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.