Devising Project Blog 5: Week 3

Monday, 25/1/16:

Today we wanted to develop more material since now we had a set focus on setting and story now. We developed a couple of scenes today, mainly the sex scene idea and the racist scene which is now completely different than it was before. The sex scene was worked on by Jack A, Georgia and Katrina while the rest of us worked on the new years eve scene and our placing. We also worked on the scene racism scene but changed the events although kept the same basic theme.

Developments:

Now the tables for the new years eve scene have to be in the middle of the room and pushed together so they can either be the bed or just a diner lay out change, either way though it's still so that Jack A and Georgia can have their sex scene on it and not fall off of the table. This is something we will need to remember so that we don't arrange them as normal and then they have to be moved which will affect the pacing. Today when doing my roll in my fight scene with Jack T I realised that it's actually getting more fluid and seemingly impressive since Jack T asked me if it hurts so I'm assuming it looks good. To me it feels a bit more fluid with practice but we'll have to make sure there's plenty of room for me to land behind the table or I'll probably mess it up and hit something since today there was about 2 feet of room between the table and the wall and I almost messed it up today. Today we also Completely changed the racism scene since we used the structure of the last version of it for the 40's fight scene since it fit it a little better and the idea we had today was more interesting. Now the focus isn't on 2 guys beating up a black man literally, now it's about the desires of the white people in the diner. It;s now focused on their collective urge to hurt him and how uncomfortable they feel about having him in the bar. In their minds they attack him but in reality they know they can't do anything and that black people now have more rights and that alone makes them uncomfortable. We all seem to be having a nice time in the diner (in slow motion or using exaggerated movements) and then he walks in and bumps into Jack A and then we all notice and point at him and then music kicks in and then we attack him. We throw him around and then walk back to our seats to transition to reality. This to me is much better and more visually interesting than we had before. I think with some practice and smoothing out it could be fantastic.


Problems and solutions:

One problem is with our transitions in which we move our tables around to change the lay out of the diner throughout decades. The problem is that the room we usually practice has carpet so it doesn't make too much noise when we move them around. However the room we practiced in today that has a very similar floor to the theatre revealed that moving them around is incredibly noisy. It drowns out Max's small monologues and just sounds horrible to listen to. A way we tried resolving this was to pick the tables up with as little dragging as possible and thankfully this paid off when we showed it to Karen. We need to practice picking them up but also in interesting ways rather than just simply moving them since that would be quite dull but at the moment the transitions are getting better. Although one thing we definitely need to do is to assign certain people to certain chairs and tables so they can get the amount of practice they need and make the transitions as quick and smooth as possible.   Another thing I really need to do is to try and get the line "Why are you bothering these ladies". As of now we can't do the line at the same time because we don't know when the other will start so we'll have to think of a way so that we know when to start. The ideas I could suggest are that we should say it just as we touch Brad and Jack T on the shoulder (Which Jack A can lead since he's in front) or That we say one word each and say the rest of the sentence together. I think the shoulder suggestion would work the best and would have a better sense of flow so that's what I'm going to suggest.



Strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths: A major strength of today was that we were very focused on this scene and everyone was contributing when they could. There were barely any unnecessary interruptions which was nice and everyone seemed a little more coordinated. Everyone seemed keen with this scene and wanted to contribute and offer at least basic ideas such as when we point at brad or that he should be bumped into. During that session we all worked well and got a whole scene done and I'm proud of the fact we kept the interesting subject matter of racism and put it in some more visually appealing events which also now have more depth than before due to the psychological aspect as well as the mass opinion adjustment.

Weaknesses:

A weakness of today was that after we had blocked the racism scene the group seemed to lose focus and only some of us actually practiced the new years eve scene while the sex scene was being blocked by 3 others. We got it done with the limited members that we had but the fact that some took ages to come back or get anything done is a little bit of a problem.

Creative Ideas/Input:

One idea I suggested for the racism scene was for me to slide over the table as we go to get Brad since it looked very smooth and quick. The group seemed to like it but it unfortunately had to be dropped since the approach to Brad seemed too be too fast so we decided to slow it down. We now approach him slowly and intently rather than starting enraged. This was Jack T and Katrina's idea I think  We did this to show and interesting contrast or the moment they all snap and their social restraints go away. Also during the moments when we are attacking Brad, (I believe it was) Georgia who suggested we should use faster music so we did and I suggested using the song "Derezzed" by Daft punk which was used in the film "Tron: Legacy" because it starts with some fast and energetic drum beats which could be used to show the intensity and rage. the beginning seemed to fit but the rest didn't so some other ideas were suggested. Jack T eventually suggested we use a remixed version of the "Tetris" theme by Dr. P. We tried it out and it really works and even has points that flow with the movements. It doesn't mean this adds energy to it much but does fit a lot with the movements and conveys a sense of urgency or instinct which I think really works.







Tuesday, 26/1/16:

Today we were given the task of presenting either five minutes or just one complete scene to Karen by the end of the session. In the end we developed one whole scene and even had another one started and partially done. Some members of the group decided to focus on the moon landing but at first I thought this would be somewhat irrelevant from the focus on the diner. Then I was told that it would be the moon landing but being watched on the television by the people in the diner including Roy. This was a base foundation for people to suggest ideas for. We also wanted to develop another scene with Anita to show her with Roy and making her a little more developed so that her suggested death doesn't seem too forced, bland or utterly pointless. We want the audience to feel some sympathy for him and showing more what his wife was like would make much more sense to establish some connection.

Creative Ideas/Input:

While we were doing the moon landing scene I was supposed to be Roy watching it on the television. I had to come in, clean the table at the front and then turn up the volume on the television to watch the moon landing. When Daniella had to do a run up to do the lift I suggested that she could do a slow motion exaggerated walk to give an illusion of low gravity and that could fit the scene while also suggesting the location and making the lead up for effective than a run since that would seem more natural and less out of place. This was considered although dismissed by Daniella since she felt more comfortable doing the run up which i fine for now but when she is comfortable with the lift I hope she considers doing something more fitting because as of now it looks almost too fluid to be taking place on the moon. I was also the one who suggested the music to be used. I chose "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss which was used in the film "2001: A Space Odyssey". The piece itself is often associated with space because of it's use in that film and is easily recognisable. it also has a sense of scope or grandness which lends itself to the piece. I suggested a few small things with in the scene me, Max and Katrina such as when Katrina comes in with the paper, I told her to say "You looking for this" and that there should be some silence in the scene and no music to keep the focus on them. Other interesting ideas suggested by the group were that Roy in the space scene, should have an extremely large TV remote. I thought it was maybe a slight joke about the change in technology since then. For example things such as phones, cameras, media players and such were all a lot simpler yet sometimes ridiculously huge. That's what I take it as but the rest of the group may just think it's funny but I like to see it as more. When I got home I actually had to check whether or not TVs had remotes in the 1960's and it turned out they did (Picture below). They first had remotes called "Lazy bones" but they were not wireless so they brought out one called "Flash-matic" which thankfully was. It was a little doubt that I had to look up and I found out that TVs could have remotes since the 1950's.They also thought of doing the jet pack lift that frantic assembly do since it fits with the setting. I agree with this and think it could be potentially brilliant and fluid when we smooth it out.


Strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

A strength of the session is that the group seemed to be quite keen about the moon landing idea and seemed excepting of ideas and even willing to do some physically demanding things such as the lifts and while a fair bit of time was taken up by them trying to figure out how to do them, we got there and have a pretty good ides of how the scene will flow. I also think that for the small amount of time me, Max and Katrina had, we actually made a pretty interesting blueprint for the a scene that should hopefully be quite powerful if we do it correctly and add in the right physical elements since at the moment it is too naturalistic. The scene idea is very good and with some more time could be great.

Weaknesses:

The main weakness of today was that there was again a lack of focus at points especially after we'd done the moon landing scene. Even after we had agreed to come back at set times some people claimed that they should be entitled to a longer break and didn't come back when they were an integral part of a scene. This was very unprofessional and halted the development of the scene which we needed to do. So we had to think of a way around this so it came to that we had to make Georgia as Anita only in the beginning and then have other girls play her and having the ones that would work go into another room while leaving the others to do something. As of now I have no idea if they did or not.

Problems and solutions:

One issue I had with today was that today the group seemed less focused and more inclined to mess about, well some of them anyway. A lot of us were willing to do work even after the moon landing although instead of dwelling on it me, max and Katrina decided to just go off into a separate room in order to do our scene and left the others to work on one of their own. This did actually help us a fair bit because if we had stayed in there we probably wouldn't have got much done but thankfully we did here. We now have a base idea for a scene that we need to expand on. Another issue I have is that the scene me, Katrina and max were doing was pretty interesting from a naturalistic perspective but to be honest didn't have much physicality in in other than the very brief hymns hands we do. My idea would be to just remove the dialogue entirely with the exception of maybe a few lines and replace it with more exaggerated body language and expressions to suggest the feelings and situations rather than talking about them. This would seem more interesting because at the moment there isn't much happening physically. I will suggest this to both of them on Thursday in our next session. I didn't get the chance to tell them this in class but I will and hopefully improve it. Another thing we briefly faced was whether or not infertility could be diagnosed in the 80's. I had to look it up and it turned out that there was such a thing as infertility treatment in the 80's from what I could find so it could be diagnosed.


Here is a picture of the "Flash-matic" which is the first ever wireless TV controller:





Thursday, 27/1/16:


Today the group seemed to not care much today with the exception of Me, Katrina, Jack A and Max. The rest seemed content to leave since Karen wasn't in today. This didn't change much for the few that wanted to work. I did say that we should discuss the scene we had worked on previously and asked other for any ideas. We couldn't show them since Katrina had had an accident so she couldn't do any of the movements blocked. Instead we discussed any thoughts on the scene but unfortunately that didn't really go any where since the others would had to have watched the scene to get ideas for it, Katrina was in pain so couldn't focus too much on it. I did suggest some ideas such as that Roy shouldn't talk and that Anita should have minimal dialogue for only implications. Also they agreed that the scene is too naturalistic from the sounds of it and that there needs to be more physical moments besides a brief moment of hymns hands. It took us a while to get focused but admittedly we didn't get much done so today was unfortunately an unproductive day.

Research:

I decided to research the moon landing for when I get my power point ready. I have to make sure of some of the dates so that I can be specific on the power point. As far as I'm aware, the moon-landing scene is when the astronauts land on the moon rather than when they take off from earth so that is the date I had to get right. The entire mission from launch to return took place between July 16th and July 24th 1969. They launched on the 16th, landed on the 21st, left on the 22nd and landed back on earth on the 24th. This means the date I will have to put in my power point is "July 21st, 1969".










Links:

http://www.infertility-guidance.co.uk/blog/2010/01/forgotten-infertility-management/

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-near-miracle-of-male-infertility-treatment

http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/remote_control.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/21/newsid_2635000/2635845.stm

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html

Devising Project Blog 4: Week 2

Monday, 18/1/16:

Today we continued with our piece on the American diner and have made one more scene for it and there have been some interesting developments. We also started the day with a few games of tag and had to play it but as serious as possible. Even though it worked for very brief periods and everybody lost their concentration but the aim of doing it seriously was to see how the mood would be changed during the game and it could show how the energy state and concentration could make the whole thing feel very different. It even showed that if we don't mess around and stick to an objective then we can achieve it much more easily. I think the class for the most part did a poor job of conveying this until the end when we had to get in a line, hold hands and tangle each other up. We the had to untangle the group without talking or even communicating. This part we did relatively well and we did it quite quickly and smoothly. We were then asked to incorporate a children's game into a scene to see if it would work. So that's what we tried. We tried incorporating musical statues.


Strengths and weaknesses:

A weakness of today is that the organisation of talking and giving ideas is getting a little worse. Quite a few members were annoyed including myself. We even tried to have the members who wanted to work to sit in the corner and contribute in a more controlled manor but while it worked at first, the more people came over the more hectic it got and the more interruptions were happening. I can't think of a way that means the group will actually be organised in terms of their ideas because I think they're just too impatient. I could suggest to someone that we sit in a circle and go around taking turns with giving the ideas and if anyone has an expansion on their idea they just write it down instead of just interrupting the person but realistically I don't think that will go down well. I've also noticed that my group doesn't seem willing at all to experiment with some ideas. It either goes as we like the idea and then we just stick with it or we seem sceptical and just dismiss it. There was also an issue I had with Katrina where she seemed much more focused and concerned on the minor task of the day of incorporating a game into the scene rather than working on incorporating physical theatre styles into the current piece which seems to be one of the core aspects of this assignment. While that is a very small issue and I'm not really against her intentions and what she's trying g to do, it wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't just outright dismiss my ideas at the start since they weren't to do with games. Thankfully she realised this and let the group suggest things later on but I thought it was worth mentioning as a reminder that the groups organisation and priorities probably aren't where they should be at the moment.

A positive is that we have got some interesting ideas going such as the staging and some the ideas involving character arcs or even the new directions we could possibly take the piece including the idea of following multiple. Personally I think some of the ideas today such as the idea of where to put the audience was fantastic and honestly could be brilliant if we actually try it out and I really hope we do. Some people were very keen to give ideas despite dome of them not linking to the stimulus at all although that doesn't matter too much since it's just our setting at the moment that has been directly influenced by the stimulus. While it does seem like I dislike this assignment or I'm just not enjoying it, I can confidently say that I am. I just feel that highlighting this issues is really the only way I can help resolve them and the group does have problems but overall so far I like the direction my group is going with the piece despite our discussions sometimes being a mess.


Developments:

One development was that Katrina suggested removing the girls from the diner scene in order to give the male side of the scene more focus and with the intent on making the scene tense. this didn't really get anywhere and the scenario I imagined in my head seemed to have a lack of any physical theatre although I can't tell since the idea never went anywhere. I have faith that Katrina had more to it than we made up which was very little. An idea came up that the piece will feature multiple protagonists instead of focusing solely on the original one who we  decided to call Jim. I don't know why this change was made because it was never explained or if it was then I didn't hear it. There was no reason as to why they have changed the story arc and I'm personally not a fan of it but if they decide to stick with it then I'll go with it. If it works then I'll be happy but I would like to know why this has happened. One idea that we came up with before that was admittedly quite good in which we had a scene where the main character would meet his future wife through a crowd and that would be the focus of the scene. I quite liked the idea and it seemed to go well even though it needed some adjustments but the fact it was scrapped was not something I was comfortable with especially seeing as it was got rid of so quickly. The last development of this session was to the scene structure. The group thought of adding a new years eve scene after every decade scene. Whether or not it would be any year or the end of that specific decade I don't know since it was never really mentioned

Creative ideas/input:

I have made a few suggestions today although very few of them were even considered due to some of the people in the group have different concerns at the time. One I suggested was an expansion on Katrina's idea of the lead character seeing his future wife through a crowd once we've all frozen. I thought that on the way there we could surround her and move along with her as the crowd so it could show that the place is packed without actually having too many actors on stage and could also show her struggle of getting through since we'd most likely be the ones controlling the direction in which she moves due to it being quite a hectic crowd. That was unfortunately quickly dismissed but I thought that it was a move that could potentially look very fluid and flowing which would also help us with showing their separation if we got their facial expressions right as well. I came up with an idea of dancing like I have no idea what's going on and then look like I'm trying to copy other people and seem like I'm warming up to the party atmosphere. I thought this would be an interesting and subtle scenario since it's only in the background for about a minute or so. I didn't suggest it to the group since we decided to improvise the scene. Also with this scene I thought incorporating musical statues into it was a very good idea on Katrina's part would have been really interesting to explore if not for it getting quickly cut. Katrina also come up with the idea of having the audience sit it the diner which I personally thought was a brilliant idea and even got me thinking about it.
Katrina staging audience in diner

Overall today was quite disappointing since we seemed to get rid of quite a few great ideas and I'm not looking forward to where we will go in the near future since we're still terribly organised and the rest seem more focused on changing ideas rather than developing or expanding. I want to stick with an idea with a decent amount of time before just hearing something new and then briefly working on that and changing again. Now there are quite a few negatives with the group at the moment but I'm hoping that it will get better because when we get an idea going I love working with them it's just the few problems this group has that I've mentioned quite a lot is getting to me and others in the group as well yet no one seems to want to talk about it so I feel I'm going to have to at some point.









Tuesday, 19/1/16:


Today we started the day by splitting off into groups and seeing if we could come up with any ideas. They did have to relate to the stimulus but we could probably fit them in if we wanted but that was not the focus of this small session for my group.

Creative ideas:

I went with Jack A and Max and we just talked briefly and then decided to get up and have a starting point to develop as we go. Max came up with the idea of surgery but the reason for it is ambiguous although it heavily hints that whatever is being taken, it's being taken forcibly. I would be the one to tie and hold jack down while he's having this done to him while he's awake. The scene looked quite good and gave off a sense of pain and panic which was intended. We were hoping if people liked it that we may focus on the back story to it or even the events after depending on whether or not we actually decided what was being taken. The idea I came up with was when Max was explaining his and he mentioned a that Jack A would have amnesia. This triggered an idea for a plot thread in my head in which a man wakes up and has amnesia and then interacts with people in ways to help remind him of who they are and reestablish the relationships he has with them through physical montages. I said to Jack A that he should lay down on the floor and then while we were admittedly messing around I did a move on him in which I moved him up without touching him. I was imitating "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" where this happens in a climactic scene. This seemed really cool to me and Jack since it looked very fluid and surreal. We then decided to start the scene with that movement and them both me and max coming in top remove his memories and then I wake him up. The move seemed supernatural so that's what it seemed to imply and we all liked how it fit. I thought this idea had a lot of potential for quite a few scenes including the idea that the different relationships could incorporate different styles. The group seemed to quite like the idea especially Katrina who offered the idea of it being in another world so that the people he may recognise but he would have to show them who he is or discover something or a similar story along these lines and it was a very good idea in my opinion. I also contributed towards the fight scenes in the diner scene we would later develop due to abandonment of my idea which we didn't even explore. I suggested to Jack T (who I'm fighting) that I should roll over the table after being pushed by him. I think it would look quite cool and add more flair to the scene if it's done correctly.


Developments:

The main development of this session was that the scene we worked on originally appears to have been scrapped now although it could be that we're using ideas from that scene to make another one where the black man we beat up has been replaced with 2 drunk men. which we must now fight on the table instead of just one man at the bar. Now I'm quite torn on this idea because it takes away the more interesting subtext from before of racial inequality and replaces it with just 2 drunk men. However the fight we have staged for it seems far more interesting visually since there are two simultaneous fights happening at once in very similar ways. So I'm hoping the racism theme will be revisited and hopefully expanded on. There were quite a few more starting points mentioned today which I thought was unnecessary since we had just had a session about ideas and they were all scrapped. We eventually agreed that going with the diner would be what we'd do for the day however I don't like that they abandoned my idea without even expanding it a little. At first a few of us seemed very keen on trying the idea with the war scene and the diner and fitting them into the amnesia one and admittedly when thinking of how it would go, it did seem to flow and blend together quite well but 2 or 3 members thought that it would be too long or cluttered but I disagree with this since we don't have much material and we need to expand on what we have so I'm disappointed we never saw what potential it could've had.



Strengths and Weaknesses:

Strengths:

A strength of today was that the group were still keen for ideas despite being stressed. Their creative minds were still thinking of starting points even though though they were annoyed at the mess of ideas we have and since no one could really decide about what to do. The session in the theatre where we had to just make something up was a truly great session and a brilliant ideas to get our minds active on the go and it even helped us with our fault of talking too much about ideas and not actually making anything up physically.

Weaknesses:

There were quite a few weaknesses today. The problem of the constant interruption has somehow gotten worse now I can barely hear what anyone is saying and when asked to do something after everyone has talked over each other is quite annoying because everyone was confused and sometimes contradictive to each other. Despite the amount of ideas that were being suggested, they all seemed to be either completely unnecessary or just made things more complicated and stressful which is something we really didn't need. I also don't like that my idea was scrapped so quickly and it's not because it was my idea that I don't like my dismissal, it's the fact that most of the group just had the intent of getting rid of it without trying it out despite really liking it about 20 minutes earlier. If we had tried it out for a bit and it genuinely didn't work or just not as well as the others then I honestly wouldn't have minded. I want what will work best but I feel we should've given it a go to give it some resolution and reason to it being gotten rid of. So overall the day started brilliantly and with promise and then got much worse and the ideas just went in circles.














Thursday, 21/1/16:

Since the last session was admittedly quite awful since people were stressed and the session just overall didn't go very well. We started off the day by finally trying to get a story and structure that we can stick to and thankfully we found it. We have decided to stick with the diner idea and to stick to the idea of following Max as the main character and events in his life throughout individual decades. We went with it because it was the most fleshed out of our ideas and had the most potential from our experimentation with certain ideas. We focused on the intro scene and the following scene set in the 1940's which was the scene we worked on last week but we just needed to tweak it. Our plan is to go over the scene and create a sort of "Rough cut" of the piece and see what we have to iron out

Creative Ideas/Input:

We started with the intro scene in which we agreed it should be Max introducing it. Max is the one who as of now is writing and improvising his dialogue but during this session he couldn't think of much which is fine for now as I agree that dialogue should have a bit more planning. One thing Katrina thought of quickly was that the tables and chair for the diner will be brought on by all of us in a somewhat creepy or limp manner and when trying it out I think it looked quite good but does need some work. Before that though she suggested all of us (the people who are gonna interact with this man at some point in his life) standing in a row and then me standing in the centre of the line doing the move from my amnesia idea where I lift him up. Although Katrina did this because she thought it would satisfy me, I said that if it didn't work I'd be OK with it but we tried it anyway. When doing it I tried thinking of a reason for it and I think I've found one. In my mind I was thinking that since this is in a dream like state or something not literal, we could all be a reason in his mind that he has awakened. Also while developing these scenes there were idea for other scenes that had basic templates. One was Katrina's idea of having a sex scene after the scene we had done a while ago of hi meeting his wife. She seemed keen on the idea due to it's physical and emotional potential and I think it's a good idea. It would only have to be suggesting it rather than be blatant and I know that they can be done well, for example, frantic assembly's "Othello" had a sex scene which was beautifully so I think with practice for whoever does it, it could be brilliant.  I then suggested an idea for the ending which seemed to go quite well. I said that since a recurring theme of the piece is regret then I thought it would be a good idea to show him letting go of his regret by having moments of physical reconciliation with all the people he's interacted with throughout the play and then those people who he's now let go of help him to rest in piece.  think it could be quite a beautiful moment of relief and hope in an otherwise pessimistic piece which would be a nice way to conclude it. The group seemed keen for the idea and me and Jack A had ideas for music for the final montage. My idea was to use a Instrumental piece called "Father and Son" from the game "Metal Gear Solid 4" composed by Harry Gregson-Williams. It's a wonderful piece of music that I think would fit the scene perfectly due to it's somber yet epic tone which will help set the mood for a bitter sweet end. Jack A suggested a song called "Saturn" by Sleeping at Last which is a very moving piece with a lot of scope in it's opening first half which is instrumental. The second half which has lyrics is just as beautiful but with a more somber feel to it. I think either of these pieces will suit it brilliantly when/if we try it out. Jack A also suggested using a combination of a Martin Luther King speech and some music. I can't remember it exactly  or who it was by but it seemed quite interesting and will have to consider it.




Developments:

As soon as Max has woken and had his opening monologue the following scene is the same one as we worked on but just tweaked a little in terms of the fighting speed but there was was big thing added to the scene. The idea of the girls banging a tune on the table that increases in volume as we keep fighting. I do quite like the idea although they seemed to have trouble with remembering the beat. I tried recommending another more simpler one but they didn't seem to listen. However they got it down and it seems to work for now.


Strengths and Weaknesses:

Strengths:

The best strength of this session is that my group now has a much better sense of focus on one idea instead of thinking of more and more starting points. We seemed a lot more collaborative and enthusiastic about the project. We were suggesting relevant ideas and rolling with them and even tried to make each other happy by actually experimenting with them a little. We were more active than usual, we talked as we moved and devised, not sitting down and discussing so we seemed to get more done and getting a good idea of what we're actually doing and I'm glad we're finally getting this going and I hope it stays like this. The interrupting still happens but today seemed more controlled than usual thankfully.

Weaknesses:

To be honest the only weakness of this session was that at the beginning we had to sort out all the problems we had last session due to the stress and while that was a little difficult it was over quickly and then we got on with the work.


Problems and solutions:

One problem that happened was when I had to roll over the table when jack T pushes me over it. Most of the attempts went quite well but one of the times we tried it where we tried adding aggression to it and more speed. He hit me in the jaw by accident and even though it didn't hurt (much) the rest of the group still noticed so that means that moment in particular we will have to run over and over again to see if we can put the right amount of aggression and speed it to make it convincing but safe. As of now I'd say maybe he should aim more for my side rather than a random high area or the top of my shoulder/neck. This may make it safer and more flowing. Another problem was the lifting move I do to max at the beginning. Max (compared to Jack A) doesn't have the strengths to do the move properly. I asked him to give it a few goes with Jack A giving him some advice on how to. He could do it but only once instead of the intended  and I think with some practice he could get it to look flowing as it should. Having 1 instead of 3 is fine and is a decent compromise. Another issue is whether or not some people will be comfortable with doing the sex scene. I personally would if I was asked to or was the last option since I think it could be a genuinely beautiful or powerful moment if done properly. While I would do it I admittedly would be uncomfortable with it at first. I guess we'll have to ask who will actually do it and if no one says they will then I will have to I think.



Aim of the piece:

We were asked to come up with a target audience and an aim for the piece and while we have ideas for now I can't confidently say that we're sticking with it. As of now the aim was to educate the audience about changes in American culture throughout the 20th century and our target audience is middle class Americans. I myself see those rather ill fitting as of now but it most likely will change.

Devising Project Blog 3: Week 1

Monday, 11/1/16:

Today when I came in I was admittedly sceptical about the following session and when I found out that 4 of my group members weren't in I was disheartened due to the potential complications. We got into our groups and started actually discussing the project and thankfully things actually went very well and I was very happy about the professionalism with in my group. We seemed to accomplish a lot by the time the session was over.

Creative Ideas:

After A few minutes of talking, quite a few people in the group expressed interest in developing the war scenario that was suggested by Katrina during the last session. I was among them since I found that the idea had a lot of potential for mixing styles and even made me start imagining scenes or parts of it quickly simply because it seemed the most interesting of the ideas discussed. At first I suggested some movements that I thought could be quite impact or at least interesting they had some more context added to them. The moves I suggested were a version of "Hymns hands" used by Frantic Assembly but with a twist on it. In the usual/basic version that I've seen them simply demonstrate people can put their hands on themselves or the other person but in this I made a rule that person 1 can only put their hands on to the other person and not themselves, whereas person 2 is only supposed to put person 1s hands back on to them and not themselves. This means that someone is trying to get close to someone but they're being rejected by the other person.This was an idea I had but with a different context such as scene to do with unrequited love or denying temptation or something along these lines. The other idea I suggested was to use a move called "Round, by and through" also used by Frantic Assembly, more specifically the "Through" part. I said if we were to use it in a war/fighting scenario then a way to show someone getting the better of someone else and killing them would be to go through their arms quickly but strongly to show some aggression and then push their head down to signify their death. Pushing the head down was also something frantic assembly did but wasn't to signify death. After a few minutes of talking about how to start and structure the opening Brad then came up with the idea that it should start in a sort of naturalistic way with soldiers in a line during the war just before they start fighting. I then suggest that we should march forward and then someone (I think it was Brad) said that we should improvise a little narration and I was at the front so I went first and said as we stopped marching, "It is a time of war." and then the rest say their lines and then I suggested that there be a higher ranking officer/soldier who commands the fighting. That was simply to get the idea of that we are about to fight across but then I suggested that the officer could move in an exaggerated way, more specifically the controlled movement you would see in something that Steven Berkoff would do such as in the opening to "The Trial", This way the controlled movement and slow entry should draw attention to him while showing the control he has over the rest of the soldiers so it makes you focus on him and establishes his authority without any dialogue and unnecessary moments trying to establish it. Brad came up with the idea of saying bang to start the fight scene and to signify a bomb or guns going off. This was expanded when Karen said there could be more of it to signify each action and I thought that was a good idea. She likened it to children in a playground but to be honest I don't really see it like that. As in that itself is a good comparison but I more see it as a way to convey what's happening more effectively in a physical way rather than using sound effects so it's more of a useful tool than a scenario if that is what she was implying but I could be wrong. regardless it was a great suggestion and in my opinion adds to the piece way that gives it a sort of constructed/clockwork feel even if it's only subtle. I suggested that to change the mood or to give the impression that we're in a different place, that we should change the lighting when we transition scenes and everyone thought it was a good idea and we all came to the conclusion that changing from white to purple light would be the best option since most of us thought it was the most dream like of colours. This will hopefully set a mood that feels different to the real world since it's all a coma induced dream. I also came up with that I should play a Zanni (since the shift is from naturalism/Frantic Assembly to Commedia Dell'arte) and it would be a dream version of one of his fellow soldiers and a close friend of his. I thought that basing the Commedia characters based on status and rank would be an interesting idea since a Zanni is the lowest that it would be suited to portraying that. It's actions and how it reacts to authority or higher status seemed to fit very well and even made for some dark humour in the piece such as me getting beaten or shouted at and me being overly submissive. Whether or not that will work I don't know but I hope so. The last idea I had of the session was just a little expansion on Jack A's idea of his Harlequin eating the pieces of a board game they're playing and I have to get them out. I simply suggested that I do it 3 times before Max rages and that's it however I think Max forgot that since he did it after one or two when showing it so I guess that doesn't mean much. Overall I contributed a lot more than I thought I would today and I'm proud of how it's all going so far, whether or not I'll be able to contribute as much in the future sessions I don't know but I really hope so.


Problems and solutions:

One issue we cam across was whether to put the masks off stage or not due to the complications of having blackouts and lighting effects since we'll have very little time to actually set them so max came up with the idea that the masks will simply be placed on stage at the exact point where we all fall over/die and in the test run of the it worked although I did suggest to make sure the masks are facing outwards to the audience so it looks deliberate rather than lazy. So this small change will mean that the basic lighting will only change and there might not be a black out at all so there's less pressure for those transitions. I also wondered how we're going to bring on the chairs and table for the protagonist to lay on and I suggested that we simply put the bed behind the gap in the back curtain so it can be easily grabbed and put on by Jack A. The same could be said for the chairs that me and Elle have to bring on. They will be placed at the entrances on each side so they are easily accessed. This is to potentially help the flow of the piece and to stop there being any long gaps that may affect the pacing so hopefully in our next few runs this will prove to be true. The last problem we really have is the issue with some of the people not turning up and while being off due to illness or personal problems isn't the problem, it does bring up the question of how are we going to fit them into the scenes we have already done but in some ways I think it could be quite simple due to that we could have more soldiers and more stories to tell in the fight scene and more conversations in the hospital scene if we block that.


Teamwork:

I think that my group worked extremely well today. We all took on each others ideas and I even asked them if they had any criticisms with my ideas and if they did I would appreciate them and that's how everyone was acting even if sometimes they were not contributing as much they would still listen and take on board the ideas and try them out honestly. We made some real progress today and I hope we continue to do so with the rest of the group.


Strengths and weaknesses:

Our main weakness of this session was that at points we did lose focus which was a little annoying even though I was part of it such as when Karen was in the room observing us we started talking about "Star Wars" for some reason but thankfully this happened very little but the fact it happened at all is still a flaw. Another fault was that we did not really get any other story ideas rolling due to that we were working on the war one which everyone seemed more interested in. We did have a brainstorming session for any other ideas and brad even came up with an interesting one to do with a homage to "The Wizard of Oz" using Anita and Joe/Roy but that didn't go anywhere although I will ask him  about any expansions on it tomorrow.

Our strengths were that there were a lot of points where we were completely focused and concentrating and being mostly critical (in a good way) to any ideas suggested so we only pick the best ones. We all listened to each other and weren't dismissive of any ideas unless they blatantly would not work but that never really happened. We got a lot of work done despite the others not being here and kept focus with the exception of a couple of times but even then when others may have been talking one or two of us would always discuss ideas and they kept at it to produce some good ideas. everyone was quite creative and could easily get into characters such as the Commedia ones and it was all seamless when actually performing it. The ideas some people were thinking of such as Jack A thinking of his harlequin eating the board game pieces in my opinion was brilliant. So overall a pretty damn good first real session with the group and I'm looking forward to tomorrow to see what we can develop.









Tuesday, 12/1/16:

Today we started off the day with an exercise in which we had to listen to the stimulus again and then in pairs and devise a 1 or 2 minute piece based on the new ideas that we had when listening to the song. Personally I initially didn't have any new thoughts when listening to the song. I just kept thinking of Anita encouraging Roy in either a simple innocent way too let loose or in the subtle against discrimination way that I thought when taking the time period and attitudes in jazz and race at the time into account. I was put with Brad and Daniella and Brad was the one who came up with the idea.He imagined an American diner and a couple in there arguing while he gives some narration. I came up with the idea that the argument should be represented by a chair duet. I mainly choreographed it with Daniella adding some movements. I used an idea that I used yesterday but with a different context. I'm trying to get close or hit on her but she is either just not interested or not in the mood. I try and put my hands on her and even try to kiss he but she just puts my hands back on me, blocks me or turns away from me and even at the end she pushes my head down and pours a drink over me. Then brad comes in and says something to me and then we fight using Hymns hands and then he says to me "I got an idea for you" ending it on a cliffhanger. This went very well and was quite well executed and flowed quite well in terms of the movements and according to Karen had some very good clarity so I'm happy with that.

Creative ideas:

The main idea of today was of an American diner through multiple decades and seeing the attitudes of people towards music, change in music style and just changing throughout time in general. I think this could be a very good idea but at the moment I have a worry that it may be too short but I'm also keeping in mind that we still need developing but as of now it could potentially show the declining of innocence as time has gone on. I think this will be an interesting and entertaining theme to show even to I actually don't agree with it. Music has certainly got less innocent but people in general are the same and in some ways it was worse back then with a lot of discrimination that today has improved. Regardless I still think that holds promise for narrative qualities which show how much time can change in a period that as a whole isn't very long. I didn't have much of a chance to say much today due to people talking too often but I was able to point out things about peoples ideas that they seemed to not consider such as I pointed out that if we have to costume change in the diner scene it may be a better idea to wear all black with one or two small and easy top put on items of clothing to signify the time period rather than do full costumes since this could have a very bad effect on the pacing if we take too long to change. Also I asked brad about an idea that he had yesterday which involved making the play mostly literal in terms of plot. Brad initially seemed sceptical of telling everyone but I insisted and then he said it and everyone seemed to quite ,like his idea of an adventure from downtown to uptown with Anita and Roy due to it's simplicity and lightheartedness. so this mean we now have 3 ideas for starting points and will focus on the diner idea for the next session to see what we can start.

Strengths and weaknesses:

A weakness of today was that I didn't really have the chance to contribute much in terms of starting points or ideas due to that the group was a bit too keen for the idea with the diner and any time I would attempt to suggest something then they would cut across me and in general the organisation in terms of conversation and note taking was a bit of a mess. I think it's great that the group was keen but I wish we were more organised. Another problem with today was that we did not do much in terms of blocking any actual movements, all we go to was a basic premise and while that premise is interesting I wish we could have actually got up and tried blocking a starting point and then seeing where we could go from there and keep it practical which means we would have most likely have got more done.

The strengths of the session was that everyone was quite keen to think of ideas and were quite perceptive and honest about the pros and cons of the ideas such as thinking of whether or not the transitions for the diner idea would be smooth or that having the right costume and the technical side will even be practical considering our limitations on time and resources. We also had very little time where we had nothing to say, it was very quick and everyone was contributing even the slightest bit to the ideas even if they were only clarification and pointing out minor flaws with the plan even though there may not have been a solution every time.


Developments:

I said that after listening to the song in class I had no other ideas than the ones I wrote down the first time but I thought I'd listen to it when I got home in order to think of any others that would come to mind and I plan to do this a few times over the next 2 weeks or so just to get more ideas going. The one idea I did think of today is a somewhat development of something I thought of before. I mention in my notes last time that I though of Las Vegas and when I thought of that again, a brief story came to mind of someone in a casino who at first seems to be very lucky and on a winning streak but the greed gets to them and they keep going and eventually lose everything. A rise and fall story that is often used in plays and films. One director who often uses this very basic and possibly even cliched story arc is Martin Scorsese whom often uses it in his film but often in different ways so I can see potential in this being more original than it may seem at first but it'll need some development before I can decide that. Now the casino idea itself is just an idea for a story arc not really a story to focus on although I'll have to see what happens if we start to develop it but I have no clue where this will go although I will try to think of more ideas soon.







Thursday, 14/1/16:

Today we had the more of the group in although it was still only 7 of 10 but we still managed to get a fair bot done today. We started off the day with a workshop that was to do with tension states shown physically. We had to go from being exhausted to laid back to neutral to passionate to alert and to tragic. We had to convey these feeling in a purely physical way and not in a very naturalistic way. The most effective way was to do them in a stylised manner which showed it easily and quickly even if it was extremely over the top. This was a fun exercise and was even useful due to that it showed me that naturalism doesn't really work for physical theatre because if I'm doing something that is meant to be unrealistic or over the top, I always have something that keeps me subdued in a sense and made me realise I need to work on that. It also helped with knowing that any actor must start from the neutral state before performing otherwise it's much harder to get anywhere else or into another state of tension. After that we got into our groups and continued devising. We showed the people who weren't here what we had done on Monday and they did like the first half just not the second half since they thought the dream transition wasn't communicated well enough. Instead we decided today to focus on the American diner idea that was mentioned last time.

Developments:

Originally it seemed that the main focus of the original idea was to show the change in times but mainly with music tastes or it seemed to be but after today it seems to have shifted to the changing of times and peoples attitudes and beliefs I'm not saying that's a bad idea at all if anything I think it's more interesting and has more potential for ideas. It could show the dark or light side of humanity much like how DV8 would theme their performances. Although we have only blocked one scene so far and the idea is this. An old man recounts his life of owning a diner through several decades and this can show how time changes through the perspective of one man and I agree this is best because potentially seeing his view point change over the years or have varying opinions on said time periods seems far more interesting than changing to multiple owners since they won't be there for long and it would be hard to get attached or sympathise with them in the amount of time they'd be given. The scene starts with Max coming in and saying how he felt about the opinions of race at the time and how other Americans at the time (The 1960's) would've have disagreed with him. It has the girls sitting at the table and Jack A on another. Sam is the younger version of Max and I come in and buy 2 drinks from him. After that I greet Jack and sit down and then the girls start talking about us thinking we're "Cute" or something along these lines. Then a black man (Brad in a black mask) comes in and the music stops to signify peoples shock or dislike of the situation. Me and Jack ask the women to move to another table so they are further away from us beating him up. Max then expresses his regret to himself and the audience and the scene ends. Although we do want to expand it since we didn't have everyone in today but what we've done so far I think is fantastic and really should focused on for now. The change of focus today has been worth it for this in my opinion brilliant idea with a lot of potential.

Creative ideas/input:

The first idea I had was for when I have to greet Jack. I suggested that instead of shaking hands we should shake hands but also spin or go through one another which besides looking interesting or stylised shows a sense of playfulness/comradery between the two which means their relationship can be established quickly and more efficiently than simply shaking hands. I also suggested that when me and Jack sit down to drink, we drink in a clock work motion or a way that's sort of in slow motion but has mild pauses in there. The clockwork aspect I thought was necessary to show to suggest a repetition in these peoples lives like they often do this or they come here a lot. It's a brief idea I'll need to expand but at the moment works and at least looks visually interesting. I also suggested that when we get up to fight Brad he gives me a cue line to grab and that at that moment me and Jack do a synchronised punch to his stomach, then I go round and through Brad to push him towards jack who gets him on the floor. Then someone else suggested keeping it as a freeze frame when he's on the floor while max gives his narration. This I thought was a good idea because it may show that our characters are used to doing this and it's something they do regularly which is signified by the punch done with the arms that will be closest (My left and Jack's right). The through motion is a more stylised way of showing my control over him in the situation as well as a way of getting Brad towards jack

Strengths and weaknesses:

A strength today was that everyone was keen to suggest ideas and wanted to pursue this idea to develop it. They pointed out the criticisms and what would work and even got excited when they realised the potential for a dramatic or stylistic moment. We got a whole scene done in the couple hours we had which I'm proud of and glad that everyone got on board with the idea so quickly. I contributed to details involving style to small moments to make them stand out more or just so they have more depth and seem more appealing to look at than simply having the basic actions.

A weakness of the group is our idea organisation. Last time I mentioned that the group members constantly interrupt each other when giving ideas and with more people here this time it was actually much worse and the fact that they were more keen didn't help. I was barley able to get a grasp on what was going on for the first half of the sessions and a few members felt the same and often just got cut across. I mentioned this to the group but it was quickly dismissed due to that "Once you get an idea you want to say it before you forget" This is really the only weakness we had this session but it's a pretty big one and we need to work on how to fix it.

Aims:

My main aim is to work out a way to make the way the group discusses ideas a bit more organised. This could be resolved by a bit more of a brain storming session or just taking turns instead of cutting each other off in mid sentence. Although I honestly don't think it would work since it's been passed off already. My other aim is to actually contribute more when I have the chance. I did today with quite a few small ideas but I would like to do more to do with the piece that focuses on it's core themes and try to help with the narrative of certain scenes. As of now I don't have any for the piece but on Monday I will try my hardest.

Devising Project Blog 2: Initial Response

Today we were given our groups and stimulus for our physical theatre devising assignment. I was put into a group with Jack A, Jack T, Brad, Katrina, Sam, Daniella, Georgia, Elle and Max and was overall very happy with who I was put with although 3 of them weren't there which admittedly was very annoying and worries me on whether or not they will turn up for most rehearsals. However I hope I'm wrong and they take it seriously but besides them not being there I'm happy with the group. Our stimulus was the song "Let Me Off Uptown" by Roy Eldridge and Anita O'day.


First impressions and thoughts:

We were told we would be listening to the song 3 times. The first time we had to lay on the floor and just listen to it to see what kind of ideas came to mind and then we would write them down as soon as the song finished. The second time we were allowed to move around or dance or tap along, anything we felt like doing at the time really and the third time we had to stand up at least and then see what the song made us feel like doing. After the first time I wrote down the following things:

-Bright colours
-Big city/Las Vegas
-Someone being encouraged to find a different side to them
-Energetic/bombastic movement
-Joy in discovery
-1970's/80's America
-Very dance like
-Makes me want to dance or mime
-Discovering confidence
-Proud of who you are and not hiding

The theme I seemed to think of was not repressing ones self to fit the conventions of society or just finding a side to yourself that you didn't know existed. This was mainly inspired by this line of the song, "If it's rhythm that you feel, then it's nothing to conceal". That just made me feel like she was talking about  "Roy" not holding back or that he should be who he wants to be and not care what anyone thinks. The theme also seemed to be supported by the structure of the song itself seeing as the into can be quite subdued and then the climax of the song is more bombastic, energetic and less restrained than the opening. Now this may be a given since it may be the structure of any song to do this as it gets closer to the end but the difference here is the lyrics when Anita asks Roy how he feels and then Roy says "I feel like blowin'" and then she says "Well blow Roy, blow." This seems to suggest that he's either trying to keep him from doing something or hasn't found another side of himself until now and wants to explore it.

The second time we listened to the song I didn't really do much other than sit there and tap along to the music but that's because I felt that if I was the only one to get up I would look silly I just started dancing on my own so I mainly just tapped along or moved to the music but to be honest the second time didn't put much more in my head at all and even the third time barely did anything although it maybe made me believe my initial thoughts on it a little more than I did at first. When we all had to stand up and do whatever we felt I did feel more comfortable and mainly felt like dancing with my girlfriend and didn't care about what people thought and just thought it was fun and I even mimed playing the trumpet during the end. That little experience in my opinion does reinforce my interpretation of the lyrics since we were told not to care about what others though and just do what we felt like after a while some of us did stop caring and just went with our instincts which is what I believe the song may be trying to say or that is at least a subtle theme about it.


Brainstorm and creative ideas:

When my group and I went into a separate room to work in we decided to read each others ideas one at a time and see what the reoccurring themes throughout the work were and one thing people seemed to think of was war or that that was the theme with the most potential in terms of physicality due to that the fighting could be done in a stylised manner and the rest would be done using naturalism in the style of frantic assembly or the that it could have great dramatic potential due to things such as post traumatic stress disorder or flashbacks. It was suggested that mixing the styles would be a nice idea and I completely agree with this especially if we incorporate dreams into the mix then I think it definitely has some potential. I admittedly didn't get to say much today due to that the group seemed to very quickly run with the war idea and that wasn't really what I had in mind and any time I did think of something someone would always talk over me because everyone was admittedly a little too enthusiastic with a lot of interrupting. While that's a good thing and I'm extremely happy that the group has a lot of enthusiasm I am admittedly disappointed that I didn't really get to contribute because I like to and I want to help the group and if I get the chance I think this assignment as a whole could go very well and I'm looking forward to it.


Research:

At the end of the session the groups were asked to research the stimulus and aspects about it such as the singers, background of it, time period and anything that may come in handy with helping us produce a potentially interesting piece. I asked if I should research the time period of the songs release, more specifically racism in 1940's America and the attitudes towards black and white jazz musicians mixing because in the song Anita O'day is talking to Roy Eldridge who is black and she is encouraging him to go up town or to let loose and he wants to. The fact that it's Roy she is talking to seems quite deliberate and seems to be a subtle way of commenting on the racist opinions of the general public at the time. Call it over-analysis but it does seem to make sense to me considering the time period. The reason being that at the time segregation of races was heavily enforced. For example, public transport was available for both white and black people but they had to go on separate buses or any other mode of transport. They claimed that black people were in regard to the American constitution "Equal" but this just turned out to be that they could have a lot of the same things that white people already have, they just couldn't have as much or at the same quality so they were never truly "Equal". This seemed to also conform to public opinion since and since black people at the time were considered inferior it seemed strange and taboo to people that white and black jazz musicians would mix intentionally. This added with the fact that it's a woman and a black man, two types of people heavily discriminated against in this time period it does fit what I think they're trying to get across, that they shouldn't be afraid and should be excepted. Yes if this is true then it is done extremely subtly (If even intentionally done at all) but considering what was going on during the songs release in terms of discrimination against black people and women and the belief that white and blacks shouldn't mix it seems to make a lot of sense to me. It seems to make me think of it even though the song itself may be innocent but just taking things into account it's what comes to mind and I'll tell the group this during our next session to see if we can get any other plot ideas going.




Links:

http://216.168.60.178/causes/default.asp?path=1racism/1racisminthe1940s.asp

http://tuskegeeairmeninthesky.weebly.com/segregation-in-the-1940s.html

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/jazz/history3.html