BS Could you describe some of the activities that you are involved in.
ER: I think the - the most visible things that - that I do as in when people come here the things that you can actually say "Well yeah I did this" and you can show it, are shows. So, the shows that I'm working on currently - are, Mars which is a planetarium show for the summer. Also "When Lightning Strikes" which is the show for It's Electric. So those two are the the current big projects the big shows. So that comes from the from the early stages of thinking what you want to do the show about - researching it developing it brainstorming it and - I'm still, for "When Lightning Strikes" I'm still in the development and coming up with ideas in the (flowed).
For Mars, that's - few steps ahead because planetarium shows - need a lot more input from lots of different people. And you have to start - putting putting the script down much further further in advance. For example the planetarium show usually runs with 10 minutes worth of video narration and slides and then the presenter takes over and shows a tour of the night sky - and talks about things that they can see. So for that, we need to have the script for the first 10 minutes section ready approximately 6 months in advance because that means that the script can be proof-read - then it can go to the guy who does our music and it can be narrated. Then it comes back. The videos are chosen the slides are chosen then it goes to be edited and the slides to be mounted and housed and all of that is time consuming. And although I'm involved obviously in the script writing, and in choosing the video and the slides, actually doing the editing and writing the music is not my job. So that has to go to other people.
And in that time I'm thinking about what I want the presenters to talk about, writing notes for the presenters so that they're aware of currently what's happening. Also history about - Mars, I'm talking specifically about Mars here. So, over the summer it's going to be really close so we're going to need to know things like how close when was it last this close how bright is it going to be - where can you see it? Things about Mars. So, how cold is it on Mars? how big is Mars? what's why is Mars red? the biggest volcano. So, people will have heard or children often will have the most incredible facts about planets. So they'll say you know Mars has the biggest volcano how big is it? And as the presenter it helps them to know exactly, how high it is. So all the kind of information will be in the presenter's notes. So that they can go home read up on it make sure that they're happy before they present the show. So that when you do have the 7 year old who's really keen and, asking lots of questions that at least they can, they can answer it and they don't have to do all of the research work themselves, cause that would just be such a waste if everybody had to do it themselves. But it'll also talk about, the flow that I want. So maybe I want them to start because it's show on Mars start by talking where Mars is in the sky, how to spot it, how to tell the difference between planets and stars, which constellation is it in. Maybe a bit of science about that constellation, or maybe even the old Greek legend about that constellation and all of that kind of thing will be in the presenter's notes. So that will be, being developed whilst the video's being edited and the music's being done. And then, after that's been done, then there's the time into making sure it's all ready before before it goes out to the public.
Whereas, the science theatre is completely different. First of all you, come up again with the, with the ideas and the flow, but then you might have to have props made by the workshop. So how big the props are going to be depends on where we're going to store them so we need to liaise then with - the whoever's in charge of, the storage space and negotiate how big you're allowed the prop. Because the bigger they are the more visible they are to the audience but the more trouble you're going to have to store them so, it's kind of - it's a fine tightrope. And then as it goes along, you, work out exactly the wording and, and then that comes towards the end. The actual, finishing of exactly the words in the script will come at a much later date than a planetarium show where the script has to be done 6 months in advance.
It's also, I find, much easier, to put the words down on paper for the science theatre. Because you know that each individual presenter will bring their own character and their own style to the show. They're not expected to be actors and learn the script word for word. So, whilst it's very important that you get the explanations right that they get the explanations right the actual words and the structure of the sentences that you use aren't quite as, essential as in the planetarium where the script will be narrated, and so it's exactly the same words that you write down that the public are listening to. So it's a it's a completely different style between the two.
I've completely forgotten what put me on that track and what the question was.