Monday, 8/2/16:
Today we teched the show with lighting and sound cues although did not get enough time to block the power point projection properly. Katrina ran through all of the lighting cues with Colin while I ran through all of the sound cues. After this we tried to go through the piece and see what we could do with it.
Developments:
The main development of today was that we started blocking the planned wedding scene. When we started, someone said we should stand as couples standing opposite each other (So I would stand opposite Katrina) and then the bride (Daniella as Anita) would come down the isle and then the couples would walk towards each other. However when rehearsing this we messed around when the music came on and improvised some dancing and clicking. This looked cool and we decided to keep it in. Also it keeps the scene from being less static and adds a certain feel of joy to it. We also got on with the forced entertainment scene we had talked about before. As Brad says "Fake" referring to the moon landing, we all stop what we're doing and become ourselves. We all start arguing before going off stage and then continuing with the next scene. This seems like a great idea as of now but I do have some doubts, mainly that it may be too long or way too out of place to be funny or even actually good. But that's just as of now because it isn't finished and not been properly run. I hope it works though because it's an excellent idea.
Problems and solutions:
One problem of today was that we realised the table cloths are very fragile and rip easily. During some scene runs today they ripped although only at the sides where as the tops seem fine. This means we may have to buy some more cloths just in case they're unusable. Also during the wedding scene we decided to do the waltz but there was one problem, none of us knew how to do it. When Karen came in she tried her best showing us how to do it and now me and Katrina seem very able to do it. I'm thankful she helped us with that because it looked awful originally.
Input: the main idea that I had today was for the forced entertainment scene. It was suggested that Max comes out and says "Am I still playing the old man?". I suggested that I then shout "YES!" at him and then he may run off. The group liked it and wanted to do it as a whole rather than just me which I think should be quite funny.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths:
Today we actually got the sound and lighting cues done with a good amount of communication from Katrina to the others and vice versa. The group seemed for the most part focused when they had to be. When we tried out all of the lighting, sound and projection states, they looked and sounded great. The projections to me stood out as surprisingly good. The date and moon projection are really good and set a tone and good atmosphere for what they are. We practiced with the transitions of getting the jacket from one Roy to the next and some of them look very smooth and cool where as some need to be worked out.
Weaknesses:
I volunteered to do the sound cues since I'm the one who brought in the music and no one else wanted to do it. I got it done but I don't think I was very good at it, I didn't manage communication and making notes all that well. I struggled with that a fair bit and in the end could not fill out the cue sheet. This is something I need to fill out even though the people should know their cues. Max did bring up a couple issues with the dates in the power-point, he said that it should be 1949 instead of 1959 and that the time periods sometimes don't align with the music properly. This I will look into when I get the chance. During a practice lift with Daniella, Sam let go of her leg to scare her as a joke which for a while made her unwilling to do the lift which is perfectly understandable. I don't like that he did it since it meant we couldn't do the scene for a while,
Tuesday, 9/2/16:
Today we just tried to run scenes and tweak or perfect what we were able to. So today had little development or overall eventfulness.
Input:
My ideas for today were few but still moderately interesting. One was by accident. When running my first scene with Jack A, after doing our clockwork drinking, I span my cup with my hands and I think it looked quite cool. I asked the rest and they seemed indifferent about it so I think it's something I will do but just not draw much attention to it. The other idea was for our forced entertainment scene. I was thinking that the scene was a nit too loud and chaotic so I decided to take myself out of all the arguments and shouting and just look very upset and walk slowly to get ready in place for the next scene. As I did this I suggested that I walk off into the audience and start talking to just one person in it. I showed them and they really seemed to like it and with the lines I have in mind it seemed quite funny.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths:
Today we seemed to come out with a couple of interesting ideas even though it was just meant to be a refinement session. The session was fun when we just had to develop and it seemed relaxed but also focused at these points which was actually quite nice.
Weaknesses:
The main weakness of today was that some members of the group did not seem up for the idea of a complete run through at all. Brad in particular today was not focused and it was a little annoying since things like this have been hindering run throughs for ages. I wasn't trying to be forceful at all but I don't think I persuaded them at all. Most of the seemed up to it but just the few that weren't affected the day.
Developments:
Besides the idea I mentioned for the forced entertainment scene there were a few minor changes to it. Now there seems to be a theme of blaming each other throughout it. Such as now Katrina blames for the power point being rubbish and not convincing. Also now it seems as though props (More specifically the piece of paper/letter will be brought on during this moment so that it can transition while still being in this scene and not slowing the pace down. Also we have been practicing the wedding scene and the dancing is getting better the more we rehearse it. It still doesn't look very smooth but I hope we'll get there.
Thursday, 11/2/16:
Today was our last real opportunity to smooth out the piece or just finish the piece to a suitable standard. I don't believe we fully reached that but I do believe we used our time as well as we were able to.
Problems and solutions:
One problem pointed out by Karen was that Max does not have much to do throughout the piece in terms of physically interesting stuff and to an extent I agree with this. I do feel he needs more to do but at the same time think that he hasn't had the chance to due to him doing the music. I thought he would be doing more but had to other things for the piece. I don't know if he considered my suggestion about the moves during his speeches but nothing seems to have come from it. Although I did say it again and offer him help and Katrina mentioned about him interacting with other members of the group during the piece if they're not doing anything in various manners which I still think would be great for him. Max also decided to come up with the idea of him and Daniella doing a little dance type sequence which I think is good so that'll give him more to do and thankfully he seemed very keen to do the idea of random interactions while scenes are happening. We cannot get a sheet to stretch across the stage as intended so we a re going to shut the curtains and have someone running in front of them to signify it's not over while we are changing set.
Developments:
Me and Katrina have added more to our argument scene. We ran over it and she wanted to add more to it, more specifically wanting to use levels or the changing of status for the characters throughout the argument. we have added a moment where she throws me on to the ground and the as I reach out to her she throws me down again and then comes down. At that point I get up and then we have our hands following while I lead getting up. This is a nice moment that shows the changing status and summarises some of the feelings effectively and does add a fair bit to it. It also flows into the previous moves we've had so we only added and didn't change anything. Due to Max's mentioned lack of physical moments, him and Daniella now have a brief dance/physical moment that they choreographed themselves and it actually looks quite nice despite a slight lack of energy. We also spoke again about the faces that we should have when doing the 9/11 scene. Me and Jack A still think that the angry face would be ideal for it since it embodies the point and objective of the literal explosion/destruction. Katrina may disagree and say that a blank expression is better and that's perfectly OK with me if she would like to do that. The group didn't really come to an overall decision but at the same time we didn't argue about it, we just voiced our opinions and then agreed on that they both worked in their own ways. So I am sticking with the angry face due to the aforementioned reason.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths:
We actually had a run through from beginning to end of the piece with no stopping. As far as we can tell the piece is definitely with in the time limit of 15- 30 minutes. Me and a few others treated this (As I have in every rehearsal) seriously and did not lose focus. The focused ones had a great amount of energy and control which is actually making me very hopeful about the performance, all we need to do is get the others to try and not break character and just smooth some things out. People were more willing to tweak their own moments today. For example Max and Daniella choreographed a dance on their own, Jack A and Georgia worked on their sex scene and me and Katrina worked on our argument scene. These were all worked on individually and simultaneously which was a great way to make progress with perfecting. One last thing that was good was that Karen mentioned the forced entertainment moment does help to establish things that may be misunderstood such as the multiple Roys and Anitas.
Weaknesses:
The main weakness of today was that despite saying we will do a 100% serious run through we didn't manage to do it. We did have a pretty good one where myself and a couple others did not lose focus at all although a few other did break character and it did seem a little messy at a few points. However even though it was good, the fact we did not get a proper run through with maximum focus from everybody was a bit irritating but only because of how much time is left. The other negative is that that some people today had a serious lack of energy when performing, when watching Max and Daniella, they had no energy, whether or not they were just tired or not engaged I have no idea but it looked unimpressive to say the least. Also Sam and Daniella looked not very keen with the sheets during the 9/11 scene but that can be smoothed out easily.
I would like to conclude this blog by writing about how I felt about the project process. I will admit this project has been very stressful at points due to some people having a general lack of focus or just not willing to work at all. I tried my best to stay calm and thankfully did. This project has not been the most enjoyable project ever but has probably taught me a fair few things. It has taught me about compromise and how to work around things, how to deal with things independently to the best possible degree such as if I can't get a full run through from everyone then I can just run the scenes I am in with the people who are willing. It's actually made me realise properly what a very stressful industry I'm getting into. But that's a good thing to be honest. It's given me some more realistic expectations about it but in a way that does not at all put me off the industry. It's just taught me to be more cautious. So I'd say it's been a very worthwhile project.
Wednesday 17 February 2016
Devising Project Blog 1: Reflections, research and notes on Physical Theatre Styles/Companies.
Frantic assembly:
Devising/Writing Methods:
If an idea is still being worked on it will be passed around from writer to writer or to whoever is going to devise it in hopes it will change into something they feel they can work with.
Performance Features:
The plays generally focus on naturalism when just doing the normal scenes go more into a surreal more dance like display in order to convey something deeper. They often have regular sets but with something extra like in "Lovesong" the used screens as their background in which they would show surreal images on or even images of birds flying.
Character/Plot/Design:
From what I can tell there is only one characteristic that the characters have in common from the plays and even then it's not to do with the characters themselves it's how they're done. they are portrayed in a realistic manner using naturalism for the normal scenes and are then silent and maybe more expressive for the physical surreal moments.
Frantic also like to use things they refer to as "Building Blocks". These can include "Round by through" which is 3 basic moves called "Round", "By" and "Through". This means going through someone under their arm, moving by them or just moving around them. These are very basic moves that need to be added to, so you could add some aggression or weight to it to imply an emotional connection. These can also be used to help with finding other moves for a sequence such as finding the right time to do a lift or turn. They think that it is important for every move should help the story flow or move forward rather than just having meaningless choreography.
DV8:
DV8 are a physical theatre company founded in 1986 by Lloyd Newson and is still led by him to this day. He formed the company so that there would be far less restrictions in the kind of productions that he would make. He wanted there to be less of a disconnect between the artists and the art. He wanted to portray human issues to do with psychology and society but doing that in dance does not do it justice and I can see why. The company love to tackle social issues for their pieces and express a viewpoint in a physical manner. The one performance of theirs I have watched is "Enter Achilles" which was a very very impressive piece altogether. It questioned and mocked the "Lad" culture of the 1980's and 1990's and from what I could tell had a theme of repression in gender or sexuality. It's something that shows how good control, focus and fluidity can be mesmerising.
Forced Entertainment:
We had a session on forced entertainment where we talked about some of there devising techniques and they're style in which the present themselves. Forced Entertainment are a devising company that has a style with more or less no rules with the exception that they may have to confuse, humour or at the very least entertain the audience but not necessarily in a way that you can see coming. They seem to pride themselves on being surreal or just plain nonsensical. Their devising methods are very interesting, for example, they'll tell secrets, mess around, get drunk, take clothes off or just tell jokes. They have all these simple methods that can produce and spark any number of ideas and of course they go with the ones they find the most confusing or funny depending on the play. We watched and had to perform parts of their play "Bloody mess". We got the script for a section of the play with no context and asked to just make what we thought it would be or simply our own version. This was unbelievably funny and entertaining. Although when actually watching the real scene it was admittedly disappointing. I will admit that from what we saw of bloody mess, I didn't enjoy it much at all. I don't blame the style for this or even the ideas with in the play. The issue I had with it was really just it's pacing. it was very slow and whether or not it was intentional, it made what we saw very unengaging. However the scene we saw that had good pacing and seemed to embrace it's absurdity the most (The "Born to be Wild" sequence) was so entertaining and even funny despite making no sense and being very random. I admittedly love the ideas they have and the style appeals to me a lot. It is something I would love to do but not necessarily for this project since we need a focus on physical theatre too. I'm not sure if we can combine the styles but if we can I'd love to add some elements of these guys in.
Commedia Dell'arte:
The style has quite a few archetype characters with somewhat fixed personalities but their situations are the only thing that can be changed. So you could adapt a story and change the characters in that story to Commedia characters and if done properly it could work. You can even take them and make them defined characters but with the personality types of Commedia. This means you could have it potentially in a school and have a Zanni be a child with low confidence but enthusiasm or he gets bullied or even Brighella being the teacher since he's the one that wants things to go to plan and no one change anything or something along these lines. Our first session was spent going over some of the basic archetype characters that are used in the style. These were:
Harlequin: A very energetic, acrobatic young man servant who has a very big apatite and eats almost anything or at least thinks about it.
Brighella: A very high servant who will do anything for money and always wants everything to go according to plan.
The Captain: A man who claims to be a great fighter and a brave man but will weasel and cower his way out of any trouble he gets into.
The Doctor: A very knowledgeable fat man who often talks too much about what he knows but doesn't actually understand any of it. He is a fraud of a man.
The Lovers: Two very spoiled young people who will have fits of rage if one minute thing doesn't go their way. Even when it does they compliment each other but in a hollow way and are very arrogant
Pantalone: An old merchant who is very tight with money and is very needy, hard to please cynic. He stands with his back arched and has been described a vinegary.
Zanni: Practically a servant who is very willing to help but also very stupid and nervous in the
presence of authority. They seem to mainly communicate in noises that are similar to a bird or just very little words. They're very keen and curious.
Mime:
We had a single session to do with dealing with mime masks more and how we would use them. The masks had one emotion on it but due to the body language of the actor this emotion can be conveyed in a number of ways and you can seemingly change the level of the emotion for this session we would be put into group and then choose a mask each with a different emotion on it and then have to devise a short scene with the masks using the right amount of energy and physicality to bring the masks to life as much as we could. I was put with Jack A, Mike and Elle. We discussed our ideas of where the varying emotions could happen or what situation do people often like or dislike and I suggested a class room due to people either loving school or despising it or the people/situations there. We had to come up with something that could really only be expressed through movement so we decided to just do a little improvising first even though we had very little time. thankfully Mike decided to go with the idea that he is annoying the people in class and is blaming me for it which I think was great. It's a basic idea that can be told effectively using these masks. In the time we had we couldn't think of a structure for it so it was not very good when rehearsing although I could see the potential in there and I was worried when we actually had to perform it to the class. Although I thought that I'll just improvise and try to put more energy into it than I did initially and it turned to be quite good. I had a grumpy mask so I thought that he really doesn't want to be in school and doesn't want to associate with anyone. I had my arms crossed the majority of the time and any movement I did was exaggerated but not to the point where it looked like I was trying to be imposing or anything along those lines. The improv worked and even some of the stuff we made up was quite funny, mainly our unrealistic movements. The other groups did very well too especially Becky who had a worried/scared mask that seemed to change the level of fear even though it was just using her body it could go from nervous to very scared in a few seconds and be believable just due to how her body was moving. That alone made me see the importance of body language. I have been aware of this before but that seemed to emphasise it and make me more interested in this style of physical theatre. I'm now intrigued to do it myself for the devising project and if my group chooses it then I shall be quite happy.
Christina's world session on devising:
This session was a look at how the devising process would go or at least very closely of how it should go. We were shown a stimulus and then split into 2 groups and then asked to come up with ideas about what the stimulus was about. The stimulus we were shown was the Andrew Wyeth magic realism style painting "Christina's world" which depicts a girl in a field crawling back to her house in the distance. This initially made me think of the themes of running away yet wanting to go back or being in a bad situation that you can't leave but I think I may have been over analysing because my first theme didn't seem to match it since the girl in the picture was disabled which we found out after we gave our ideas and that changed my perspective of the painting a bit. After this we were told to go and make a still image based off of the painting and it's themes. My group came up with the idea of that about 5 of us would hold Christina (Elle) at her feet and literally be her disability while Pau and Logan were the painter who didn't help her but just decided to make art based on her. After that we had to add move and even add sound if we wanted. Elle decided to do a movement where shes trying to move but then we keep pulling her back. When asked to add a sound to it or words we all agreed we should say "We can not move. We are broken.". All this combined made a visually interesting and engaging moment. This small session was actually quite useful to show that something simple like the stimulus can inspire very different, unique and interesting ideas
Steven Berkoff:
We have done 2 sessions on the work of Steven Berkoff, more specifically the style in which his work is done and communicated. His style involves things such as over articulation, exaggerated movements, clockwork moments or anything to a rhythm. That's just his movements, he also has some naturalistic acting in but that's not his focus
The work we were given was to be put into groups of 5 and then be given a location to act out a small scene in which we had to have 16 movements each and act them out to a beat and even and sound effects to them. Me, Jack, Max, Brad and Rhys were given a pub scenario and it in all honesty didn't go that well. We misunderstood that we had to do 16 initially and we found out half way through the devising and I kept my four movements but changed the body language on them as they went along to sort of tell a story but unfortunate that was not the point. Our piece was not very good and seemed very unorganised, this is mainly due to misunderstanding both the task and style and due to it being off beat at times which didn't help. At the time I had little understanding of what the specifics of the style actually was and the task overall for us was a mess but the other groups pieces were actually quite impressive so I can see the potential in the style and it seems promising I just wish we understood it for this task.
After that we were set a task where we were given a piece of text and then have to apply Berkoffs style to it. I was put with Katrina, Sam, Becca and Georgia. I had to play a servant to Katrina who is very nervous yet willing to help in a similar vain to a zanni for Commedia Dell'arte. This was admittedly fun. The scene revolved around a baptism and dropping the baby and the mother not really caring that much which was to me quite funny. Ideas that I came up with were to actually help Katrina up onto her chair but also her waiting and then me realising and panicking while also holding a baby in my hands. I also thought of any thing to do with my character and how he acted such as the high pitched panicky laugh and the well spoken yet nervous and enthusiastic voice and even how happy he got when his master uses his head as an arm rest. this whole task was really fun and interesting to do and I think it went pretty well in terms of implementing the style such as there was the occasional clockwork movement, some slow motion and controlled body language but there was admittedly not enough and the was definitely room for more including some sound effects but we simply didn't include those much if at all. There was also very little exaggerated speech in the piece so overall that task went very well but needed some improvements.
The same could be said of the next task we were given the following day. We were given a piece of text that Berkoff had used for one of his plays that was based off of a Greek tragedy where a man had an affair with another mans wife and then that other man fed his children to him at a dinner and then told him. Quite a dark yet weirdly interesting story/piece to adapt and I was actually quite intrigued by the task. I was put with Katrina, Sam, Elle and Jack T. We were either the people at the actual mean or we were the conspirators planning the evening out and that was what I thought was the more interesting approach even if it probably didn't fit or would've made the play but as a stand alone piece I thought it worked. I did suggest that to the others but they seemed to go with the actual meal interpretation which means the ideas may have clashed when we performed it but it seemed to go well. I was sat at the table as the conspirator pretending to be the father while the others were acting out handing me the food and the potential taunts and phrases said and describing in detail what would happen. Overall I think it went well but same as the last task there was just a few things we needed to add. We're being too subtle and that's something we need to sort out. We needed more sound effects and exaggerated and over pronounced speech there was barley any in there. This style to me seems interesting but out of all of them it's one of the few I don't find especially interesting but I think it's unfair to dismiss it so during rehearsals if I get the chance I will suggest trying it out if it fits the situation.
Links:
http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/media/media/downloads/Frantic_Assembly_Resource_Pack_2012.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUqZPfGIX6U
http://www.forcedentertainment.com/about/
https://www.dv8.co.uk/about-dv8/faqs#top
https://www.dv8.co.uk/about-dv8
http://www.moma.org/collection/works/78455
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_0TAXWt8hY
http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa110800b.htm
Wednesday 10 February 2016
Devising Project Blog 6: Week 4
Monday, 1/2/16:
Today we continued with the scene that me, Katrina and max were working on Wednesday. We had a fair few interesting ideas for it, some of them we even made up as we went along. We also worked on the scene afterwards which involves a robbery of the diner and the death of Anita. During the argument scene Anita will be played by Katrina and then Elle in the robbery scene. I will be Playing Roy in the former scene and either Brad or Jack T in the latter. Today Jack A had to fill that part because neither Brad nor Jack T were in today. Although we still got the first scene done and then the next scene (Which is our second to last) nearly done. The scenes go like this. I am pacing up and down while looking at a letter on a table, then I go over to the letter looking at it which says that I'm infertile and then I throw it to the ground. Anita comes in and finds it on the floor and reads it. She then confronts me about lying to her and then we have a physical representation of an argument with one of us not wanting to explain but wanting forgiveness and the other angry about the others deceit. Then Anita thinks about not being able to have a baby. We then go into the next scene where it's years later and they have reconciled and they are closing the diner for the night. A man (Played by Sam) refuses to leave and pulls a gun out on Anita. He shoots her and steals the money from the dine while Roy comes down and finds her dead. At the end of showing this Karen said that we should ask ourselves certain questions when doing this such as why does Max where the mask? although no questions were aimed at me and I can't think of any as of now.
My Input:
The ideas that I personally contributed today started with the argument for first scene we did today. I suggested certain moves for the moments after Katrina grabs my face for me to look at her. I suggested a series of turns and round by throughs. I am always trying to keep her from facing me since I don't want to explain why I hid the truth from her. We tried it out with me choreographing it and it was very flowing and looked very good according to the group who watched us. It was also a way to feed into Katrina's idea that she mentioned. I noticed in order to do Katrina's idea we would have to swap sides somehow and my idea fit very well and caused us to do so, so that was more motivation for me suggesting it since I really liked her idea. I also helped with directing Sam in the robbery scene and suggested how he should walk and approach Elle and how he should shoot. I suggested that he get up slowly and then walk past her to then stop and pull the gun out. The others seemed to change that slightly to that he now walks towards her and then pulls it out. They wanted a slightly physical moment between them and I said the easiest thing to do was to a round by through so it establishes a higher status for Sam. This seemed to be ignored in favour of a hymns hands sort of moment which works quite well. I also suggested that Sam should have his gun pointed at Elle for at least 5 seconds of complete silence and then he should shout "BANG!" which would be startling since it follows the silence or at least in the way we did it.
Group Input:
The idea that Katrina mentioned was to have the argument as a sort of dance. She had a few specific moments that she wanted to build upon as we went along. She showed me that she wanted me to grab her side and then bring her leg up and then we both move our top half in a circular motion. She also said about falling to the floor after I tear a metaphorical baby from her womb and then cries, "I'm never going to have a baby". At that point the which we recently introduced for this scene chorus will start singing "Bye Bye Baby" in a somewhat creepy manor. As of now I don't know if the intention is to have a moment of dark humour or to be actually creepy/disturbing but it comes off as both right now.
Teamwork:
Today, despite the fact we had 3 people away, we worked extremely well together and actually got a fair bit done. A lot of the group seemed more open to ideas such as when I was helping Sam with his scene and how he should approach it. I listened to his reasoning of why certain things should happen and vice versa. We all listened and expanded on any ideas when appropriate and even compromised a fair few times so that we could have something that worked as well as it could.
Strengths and weaknesses:
We worked very well today despite a few members not being here and the group was open to the idea of the gun sequence being mimed which I personally think is best for it. Sam in particular was surprisingly open for direction from me today which was great. He offered his opinion of the mime since he is the robber and would be the one doing it. He was not in favour of it and I listened and explained that from what we have got, it would be a more interesting scene physically than using a prop gun. He then lightened up to the idea thankfully and we stuck with what I think is quite an interesting take on the piece, both from a dramatic and physical stand point.
Weaknesses:
The only real weakness of today was that we had a couple members missing and this had a mild impact on the development of some scenes. This was not a major detriment but was a little inconvenient.
Developments:
Me and Katrina expanded on the scene that we have with Max and it has gone well. We now have some more basic choreography for the scene such as a lot of turns to display the objectives of the characters. Such as Roy (Who I'm playing in this scene) will mostly be turning away from Anita in this scene but she is trying to get him to face her. However even though Roy does want to avoid it he also doesn't want it to evolve into a full blown fight and is attempting to reconcile without a full explanation due to feeling ashamed. We need to finish it but it is coming along nicely with these moves which as of now are a little slow and awkward but with practice will get better. I initially thought my ideas were going to be ignored but thankfully were considered and they look good as of now, especially when I go round Katrina quickly but delicately. Now for convenience and flow I will throw the paper in the middle of the floor instead of under the table so it's more plausible for Anita to find it.
Research:
One point that Max brought up was whether or not Anita or Roy should own a gun since it seems common for business owners nowadays to have them but we don't know if they did in the 1990's so I looked into it. What I found suggests that it is allowed to be done depending on the state jurisdiction or gun laws since some of them vary. I found out however after researching this that we will not have Roy or Anita use or threaten to use a gun.
Problems and solutions:
As of now Katrina does have some issue with the spinning due to her knees but she is willing to keep going and practice it. she did get slightly better as we ran it and thankfully. Some of the Anita's were not in during the later half of the session so that means we could not block anything after Anita's death since the rest of them were supposed to come in for a montage although with knowledge of this we did not just stop with it altogether, we spoke about the movements that may be most dramatic or moving in anyway or at least to get a sense of reflection and possible nostalgia.
Tuesday, 2/2/16:
Today we had to show what we have of our pieces to the other group and the second year actors. We had to let the other group first and then we would go afterwards. I must admit I was impressed. watching made me realise that as a whole our group is just more unorganised since they had a more or less finished piece and we did not. This was unfortunate and sadly we had some issues that made our piece look far worse than it actually is. One, sound problems and two, Jack T was not in.
Criticism:
The second years and the other group gave us some criticism for the piece and since ours is incomplete I was expecting a fair amount. One thing was that they didn't get about Brad being a black man, they had no idea what the mask was supposed to be. I was very puzzled by this and even understood it and then I realised something. Max had forgot to do his speech about racism before the scene began and that meant they had no context. so while that was valid it has been somewhat fixed since we have to get him to remember that he has to say them to give context for the scene changes. Another one that Chloe gave us was that the freeze frames in the 50's scene with Jack a and Georgia are a bit messy. Actually in general that was the main criticism we had for the piece since a lot of our cues were wrong and made it seem very unfinished (Which it is) but that was due to lack of run throughs and improper cues which will be ironed out as we go along. Another point was from Matt from year 2 was that the "Tetris" theme stands out too much and while I can understand this in the sense that from it fitting the era isn't right, that wasn't the point of it being used. We did it more for the intent of the characters, not to represent a period. I will discuss that with the group when I get the chance. One comment that I wholeheartedly agree with is that during the 50's new years scene. Joe pointed out that we're just dancing normally and while I knew that, it never actually came into any of our heads that that was an ideal opportunity for physical moments that seem more surreal or more appealing than dancing normally. That is something that all of now think needs work so we're going to work on it at some point. We also were told that the customers should be doing things such as Berkovian movements and this I agree is true but we are already doing it to a degree such as me and Jack A do it when we drink and the girls even do some synchronised movements. But I do agree that there should be a lot more and that the ones we have should be made more noticeable.
Problems and solutions:
One issue was with the music, since we had no one to operate it that wasn't an actor, Max had to do it himself but with this came a couple of problems. One, he had to go off stage at points to turn it on and this lead to some very awkward moments and some slow pacing. Two, the songs were not edited to start at the points we wanted so this meant something like the "Tetris" remix started at the beginning rather than from about 40 seconds where we wanted it to be. This lead to a scene that was a nit too long and messy since a lot of people didn't get the timing right due to that we didn't have the actual cue to do so. Three, Max actually got the wrong music at one point for the twist song even though that did not affect much it's still a mild issue. Four, since the music had some issues that we didn't expect, it caused us to noticeably react to it or make the timing seem more off and messy. The way this could be resolved is by having the sound clips edited so that they start where we want them to but don't cut out the end so we aren't too tightly timed and in case we run over. Another issue was Brad's black mask. It fell off during the performance and not apparently it didn't communicate that he was black. This is a problem since there is no other way to indicate it with out being racist. We can't put make up him for that reason and even then he could not keep it on for the entire thing since he plays Roy at one point. The only solution I can think of at the moment is to literally hold up a sign pointing it out or someone saying it verbally. I will talk about that with the group on Thursday. The last problem we had was that Jack T was not in and this meant that we had to show the piece with him missing in certain scenes which besides looking weird also confused people slightly. This can be resolved by re blocking certain scenes without him in mind since his attendance lately has been very low. This shouldn't be too hard and it will be very effective hopefully in making it less awkward than simply not having him there.
Developments:
Today Sam had to leave because of an appointment right after showing the piece. Because of this, I had to fill in for him as the robber for the 90's scene and almost right away the group agreed that I should be the robber since I could show the emotion of anger in my phase more and could pull off a more intimidating physicality.
My input:
I Suggested quite a few ideas today that were at the very least considered or incorporated. Today max mentioned that just staring with contempt and hatred at me looked really cheesy, while i disagree with that I thought it was an ideal chance to give him something physical to do so I suggested him acting out his character's anger on me in a violent way while the music is playing. I suggested doing something extreme. The move I said to do was to cut my throat by wrapping his arm around my neck and then aggressively rubbing it and going back to him with a cutting motion. This looked very good once we went over it a few times so Max could get the anger and speed right. Max then added some of his own movements which I would follow and flow with that looked very good according to the people that watched. Max maybe a little rough when performing the actions but that's something I'm OK with as long as the actions look smoother or more authentic because of it. I also suggested that instead having a black out for Elle to get onto the table, we should just lift her up onto there (Or just one of us if possible) so we would not have to use up another lighting cue. This is now what we are doing. I also said that I should shout "BANG!" even though this technically was brads idea for the war scene we scrapped, I have applied it for a different context and form of delivery. Now it's done with silence and to one person. I mentioned this before but I have added more to it. When I went to walk off/run across the front of the stage to leave the scene, I thought I'd just look at the audience with a look of horror or anger/rage. This hopefully may add something a bit more involving even if only a little. Georgia then said that it would be a good idea to shoot into or above the audience which I think is an interesting idea and does seem to work as of now. I also want to change my dance scene to where I'm at the bar and drinking in a clockwork motion (Maybe not to a beat) but every time the song says twist, I will spin around and then get back to drinking again until my cue for something else happens. I need to try this out at some point and hopefully it should look interesting. And finally I suggested using actual 9/11 audio for the scene so that it adds authenticity to it because I think a generic explosion sound will be a bit cheesy or out of place in my mind.
Teamwork:
The group worked well today and had a very great sense of focus and even with taking on ideas. We listed all the criticisms we remembered from our session and then tried to see if we could add anything or change anything to improve these moments. Even after Katrina had to leave we still got on with our piece surprisingly well which I was very happy about we even got a few very good ideas from here such as the aforementioned moment where max symbolically kills me.
Wednesday, 3/2/16:
Today we did not have a devising session but we all decided to stay back and rehearse what we had or develop things. We partially blocked the 9/11 scene that Katrina had come up with. She had the idea of us more or less destroying the set but in slow motion. Me, Jack A and Katrina would be the explosion which destroys the building. We would flip over the tables and chairs and then see how it looked. We decided to do a rough version of this and it looked surprisingly good even though it definitely needs smoothing out. I personally think this idea is fantastic and could be very moving if done correctly. The only real problem with this is that sometimes you can see we're having trouble with certain things such as controlling the objects properly but this is something that should be fixed with more and more practice. We also need to see if we can assign certain people to certain objects but this is something we'll need to work out. We also had an idea for a brief wedding scene for Anita and Roy but we need to think of a way to fit it in and choreograph it.
Thursday, 4/2/16:
Today We tried to get as much as possible done as we could and even blocked our 9/11 scene completely. It has now developed into something that looks very nice and stylised especially with the music that was suggested. It now seems very fluid and to an audience member, hopefully moving.
Creative ideas/input:
I suggested to Jack A that we should have faces that imply anger or chaos since we're the ones causing the destruction. He liked the idea and it seemed to go well although Katrina just wanted to focus on the moves at that point rather than the small details.
Group input:
The song suggested was a song called "I miss you daddy" which is a 9/11 tribute song that does fit very well with it and blends with the slow motions and general speed of the piece. Another idea suggested was that Daniella and Sam will come on the stage with grey sheets to act as smoke or debris. Even though we plan to have actual smoke it will fit and make the scene have a motif somewhat with the use of sheets. An idea for the end was for the moment when we will (if we can find one big enough) lift a sheet to cover the stage and then move all of the set off and then all form a horseshoe around Max who will lay on the table and have a final moment with Elle.
Problems and solutions:
A problem with our final scene is that while it's great and potentially very moving, it does mean Max now has less to do. Originally we planned for him to have moments with each of us at the end to give him a decently lengthy scene which would conclude it nicely to see him finally get a big part. I spoke to Max about this and while he wasn't annoyed and completely understood why, he was still a little disappointed so I tried to help him come to a compromise. I suggested that in his moments of dialogue he shouldn't just move naturalistically since this could be and ideal time to add some Berkovian walks like in the intro sequence of "The Trial" or that he could even mime during moments when he isn't talking to make his scenes lengthier and more physical. He seemed open to the ideas and says he will consider it. I hope he does because I know he is capable.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths:
Despite having moments of being very unfocused, we actually got a fir bit done and have had some good ideas or have gone over the choreography. We managed to re-block the opening scene without Jack T who will no longer be in the piece and the scenes do seem to flow pretty well without him thankfully. The fight scene I had with him is the same except that now it will be brad pushing me over the table and then I will stay out of the scene while Jack A and Brad do the same as they did before. Today a couple members of the other group came into our room and wanted to see a scene that we were unable to perform Tuesday. Me and Katrina were working on our scene so we decided to show them. We ran through the whole scene and then asked if they had any feedback. They admittedly didn't have much. They both said that the scene was very good but needed smoothing out with the choreography since it seems obvious we trying to remember it slightly. I appreciated this but it was something we already knew however I still think it's useful to let us know.
Weaknesses:
A weakness of this sessions is that at a few points we did lose focus as usual. We some of the group did which impacts the others ability to to work but other than that I think today went quite well.
Developments:
We have finally decided what our costume will be. It will be all of us in black clothes and with just one article of clothing to distinguish who's playing who. The current Roy will wear a jacket or waistcoat and the current Anita will wear a headband or bow in their hair. We will get which ever is easiest to find.
Research:
Today I thought of doing some research into the event of 9/11. Now I actually know a fair bit about the event due to reading or watching a lot about it in the past but I'm gonna look some things up again just to be sure. We are focusing specifically on the twin towers in New York so there will be no references to the pentagon attack or flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania. The one thing I had to find out was whether or not people actually took shelter in buildings or just ran away. What I already know and can find suggest both but since nobody knew that the buildings would collapse so quickly (If at all) they had no reason to get a s far away as possible. This means that it would make perfect sense for people to take shelter in Roy's diner, especially considering that they're injured. Also while the collapse of each building only lasted for about 11 seconds, the debris and smoke would travel fast around the city for a good few minutes (Especially in the surrounding area) so this means that the length of the destruction scene makes sense and isn't too long. The videos I've seen of the collapse do support this, they are linked below.
Links for this week:
http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdIiyBFlPr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8mz09VQQ2M
http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks#
Today we continued with the scene that me, Katrina and max were working on Wednesday. We had a fair few interesting ideas for it, some of them we even made up as we went along. We also worked on the scene afterwards which involves a robbery of the diner and the death of Anita. During the argument scene Anita will be played by Katrina and then Elle in the robbery scene. I will be Playing Roy in the former scene and either Brad or Jack T in the latter. Today Jack A had to fill that part because neither Brad nor Jack T were in today. Although we still got the first scene done and then the next scene (Which is our second to last) nearly done. The scenes go like this. I am pacing up and down while looking at a letter on a table, then I go over to the letter looking at it which says that I'm infertile and then I throw it to the ground. Anita comes in and finds it on the floor and reads it. She then confronts me about lying to her and then we have a physical representation of an argument with one of us not wanting to explain but wanting forgiveness and the other angry about the others deceit. Then Anita thinks about not being able to have a baby. We then go into the next scene where it's years later and they have reconciled and they are closing the diner for the night. A man (Played by Sam) refuses to leave and pulls a gun out on Anita. He shoots her and steals the money from the dine while Roy comes down and finds her dead. At the end of showing this Karen said that we should ask ourselves certain questions when doing this such as why does Max where the mask? although no questions were aimed at me and I can't think of any as of now.
My Input:
The ideas that I personally contributed today started with the argument for first scene we did today. I suggested certain moves for the moments after Katrina grabs my face for me to look at her. I suggested a series of turns and round by throughs. I am always trying to keep her from facing me since I don't want to explain why I hid the truth from her. We tried it out with me choreographing it and it was very flowing and looked very good according to the group who watched us. It was also a way to feed into Katrina's idea that she mentioned. I noticed in order to do Katrina's idea we would have to swap sides somehow and my idea fit very well and caused us to do so, so that was more motivation for me suggesting it since I really liked her idea. I also helped with directing Sam in the robbery scene and suggested how he should walk and approach Elle and how he should shoot. I suggested that he get up slowly and then walk past her to then stop and pull the gun out. The others seemed to change that slightly to that he now walks towards her and then pulls it out. They wanted a slightly physical moment between them and I said the easiest thing to do was to a round by through so it establishes a higher status for Sam. This seemed to be ignored in favour of a hymns hands sort of moment which works quite well. I also suggested that Sam should have his gun pointed at Elle for at least 5 seconds of complete silence and then he should shout "BANG!" which would be startling since it follows the silence or at least in the way we did it.
Group Input:
The idea that Katrina mentioned was to have the argument as a sort of dance. She had a few specific moments that she wanted to build upon as we went along. She showed me that she wanted me to grab her side and then bring her leg up and then we both move our top half in a circular motion. She also said about falling to the floor after I tear a metaphorical baby from her womb and then cries, "I'm never going to have a baby". At that point the which we recently introduced for this scene chorus will start singing "Bye Bye Baby" in a somewhat creepy manor. As of now I don't know if the intention is to have a moment of dark humour or to be actually creepy/disturbing but it comes off as both right now.
Teamwork:
Today, despite the fact we had 3 people away, we worked extremely well together and actually got a fair bit done. A lot of the group seemed more open to ideas such as when I was helping Sam with his scene and how he should approach it. I listened to his reasoning of why certain things should happen and vice versa. We all listened and expanded on any ideas when appropriate and even compromised a fair few times so that we could have something that worked as well as it could.
Strengths and weaknesses:
We worked very well today despite a few members not being here and the group was open to the idea of the gun sequence being mimed which I personally think is best for it. Sam in particular was surprisingly open for direction from me today which was great. He offered his opinion of the mime since he is the robber and would be the one doing it. He was not in favour of it and I listened and explained that from what we have got, it would be a more interesting scene physically than using a prop gun. He then lightened up to the idea thankfully and we stuck with what I think is quite an interesting take on the piece, both from a dramatic and physical stand point.
Weaknesses:
The only real weakness of today was that we had a couple members missing and this had a mild impact on the development of some scenes. This was not a major detriment but was a little inconvenient.
Developments:
Me and Katrina expanded on the scene that we have with Max and it has gone well. We now have some more basic choreography for the scene such as a lot of turns to display the objectives of the characters. Such as Roy (Who I'm playing in this scene) will mostly be turning away from Anita in this scene but she is trying to get him to face her. However even though Roy does want to avoid it he also doesn't want it to evolve into a full blown fight and is attempting to reconcile without a full explanation due to feeling ashamed. We need to finish it but it is coming along nicely with these moves which as of now are a little slow and awkward but with practice will get better. I initially thought my ideas were going to be ignored but thankfully were considered and they look good as of now, especially when I go round Katrina quickly but delicately. Now for convenience and flow I will throw the paper in the middle of the floor instead of under the table so it's more plausible for Anita to find it.
Research:
One point that Max brought up was whether or not Anita or Roy should own a gun since it seems common for business owners nowadays to have them but we don't know if they did in the 1990's so I looked into it. What I found suggests that it is allowed to be done depending on the state jurisdiction or gun laws since some of them vary. I found out however after researching this that we will not have Roy or Anita use or threaten to use a gun.
Problems and solutions:
As of now Katrina does have some issue with the spinning due to her knees but she is willing to keep going and practice it. she did get slightly better as we ran it and thankfully. Some of the Anita's were not in during the later half of the session so that means we could not block anything after Anita's death since the rest of them were supposed to come in for a montage although with knowledge of this we did not just stop with it altogether, we spoke about the movements that may be most dramatic or moving in anyway or at least to get a sense of reflection and possible nostalgia.
Tuesday, 2/2/16:
Today we had to show what we have of our pieces to the other group and the second year actors. We had to let the other group first and then we would go afterwards. I must admit I was impressed. watching made me realise that as a whole our group is just more unorganised since they had a more or less finished piece and we did not. This was unfortunate and sadly we had some issues that made our piece look far worse than it actually is. One, sound problems and two, Jack T was not in.
Criticism:
The second years and the other group gave us some criticism for the piece and since ours is incomplete I was expecting a fair amount. One thing was that they didn't get about Brad being a black man, they had no idea what the mask was supposed to be. I was very puzzled by this and even understood it and then I realised something. Max had forgot to do his speech about racism before the scene began and that meant they had no context. so while that was valid it has been somewhat fixed since we have to get him to remember that he has to say them to give context for the scene changes. Another one that Chloe gave us was that the freeze frames in the 50's scene with Jack a and Georgia are a bit messy. Actually in general that was the main criticism we had for the piece since a lot of our cues were wrong and made it seem very unfinished (Which it is) but that was due to lack of run throughs and improper cues which will be ironed out as we go along. Another point was from Matt from year 2 was that the "Tetris" theme stands out too much and while I can understand this in the sense that from it fitting the era isn't right, that wasn't the point of it being used. We did it more for the intent of the characters, not to represent a period. I will discuss that with the group when I get the chance. One comment that I wholeheartedly agree with is that during the 50's new years scene. Joe pointed out that we're just dancing normally and while I knew that, it never actually came into any of our heads that that was an ideal opportunity for physical moments that seem more surreal or more appealing than dancing normally. That is something that all of now think needs work so we're going to work on it at some point. We also were told that the customers should be doing things such as Berkovian movements and this I agree is true but we are already doing it to a degree such as me and Jack A do it when we drink and the girls even do some synchronised movements. But I do agree that there should be a lot more and that the ones we have should be made more noticeable.
Problems and solutions:
One issue was with the music, since we had no one to operate it that wasn't an actor, Max had to do it himself but with this came a couple of problems. One, he had to go off stage at points to turn it on and this lead to some very awkward moments and some slow pacing. Two, the songs were not edited to start at the points we wanted so this meant something like the "Tetris" remix started at the beginning rather than from about 40 seconds where we wanted it to be. This lead to a scene that was a nit too long and messy since a lot of people didn't get the timing right due to that we didn't have the actual cue to do so. Three, Max actually got the wrong music at one point for the twist song even though that did not affect much it's still a mild issue. Four, since the music had some issues that we didn't expect, it caused us to noticeably react to it or make the timing seem more off and messy. The way this could be resolved is by having the sound clips edited so that they start where we want them to but don't cut out the end so we aren't too tightly timed and in case we run over. Another issue was Brad's black mask. It fell off during the performance and not apparently it didn't communicate that he was black. This is a problem since there is no other way to indicate it with out being racist. We can't put make up him for that reason and even then he could not keep it on for the entire thing since he plays Roy at one point. The only solution I can think of at the moment is to literally hold up a sign pointing it out or someone saying it verbally. I will talk about that with the group on Thursday. The last problem we had was that Jack T was not in and this meant that we had to show the piece with him missing in certain scenes which besides looking weird also confused people slightly. This can be resolved by re blocking certain scenes without him in mind since his attendance lately has been very low. This shouldn't be too hard and it will be very effective hopefully in making it less awkward than simply not having him there.
Developments:
Today Sam had to leave because of an appointment right after showing the piece. Because of this, I had to fill in for him as the robber for the 90's scene and almost right away the group agreed that I should be the robber since I could show the emotion of anger in my phase more and could pull off a more intimidating physicality.
My input:
I Suggested quite a few ideas today that were at the very least considered or incorporated. Today max mentioned that just staring with contempt and hatred at me looked really cheesy, while i disagree with that I thought it was an ideal chance to give him something physical to do so I suggested him acting out his character's anger on me in a violent way while the music is playing. I suggested doing something extreme. The move I said to do was to cut my throat by wrapping his arm around my neck and then aggressively rubbing it and going back to him with a cutting motion. This looked very good once we went over it a few times so Max could get the anger and speed right. Max then added some of his own movements which I would follow and flow with that looked very good according to the people that watched. Max maybe a little rough when performing the actions but that's something I'm OK with as long as the actions look smoother or more authentic because of it. I also suggested that instead having a black out for Elle to get onto the table, we should just lift her up onto there (Or just one of us if possible) so we would not have to use up another lighting cue. This is now what we are doing. I also said that I should shout "BANG!" even though this technically was brads idea for the war scene we scrapped, I have applied it for a different context and form of delivery. Now it's done with silence and to one person. I mentioned this before but I have added more to it. When I went to walk off/run across the front of the stage to leave the scene, I thought I'd just look at the audience with a look of horror or anger/rage. This hopefully may add something a bit more involving even if only a little. Georgia then said that it would be a good idea to shoot into or above the audience which I think is an interesting idea and does seem to work as of now. I also want to change my dance scene to where I'm at the bar and drinking in a clockwork motion (Maybe not to a beat) but every time the song says twist, I will spin around and then get back to drinking again until my cue for something else happens. I need to try this out at some point and hopefully it should look interesting. And finally I suggested using actual 9/11 audio for the scene so that it adds authenticity to it because I think a generic explosion sound will be a bit cheesy or out of place in my mind.
Teamwork:
The group worked well today and had a very great sense of focus and even with taking on ideas. We listed all the criticisms we remembered from our session and then tried to see if we could add anything or change anything to improve these moments. Even after Katrina had to leave we still got on with our piece surprisingly well which I was very happy about we even got a few very good ideas from here such as the aforementioned moment where max symbolically kills me.
Wednesday, 3/2/16:
Today we did not have a devising session but we all decided to stay back and rehearse what we had or develop things. We partially blocked the 9/11 scene that Katrina had come up with. She had the idea of us more or less destroying the set but in slow motion. Me, Jack A and Katrina would be the explosion which destroys the building. We would flip over the tables and chairs and then see how it looked. We decided to do a rough version of this and it looked surprisingly good even though it definitely needs smoothing out. I personally think this idea is fantastic and could be very moving if done correctly. The only real problem with this is that sometimes you can see we're having trouble with certain things such as controlling the objects properly but this is something that should be fixed with more and more practice. We also need to see if we can assign certain people to certain objects but this is something we'll need to work out. We also had an idea for a brief wedding scene for Anita and Roy but we need to think of a way to fit it in and choreograph it.
Thursday, 4/2/16:
Today We tried to get as much as possible done as we could and even blocked our 9/11 scene completely. It has now developed into something that looks very nice and stylised especially with the music that was suggested. It now seems very fluid and to an audience member, hopefully moving.
Creative ideas/input:
I suggested to Jack A that we should have faces that imply anger or chaos since we're the ones causing the destruction. He liked the idea and it seemed to go well although Katrina just wanted to focus on the moves at that point rather than the small details.
Group input:
The song suggested was a song called "I miss you daddy" which is a 9/11 tribute song that does fit very well with it and blends with the slow motions and general speed of the piece. Another idea suggested was that Daniella and Sam will come on the stage with grey sheets to act as smoke or debris. Even though we plan to have actual smoke it will fit and make the scene have a motif somewhat with the use of sheets. An idea for the end was for the moment when we will (if we can find one big enough) lift a sheet to cover the stage and then move all of the set off and then all form a horseshoe around Max who will lay on the table and have a final moment with Elle.
Problems and solutions:
A problem with our final scene is that while it's great and potentially very moving, it does mean Max now has less to do. Originally we planned for him to have moments with each of us at the end to give him a decently lengthy scene which would conclude it nicely to see him finally get a big part. I spoke to Max about this and while he wasn't annoyed and completely understood why, he was still a little disappointed so I tried to help him come to a compromise. I suggested that in his moments of dialogue he shouldn't just move naturalistically since this could be and ideal time to add some Berkovian walks like in the intro sequence of "The Trial" or that he could even mime during moments when he isn't talking to make his scenes lengthier and more physical. He seemed open to the ideas and says he will consider it. I hope he does because I know he is capable.
Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths:
Despite having moments of being very unfocused, we actually got a fir bit done and have had some good ideas or have gone over the choreography. We managed to re-block the opening scene without Jack T who will no longer be in the piece and the scenes do seem to flow pretty well without him thankfully. The fight scene I had with him is the same except that now it will be brad pushing me over the table and then I will stay out of the scene while Jack A and Brad do the same as they did before. Today a couple members of the other group came into our room and wanted to see a scene that we were unable to perform Tuesday. Me and Katrina were working on our scene so we decided to show them. We ran through the whole scene and then asked if they had any feedback. They admittedly didn't have much. They both said that the scene was very good but needed smoothing out with the choreography since it seems obvious we trying to remember it slightly. I appreciated this but it was something we already knew however I still think it's useful to let us know.
Weaknesses:
A weakness of this sessions is that at a few points we did lose focus as usual. We some of the group did which impacts the others ability to to work but other than that I think today went quite well.
Developments:
We have finally decided what our costume will be. It will be all of us in black clothes and with just one article of clothing to distinguish who's playing who. The current Roy will wear a jacket or waistcoat and the current Anita will wear a headband or bow in their hair. We will get which ever is easiest to find.
Research:
Today I thought of doing some research into the event of 9/11. Now I actually know a fair bit about the event due to reading or watching a lot about it in the past but I'm gonna look some things up again just to be sure. We are focusing specifically on the twin towers in New York so there will be no references to the pentagon attack or flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania. The one thing I had to find out was whether or not people actually took shelter in buildings or just ran away. What I already know and can find suggest both but since nobody knew that the buildings would collapse so quickly (If at all) they had no reason to get a s far away as possible. This means that it would make perfect sense for people to take shelter in Roy's diner, especially considering that they're injured. Also while the collapse of each building only lasted for about 11 seconds, the debris and smoke would travel fast around the city for a good few minutes (Especially in the surrounding area) so this means that the length of the destruction scene makes sense and isn't too long. The videos I've seen of the collapse do support this, they are linked below.
Links for this week:
http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdIiyBFlPr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8mz09VQQ2M
http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks#
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