Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2011 - 75

to focus the students' attention to individual details. This allows them to expend effort learning how and why these moments are important, rather than first having to identify these
key details on their own.
For example, approximately ten seconds before the stage
manager will call a cue making use of an infrared monitor, a
note can appear on screen directing the students' attention
to it. This ensures that when the moment arises for the stage
manager to rely on that equipment, students in the class are
watching for it and can assess how it aided the calling of the
show. If left to discover the monitor on their own, students
might be distracted by the sudden blacking out of the stage
and notice it too late or not at all.
Render the edited footage and export as a selfcontained movie. The master editing screen now has the
three original imported files, plus the duplicate video and
text tracks. It is complete at this point and can be processed
and turned into a movie file. Your output choice should
be based on the intended method of playback. The Sony
software, as do most programs, accommodates exporting for
playback in Quicktime or Windows Media Player, and other
formats such as .avi or .mp4.

The Outcome
By utilizing this type of digital documentation, I have been able
to tap into four of Hede's factors: visual input, auditory input,
learner control, and cognitive engagement. The visual and auditory inputs are obvious-students are being presented material to both see and hear. Learner control is introduced through
students' ability to pause the action and process individual moments at their own pace and as many times they desire.
Cognitive engagement comes as a next step to the material presented here. After the first successful introduction of the
digital footage, viewing additional performances of the same
show can demonstrate the slight differences that occur from
night to night.
In addition to the primary performance footage, I captured the same moment in the show over several subsequent
performances. (In actuality this began out of my desire to have
options to choose from when editing, but upon viewing the
footage I discovered this secondary benefit and ran with it!)
Students see and hear the stage manager work from the same
script-but making the minute adjustments to the call necessary
for that performance. This provides the opportunity to evaluate the differences and discuss how and how quickly the stage
manager assessed the need for such changes.
At the conclusion of these class activities, the student stage
managers are then able to take this pretraining experience and
integrate it into experiential learning situations when they are
sitting in that same seat, calling cues for their own shows.
Much has been written about the need for preparation in
order to successfully integrate this type of material into the classroom. Known as the Pretraining Principle, this work suggests
that students learn better from interactive multimodal learning
environments when they receive pretraining that activates or

provides relevant prior knowledge (Mayer and Wetzell 2002).
Essentially, the theory calls for providing sufficient background
to make the new material easily understood, particularly if it
comes in a technical or multimedia format. The advantage is
lost if the technology inhibits the learning process.
But while pretraining would normally be satisfied with the
introduction of the basic terminology and technology prior to
using multimedia materials in the classroom, this sort of digital
documentation takes the principle a step farther. The media itself becomes expanded pretraining for the experiential learning
which will come with an actual production assignment and the
practical application of all skills from the classroom.

Implementation and Conclusions
Since first utilizing this new digital perspective in my classes, I
have observed calculable changes in the quantity and quality of
student learning. The rehearsal footage has become a key component of the section of my introductory class focusing on rehearsal hall dynamics. The short clip shows an exchange from
day of blocking. The director stops to ask the stage manager a
question about the set, processes her response, makes a decision about how to proceed, and gives that information to the
actors involved.
The class watches the entire exchange and the subsequent
actions of the stage manager to implement the decision. I then
lead a discussion with the students regarding which elements
would be important to relay to the designers and how best to

THE VIDEO IN ACTION

The finished Rent training video is available on the USITT
website at www.usitt.org/tdt/StageManagementTraning/.
The following time code markers identify locations of the
added instructional enhancements.
0:50 added text to draw focus to the conductor camera
2:50 pointing out upcoming visual cues
5:06 a counting guide-if you are calling from the
libretto you will still need to place the GO on a
specific beat, but need a different way to document
that if there is no lyric.
5:38 a simpler version of counting out a measure
6:31 another complex counting sequence
8:25 preparing to navigate a scene shift during a
blackout

2011

theatre design

& technology

http://www.usitt.org/tdt/StageManagementTraning/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2011