PMD1/2/4 Generating Material , Dance scene VDU

http://youtu.be/qDub9LaXaII


This video above looks at a dance scene that Charlotte, Megan and Bella have created for the performance.
This scene incorporates grotesque like movement and
elements from the masquerade scene for instance the curtseying. This video also shows us discussing how we would develop the material ourselves.

One development I suggested to add in was to make the performance more grotesque. In order to achieve this we said to add in a soundscape during the performance to emphasis the concept of disease and contagion. The dancers would add in coughs, gags, sneezes and other symptoms of illness.

Other developments made by the rest of the cast were to incorporate more marking the moment more to emphasis certain movements.

Additionally Bella wanted to add in more movement in unison so that the piece flows more and moments in which the group come together would be effective and less disjointed.

http://youtu.be/-B_daDeVrRk

This video shows the development of our dance scene. The scene involves Bella, Charlotte and Megan. In the video you can see the concept of contagion more evident through a symptom structure created shown below.

The theme of disease is shown through each movement representing a different concept:

• Scratching
• Dropping (stomach cramp)
• Vomiting
• Coughing

The ending of the scene

PMD1/2/4 Creating character monolgues VDU

This lesson there was only 4 of us in the lesson. This was a setback as we didn't have the full cast to futher develop our masquerade scene being the 'next step' in last weeks schedule.

In order to generate more material myself and Hannah decided to create 6 monologues to ensure everyone had a speaking role during the performance.

At random we chose 3 random storylines of the characters...

• " A Pirate, who is about to take over a ship"
• " A Doctor, a patient comes to life on his autopsy table"
• " A Time traveller, who just invented a time machine"
• " A gluttonous Chef, who never finishes making a dish"
• " A mistress of the King, trying not to get caught by the Queen"
• "A Nurse, who delivers conjoined twins" 

I chose the Pirate, Doctor and Time traveller titles whilst Hannah did the other three. We decided to style the monologues in the unique style of Beckett, using repetition, emotive less expression , gasping and soundscape e.g. coughing.

We had 10 minutes for each monologue to ensure we didn't waste time. In addition these monologues are to be recited in a timely fashion and therefore do not need to be long.

Below are the three monologue I wrote...

Below is a copy of the monologues Hannah created with annotations of changes/developments I would make.

PMD1/2/4 Masquerade Scene CKR

During this lesson Bella , Courtney and Megan devised a dance motif by collating their individual movement responses tour stimuli. This was the foundation of our Masquerade dance that was then taught to the rest of the group.

The 3 with direction from the rest of the company developed their individual movement into one piece.

http://youtu.be/KZB5VnoyONY

This video shows us suggesting performance possibilities for the scene and you can see the material created from the three individual motifs has been combined into movement to be taught to everyone in after school rehearsal sessions.



Development of the Masquerade scene:

This lesson consisted of the company developing the masquerade ball scene to link to our ideas of hidden identity and contagion. Refining needed to also be added to ensure the piece is detailed and fluid enough.

http://youtu.be/JJ6Rjep1pf0

Above is Courtney and Bella's development of the corridor suction of the scene. We decided that Courtney's puppet character should have some devised movement for moving through the "corridor of death". In the clip you can see suggestions were made to take a few small steps then into a crab. Contortion of the body was suggested and effective as it emphasised the fact she has no control.

Iyla and Megan worked on creating a more appropriate monologue for the corridor section also, in the style of Brecht, with the context focusing more on death and disease.

Matthew worked solo and researched and devised a monologue for his "Doctor" role to recite later in the scene. Below is a collection of the steps, I also added images so for development that we can learn and add as gestures whilst Matthew explains the procedure.

Lastly myself, Hannah and Charlotte. Discussed ideas about the "ring a ring a rosies" section whilst Matthews Doc. character delivers his hand washing monologue. We decided reciting the song was irrelevant and too much time was wasted on the timings of the song. Additionally the last verse "we all fall down" in the writers original intention signifies the death. As this is a middle section scene it didn't make sense to have the participants of the ball die at this moment. We removed the song entirely and moved Matthews monologue to come afterwards during when we courtesy and death travels around us leading us to feel uncomfortable and dirty, hence the need for a thorough hand scrub. We decided to build the intensity and speed as Iylas "Death" character moved closer to her "Puppet" Courtney.

After sharing this with the group we found it to be a successful development. From this discussion we decided Iyla to portray death and Courtney her puppet, being a friend by utter force. This links more effectively to our idea of "hidden identities" as it shows deaths evil, cunning and ruthless nature however her choice of companion shows infact she is alone, isolated and unloved by anyone and has to force a friendship for company in a world of isolation.  

Below is a completed rehearsal schedule for this session.

PMD1/2 Structuring developed pieces

 

 This image shows our initial structure we created as a group for our performance last week. The purpose of this was to ensure each scene has a seamless transition. Additionally we needed to ensure the order of the scenes made sense and didn't confuse the audience as this could hinder their ability to understand and see our message of "death is eminent".

This week we created another structure outlining the scenes involved. After further developing the work its evident this structure is most appropriate. The purpose of us structuring the scenes is to ensure to time is wasted decided what to develop/ devise next as we have a plan set out.

PMD3/4 Discussing performance ideas & allocating roles CKR

http://youtu.be/6FtfWlVJM4M

This video demonstrates our discussion of ideas relating to our performance. We talked about ideas we found successful particularly most of our previously generated movement such as "contagion/plague" , "red death" proving to have a lot of performance potential for the final piece once developed. Also irrelevant ideas were disregarded too such as the Victorian era and setting from the Mask of Red Death.

The mind map above showcases the variety of roles and the people they are allocated to. Every individual has atleast one role. The purpose of this is to ensure we are organised and work together as a team to ensure everything is completed to a sufficient standard ready for our performance.

PMD2/3/4 Developing still images VDU

"Red Death" Development:

http://youtu.be/WCluE-3MS9g


The video above demonstrates material
that we have developed as a group from
our previous "Red Death" response the
other week. We took aspects of the
masquerade ball such as the ball room
 dance moves(two steps , together, two
 steps, together *repeat*). However to
 make it suitable for our audience and
style/genre we decided to make our
movement more grotesque.

To do this we experimented with different
levels. We found a level 6 of energy created
the perfect crooked and slouched look. We then
distorted our limbs into disjointed positions to
give the appearance of being revolting. This adds
meaning to our movement as we are holding
up a front / façade, and now the audience can see the
ugliness in our true self.

Afterwards we use a suitcase to symbolise
the concept of contagion from our stimulus
and transform it to our underlying message
of social media ,for the purpose of props
however in final piece technology will be used
most likely a laptop. I decided to test out the
idea that we are now repelled by technology
particularly social media, however we have
become so absorbed we struggle to stay onto
the wall. The force pulls us in, getting stronger,
pulling us towards the contagion. The purpose
of this is to represent the two different identities,
the fake façade and the original identity that has
become hidden. Subtlety the laughter of naivety
towards the poor and outside world turns to screams
and cries to try and break the connection.

Development:

For further development I would add in more
exaggerated facial expressions to show our
fear and pain more obviously. Also emphasising
our body language and movement will show the
struggle more clearly, such as more intense grabbing
,crawling etc.

Additionally to extend this scene more focus towards
the masquerade dancing itself is needed to show our
self indulged selves to then flip into fear and repulsion.

Lastly to develop the soundscape, we could add in the
laughter and screams at differing times and pitch.
Therefore unique sounds are created we can show the
force getting stronger by increasing our volume.


"Corridor of Death" scene development:

http://youtu.be/Nu0Qyqx8f5Y

In this video the group is running through our
masquerade style movement. Iyla devised a Beckett
style monologue to speak whilst walking through
the corridor of death and disease, aspects of the Mask
of Red Death are also mentioned.
Development

One key critic was the Iyla's monologue wasn't as
suitable to our movement and style of the piece, instead
it was too focused on the exact storyline of our stimulus
opposed to an interpretation.
Below is Iyla's attempt at creating a Beckett style monologue which i helped her with.

Additionally development is for each of the "rooms"
to react as Iyla (death) walks by. This can be done by
repelled movement as practised in the first video, or
we can each create a soundscape of sounds such as
sneezing, coughing, gagging, all symptoms of illness.

http://youtu.be/atgqdmxeBDI

This video looks at another section of masquerade ball dancing which we are performing, however this time we all got given something that repulses us away from the other person. For example, one person is constantly coughing, another person is sniffing and sneezing.

PMD2 Confirming Ideas & generating ideas for performance CKR

The mind map above was created by the whole company. It contains ideas for performance as well as relevant practitioners such as Beckett and Artaud. You can see on the mind map circled ideas of which where the areas we wanted to focus on being "hidden identity" and "masquerade ball". We decided to have these main ideas for the final performance as we felt that the movement previously devised was suitable and effective. It also meant we could develope it further to create more finished scenes.

Our second mind map includes our target audience of which we decided to be aged 17+. We didn't want to aim any younger as we believed they would be able to comprehend some of our more complex themes and styles such as the work of Artaud. However by targeting 17+ the audience members are old enough to understand the performance and more likely to catch onto the underlying message about societal issues circulating the internet.

Our third mind map looks into the different mediums that we are going to use when developing previous material. Also what we have to decide upon when creating new material. It also lists what we can develop into structuring our performance.

The first still image we created was a pyramid. We devised this image as it represents the gothic architecture and structure of the castle itself- where our masquerade ball is being held. By using a pyramid we are emphasising the size of the setting, without consuming a large amount of space.

 Our second still image shows the masquerade ball itself. At this stage everyone is jubilant and enjoying the festivities together shown by the naturalistic posture and positive facial expressions of smiles and laughter. This is the beginning image of which will develop and exaggerate as the performance develops.

This still image here represents a toast at the ball. However the distorted positioning of our limbs signifies the disease slowly stripping away our hidden identity and facade. 

The next still image shows each dance duet dancing. However you can see from the positioning and posture that each person is repelled by their partner and tried to break away however there is a bond keeping them together. This symbolises the original identity trying to break through despite the efforts to tame it.

Our final still image shows the last stage of the ball, being where everyone dies. This is where our performance message "Death is eminent" comes into play. The image shows how even in our dying moments we still try to keep our facade but we have no more strength to hold up the veil shown by the low levelling of the image signifying weakness. Our raised arms symbolise our last attempts at holding our facade in a final toast. 

PMD2 Developing Material VDU

During this lesson we were to focus on a concept inspired by the Mask of Red Death script, of which had performance potential .

Both myself and Hannah wanted to further explore the idea of differing emotions/personalities, from this we decided to focus on the idea of "hidden identities".

One main idea to link with the script was the colour of the doors to represent the two identities. Similar to that of the gothic piece of literature "Jekyll and Hyde". I was the white door, from that we found connotations of innocence, purity and remorse. For Hannah we used connotations of the black door being death, danger and anguish. Both colours contrast and that of the personalities/ identities of the character, the two colours are also symbolic, the white reflects the good side and the black represents the evil and misdemeanour.

We used the silent sculpture technique to create the posture and facial expressions for the "angel and devil" still image.

In addition we wanted to show the progression of the severity of the battle between the two identities each wanting to become the driver not the passenger. We begin as one person, we used the clock element of the script to show time passing through soundscape of adding in 6-12 beats. At the last beat a chime would ring signalling the split of identities. 

Then the two identities break free and a standoff emerges. We had Hannah have a heavier stomp again to embody her personality traits (disgust, anger, beastly, misdemeanour). Whilst I tip toed gently to show my innocence and fear trying not to evoke any conflict.

We added in a hip lift as well as spins to shift around the space , there was a lot of clashing and contact to show to conflict, as time when on my identity became weaker and eventually defeated by the evil identity.

Peer evaluation and assessment

After creating our responses we shared them to the group trying to spot elements that clearly show a link to the concept chosen. Feedback was given to each for further development.

Matthew & Iyla( Death Room):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrtKB6fV1fA&feature=youtu.be

This video showcases Matthew and Iyla's original material which is entering the abbey, it shows the characters dying once entering the doors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQhq4OgqetU

Here is their developed response after taking on our feedback. This now involved the rest of the company as they wanted to emphasis the idea of death. The message of the piece is to show being dead on the inside but being too engrossed in decadence to notice about their decaying soul.


Meera & Hannah (Hidden Identities):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B09rTkyFZow

Our concept was hidden identity. We wanted to show two different personalities trapped in one body and the battle of control. We combined elements from the Mask of Red death, being the coloured doors (white and black) and used these to devise our juxtaposing characters. Myself being innocent, good and pure, that of an angel. Whilst Hannah was dark, angry and mischievous, that of the devil. We thought this concept was suitable as it was relevant to the theme of gothic literature, also it would be suitable for our audience of 17+ , as it's a milder take on horror and thriller.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VOhFnCTjPg

After feedback we decided we wanted to remain a duo. We continually ran through the piece whilst our peers gave feedback on what was successful and what required further development. Areas which we developed was firstly the still images of the devil and the angel. The company didn't recognise the characters we aimed to portray so we needed to emphasise our body language. I added in wispy arm movement to symbolise the angels wings, whilst Hannah melted, with a crooked posture and angry facial expressions to better portray the devil.

Courtney, Bella, Charlotte & Megan (Quartet Contagion):

This group decided to take aspects of material previously generated material created in our "death" response which they developed to link with the idea of "contagion" and "plague".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04cB9y3gsfA

This video shows how the plague spreads around eventually resulting in a pandemic. They had two people embody the plague itself whom catch and spread the disease onto the other two. The message of this piece was "death is eminent". Despite their best efforts they were unable to escape the plague resulting in their death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efxKJQvXK3A

After group feedback the group decided to use the whole company for development.
We looked at different ways that we can involve the whole ensemble. After discussion and trial of movement we decided the new additions (Myself, Matthew, Iyla and Hannah) would begin to represent blood cells of the plague containing the virus. We moulded our bodied into a long posture to represent the crescent cell, we huddled and included disjointed movement to symbolise the plague infecting the blood. We then joined the original four to create a body of which the plague had completely infected.

Self reflection and evaluation:

Overall I found aspects in each group to be useful to include in our final performance.

Firstly I think the grotesque elements of Matthew and Iyla's piece was relevant and suitable for our audience and it fits the theme of horror with Artaud's elements of "theatre for cruelty", gothic architecture with the grand abbeys and scenery the message conveyed was useful about being too self indulged and obsessed with vanity leading to an ignorance of the outside world.

From the "Quartet Contagion" group, I found their message useful. For our performance the message we want to covey to the audience is "Death is eminent". From this we can focus on more modern societal issues such as neglect and transparency of the rich shunning the poor, being too self indulged in their rich materialistic property to notice the world deteriorate right in front of them.

I don't think the movement me and Hannah generated was suitable for performance. There were alot of awkward movement and not enough transitions to flow seamlessly. However i suggest the concept of "hidden identities" from our piece can be a successful focal point/ message for our performance as again it can be linked to modern issues and societal pressures. To be accessible for our younger audience (16-19) themes of technology and social media can also be covered to make the piece more relatable to topics such as peer pressure.

PMD2 Exploring stimuli: Death CKR

Friday 27th May 2016

 Death Response

During this lesson we focused on developing material based upon the "death" factor in the "Mask of the Red Death" stimulus.

We listened to an audio music file, and had to respond our initial ideas from the music. Below is a mind map of ideas I created, with some developments for performance.

 

 

 Then as a whole group we collated our ideas and added in appropriate practitioners making sure the ideas were suitable for performance.

 

Here are all of the different ideas we generated as a company. We aimed to link each idea back to the idea of death whilst also linking in suitable practitioners. In particular the "swansong" idea we chose to develop movement on, we decided to look at different parts of a funeral and in particular the effect death has upon family, friends & society. (Shown in the video link below).

http://youtu.be/xbsGfhCJ2wU 

When devising we decided to show to impact and deconstruction of a family after the core member holding everyone together , for instance a grand parent, passed away. This is evident in the video by the first pyramid structure we created to embody one unit and strength.

Next this was juxtaposed by showing the middle section of the pyramid (Charlotte) crumble away. We used Beckett's symbolism to show how the decay and death of the core family member impacted the whole structure in a negative way as each disconnected and fell. This action has connotations of mourning,  can't cope, weakness.

The final section of the video exemplifies these connotations as the family members crumble and roll into a line, we began to violently cough and wheeze , we used emotional memory recall to think of a devastating point in our life and to create a cough and chock to represent the point of crying so strongly and wallowing in order to convey the pain and heartbreak of death. Then we try to grasp another, (family member)  using strong body language and intensity to show the struggle to grab another and keep the family together after such a tragedy. We then have Charlotte create movement to symbolise her soul travelling to heaven after death.

This movement and stimuli is suitable as its adaptable for a variety of different audiences. The piece we created in the video above can be shown to a younger audience as there is no gore or horror and also an older audience of 20+ as it portrays the impact of death on a family many of which may be parents themselves and therefore can relate to the performance and find peace in the more gentle approach we took in conveying death opposed to other negative, brutal and violent methods as that of Artuad. 

PMD1/2 Exploring Stimuli: Grand Stoke of Twelve VDU

Warming up:

Our starting warm up was based upon our sense of time. Our first activity involved us sitting in a space, eyes closed, we were to raise our hands when we sensed a minute had passed. We did this each time and personally got closer each time at got 1 minute exactly on the third go.

The next activity we did was called "24". As a group we had to count to 24. The rules prohibited more than one person to speak at once and only one number could be called at a time. This proved challenging as a group to complete trying to sense when to speak or not to speak.

These two activities proved useful later on in the lesson, the minute countdown made us aware of time helping us with pace. The "24" activity was helpful as we were more spatially aware as a group and it helped our groups sense of urgency as there was a lot of hesitation at first.

Main activity:

The group watched a video based upon the concept of time and mechanics of a clock. I used the monkey talk technique to list all the ideas I thought of in response to the video. These were then shared to the group.

One key idea from my work that we included into our final generated motif was the idea of varied speed and levels of the mechanism.

The mixture of paces (Fast and slow) represented time passing, the faster paces created a sense of urgency.

PMD1/2 Exploring stimuli: Quest for Atmosphere VDU

Gothic Architecture & Literature

The reason why we were focusing on gothic literature and the below image is because it links back to our chosen stimulus, "The Mask of Red Death".

 

Research & Performance ideas:

 

-Gothic literature zooms in on themes of violence, supernatural ideas e.g. vampires and werewolves.

-From the Mask of Red Death, it focuses on the last huge epidemic in England being the black death/ plague killing a large portion of London's population.

-An ideal practitioner for our style of performance would be Artuad as he is the king of horror and violent theatre, being the creator of "theatre for cruelty". His techniques and methods would be most suitable and adaptable to make a lasting impression/impact on the audience. To fit the genre his style of uncomfortable movement and sound will in turn create an uneasy feeling amongst the audience keeping them engaged throughout. Overall linking to gothic literatures dark, horror side.

 

 

This lesson we were looking at Gothic Literature. Of which is writing that employs dark and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices.

The image above features gothic architecture as it contains features such as pointed arches, pillars and large scale designs. Once shown the image we had to pick two adjectives out of a list and then add two of our own.

Here are the four adjectives I chose...

Creepy , Eerie , Grand , Intriguing.

I came up with my own adjectives "Grand" "Intriguing". Firstly I chose the word grand as it describes the intricate and bold architecture of the building embodying sophistication and royalty suggesting it could of been an old ballroom or royal court.

Secondly I chose the word intriguing because the dark tones and elongated corridors suggest a vast eerie space of which has numerous possibilities creating a sense of mystery being intriguing to any witnesses.

Afterwards we drew a hand mark and focused on 3/5 senses, that we thought we would receive from being in the space shown in the stimuli. Above is my ideas for sight, sound and touch.

 

After the lesson I continued on with responding and came up with afew ideas for the other two senses smell and taste. (blue arrows are initial response and red arrows are development and link)

 

Next we got into groups of four. Each person had to use the silent sculpture technique to create a still image representing each adjective we chose. Other key adjectives chosen were: Regal, Towering, Structured, Intimidating. Below are some of the still images we created.

 This is another one of the still images I created. It symbolises "eerie". I sculpted myself, Hannah and Charlotte into strange positions, directions and levels. Therefore in that aspect the still image is successful in portraying the unique element of "eerie" however to further develop this image I would make Hannah's body language/position more abstract, possibly turning her onto her back but maintaining the hands and legs in the air.

This was another still image of mine this time representing "Intriguing". From my mind map particularly the smell branch, I came up with a rotten odour, emulating decay possibly of a dead corpse, this idea sprung from the vast amount of rooms and mystery that lay behind them. From that I rather literally created a death and reaction of those around being a loved one (represented by Charlotte, her low level indicated shock "dropping to her knees") whilst Iyla was less attached to the deceased but non the less still shocked. For development I would consider taking a more divergent approach and created a more obscure image to my stimuli response instead.

This is the third still image I created with silent sculpture. It represents my adjective "Grand". I created a tall, leaning, symmetrical image to symbolise the gothic architecture from the original stimulus, of the tall pillars, beams and curving arches. All of which led me to choose the word "Grand" as to me it conveys sophistication and extravagant, everything including the structure in the stimulus is large and therefore our stance , position and length were elongated also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After creating a variety of still images we had to use our hand mind maps to add soundscape to our still images. Each of us chose a key idea to include, those chosen were : Loud footsteps, Owl toot, Wind/ whispers and blowing.

Our final task was to link our most successful still images together combines with seamless transitions inspired by gothic architecture and to include the sound scape shown below.

 

                                    

 

The video above demonstrated our groups still images with soundscape added to create an atmosphere. Our teacher Mrs Dugid, walks throughout the space to observe the atmosphere. What worked well in our piece was the unique spaces, shapes and levels we created with our images allowing her to travel in the nooks and crannies observing the piece from multiple angles and perspectives which an audience may find interesting making it suitable for performance. The transitions were unique and abstract fitting the theme of Gothic literature, and helped the still images flow together more seamlessly.

 

 

 

PMD1/2 Exploring stimuli: "Plague" CKR

Further exploration of stimuli...(PMD1/2)

The clip above was a piece generated from the word "Plague", taken from the "Mask of Red Death".

My group and I generated a mind map of ideas including practitioners to create a piece.

As a group we drew many ideas from Brecht's work and practices particularly his idea of "Epic Theatre" and to avoid the naturalistic theatre. This coined effectively well with our idea of a pandemic affecting the whole world. Our performance shows how the "plague" began with one minor host and developed on further.

I believe this work and stimuli to be suitable for performance as we were effectively able to communicate our story to the audience through body language, facial expressions and sound only without any dialogue. This style also links well to Artuad's theatre of cruelty due to the themes of death, violence, apocalypse. Combined with our own screams as sound effects create a taunting performance sure to leave an impact on our audience, being 18+ due to the horror theme.

PMD1/2 Masquerade Stimulus research - Annotations & Response VDU

As a group we decided the Mask of Red Death would be the most suitable stimuli to use. I was intrigued by this stimulus and decided to do further research and development into various performance possibilities and inspiration.

My initial ideas ...

- Hidden identity -> societal pressures to be the norm -> façade of two personalities/people -> your true self vs. fake identity

-Masquerade Ball -> Grand gala -> Gothic literature -> Dracula and vampires hosting grand ball-> Difference between humans and the supernatural -> Victorian era and traditions

-School Ball/ Prom -> more modern approach -> relatable to us as a company, suit audience age 16-17 -> choose to educate/inform -> inform on societal pressures and standards -> Mask symbolic to façade of people attempting to align with societal standards and place highly on hierarchical structure of power within school.

Artuad's "theatre of cruelty" work would be suitable for focus on hidden identity particularly with in the inclusion of gothic literature adapting well with the genre of horror and thriller. A focus can be draw upon the supernatural such as vampires and werewolves ,again complimenting Artuad's style of theatre where we can have an impact on the audience, making them feel involved and uncomfortable,therefore fully engaged in the piece.

Beckett's monologue strategy can also be suitable for the preshow in particular to convey our main ideas to the audience and set up the performance. His disjointed style of monologue is engaging for the audience, we can use his style of imagery too by having a focus on the mouths of the speakers to draw attention to the words. Within the monologue we can mention societal issues which we will choose to focus on, to help inform the audience on what the performance will encompass.

I suggest an audience of 16-19 years would be suitable for this stimulus and performance. If we choose to focus on the concept of hidden identity we can have underlying themes of the internet /social media and façades used online for power.
Drawing upon current societal issues will make our performance relatable and engaging to the audience. Additionally it will be easier to comprehend the message of the performance being how the internet has hypnotised its users and created an alternative doppelganger of which is their façade played.