Dress Rehersal for the Emperors New Clothes, 10/11

Thursday, 10/11 (2 hours): The dress rehersal for Dr. Gilberts "Emperors New Clothes" was really cool because I was able to see both the precess of preparing for a muscial production and the preparations for videotaping such a production. This was the first day that I actually got to (kind of) use one of the cameras (even though I'm not a certified access user yet) and I learned a lot about where the cameras should be placed, how to measure for cable needed, microphone needs and also the issue between backdrops and camera ligth levels. For example, the backdrop on the stage was lit well enough for the audience to see it, but not well enough for the camera to be able to pick up all of the details. Lighting was also an issue with the mirror that the emperor was holding, because it had a lot of sparkly "gems" on the back side- the side facing the audience- which is a nice effect except for the fact that all the light reflected from the sparkles would really mess with the camera pickup and display. We spent a few hours here getting things organized for the shoot on the 19th, and I think it's going to turn out very good, which will be nice to have some evidence that a) I'm learning things, and b) Dr. Gilbert is a witness to this as well. On a related note, the sound guy at the theater complimented my handshake- BIG BONUS! because self presentation was one of the topics that I had put in the objectives to work on, and here was the first criticism that Jan had given me, and it was turned into a compliment within a few months. Just thought I'd note that, because it seems like a pretty big improvement from where I was in the beginning of the semester.