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Week 5

The plague doctor's basket

Today I got sent labels to put on the jars that I put into word and printed but then they were too big, so I made them smaller then I printed it again. After it was printed, I cut them out and stuck them onto the jar with double sided sticky tape the labels had on them Crushed emeralds, four thieves vinegar, Herbal parte, and Rose water. Then I needed to make the plague doctor’s basket look fuller, so I grabbed some towels that I put inside it then I grabbed a scrap piece of black fabric which I put on top and folded it over the sides. Then I put the plague doctor’s cures back inside the basket. I thought that the covid modern medical supplies went into the basket too, but it was going to go in the medical cabinet, so I filled half the side of the basket with covid 19 cures and the over half with black death supplies. The covid side of the basket looked a bit empty so I got a syringe and a not sharp needle which I hot glued together and then I put it in the basket. Then I made another antiviral drug container by grabbing a gum container and peeling off the branded label to stick on the drug label that I cut out and stuck it with double sided sticky tape. Then the drug boxes kept on unfolding which was a cut out net stuck together with double sided sticky tape, so I hot glued all the folds of the boxes together. Then I went to the prop store to grab a cane for the plague doctor mannequin to hold and I was looking for an old wooden small cane which after I looked for a while, I found the perfect cane which I took back to design. Then I did some research on ECG machines and what they look like because we have a machine that looks a bit like an ECG machine, but the screen is too small and only shows blue and black on the screen. The screen had mainly the colours red, yellow, green and blue on the screen.

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Labelled jars--->

Too big

Towels in basket

Correct size

Cut out labels

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Half and half basket

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Hot glued needle

Hot glued drug boxes

Covid, cane and ECG machine research

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Drug container I made---->

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The cane I grabbed

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ECG machine research

My group's set 

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The meeting

In the morning we had a meeting in the lecture theatre which was talking about prevent which is about preventing people from being radicalized which means to support terrorism or hate on a certain race religion, are far right in politics, etc. If you think someone is being radicalized, then tell a staff member or the local police. The actors also told us what they were doing, which was making a Roahl Doahl themed piece that will be performed to me and the other techies. First, I put back some empty jars that we weren’t going to be used which went into the prop store. Then I got the chain of onions and I cut them of the rope but then I saw white patches where the paint had disappeared. Then someone mixed paints together to match the onion colour which was first too dark, so it was made lighter with yellow paint being added. I painted the white patches which was only on two of the onions. Then I got sent two more jar labels to stick on that said “Leeches” and “Frogs” on them which I resized on word and printed them off. Then I cut out the label and stuck them on but the Frogs label had some white on it from the previous label on it which I couldn’t get off so I got some brown card that I stuck the label in the middle and then I stuck the card onto the jar but the top and bottom stuck out and wouldn’t fold down which looked weird. We then remembered that we saw an already labelled jar of frogs in the prop store that we used instead. Then for the leeches jar I cut out a small square from black paper and I scrunched it up in a ball then I put it into the jar and I repeated this until the jar was filled up to just above the label. Then I needed to fill up the “Four thieves of vinegar” jar which we did by adding water and a drop of orange paint which was then shaken to spread the colour. Then I grabbed a fake leaves that fell off of one of the fake flowers which I cut up into small pieces and I dropped it into the jar to look like herbs. Then I grabbed a junior light front which I used t get the right sized amber 009 gel that I put on the table to be out into the light later. Then I added the covid suppplies into the medical cabinet and then I wet wiped the inside surface it but while doing that I realized that it looked a bit empty inside. I wasn’t sure what else to add in it. So, I researched general equipment used in hospitals and I made a collection of images which had tablets, oxygen mask, oxygen tank, rubber glove, mask and a scalpel. Then I decided to make tablets. First, I got a cardboard sheet which I drew out rectangles all the same size then I cut them out and wrapped them in tin foil. Then I used the hot glue gun to add two dots going upwards to look like tablets and then I painted the dots white, but I sometimes painted the foil by accident. Then I cut som of the cardboard off of the rectangle because the hot glue tablets weren't in the middle. Then I watched the two actor’s pieces in the auditorium. Both of them at one point in the show went dark and used torches on their phone which was an effective lighting technique. There was a bit of a story, but I got confused on them, but I found the second piece more confusing. The first piece was in a haunted house I think, and a girl was expecting a phone call from someone, and she got the call but then she got told that no one called her, and she imagined it. There was screaming, evil laughing and some of the classic haunted house things. Also, one person wore a mask and shined a light on his mask in the dark so only the face could be seen which the actors feared, but I couldn’t see the details on the mask. The second piece started with the phrase “Can you feel it?” which was repeated in whispers then a loud version was said that confused me then they were in a train station where two people had a fight then there were people having phone conversations on a train then there was something else that happened that I couldn’t remember and then at the end a person died on the train tracks. I think the second piece used the phone torches better, but I found the first piece less confusing. Overall, I like the second piece better because the first piece was too simple of an idea. Then I used a wet wipe on the medical cabinet again to get rid of the dirt inside but some of the rust wouldn't go away. Then I had the idea to have a drug medication chart stuck to the inside lid so I looked for images online but I couldn't find one related to covid .

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Onion chain

Onions cut off chain

Onions painted too dark

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Frog jar with previous label on

Leeches jar

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Four thieves vinegar jar

Onions and jars

Gel, medical cabinet and tablets

Equipment ideas research

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Drawn out rectangles

Cut out rectangles

Finished tablets

Gel in junior light frame

The medical cabinet

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<---- In the auditorium before the pieces started

Watching the new actors

Wet wipes and an idea

The medical cabinet

Today I went into the prop store to find more item to go into the medical cabinet and I looked in the medical stuff box which I grabbed needles, small bandages, medium bandages, big pack of bandages and a face shield which I put into an empty box I found in the prop store to carry easier. Then I went into design where I grabbed a stethoscope and the tablets I made. Then I laid them all out in the medical cabinet which made it look a lot fuller. Then I looked online for a covid drug chart which I couldn’t find but I found an empty drug chart that could written on with a pen after printed out look like a doctor wrote on it. Then I found a social distancing poster and a covid safety poster, so I put the images on word, and I struggled a bit to make the image fill the page, so I printed them off. When they were printed, I realized that they were too small, so I tried again and realized that the picture had white on it, so I cropped the image on word then I printed it off a bigger size. Then I found a hand washing safety poster that I printed off and I grabbed a clipboard from the prop store which I put the drug chart in, and I put it on the inside of the medical cabinet lid. Then I went into the auditorium where I watch the dancers show us what they had been learning and they were split into two groups, so I saw two dance pieces. The first dance was themed on love and compassion and the second dance theme was the Ukraine war. Both of them had a moment where the dance moves were fast and powerful, but I liked the second one more because the theme was more specific than love and compassion. After I finished watching the dancers, I got shown how to use the laminator which I used on the three covid safety posters. First, I grabbed the sheet that had one end sealed and the other side opened that I put the paper into also I made sure to leave a bit of room for the sheet to seal shut. Then the laminator was plugged in but it needed to warm up and a green light turned on when it was ready to use then I put the paper in the sheet into the printer where I supported it without pushing or pulling it.

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Covid chart and posters

Box of items I grabbed from the prop store

<---- Face shield from prop store

Medical cabinet interior

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<----Drug chart on clipboard on lid inside

Covid posters printed

Watching the new dancers

Using a laminator

The laminator

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The laminated posters

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My group's set

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Hand gel and group talk

In the morning I got given a bottle of hand gel that I put into the medical cabinet and then I talked with my group on what was left to do. We had to wait until a person in our group finished painted and wait for it to dry until we could move furniture in like the hospital bed. I got set the task to finish sewing the buttons onto the plague doctor’s robe. I then went into costume where I grabbed black thread, a needle and fabric scissors also I needed to sew it using the parallel technique which I learned a while ago this term. I knew where to sew the buttons because there were chalk marks that was where the top of the button was. So, I started to sew the first button, but I dropped it when it wasn’t attached but the needle was through the side of the robe, and I couldn’t get it back through the hole, so I cut the thread then I started again. The first button I sewed on successfully and then I started to sew on the second button. When I was halfway through sewing the second button I accidently went around back to the front and sewed downwards instead of going upward through a hole so I made a knot, but I untied the knot with the needle, and I continued to sew but it made the sewing look a bit messy which couldn’t be seen from far away. Then I did some coursework while I waited for my tutorial where I got feedback on my website, and I found out that I would be in the stage management department for the Christmas show which is good because I want to specialize in stage management. After my tutorial I went back to my group where we didn’t have much to do because we were moving the bed from the big prop store to our set next week, but our walls and floor paint had dried so We could move our other bits onto the set. Then I grabbed some blue tack and I put my laminated covid safety posters onto the wall which at first were all on one wall in a line the I moved one to be above the bed and a coat hook was drilled into the wall for the doctor’s coat in between the two posters on the same wall. Then the plague doctor was moved to behind the doorway but the corner looked too crowded with the ECG machine there so we might move it. The plague doctor’s basket of cures is on the floor and the cane is leaning against the wall, but we might stuff a glove and attach it to him with the cane connected to the glove. Then I moved the plague doctor’s boots back to the shoe store because they couldn’t be seen.

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sewing buttons 

<----Hand gel in medical cabinet

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<----Plague doctor

First sewed button

Second sewed button

My tutorial

Our set coming together

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<----Poster's positions before moved

My group's set

Corner of the set

Weekly evaluation 5

This week I have labeled jars, filled up the plague doctor’s basket, made a syringe, hot glued drug boxes together, made a drug container, got cane from prop store, did research on ECG machine, learnt about prevent, cut and painted onions, filled up four thieves of vinegar jar, put 009 gel in junior light frame, filled up medical cabinet, made tablets, watched actors perform, put more items in medical cabinet, printed covid chart and posters, watched dancers, laminated posters, sewed buttons onto robe and we moved things into our set. I solved the problem of not having two buttons on the plague doctor’s robe which I solved by sewing on the buttons using the parallel technique. I did mess up a couple of times, but I managed to recover and finish sewing the buttons on. I got taught how to do this week 4 which is useful in show if a costume breaks and I need to know how to fix it quickly. I have improved on my knowledge on prevent and what to do if you think or notice is being radicalized. Which means being aggressive against a race, political side or problem and is mainly linked with terrorism. If I notice someone being radicalized, you should tell a staff member or contact the local police. Even though I learned this last year it was good to get reminded of this. I can improve on making the set better which I can do by stuffing a glove to attach to the plague doctor so that he has a hand to hold the cane in. This will improve my prop making skills even more. I can also improve the set by making the upper right corner less crowded because the ECG machine ruins the effect of the plague doctor. I have researched images of a covid drug chart and covid safety posters. First, I couldn’t find a covid drug chart but after a while of looking I found an empty chart that we could fill in with pen. I found three covid posters which I laminated, and I blue tacked onto my set’s wall. I also researched hospital equipment when the medical cabinet looked empty, but I didn’t have any ideas on what to add and from the research I got the idea to make tablets which I did. Also, I researched what ECG machines looked like to see if I could come up with any ideas to turn the machine, we had to look like an ECG machine.

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