Jambo_UK Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 Hi every1, Me and my friend have been given the chance to help run a house concert for my secondary school and we have control over the following areas of the night. Between us we have the roles of Stage Manager, Back-Stage manager and we also control the front of house team. basically the event is a hall, we do not have to worry about the light and sound seeing that it arrives on the day 7 hours before the show opens!!! But we do have to put the stage together. What do we have to do? So far we have been told that we design and make the backdrop and get it fitted up and also we design the stage layout and put it up. lus we control where most of the stuff goes before the night and also we control everything on the night from problems with the Front of House team to the back stage teams. What jobs other Jobs do we have to do, (bearing in mind this is a school production and there is a director for tis performance) Thanks for the help from Jambo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 OK, as I see it you want to break things down so you each know what you are meant to do. There are a couple of places to split things. The first one is stuff that happens before the event and then what happens during the event. During the event I suggest you split it front of house and on stage. So, designing the backdrop and rigging it is a 'before' thing, looking after the FOH teams is a 'during' thing. I think the FOH/stage split is very important. When the event is on there will be plenty to do and from a management point of view it's best that only one person is in charge of FOH and one person of the stage. The FOH person will need to spend their time out front. The last thing an FOH team member needs to have to do is go backstage to find someone in a crisis. Sit down together with a big bit of paper and write down every job that needs doing, that might need doing and that someone else, somewhere else might have once done. Split them into before and during, for the during split them FOH/stage. Draw up a timetable for 'before' and 'during' the during one is very important for smooth running on the night. Photocopy it and stick it everywhere. I'd suggest that you both recruit a deputy to help. Decide what they are going to do and let them know. You don't say how many bands are performing each night. If it's more than one you will need two (at least) of you on stage. Performers are a PITA, they need to be 'actively managed'. EDIT BTW I keep reading your Hi every1 in a Dr Nick Riviera voice in my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 Will you have a DSM? If not then one of you may be required to cue LX, Sound etc. You will need to set-up communications or cans between LX, Sound. SM, ASM's. If it is a house concert then I'm guessing there will be loads of different bands and performers that will each have there own equipment so you may need ASM's to get this on and off. FOH wise if it is in a hall with no predefined stage area you will be probably sectioning a bit off and putting some Metrodeck there or something. I this is the case you will probable want an FOH team to keep peeps standing in the audience from trying to be funny and climbing up on to the metrodeck or getting particularly roudy and starting trouble. I know this may sound a little ott for a school thing but the best rule to get ushers to follow is if anyone gets roudy, starts a fight in the area etc. eject them immediatly. Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo_UK Posted March 15, 2004 Author Share Posted March 15, 2004 Currently we do not have an under managment fro example a DSM or DFOH, but I think we will assign a couple especiality a person to a D-FOH manager just to cope with the front of house while me and my friend are pulling out our hair during the gig! Thanks for the advice so far, I would like to hear more tips as I have found these to have been a great help, I should be able to give you more details as we come closer to the date (29th April) Thanks again from Jambo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 best thing really is to work out what the person in real charge thinks YOU are responsible for. Stage managerBack stage manager Is this one job? Also, get shot of front of house responsibility as soon as you can. If you are back stage, you can't look after front of house too. Imagine what happens when things go a bit wrong - someone front of house says they gave a tenner, not a fiver. if you're in charge, they'll expect you to sort it. If this means you have to go FOH, who does your backstage stuff? My best advice is forget the titles. One of you look after running the acts who are on stage, while the other gets the next one ready, and looks after striking the one just finished. If you have comms kit and can talk to lights (ignor sound, the buggers never wear cans anyway) you can cue things. If you can't talk to anyone, then you don't really have a job and can just worry about the ons and offs. If it's a music event what is the director going to do? Just prepare for endless hassle and no thanks whatsoever, don't worry - that's quite normal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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