ENT 4410 LOAD IN/OUT LAB

For this lab, we had to load in 2 4×8 flats and set them in a certain way on stage during the lab. Before we got to all of that, we had to come up with a materials list of what we needed in order to install the flats properly on stage. We worked on it for about 20 minutes or so as a group, and then we turned it in to Prof. McCullough to get the materials. While he was getting the equipment we needed, we went to get the flats out of the crew room. When we got to the crew room, we saw a bunch of different sized flats, so we went to find ones that look like 4×8 flats, then measured them to make sure that they were. Once we got that sorted out, we brought them over into the lab, and placed them on the wall. At that point, decided to put a measure out some space for the stage, but as Prof. McCullough pointed out, there really was no point for that in the beginning. Once we decided to not do that, we then just made a straight chalk line across like we did the last few weeks before this lab, and used the seam again to keep it straight. We then had to find the length of the chalk line we just made and find the mid point to find the stage length. Once we found that, we kind of hit a brick wall in terms of what to do. We were trying to find the first point of where to put the flat, but didn’t exactly know where to start. What we then decided to do was find use the plaster and center line as our guide and going up on the center line by however much we needed to go up, and then going left however much we needed to. We used 2 tape measurers to then meet the 2 numbers and then marked the spot with tape. We then repeated that process multiple times to find the other points so we would know where to put the flats. Once we were done with that, we finally put the flats where they should’ve went. With that, we did find that we were off by an inch or 2on one of the points, and we saw that it was only because we mixed up the placement of the tape. Once we fixed that, we had to screw the flat to the floor, but in our materials list, we didn’t mention power drill batteries in it or a Phillips head bit, so we had a power drill with no head and batteries. Once we got that fixed, we put 3 screws into the bottom of the flat, but it was wobbly because of the wind that was coming in, so we tried to compensate that with more screws before Prof. McCullough told us that more screws wouldn’t help. Once we figured that out, we then got the second flat and put it on the side of the flat like it was pictured on the drawing, and screwed it to the floor as well. Once we were done with that, we then put the clamps to attach the 2 flats together and we were finally done.

Front of the flats
back of the flats

Once we were done with the load in, Prof McCullough noted that we went faster than the other group, but were we still slow, and the main reason we were slow is because we didn’t plan out everything before we did it, and in doing so, we were all doing things step by step and wasting time on each step. We also didn’t get all the materials we needed because we didn’t plan the whole thing out, and we also got some unnecessary things like all the screws, which in real life would add more weight to a potentially heavy set, and waste space that could go towards an important piece of scenery. Once we were done with that, we striked the set.

The main thing that I learned from this was to plan ahead of everything. One way that I can do that is when I work on some video projects, I should think of the shots that I will need later on in post production during the pre production phase, and one way that I have already used this lesson is when I was going to get my second vaccination, I made sure to put everything I needed in my bag the day before I got my second shot so I wouldn’t forget something like my wallet again