BRINGING THEATRE INTO THE DIGITAL AGE
STUCK IN THE PAST
Shamefully I must admit that I’m somewhat of a dinosaur when it comes to technology. So, you can imagine my horror, when I was asked on placement to help create digital content to advertise Big Telly’s upcoming show Frankenstein’s Monster is Drunk and the Sheep Have all Jumped the Fence.
Attempting to hide my technological ineptness, I nervously said that I would give it my best shot, and thus began my journey into the digital age.
In order to successfully reflect on my experience, I will be using Boud’s model of reflection. Boud asserts that “The outcomes of reflection may include a new way of doing something, the clarification of an issue, the development of a skill or the resolution of a problem.” (P.34, Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D.) By consciously reflecting on my experiences of my work placement, I aim to allow myself to learn from my experience and use these teachings post-graduation when entering the workforce.
TEACHING AN OLD HORSE NEW TRICKS
“The best artists and arts organizations, even if they work in a discipline that is thousands of years old, stay on the leading edge of society’s ever-adapting technologies.”
(Carlson)
In order for theatre companies to stay alive in the current age, they must evolve with today’s technologies. And thus, the people working in the arts industry must be willing to learn how to use modern technology to benefit their art and with my role on placement with Big Telly this included me.
My mission was to create a promotional video advertising a ‘sneak peek’ of the performance. My first hurdle began with deciding what software to use, with my not-so-tech-savvy nature, I knew it was important to find an app that not only produced high quality results, but that was also simple to use. I exposed myself as an editing newbie and asked my colleagues at Big Telly what they would recommend. Although asking for help was a little embarrassing, it was definitely the right call as my colleague recommended IMovie for its simplicity. I was reminded how it’s important when working in a team to know when you need support, and to not be scared to ask for it.
Although I initially struggled with using the app, I found myself slowly growing more accustomed to it the longer I spent trying things.
Now having the tools to make the video, I faced my next challenge, picking the best creative direction.
Throughout my time watching the rehearsal process I took several videos of the actors, using these I selected ones that showcased particularly funny moments, and aesthetic pieces of movement. I then opted for slideshow-like transitions accompanied by elevator music and lightning sound effects at the start. Making these creative decisions was certainly a mental challenge and felt risky. Whilst I personally thought these decisions helped to showcase the shows quirkiness and humour, I was aware that there was every possibility that my supervisor would dislike the choices. Luckily, my risk paid off as she found the video’s humour to work for the promotional content.
However, she explained to me that the clips I had used were far too long, and that the video needed to be more “snappy”. Initially this was hard to hear, as I felt I had cut down the footage to effectively. But now reflecting on the feedback I understood what she meant.
“It is true that in a digital world, it becomes even more important to be able to communicate well with your audience, conveying the value of whatever you offer in a very brief window of time.”
(Carlson)
Viewers can quickly become disinterested online, and it is important to keep this in mind when creating promotional content. When advertising a show you want to keep a potential consumer engaged in your content, so you must keep things quick-paced and engaging. With this in mind I cut down the clips to a more effective length, which significantly improved the video and gave me the thumbs up from my supervisor.
RISKY BUISSNESS…
This run in with the digital world, challenged me a great deal, the concept of doing anything digitally was frightening, as I was well aware that things such as editing are far from my strong suits. However, in a creative industry you have to take risks and be willing to give anything a go. I feared being unable to create anything useful, yet by simply giving it a go I learned that I’m more capable with technology than I initially thought.
I also learnt not to take feedback too personally, whilst I was initially disappointed that my supervisor felt the clips were too long, when stepping back from the situation I understand that she was completely right.
A FULLY FLEDGED TECHNOPHILE!
Whilst this may have been my first voyage into creating content for the digital world, it certainly wasn’t my last. Throughout my time at Big Telly, I have been roped into countless tasks surrounding marketing, all made possible by the lessons I learned on this first task. Having learnt not to overestimate the trickiness of technology, and underestimate my own ability to use it, I have found myself seamlessly creating content without difficulty, even when using features that are new to me, such as boomerangs and timelapses. Even if I feel that I may struggle with a task, it’s important to take the risk and attempt it, after all even if I do fail, it’ll certainly be a learning experience.
THE NEXT STEP
Before my placement at Big Telly, I hadn’t thought much about the role that digital content and marketing plays in theatre. I know now though, that in order for a theatre company to strive in today’s environment they have to keep up with the times. Jobs in the arts can be highly competitive, and If I want to succeed in the industry, I will need to make sure I keep with the times myself.
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