As an ASM, there are three different organisations (Small, Medium and Large). Starting from small scale companies, there may still be a large amount of travelling that might have to be done. The job roll is to sort out props and may need to be driving or access to public transport. You would have to be working varied hours and may have to be working evenings or weekends depending if they ask. The benefits of a small company is the fact you will learn the basics if you are wanting to move up to a medium or higher company. However, the down fall is you may have to wait to move up. Another benefit of a small company is the fact that they take on a lot of people so you are more likely to get a place. On the other hand, places could be taken fast so you would have to get in fast. The small company salary could be 15-20k a year. With a medium scale touring company, you will have to start touring so you’ll have to know how to access props and other items from the base. Also the salary for this type of company could be 18-23k a year. The benefits of being in the medium scale is the fact they’re working on bigger shows than a small company, however there is more work to be done in the same amount of time. Another benefit of this company is you will be making more money, however, you are more likely to be working in the evenings and weekends. With the large scale theatre you will find that this is more of an outdoor event as well as an indoor event. There are many advantages but many disadvantages of this type of company such as you can hold more people but however, people may notice that they can’t get a good view of what’s going on from far. Another advantage is the fact that there can be more stunts done outside, on the other hand, it will have to take more work than usual. With the large companies, the ASM will have to do a lot more work than the small and medium companies as they’re travel more. With this type of company, you will be working weekends and evening because you will be traveling. However, the salary could be 25-35K and can rise up to 50K depending how long you have been working there.
When it came to pre-production, we had to do a couple of things such as marking up the stage plan in the studio and sorting out the props table so the actors can practise with the dummy versions. Before we could go over anything, we would be given a copy of a script to skim read it and pick out props. During the time of sorting out the props, we had to do marking up of the studio so the actors and musicians know how much space they’ve got on the real stage. We would have a plan of the auditorium so we would use a triangular ruler to measure where we would need to chalk up and use the tape. We would have three coloured tapes which marks out the stairs, wings and arks. Finally, we would come up with a rough props list, having to confirm with the directors in the first meeting if they’re the props that are needed. When we was sure of the final prop lists, we found it would be easier working in two groups as there were quite a few props we had to sort out. When it came to production meetings, I would attend to all the meetings I was called for. My group wanted to ask questions privately as we wanted to show the props to get a better idea of how the directors want them to look. Half of the times I had to work independently when none of my group were in or busy doing something else. For example, I had to do some research to find out how to make the props or if that the prop had to be bought. Also I would go to rehearsals if I was needed, asking when I need to go and if there was a break, I would ask what time I would need to be back. There was problems with the bricks as expanding foam was not the best idea to make bricks. As someone found polystyrene and made them into a brick shape, it was mine and another ASM to paint the bricks yellow and gab brown paint with a sponge on them.
As there was enough people to handle props, I was managing the AV projector. The AV was connected to the white screen so I didn’t have a monitor in front of me. The easiest way I found out to run the video smoothly was to put it on full screen then move the cursor fades, unplugging the mouse when I see the cursor and menu bars fade away. As I was dealing with the AV, there were a couple of problems I came across where I had to use effect fast. For example, when the house was open, there was a Bluetooth problem where I had to immediately plug in the mouse then click off the pop up. When I am ready to press the space bar, I would listen out for my que to be ready then when I hear the word go, I would press the button. As I was upstage with sound, I had remained silent and only answered when hearing my call on the con. As soon as I am done with the AV projector, I would turn it off from the switch and unplug the power cable.
When it came to the idea of making props, we had to use a couple tools and materials that could cause a risk or hazard. For example, we used expanding foam from a can which can cause skin irritation. How we would avoid touching the foam is to use gloves and use the long tube that comes with the can. A tool that could cause a risk was a snap blade which we used to cut cardboard for the prop. How we would stop from cutting ourselves or damaging stuff would be to use a big piece of cardboard underneath the cardboard we would cut. As the roll of ASM, we may need to move props from room to room so if we are dealing with big heavy props, it would have to take two people to carry it and for someone to open the doors so they don’t trip up.
