During this lesson and after school on Wednesday we adapted our previous piece by using the ideas and freeze frames that we had before into a longer performance. Unfortunately the video that we got from the performance is very dark and is not that easy to see what is happening from it. When we next work on the piece, I think that we should make the light a tad brighter enough so that the audience (and camera) can see what is happening but not so much that the effect that we were trying to achieve isn't lost.
Instead of dragging a piece of set on stage, we decided to use a knife being scraped on a riser to create the same sound effect. This allows the knife to become part of the set which allows us to use it as part of the set for the rest of the piece and also creates a small soundscape which we will be able to expand upon at a later date. This scraping can be seen from the beginning of the piece which immediately assaults the audience's senses. The images between each scrape can't really be seen as the lights are on for a too short amount of time and because of how dim the lights are. I used the idea of things moving when you can't see them from the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who.
At 1.00 the relatively quiet scraping is contrasted by the banging of risers. We did this to try and show the earthquake that takes place during the play (Spurt/Jet of Blood). The contrast in volume assaults the audience's sense again and shocks them somewhat. As I was watching the video and making notes, I myself jumped from the volume of the soundscape, even though I knew what was going to happen. After this, quieter music came on which again contrasted with the banging from before and also showed an additional Artaudian technique of using technology. Instead of music, we could add in some humming from actors to further assault the audience's senses.
At 1.07 we try and interact with the audience but this can't be seen, again due to the darkness of the lights. We could make the lights stay on during this part of the piece but at dim level so that the effect would be kept and the audience can see the shapes of the actors as they come towards them.
At 1.19 we used the phrase "I love you and everything is beautiful" which is taken directly from the play. The murmuring of this line worked well because it seemed as though the 'characters' didn't believe what they were saying, which could show how the Young Girl may be being manipulated by the Young Man in the piece. We also touched various audience members to 'freak' them out; at this point the lack of light worked well because the audience's members don't know who's touching them. In order to make this part more effective, the lights could be turned to full brightness as we make our way towards the audience and then brought down to dim as we make our way over to them. This would allows the audience to see the action on stage and still keep the desired effect.
At 1.29, we can't see the image that we made due to the lack of light again. The image opposite is what we were trying to create. We wanted to create an image that would also project somewhat onto the back wall behind us using shadows. Although this can't be seen on this image, I think that the connections between all the actors suggests an implication within the play. It is implied by the Bawd and the Knight that the Young Man and Young Girl are related, which alongside the line "You love me and everything is beautiful" suggest that this is what this image is trying to show the audience.
At 1.47 it is clear to hear an audience member being 'freaked' out and 'assaulted' by her voice and screams. This is how we know that what we're doing is effective because it had the desired reaction from an audience member that we wanted. However, we only touched and 'attacked' one audience member which left others wondering what was going on in the piece. Maybe if we moved the audience together a bit more instead of spacing them out as far as we did, then all the audience members would be able to experience what was going on in the piece.
At 2.27, courtesy of Lauren, there was a shrill scream which shocked and assaulted the audience. I think that the piece needs to have more random screams throughout it and maybe some manic laughter to make the audience feel more uncomfortable.
There were many positives to this piece which was mainly due to the audience vocalising their uncomfortableness, which was the desired effect that we were searching for. We also used some form of soundscape and dreamscape as well as some stylised movement, especially in the image above.
However, some of the audience weren't involved which can easily be solved by moving the audience closer together which may help in making them feel uncomfortable. The obvious negative is the lighting which meant that the camera didn't pick up the entire piece properly which can be solved by brightening up the lighting. Also, I think that we should add a section of stylised movement and another of some form of humming in order to create visual poetry and more soundscape.
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