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.
No comments:
Post a Comment