# data[].attributes.body
I did a lot of research into the era of Gatsby and research into the costs of buying the costumes for the men this research will help me create plans on my designs and when I begin buying/hiring the costumes these are super helpful and it's the beginning of the plans for the production, although making these research and plans is a really good starting point it's important to not rely too heavily on the research as not everything is realistic to buy.

I first did research into the fashion of the era into both men and women, I found a lot of sources that went into great detail into the new fabrics they were using and the particular fashion trends that they followed, I learnt a great deal of interesting fashion history from this research and it definitely helped me have an idea of the sort of costumes i'll want to seek out for my own cast I also found out there's a lot of fashion pieces that I probably won't be able to get due to the amount of accessories people liked to wear in the 1920s, this did make a lot of my initial design ideas go out the window.

After I researched into places I could buy the costumes and various accessories, I did this to get it out of the way essentially, I could use this as evidence as to why we should hire also I knew it would be too expensive to buy suits but I wanted to see where I could buy some of the items in case I wanted to later on or needed to if the hire places didn't have something in particular that I needed, I could of just said that we should hire costumes but there was a strong possibility that I would be told to first explore other options and then I wouldn't have a place to turn to if I did need to buy anything extra later on.

This has been successful because I was able to create designs from the research I produced that are accurate to the time era and show these designs with approval from the director and I was also able to back myself up with evidence on why we should hire as well as having a detail guide in case I do need to go back and buy something from online.

# data[].attributes.body
There's a lot of preparation that needs to take place before the production, these preparations are important for the production and the process, things like: fitting room, rules and signs, risk assessment, measurement sheets, rail tags and emergency sewing kits are all preparations that need to be done before the production.

Some of the first things that we did before the production was creating the measurement sheets and rail labels, we printed off the amount of sheets needed to measure all the actors and wrote down all their names and characters on these sheets as well as this we made the rail labels that also had the actors name and characters on them, I think we did these first because they were similar in the fact it was just writing the names of the actors and the characters that they play.

The next preparations we did was getting the fitting room ready, i've placed labels on the chairs with individual item boxes for the actors to place their personal belongings in a safe place and it also makes it neater in the room, we will bring the costume rail in closer to the production date as well as getting the private dressing area ready along with these we have made signs with our own rules we want the actors to listen to for example no drinks that don't have a screw top lid.

I have done a risk assessment for general risks with costumes and the production they're on, because nothing is really special or includes any special dangers with the costumes the risk assessment is basic like usual but i've got more into depth with it.

I've attended lots of meetings and created detail notes just to ensure i'm always in the loop I always know what has been said and i'm also able to ask my own questions and double check information i've been told by other people or things that I need to know for my own preparations and getting costumes ready, for example I double checked that actors could bring their own shoes and from this we created a check list so actors can access it and know what we want them to bring.

From experience preparations like this are something i'm used to and i'm actually using past learning experiences in this production, the last FMP I was on we didn't have labelled chairs or boxes until the end and it's something i'm going to remember to bring into this because it was super helpful last time, although it does take more time to do and the aftermath is more to clean up it's still worth the effort and it is appreciated by others in the long run.

These preparations have been successful so far and I feel that we're definitely on track as a team, doing these preparations now means we aren't rushing when it gets too close to the production and we know that it's done and we don't have to worry about it later on.

# data[].attributes.body
Planning the budget is an important role to do in the production, having a plan will tell you exactly what costs are being spent on what and where they're being spent, it helps me understand if i'm going over or under budget which helps me make a contigency plan.

I created 3 budget plans during the process of planning the production, each one was really helpful and although the first 2 had to be remade eventually I was left with my final cost sheet which was better and cleaner than the first 2, essentially the first 2 were just drafts that helped me make my final so they weren't made for nothing.

The first sheet was made in padlet, I was looking at what the costs would be if I bought costumes from high street stores and online shops, I added links and pictures so I could always refer back to the websites if i needed to, I added up the total costs at the end and presented my first costs to Paul who was handling the budget. I was given really good advice from this, I already knew that it was way too expensive but i wanted feedback, Paul told me to have a look at costume hires like Leeds city playhouse which I did straight away.

This first cost sheet was successful because it showed me potential costume items I could get from online and the prices I was looking at, it also showed me how expensive online can be too and from the first sheet I actually got really good feedback which then eventually helped me create the last 2 budget plans. However, the first sheet felt too messy and was massively over budget so although it did help me on my other budget sheets it wasn't the best and I could of made it neater. For example I could of used a better layout on padlet or tried a different method of presenting my links and pictures for specific costume items, I chose padlet because i'm very familiar with the website and its super easy to use.

The second budget plan I made was a lot more straight to the point, I added the item and then how much that item would be and where I would get that costume from, I used google sheets for my second budget plan and it felt a lot more neater and straight to the point than padlet, google sheets allowed me to view my budget and know straight away what I was looking at, I was suggested to use this when I spoke to paul and i'm glad that i did.

If in future I ever need to make a budget or a list that looks neat i've learnt that google sheets is the way to go, this experience was definitely successful and I learnt a nice new way to make detailed documents. Google sheets allows me to use columns with headings to properly categorise all my information and I can also colour code the blocks so it's easier to process the information, for me this is really good because I have a very busy mind and find it easy to stray away from information that I need. However, Google sheets is very one way it can't really be used for anything other than categorising lists so if I wanted to write some information, add links or add pictures I don't believe I can which compared to padlet is its only drawback.

For the second budget plan on Google sheets I wish i made it look prettier, it's okay to look at but words are coming out their boxes and there's no blocks of colour to separate information which could be hard for other people to read easily, I also didn't have all the budget information because i had yet to get to the hiring company so there was a big gap left, I also added charts just because I got excited using Google sheets for the first time and wanted to add all the cool things I had found, I made it the way I did because I was still getting used to the website and wanted to experience everything the website had to offer.

Overall i think the second Google sheets was very successful because i learnt how to use a new website and what I wanted to improve for my last budget plan to make it as neat and easy to read as possible, I had never considered Google sheets before so it was something new to use which is always a good thing.

For my final budget plan I narrowed everything down on what we needed to buy and was finally told our budget, I made the chart very direct and straight to the point; costume, where and price, I used colour blocks to make it look nicer and stayed away from the cool charts and made sure the words fit into the boxes, I basically used everything I had learnt from my previous plans and added it to my final to create in my opinion the best looking chart.

This chart feels a lot more neater and straight to the point, its not in your face like my others and doesn't make it hard to read, it's a lot easier to gain the information you need, However I worry its a bit to simple, it doesn't look like there's a lot of effort that went into the chart if others didn't know the previous plans before it but I suppose there's only so much you can do with a chart to make it look interesting without it being obnoxious.

I think my final chart is really successful and achieves what I want it too which is just to be a simple straight-forward document that shows how much everything should cost and whether or not i'm over budget, which i am. Without this document it would be really stressful for me to keep track of how much im allowing to be spent.

# data[].attributes.body
During the production process i've created a lot of checklists for budget, cast measurements and costumes, these checklists are really helpful for me to keep tabs on everyone's progress as well as my own and it also helps me manage my stress level and ensure that i'm not missing or overlooking anything important, these lists are super helpful to be able to look back with and refer too as well as showing other people as evidence to move onto next steps. Having lots of checklists can get very messy and out of hand making sure that documents are labelled and organised is the best way around this.

I used Google spreadsheets for all my checklists because I find it really useful for this type of documentation and it's so easy to make and share, considering other options didn't seem to be as effective because they wouldn't have been as organised or easy to look at like spreadsheets would of been. These spreadsheets are communicated with everyone who needs the information, adding people to the document was a super easy way to give my team easy access into what I was doing. For example Alex and I shared a spreadsheet which ticked off everyone we had measured for the Gatsby cast, We could both look on this sheet and know who we had left to measure.

I made 2 budget checklists for Gatsby on google sheets, these checklists were important because it allowed me to keep in touch with how much we're spending and what i'm spending my budget on, later I can go back and check this list and cross off what i've managed to buy and what I still have left.

I made a big costume checklist for one half of the cast that I was managing, on this checklist I put every piece of costume I needed next to the actors character and name, this checklist was also colour coded, red=no, blue=N/A, orange= maybe and green=yes this made it incredibly easy to locate what items I needed to get or check on as well as knowing what I already had ready. We made another one of these lists with the same rules for all the actors the only difference with this list is that it's been made to show the actors what they need to bring in because we can't provide those items for them, this list has been given to the actors and director so they can always check and make sure they're bringing in their own costumes, for example we can't provide shoes for everyone.

From this experience i've learnt the importance of having checklists, they create a plan that helps me manage my own memory which helps with stress and pressure, they ensure that I don't forget or look over anything as well as being able to refer back to a spreadsheet to show others in meetings for example. These lists have been super helpful and successful for me they've really been a good indicator at how far i've gotten throughout the planning process. However keeping all my checklists neat and organised has been a slight challenge and I shouldn't completely rely on checklists for everything just because I should rely on my own memory or other forms so I don't become complacent.

# data[].attributes.body
Gatsby has been a lot more heavy for hiring than creating with Alex being the only one to take a dress from our storage and tailoring it to the actor wearing it, i've really enjoyed this process as i've never had a chance to hire a costume i've done a lot of creating and buying so having this ability and experience to hire and go to a real hiring playhouse has been really exciting and i've been able to learn the process of hiring along with it. Although this has come with a cost of having to rely heavily on budget and being able to hire out for the length of time needed and needing to rely solely on hiring has been stressful, it's still been really fun.

Beginning hiring was a really unsure process for me since it was the first time I had tried doing it, I began with a phone call, I found the Leeds playhouse costume hire number on their website, in this call they told me I had to make an email and ask for an appointment which I promptly did, it took around 3 days to get a response which they agreed for the 28th on a tuesday.

On that day we went with our checklists and measurement sheets and had a look around, we spent around 2 hours in the shop because we were having so much fun and there was so much to look at and see, we got a reservation rail to put our chosen costumes on as we couldn't buy them just yet.

We got a 30% student discount on the original price which brought the price down to 207 for a week of hire, for a second week they subtract a further percentage which came to 165.60 having a grand total of 472.60 this was four 8 suits and 5 dresses as well as this we needed to buy some brown dye and lab coats for the rest of the cast.

This was a really successful turn of events I believe this was the cheapest option available to us as making suits and dresses would of been really difficult and buying would of been way too expensive this has given us a new experience as well as some really amazing costumes we can use for our production.

# data[].attributes.body
At the beginning of the project we began deciding on what job roles would be given to each other, we wanted a system that would help handle the big cast and a system that would be easy and as least stressful as possible, as a team we decided to the split the cast up and designate each other on a part of the cast, the split isn't completely equal but we communicated and made sure everyone was okay with what they needed to handle as well as letting everyone know they can always ask for help if they felt it was too much work or even too little, so far this system has worked really well i've made sure to check in with everyone so I know myself that they are on target.

The cast split worked like this, Alex wanted to work with the ladies cast and I wanted to work on the male cast, our assistants, Ella and Harry, we assigned on to the ensemble. This three part split has made this process incredibly easy and way more simple, we knew it could of got complicated if we were all trying to work on the same things at once and the process would of been a lot more slower.

This experience has taught me the importance how job designation can affect the process and if done properly it can make the process of a production a lot more stress free and more simple, with this type of designation the only things I need to worry about is my own section of cast as well as checking up on the others to ensure that they're okay, that's a lot more simple than trying to get everyone to complete the same task, this way everyone has something to do and we've gotten the jobs done faster. However, it can be easy for others to get stuck in their own world and forget to check on each other, this can leave people struggling and unmotivated, I almost did this but i've made a conscience effort to ensure that I don't which has work out well.

We could of tackled each part of cast together but I had a lot of concerns that it might of got chaotic and other parts of the cast would become a lot more easier to overlook, I chose this was specifically so each part of the cast would always have someone concentrated on them as well as the process being a lot faster. This was super successful and as a team we've managed this cast split super well, communicated has been kept really strong and whenever someone needed help we were able to stop what we were doing to help them, for example Ella wanted me to double check the lab coats she had picked out, when I green lighted them she was then able to tell me the cost of buying them, the communicated and cast split I would 100% trust and do again.

# data[].attributes.body
https://padlet.com/hollie90naylor/g6opkzqpyaql4yn9

# data[].attributes.body
https://padlet.com/hollie90naylor/4bfgq99t0uvsxxy2

# data[].attributes.body
From the research I was able to create designs with details relevant to the time era I created around 4 designs because creating 8 designs of the same suit is pretty repetitive and not every design is going to be able to be unique, I also did this because i'm not creating the suits i'm hiring them out and whatever designs I create i can only plan to find something similar, creating 4 designs gets the idea across enough for the directors to understand the theme i'm going for.

I used my Ipad, apple pencil and my design platform Procreate to create the 4 designs, I created Gatsby's, Nick, Toms and Owl eyes designs because they stood out the most to me and i believed they could present my artistic vision and skills the best to the directors.

From this experience I learnt that making repetitive drawings can be done faster by creating a base drawing and then changing that base on the aspects of the characters to fit the design, I did this so I could stay motivated and it was a lot faster, if I had more time next time I would like to try and make designs for every character, although this was the best way around it it isn't the most creative way to present my designs and it can look lazy to someone who doesn't know the effort behind the art.

I believe the way that I went around it was successful, it saved me precious time whilst getting my creative idea across to the directors in a way that they liked, this way also minimised the potential to be let down by the hire costumes that might not of fit my design perfectly.