Communication
CHAPTER 1 / INTRODUCTION
The section “Make your own opera” is aimed at students within and without the school setting, the educational community, and all those who like opera and the performing arts in general and would like to dare to create and stage their own performance. It is not a guide containing concrete steps or methodologies you need to follow to make your own show; “Make your own opera” is rather a source of inspiration, a section offering information that can surely be useful to you throughout the process, a section that aspires to make you feel creative without being preoccupied with whether or not you have the appropriate space, human resources or means. It is an educational tool that you can use for prearranged school celebrations – by implementing specific chapters of the provided material –, a big final presentation at the end of the school year, a performance you want to stage with your class, or even for your classes as part of the curriculum, starting from just one chapter. The stage that is hidden in your class is waiting for you to reveal it.
So make your own opera performance, and don’t get scared off by the title. Remember that opera constantly transforms and has a lot to teach you!
In this chapter we will explore how to communicate the work you have created or will create soon. You are probably already quite familiar with some of the activities covered by the communication sector. Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok etc. are but a few of the well-known platforms, which have become very useful in modern society and almost indispensable for communicating a production. So, adapting to today’s standards and the setting we are in (school, small artistic groups etc.), we will examine some aspects of the professional role and duties of a communication manager.
To gain a better understanding of the role communication plays in a production, just imagine that you are preparing a performance with your team and at some point, when the goal and aesthetic concept have already been determined and rehearsals are about to start, you want to communicate that to the public.
You want the public to be aware of your artistic existence and identity, to read and watch some things about your work, and most importantly, to come and watch your performance. In reality, through communication campaigns, you want to reach out to known and mostly unknown audiences, who would like to watch your performance. The communication manager’s main duty is to create communication material, such as leaflets, press releases, videos, newsletters, radio and TV spots, a webpage etc. Moreover, they are responsible for managing social media content. Communicating a show, however, is not something simple, even in a very small setting like ours. The communication manager must have a deep understanding of the core material, that is, the performance they want to promote, and closely follow the rehearsal process and the performers, so that they can develop a communication campaign starting from the show’s preparation phase.
Nowadays, thanks to internet, information can reach the public through a variety of channels. Consider that in earlier times a show’s promotion was limited to posters, radio and newspapers, while in smaller communities, town criers would go around neighbourhoods and announce social events through loudspeakers – that was the main communication strategy. But as the years have passed and we are now in the internet age, we have many ways to create communication material. It is these possibilities that we are going to focus on in this chapter, giving special emphasis to how we can run a communication campaign for a show through the use of social media.
Let us explore below some possible ways of approaching the creative process:
- Research and select your target audience
- Choose you communication material and social media
- Plan and schedule the communication campaign
- Create content
CHAPTER 2 / POOL OF IDEAS
Whether you are in a group setting or a school classroom, you can choose the way you want to work, either collectively, or divided into sub-groups, or even individually, designating a member of the group or pupil for each specialty.
Research and select your target audience
The first step towards creating your communication campaign is to determine your audience. It is very important to identify your target audience from the very beginning. That doesn’t mean of course that your campaign or show wοn’t be accessible to other audiences, but selecting the target groups you want your communication campaign to focus on will help you shape your communication material. After selecting your target audience, try to define their characteristics, regarding the following points:
- Demographics (age, place of residence, occupation, capacity)
- Interests
- Interaction with the mass media (radio, newspaper, television), internet and social media
Choose you communication material and social media
Based on the previous step and already knowing your target audience, it is now time to choose the means and ways in which you want to approach your future viewers. Below, you will find some of the most traditional communication materials:
Press Release
Invitation (text) to the media with the goal of making an official statement and announcing some event that concerns the public
Printed communication material
Posters, flyers, promotional stickers
Radio spot
A short (30-60’’) recorded advertisement to be broadcast on the radio
After selecting your communication material, reflect on which social media platforms you would like to use.
Instagram
A photograph and video sharing platform
Facebook
A social media platform offering the possibility to share content (texts, photographs, videos, events, links)
Tik Tok
A short-form video sharing platform
YouTube
A website where you can share, store, search and reproduce digital videos
Choose the platforms that will help you establish a better connection to your audience. You can do a research to find out which platforms are the most popular among your target audience and on which of them it is easier for you to promote material about your show.
Plan and schedule the communication campaign
In this stage, after having identified your audience, chosen your social media and determined your communication material, you can continue with the planning and scheduling of your campaign. A concrete material production plan and task schedule will help you run a well-organized and structured campaign. The programming must, of course, be directly associated with the programming of the whole production. Choose the time you want your campaign to start. Do you want it to start already from the beginning of the creative process, the start of rehearsals or during the rehearsals, or when you will have a clearer picture of the show? Whichever path you choose, make sure you take into account the time required for the promotion of each type of material as well as the frequency with which that should be promoted, as it is important to build a rapport and encourage interaction with the audience.
Create content
And now the time has come to be creative! The artist inside you needs to wake up and enliven your show’s communication campaign. To attract your audience’s attention, try to create an appealing and rich content. Material from the creative process, sneak peeks into the rehearsals and what goes on behind-the-scenes, funny moments from the rehearsals, short conversations with the creators and protagonists and anything else you can imagine, will enhance your connection to your audience and build anticipation for the upcoming performance.
Unleash your imagination and you’ll come up with many ideas about how to create communication material. Below we suggest 5 simple ideas
Short excerpts from the libretto
Create posts with short excerpts from the libretto. You can combine them with photographs from the performance, original graphic designs with the help of the set designer, or even with a more abstract photographic or graphic material associated with the performers’ sources of inspiration.
Videos and photographs from the making-of process
You can post photographs and videos presenting the making-of process of the performance. From the creative process of the performers to the start of the rehearsals and all the way to the dress rehearsal. Draft drawings of the sets, sketches of the costumes, the construction process of the sets, musical rehearsals are but a few of the sources that could be used. You can also use archival material to make a time-lapse video. It can build anticipation among your audience. Try it!
Photographs from the final rehearsals
When a performance reaches the final rehearsal stage (with lights, sets and costumes), give the audience a chance to have a peak at what’s coming. Focus on strong colours, scenes with action and intense feelings, strange lighting and effects.
Hashtags & Mentions
Encourage all those who participate in the production to share photographic material from the creative process and the rehearsals. Posts, stories, selfies etc. mentioning the performance’s social media and hashtags with the title of the show will increase the size of your audience.
Short interviews
Try to make stories and video posts featuring short interviews with members of the creative team. Ask them to share with the audience the experience of their participation in the performance. Think of imaginative questions and information you would like to share with the audience. These interviews could serve as a way for performers to invite audiences to the show.
ACTIVITY 1 / COMMUNICATION
In this activity try to make a plan to promote an imaginary performance. Based on the rehearsal schedule given below, try to build a work plan for your work’s communication campaign.
Step 1
Below you will find an imaginary work plan for the staging of an opera or music theatre work. This schedule is not based on the standards of a professional production, but of a work that will be created in accordance with the timeframes and standards of a school setting.
December-February
Work creation
March-May
Readings, study, rehearsals
1-5 June
Final rehearsals (stage, sets, lights)
6 & 7 June
Technical rehearsals
8 June
Dress rehearsal
9 June
Performance
Step 2
Try to make a work plan based on the above schedule. Remember:
- Communication campaign schedule (start & frequency)
- Channels of communication with the audience
- Communication material (when to prepare and share it with the audience)
ACTIVITY 2 / COMMUNICATION
In activity 2 we will try to design – and why not create – communication material for Kornilios Selamsis’ opera Offenbach’s La belle Hélène.
Step 1
For the first step of this attempt you will need to read and study in depth the work’s synopsis, as written by librettist Alexandra K*, so that you can understand the story.
28 July 1194 B.C. A party in Sparta. Behinds us stands the temple of Zeus and in front of us, ladies and gentlemen, behold… the Trojan War. But don’t be alarmed, we will not miss our holidays on the beach. The Trojan War hasn’t started yet because Helen, hasn’t yet been stolen. Whoopsie! Spoiler!
Act I
The story begins at the Spartan agora, where all the heroes have gathered and are discussing. Paris disguised as a shepherd meets the seer Calchas. He gives him a letter from goddess Aphrodite that makes Calchas realise the shepherd’s true identity. Paris tells the story of the apple of discord, explaining why he is in Sparta. Helen is peeking at Paris and the two of them are soon introduced to each other. The action is moved to the Intelligence Tournament in Sparta, in which the Greek rulers and Paris are taking part. The games begin, and the only one who finds the correct answers to the tests is Paris. Amidst the cheers of the crowd, he emerges as the big winner.
Act II
A month later and while Menelaus is on Crete, Helen spends her time knitting in her room. At night Paris stands outside her chamber. One evening he decides to knock on her door but Helen refuses to let him in. They just stay there talking to each other behind the closed door. When Paris gets angry and is ready to leave, Helen eventually decides to let him enter. Between dreaming and reality, she converses with Paris and the two of them become close. Yet all this stops with Menelaus’ unexpected arrival in Sparta. Menelaus accuses Helen of infidelity, things become complicated and Helen asks Paris to leave Sparta.
Act III
A week later all the heroes are in Nafplion, the summer resort of Sparta. There they are swimming, dancing and drinking. While they are endlessly partying, goddess Aphrodite, enraged by the Spartans who stood in the way of Paris and Helen’s affair, takes revenge on them by making Spartan women roam wildly, freely celebrating love and forgetting all social conventions. Helen and Menelaus continue fighting over her infidelity, while Agamemnon and Calchas are trying to convince Menelaus to let her go. A ship arrives in Nafplion. The ship enters the port and Paris appears disguised as the Great Seer of Aphrodite. Everyone welcomes him joyously and respectfully. Paris, as the Seer, asks for Helen to be transported to Kythera, saying that this is a request from goddess Aphrodite. While Helen recognises Paris, Menelaus and the rest of the heroes accept the goddess’ will and hand Helen over to the Great Seer.
The story ends with Helen leaving together with Paris while warning Menelaus and Agamemnon that her flight to Troy should not become the cause of a war, as Paris did not violently seize her; she decided to follow him of her own free will instead.
— Alexandra K*
Step 2
After reading the synopsis of the work, try to make a short video for social media, which will feature a short interview with the Beautiful Helen. Pay attention! We are not talking about a video of the opera singer performing the Beautiful Helen; we want an interview with the Beautiful Helen herself, namely, the character. To conduct this interview:
- Write down the question(s) you want to ask
- Structure the order of the questions / build the interview’s structure
- Find the place where this interview will be held
- Think about how you could stage the interview you and prepare it
VIDEO
While exploring the above ideas, suggestions and steps, feel free to experiment with creating a communication campaign for a performance. To get more ideas, you can watch Vaios Machmountes in the video below sharing with you relevant information, as well as his experience as head of communications for musicals and opera and music theatre works.
Vaios Machmountes talks about his experience as head of communications for musicals and opera and music theatre works. Video produced by Odd Bleat.
