people who whine about the rules. If you don't like them, go somewhere else!

[boswell]

We (the Blue room) also get a large number of new posters at this time of year who ask what is obviously a coursework assignment question and want us to do it for them (or so it appears), and we never hear from them again. The OP appeared to me to be a direct cut/paste of the question from an assignment and therefore was treated accordingly (ie ignored). If I am wrong, I apologise.

[Tomo]

The main illusions I was looking at were in Phantom of the Opera.

While I don't know these particular illusions, one thing worth remembering is that as a rule, stage illusions are an extremely secretive field.

 

Some illusions for stage productions are commissioned from professional magicians, whose main livelihood comes from the trade secrets they have invented or purchased from other magicians.

And yes, it really does work like that.

 

Accordingly, many of the people who work on such shows have signed NDAs.

 

Finally, a workd of general advice that applies to 99% of the internet.

We post here for free.

All of us have work that needs to be done, be it in employment or for various courses of study.

 

There have been a great many threads here that are blatently "Do my thesis/project/homework for me"

We resent that, as it has the implication that our time is so much less valuable than theirs.

 

If you want a good answer, ask a good question.

A good starting point is to make the question specific - had you opened the thread with your last post rather than your first, you would have got a much more useful response.

 

mbthegreat - There was exactly one post mentioning writing style in this thread.

It was simply pointing out that clearer style results in more replies.

 

This is always true!

 

If you had asked that technician "Yo, DOOD!! Wassat strand thingy for? How'z it work?!!!!" he would probably have ignored you - or worse, written you off as a muppet.

Instead you asked a reasonable question, presumably at an appropriate time, so he was happy to help.