Exam Tip- Performance Support Students

If you have a student/s taking the technical option on an exam e.g. lighting/ sound/ costume etc, make sure they say in their 5 minute presentation about what they did using the word 'I', not 'we'. Get them to include their research in their portfolio and outline the decisions they made and why they made them. Get them to discuss the decisions that they made when in consultation with the group. What do they hope to achieve in the performance? Photographs/ sketches/ models of the process help. Go through the criteria carefully for each discipline and check their portfolio- e.g. if it says include a lighting grid and a cue sheet with at least 6 lighting states, make sure they have included these for their groups performance. 

Even if a group doesn't have a lighting or sound design support student working with them, leave time to consider lighting and SFX as it helps create the atmosphere for the audience but also helps the performers stay in role and believe it themselves. This isn't compulsory though and they should plan to finish polishing their piece above and before putting lighting and sound in as it is the performance they are getting marked for. If a group does have a technical design student working with them then it is essential that plenty of time is scheduled in for the rigging/ focusing/ plotting/ tech rehearsals for all of the students involved with that piece.

If using costume and props, make sure the day of the performance isn't the first time you have ever used them. Things will go wrong!