tomorrow again.

please wear blacks preferably tomorrow please, or dark colours. no motifs or designs please x

29-02-12 session

So here's the notes from today:

Lauren's workshop

11.00- Lauren taught us 1min of dance rep, choreographed from a chosen track of music wiyth the idea of 'the fates' from greek mythology.

Lauren's dance style is quite lyrical and traditional, and likes to work using music as a starting point.

We could use this movement to adapt using different methods like chance, changing dynamics, levels, directions, body parts etc. Open to adaption.



12.00

We discussed ways in which we visualise the piece, looking at a dreamworld, focusing on the visuals of inception.

Suggest mirrors to use for experiment in creating this.



1.00 (After lunch)

Zach's Workshop

We familiarised with the control room, looked at all the equipment and how it works.

Looked at soundboard and lighting....board? (lol)

Learnt how to use lights and music from the control room.

1.30- Rigged lights and tested different gobos, learning how to install said gobos and how to focus.

Continued testing gobos and discovered the smaller and more intricate patterns were more successful and diverse for what we require for our piece.

Accidentally walked in front of the lights creating a good effect (happy accident) we would like to use in piece and experiment more with.

2.00- discussed the use of light to temporarily "blind" the audience to manipulate what we wish them to be able to see when performing and possibly changing the set.

Further discussed the audience and lighting as a relationship. We considered using a turning spotlight, usnig pieces of set and performers to turn the opposite direction to give the effect of the audience having a 360 degree "tour" of their surroundings we create. Clever use of lighting.




3.00- Discussed applying a C'ode of Practice' to set guidelines for future sessions. This will happen tomorrow

3.05 FIRE ALARMMMMMMMMMM


:)

Really successful day in all got some ideas of what could and couldn't work.


Everyone can we make a rough sketch of how we visualise the piece even just where the audience could be, or lights, or set, or performers anything. Lets use this to make comparisons to find a common ground to explore next............

tomorrow. 01/03/12

11am in the Canteen.

Morning:
Code of Practice decided upon.

Late Morning early afternoon:
Artaud workshop

Lunch 1/1:30

Afternoon:
Another workshop or
Our House

Forkbeard Fantasy

This is one of the suggestions from today.
http://www.forkbeardfantasy.co.uk/ 

Clip about projection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oggIoa7BFc&list=UUoESg6ptdwgXluOhvgf0Bwg&index=1&feature=plcp

Inception

oooooooooooooo... Idea!!!

Inception!

A dream within a dream within a dream within a dream etc...

Could our piece be constructed in this way?

So it links, but is unfolding backwards, and the performance is so hypnogogic that the audience is unsure whether it is still a dream or is reality!!!

Also, that links to limbo, and some people dream in back and white:

'Most people do dream in colour, but some may not notice or remember colors in their dreams. Because colour is such a natural part of our visual experience, we sometimes overlook it in our dreams. Another reason is poor memory recall and how our dreams fade so quickly from our minds that we may only be able to recall the dream in shades of grey. Dreams that are in black and white are an indication of a depressed or saddened mood.' - http://www.dreammoods.com/reference/faq.htm#blacknwhite

What do you think?

Wednesday 29th Feb (Limbo Day)

Wednesday 29th Feb 

(Leap Year Day, a day that should not exist! - what a great day to start working on our Limbo-ness monochrome dance projection Greek theatre in the dark piece)

So we are meeting in Studio 9 at 11am, ready to learn Lauren's choreography.

Don't forget to bring some music you like and a dice (important for the chance choreography method) 

Article about Merce Cunningham, Contemporary Dance Practitioner who used chance choreography:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/roll-the-dice-and-take-your-chances-1578581.html

(It goes on and on so don't bother reading it all!)

Also, bring your cameras, as we can record and photograph the process and post them on this blog for future reference and so we can refer to it during our weekly presentation! (No posting on Facebook as I will kill you - angry shimmy)

See ya'll tomorrow! 

Artaud

hello, just been revisiting Artaud for my workshop and well I know Hannah said she thought it was a very Artaud-esque piece but think it is..as much as she made it out to be.
I definetly think we can use influence from him. It's very ghastly and horrid, which I don't think is necisserily what we are going for. 'Theatre of the Oppressed' speaks for itself because it centers around focusing on those issues that aren't addressed, sex, abuse, murder. think we can borrow the absurdist way of working. im excited to introduce it to you guys.

See you tomorrow.

:)

Shadows..

Use of shadows examples
Any way we can work this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPERVDVHAr4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0EO8rhCHhw&feature=related

Google Translate

Since using this tool in my last project, I have become fascinated by the possibilities it allows, I was thinking about using the tool to create a piece of music, that in itself uses source words relating to the piece.  We could create a track that was used as basis for creating a movement piece, comment on societies use of language, we could create a monotone dialogue of different languages. Have a play with the tool if you get a chance, comment with some words and what languages they sound interesting in, so far my favourites are the languages that aren't in anyway Western based languages, for example Macedonian, Japanese, Chinese and Swahilli.
http://translate.google.com/

Possible practitioner to look at

Sarah Kane

Sarah Kane was born in Essex on 3 February 1971. Both parents were journalists and deeply religious. She studied drama at Bristol University, graduating with first class honours, then did an MA at Birmingham University. She suffered from depression and had spells in hospital. A suicide attempt with sleeping pills was unsuccessful but a few days later on 20 February 1999 she hung herself in the hospital where she was being treated.

Her talent was recognised early. Mel Kenyon saw a student production of Blasted and became her agent. The Royal Court Theatre staged many of her works. She is now translated and performed all over the world.

James MacDonald writes "what she did was gentle, truthful and intelligent. She also loved music, and one day some trainspotter may feel impelled to write a thesis on the number of lines in her plays that are actually borrowed from the works of Joy Division, the Pixies, Ben Harper, Radiohead, Polly Harvey, the Tindersticks, even Elvis Presley. Her theatrical gods were Beckett, Pinter, Bond, Potter, but she wrote directly from her own experience and from her heart"

Her talent was recognised early. Mel Kenyon saw a student production of Blasted and became her agent. The Royal Court Theatre staged many of her works. She is now translated and performed all over the world.

 Quotes from some of her work below

“Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you for rejecting me by never being there, fuck you for making me feel like shit about myself, fuck you for bleeding the fucking love and life out of me, fuck my father for fucking up my life for good and fuck my mother for not leaving him, but most of all, fuck you God for making me love a person who does not exist.
FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.”

“Have you made any plans?
Take an overdose, slash my wrists then hang myself.
All those things together?
It couldn't possibly be misconstrued as a cry for help.”

“- I won't be able to think. I won't be able to work.
- Nothing will interfere with your work like suicide.
(Silence)
- I dreamt that I went to the doctor's and she gave me eight minutes to live. I'd been sitting in the fucking waiting room for half an hour.
(A long silence)
- Okay, let's do it, let's do the drugs, let's do the chemical lobotomy, let's shut down the higher functions of my brain and perhaps I'll be a bit more fucking capable of living.
Let's do it.”

― Sarah Kane, 4.48 Psychosis

Tube Map Methodology- potential working structure

Now, I know I have worked all day on this and in a perfect world we would all agree and it would be amazing. However, I am more than pepared to scrap and please remember that this is all hypothetical and just an idea so don't get insulted if there is a suggested role for you that I have marked you as I'll change it in a heartbeat if we hate it!

I have put this together after researching creative team working dynamics in Management and creativity: from creative industries to creative management- p34-36. With this I've read about what models could suit us as we're apparently all "strong characters." Firstly, I found this extract talking about an 'innovative team dynamic' which promotes challenging each other's perspectives and keeping our ideas ethos as quality rather than quanitity.

(really tiny writing guys sorry)

With this I looked back at what all our working personality roles meant like; plant, shaper, co-ordinator etc. I came up with an idea of roles we could take charge of in our group and illustrated a "tube map methodology" with the following roles:

(the descriptions of personality are taken from the questionnaire and this book about management innovative creative teams)

Director- Tim

Director/Plants: are more concerned with major issues as opposed to details. Links to directorial role in that they see the piece as a whole and envision its overall artistic direction as opposed to delving into detailed elements of the process, however requires knowledge and recognition of all areas and disciplines.

Creative team managers-Eloise and Kelly

Creative team managers/ Shapers: will ‘shape’ others to reach end goals successfully. To motivate preventing a sense of complacency in the team. Assess and shape the working dynamics of the team to continue development of innovative experiment and creation of work, maintain a high standard of working.

Creative Resource/research managers-Caris, Andrew and Lauren

Creative resource/ research managers: Resource investigation (Andrew)- explores and develops ideas of others by liaising outside of the group. Finding resources and research.
Co-ordinators (Caris and Lauren):Like Shaper the co-ordinator is all about the team. Yet slightly different as they are more tolerant, enough always to listen to others, but strong enough to reject their advice.- good when discussing new ideas with members of the group and listening. Good at delegating therefore maybe applying co-ordinators to focus on assessing the suggested ideas, seeing what could work and research for further development.

Production Managers- Martyn and Zach

Production Managers/ Completer finisher: dots the I’s crosses the T’s, takes interest in the production side and details surrounding this. Also the financial side. Leadership of production and its process, understanding of technical requirements and applications.

Now, again, this intial idea wasn't aimed to set roles and that's it. I was hoping that we could try these roles, (as are according to the research they are suitable for us). I still think we should still source ideas and be creative throughout and use our specialsim primarily, however it would be great if we had roles, like this, to just take charge of looking at or commenting on in meetings. These areas can be what we inform the rest of the group with in meetings, just to divide out the workload and cut unneccessarily time consuming discussions where possible.

Even if we try this once and it fails, its a model we've used that could really help our grade in applying an original model.

Again, just an idea, and I will bring in what I haven't yet shown on here, tomorrow.

Thanks guys!

Sensory Deprivation Effects

Sensory deprivation facilitates the production of an altered state of consciousness through the reduction of extroceptive stimulation and/or motor activity [Tart, 1990] Sensory deprivation functions in a similar manner as meditation; both reduce the perception of external stimulus. Whereas meditation accomplishes this through mental processes, sensory deprivation is a direct manipulation of the environment [Wallace & Fisher, 1991].

Partial sensory deprivation, including changes in patterns and relationships of sensory input, cause a state of relaxation conducive to an altered state. Awareness of one's surroundings remains and hypnagogic activity is likely to occur. A reduction of external stimuli allows an individual to focus inward due to the absence of attending to sensory input. Altering sensory perception allows for a focusing of the mind which in time produces an altered state. Relaxation, time to think without distractions, vivid imagery, and feelings of love and warmth are common experiences [Wallace & Fisher, 1991].

Technically, total sensory deprivation is very difficult to achieve [Auerbach, 1996]. However, in severe deprivation environments noticeable differences emerge. White-out conditions, prolonged isolation, or a highly structured environment intensifies the altered state experience. If brain stimulation from sensory inputs is eliminated or greatly altered the brain begins to "fill in"/compensate for the change. Hallucinations likely result; all perceptual experience is being drawn from internal sources. Loss of identity, difficulty meeting basic survival needs, apathy, and depression have been known to occur in a total sensory deprivation environment. Research subjects typically find the experience intolerable within only 4 days [Wallace & Fisher, 1991].

bibliography

Auerbach, L.Altered States of Consciousness, Lecture, Orinda, CA, (1996).

Tart, C.T. (1990).Altered States of Consciousness.(3^rd ed.). New York: Harper Collins.

Wallace, B. & Fisher, L.E. (1991). Consciousness and Behavior. (3^rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Aims...

I thought I would post these so we can refer to them if we need to:

Aims:

1. to develop knowledge and understanding of collaborative practice
2. to undertake an investigation of sources informing collaborative practice
3. to engage with analysis of theoretical and practical contexts for collaborative practice
4. to demonstrate integration of theoretical and applied practices within collaboration
5. to apply a range of innovative and standard skills and techniques within the context of working collaboratively

Bibliography

In response to Kelly's comment about a Bibliography. I think that is a good idea, so should we use this post as our Bibliography?

When you would like to add a source then just reply to the post and write the source for all of us to see. Hope this works :)

Ideas! (apologies for my annoying-ness)

Hey guys,

I had a think about the feedback we got Thursday and I think its time we stick to one specific source/theme just to get started, as we know what we want it to be and how it should be but we need a starting point.

Thinking about what Leonie said about BDD was a very good point, explaining that it is a particular disorder that’s very serious and it is extremely different to insecurities. It’s such a massive subject area with so many elements to consider it’s just too vast. Also, the second we tackle a medical disorder we give ourselves such a difficult job, we have to be sensitive to the case, scientific fact gives it more a factual, scientific depth and maybe not enough space for such a creative depth? Furthermore, we’d need to try and avoid creating ideas that have been done before.

I personally haven’t yet been inspired or excited thus far about using this disorder as a starting point, (that could just be me which I totally understand) but some of the ideas that have generated from discussing it have been interesting and I think have potential. I’m just questioning what we are in agreement with and just want to be more specific as its clear we’re not. (Even though we are NEWLY FORMED) LOL. I just wanted to see what everyone else was thinking. And if everyone wants to stick with BDD I am more than willing to go with it as long as we look into it and identify a specific area.

However, I have been doing some research into other ideas we’ve mentioned the last couple of days and like the sound of. So let me know what you think and if you don’t mind looking into other things here’s a note of some of which we have mentioned. Some are really simple but there’s so much we could do with them:

-Monochrome colour scheme idea; black, white and shades of grey. (we could create some really interesting imagery, look into connotations of the colours. Sometimes less is more)

-Secrets (audience writing down secrets and us displaying in different ways. We could look into where secrets/ confessions happen; confessionals in church, therapist office, things like Chinese whispers, play with where and when secrets and confessions happen and in what circumstance)

-Theatre in the dark (even though not a theme its a practice, maybe if we find story/poem/fairytale/news report/song to tell through darkness using different elements and techniques…..)

-Sensory Deprivation- (I researched and found info about an American being captured by terrorists and they applied sensory deprivation in the interrogation process. Also BBC did an experiment called ‘Total Isolation’ locking people in a dark cell with no light and measured the effects… they imagined and hallucinated things…..we could look at this as a source or re-creation?? There’s brief info on wiki about this)---------This also touches on vulnerability.

-Music- Some of the music Lauren and Martin have found are great starting points, and music can be so open to development with how we create and develop ideas from that.



-Caris mentioned something about a Greek myths and gods which are both visually and narrative-ly interesting?


These are just the notes I’ve taken from what we’ve discussed but obviously if anyone wants to share more ideas, or show research into BDD or specific areas of something in particular. I just want us to get the best grade ever, create the best show and have fun, and I think its time we get something set in stone no matter how simple just to get working and creating asap. We also need to make sure we are clear as pie in our proposal and mission statement. Feel free to disagree, lets share and discuss!!


Finally, the more I think it wouldn’t be awful if there was a directorial role within us just to overarch the project as we go along. I think its still worth us taking creative leadership with our strengths and specific disciplines when needed, just wanted to see what we all thought? We should also find a ‘collaborative model’ to explain in our proposal for Tuesday?


Thanks guys!!

Welcome

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