Final Dress Rehearsal

I used this rehearsal to rehearse myself for the opening night (this Thursday). I wanted to make sure that the ambient light would be sufficient to take reasonable photographs of the players on stage as well as portraits in the body of the Hall.

I also decided to take some photographs that could be used as publicity shots for a poster, inside the theatre shots and programme, both cover and background information on the production type shots.

 The action of the play centres around a reunion that takes place in a pub. I took these shots of props as potential background shots for a programme or poster. The wine shot is the better - less cluttered, but would perhaps be better if the glass were slightly more to the left.

These two shots have a certain immediate visual appeal. The shot left juxtaposes the three legs - table, woman and chair and is visually intriguing enough to draw the eye to it. I don't think that text - even if overwritten on some of the "legs"would detract from the visual

Perhaps something like this.

Some more "action" shots that could be used to provide narrative in the programme. This kissing scene provides some key action in the play - kisses on a set always seem to. The shot on the left has more of the male character, but more movement - which wasn't intended, whereas the shot on the right has them "locked" but with less of the "kissee".

And here is the aftermath of the kiss. Capturing as many cast members as possible in a publicity shot is a good idea as space may be a problem. One of these has three members of the cast the other four; both have action, one suggests humour. Colour is important as the lip-stick provides some narrative and Dave's expression helps that process a lot.

 A different kind of context shot - more serious, two protagonists in serious conversation and an onlooker providing intrigue as to what they may be talking about.

Some technical shots. The shots above, all on stage with lights "up" seem ok. The shot below left is lights "down" with a "scene-changing" lighting effect. There is barely enough light to make this work f4.0, 1/8th sec at ISO 6400. Irrespective of lens length the shot will be difficult to cope with. I could open the lens up some more - the distance from camera to subject is far enough not to make that an issue, but the lack of light will be tricky and with an audience it is one that I probably won't try. Jean, in the middle of the Hall seems well enough lit to make an attempt on some audience members a possibility and Mike at the desk is caught quite well in the dark to make this shot a realistic possibility.