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Written Report
Pitch
Pitch Reflection and Evaluation
Introduction
The beginning of my pitch told the audience what my project is going to be about, however it wasn’t very punchy or attention grabbing as it was a boring looking slide with just a title and sentence. I could have used brighter colours and more pictures that relate to the theatre theme of my project.
Idea and summary/ Creative idea communication
I believe I got my idea across and explained what my magazine is going to be about, however it would have been better if I went into more detail about the contents of my magazine, for example different subsections, which musicals I will include and segments I will create.
I discussed my target audience the best that I could and made it clear who the magazine will be aimed at.
I didn’t show any examples of what I want my magazine to look like, this is because I am still undecided, however I could have narrowed it down and shown my options.
Laws and ethics
I gave examples of laws and codes of conduct that I need to follow that are relevant to my subject and discussed ethics that I believe are important to think of when writing my magazine as I will inevitably be giving some of my opinions on other peoples work.
Research and data
Before creating my pitch I hadn’t undertaken any primary research so I was unable to include any charts or statistics, however I gave a clear idea of what research I plan to do to ensure I am well informed when writing parts of my magazine.
Research
Primary Research questions
1- Are you a fan of musicals?This will show which of my audience will actually be interested in my magazine
2- Which of the following musicals have you heard of, and if so- are you a fan of?I will list musicals that will be featured in my magazine, such as phantom of the opera, les miserables, mamma mia, hamilton, love never dies, sound of music, anastasia, funny girl, the secret garden etcThis question will show which musicals are more popular therefore helping me decide which I should talk more about (the main one will be phantom)
3- How often do you go to the theatre?Rarely 1-5 times a year5-10 times a year10+ times a year
4- There is a lot of controversy about adapting musicals from stage to screen, how do you feel about it? Do you have any examples of times you thought it was well done or not so well done?
5- Have you ever been involved in a theatre production? If so what did you do, for example, acting, behind the scenes production, director etc
Talking about the book The story is derived from a novel published in 1906 by a French author- Gaston Leroux. Leroux got his idea from what he believes is a true story about a man who lived under The Palais Garnier in Paris, France. I have begun reading the book and have noticed many differences in the story compared to the musical production. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the musical, he took the original story and made some changes and of course had to cut out details otherwise the musical would be very long! It is taking me a little longer to read it as it was written in 1906 and uses older English that I'm not completely familiar with, only being at the beginning of the book means i am unable to accurately compare the two.
This is a recent review of the west end production of Phantom Of The Opera, performed at His Majesty's Theatre. I enjoyed reading this as I feel it went into detail about a wide variety of aspects of the show, such as the cast, performance, set and costumes.
This review is of Les Miserables' west end production back in 2019. It is quite short compared to the almost three hour run time of the show, so they clearly didn't go into full detail of every little part but they have given an overall opinion. I think this is good for someone who is considering going but doesn't know much and wants a brief description of the storyline and gives an idea of if it's worth paying the expensive ticket prices.
This review isn't a theatre review but it's about a concert done by a theatre performer performing songs from different musical shows. I like this as it is divided up into different parts of the show which makes it easier to read and understand. I find that when it is a long chunk of writing it gets a bit overwhelming and puts me off reading it, whereas when its separated and under subheadings it makes it more appealing to me.
Stage VS Screen
Stage VS screen reviews are where they compare musicals or shows that have been converted into movies or vice versa, I am interested in reading and writing these as I like to see how they change them to adapt it to stage or screen. I also find it interesting when they add or exclude scenes or songs and seeing how it changes the story. A big part of when a musical is made into a movie is the casting, as there have been any times that they have cast big film industry names for popularity rather than focussing on musical theatre talent which is arguably the most important part, for example there has been a lot of controversy over Russell Crowe being cast as Javert in the 2012 Les Miserables film. Many people think that this was a bad decision, with Les Mis being widely known and loved for decades it has got to be hard finding one person to take the part of such an important character that has both theatre and film talent. Inevitably there will never be one person that everyone is happy with but there are many examples of actors being cast for money making reasons and their lack of musical theatre training gets glossed over. However there are many times when a big name has been cast and they have done brilliantly and have been well received by the majority of watchers.
It is really interesting seeing the changes that happen during the adaptation process, for example in musicals a lot of the time the costumes stay the same throughout the whole run, often for years at a time. An example of this is The Phantom Of The Opera, the costumes have been the same for the live production since the first performance in 1986. However for the movie they dressed the main character, Christine Daae, in very different outfits.
Sarah Brightman 1986
Lily Kerhoas
2023-current
Emmy Rossum
2004 film
This dress is the iconic one worn during the tile song when Christine goes to the Phantom's lair for the first time, they have kept this one very similar, it is just missing the Hannibal corset underneath. I don't believe it would be well received if it was changed as it is part of the 'brand' of the musical.
Title Song Dress
This dress is worn during Chrsitine's first solo. The dress worn in the film has a completely different aesthetic and doesn't follow the storyline. However I think they took advantage of not having to do a quick change on stage and wanted a more 'unforgettable' dress.
Hannibal/Think Of Me Dress
Once again the live production costume has stayed almost exactly the same whereas the film took it in a wildly different direction to a point where it is completely unrecognisable. However even though it is a very different dress, this one does still follow the storyline and makes sense that she'd wear it.
Don Juan/Point Of No Return dress
This outfit hasn't been changed as much as the last two. Christine is still wearing the cloak but both the cloak and dress are different colours but it still gives off the same vibe and fits in the scene as she is outside in the cold.
Rooftop Scene/Wishing Dress
This is a example of a stage VS screen review of phantom of the opera, I found this very interesting reading all about all the differences that I hadn't picked up on or had forgotten about as it's been a while since saw the movie.
These are two stage VS screen reviews of Les Misérables which I found more interesting as there has been so much controversy surrounding the film and it's casting. I enjoy reading these and comparing mine and others thoughts as it's been such a controversial topic amongst theatre fans since the film's release in 2012.
One thing I have taken from this is (and from attempting it myself) that it isn't easy to properly compare the two as there is so many differences in the creation of each one, despite that there is still a large number of things that can be fairly compared because in the end it is still the same musical just and in my personal opinion, should be as close to the original production as it can be!
Problem Solving
I had problems with the speed of my internet and laptop at home, to solve this I came back into college to make it possible for me to continue building my Wix and finish my project. I spent my time at home writing my articles on google docs and then used my college time to transfer my work and research onto my Wix and enhance my project.
I also struggled remembering everything from seeing Phantom of The Opera live in the west end, this put a strain on me writing my articles. I was lucky enough to be able to go see it again which really helped my articles as I was able to focus on different parts of the show compared to the last time. For example one time I went I focused on the songs and characters and the next time I focussed on the sets and things going on in the background, such as the ensemble and catching glimpses of The Phantom as he snuck around the theatre.
Inspiration
These are reviews from a magazine called The Times, every week they have reviews of theatre, film, books and more. These will be really helpful for me to read as they are the type of reviews I would like to start writing and being able to read new ones each week will help me see the style these are written in and techniques used.
They are quite short as well and I struggle to sum it up into a smaller paragraph so this will show me how to not waffle on about the storyline and make it mainly review and not a description of the show/film.
Looking at these has helped to show me a good length for magazine articles, I struggle with making my articles quick and 'snappy' as I tend to waffle and over explain to get my point across. They also showed me that I like the look of having one picture with the review, that way you get a visual but it doesn't take the focus away from the review.
Time Out Website
The Time Out website lays out their reviews and articles with a picture, the category, a headline and then the first few lines which link to the full article. I like this as it looks neat and makes the website easy to navigate. I also like that you get an idea of what you will be reading before opening up a whole new webpage.
The reviews also have a 5 star rating system, which is another thing that gives you an idea of what type of review you will be reading, whether it will be positive, negative or both. Another reason I like the stars is because if you're looking at a variety of websites to get an idea of how well received a particular show is it means you don't have to read through the whole review to find out whether they thought it was good or not.
Like my project, this website has more than just reviews, it has articles about current shows and new information about upcoming shows.
The Guardian Website
The guardian website has a similar layout, I really like the simplicity of this and the how clear it is, I find that some websites are quite messy and hard to understand what things are and where to find them.
They are also separated by month which is helpful if you want to know what is currently on that you should go and see.
Unlike Time Out (above), the guardian isn't a theatre based website, therefore it doesn't have as much variety for me to take inspiration from, but it is a similar layout which I am a fan of.
Laws and Ethics
NUJ Codes of conduct that apply to my project:
2- Ensuring information is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair.
4- Differentiating between fact and opinion.
12- Avoiding plagiarism.
As I may be giving my opinion on other people’s work I want to keep my magazine fair and kind, and stick to writing fact rather than opinion
Throughout my project, I believe I have followed the laws and ethics that apply to my work.
For code of conduct 2- I have made sure that in my articles I have kept my information accurate and fair.
For code and conduct 4- Although they are opinion pieces, meaning that there isn't a lot that is based on fact, I have always double checked that what I am saying is true so as to not misinform anyone.
For code of conduct 12- All my work is my own and not copied from anywhere, anything referenced is credited or Harvard referenced.
Every picture that I have used I have stated where it was from and where I found it, and have credited myself when using my own pictures.
Idea Dev
Mind maps for articles.
My favourite theatres.
Film VS Theatre
Phantom of The Opera
My favourite actors/actresses
Creating the Final Piece
These are examples of the first reviews I did in unit 5, I believe these show the difference in my work as I have researched techniques and writing styles. This shows how my writing has improved since earlier in the year.
These are the drafts of my articles that I wrote before having them read through and checked for any mistakes and feedback on how I could improve.
Reading these in comparison to my first reviews I believe that I have taken information from the other reviews that I have read and analysed.
These are after I sent them to Linzi and she made some edits to improve them, this shows me how I can make my work better. I now know that I need to get into a habit of reading through my work multiple times and double check that all my grammar is correct and that I have spelt everything correctly.
Back when I was in secondary school I struggled a lot with writing and was more of a maths person than english and creative writing, then moving up to college I was still avoiding work that included a lot of writing and tended to steer in an opposite direction. However, over the two years of college I realised that a good way of turning my interests (theatre) into a career would be writing reviews and articles. To accomplish this I worked with my teachers to discover techniques that could be used to improve my writing. My main issue was getting started on long pieces of writing, I have also noticed this with other aspects of my life, I need to break things down into smaller steps, so I did this with my writing. My teacher suggested mind mapping out my reviews and articles before getting started with writing it, this worked really well as I was able to differentiate between different elements of the review and turn each into a subheading that I was able to write bullet points underneath and then gradually turn into full paragraphs.
My 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' review was quite difficult for me. I saw the show at the end of November and began writing it soon after, but I didn't get very far as starting on a blank slate wasn't working at all. I ended up procrastinating it and putting it off until months later when I finally revisited it, this is when I started to break it down and do smaller sections at a time. This made it so much easier for me to then write a detailed review.
When beginning my FMP I already had these techniques in place which was really useful for me as I was able to decide what articles to have on my website, then research them and begin breaking them down and write them.
For my final review and articles I put these strategies into use and I believe it shows in my work that my process has improved, therefore causing my writing to improve and come across more thoroughly researched and less scattered as my first reviews as it now has more structure.
The Final Piece
Click here to see my final project!
The process of creating my website-
To create my website I first had to begin by making a list of the different articles and reviews I wanted to write and include, I chose these by breaking apart Phantom of The Opera into different elements, these being things such as - costume, set design, the actors etc.
I then started researching writing techniques and reading a variety of theatre reviews to get an idea of which style of writing and structured I preferred and planned how I was going to write mine.
After this I began my more information based research, a big part of my research was going to see the show in person. I had already seen it once but I was able to go another few times which I am very grateful for as it was a massive help to my article writing, particularly my review as I was able to focus on different parts of the show during each time I watched. I also watched the recorded version of the 25th Anniversary on Amazon Prime which was great because unlike the live production I am able to pause, rewind and fast forward to really be able to understand little bits that I may have otherwise missed.
A lot of my secondary research for articles was done whilst planning and actually writing them, I do regret not getting it done further in advance as it added more stress when doing it last minute. On the other hand it also worked for me as the information, for example history of theatres, was fresh on my mind whilst writing which made the words flow slightly easier.
My next step was to start writing my articles. I started this by making mind maps for each one, I separated the subject into smaller topics that make up the whole things, under these subheadings I made bullet points. These bullet points contained the information that I wanted to convey in each paragraph. I then opened up Google Docs and started turning the bullet points into full paragraphs and then eventually all the paragraphs were done, I linked them all and the article was finished.
I did this with all of them and then began working on my website. I drew out a diagram of how I wanted my finished website to look which helped me by giving me a good visual in my head. This helped me find pictures for each article as I knew how it was going to look and where each picture would go and if it would go with that particular article.
When creating my website I had originally planned on using repeaters to lay out my articles, however when it came round to doing it it made more sense to put them in manually. This is because with the way I planned my diagram it would have been confusing trying to make it look like what I planned. I had some issues with lining up and editing the photos, as I had taken around half of them myself and used half from other places it made it hard making them all the same size but I got there in the end after spending time cropping and resizing them.
Although I put them in manually I believe it still looks rather neat and tidy and I am happy with the final look.
FMP Evaluation
Feedback & smart targets
Online progress review with LS 25th April
