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.