Frantic Assembly - Lesson 2

On the Monday lesson and at N2C we changed the introduction of the piece and made linking scenes between each smaller piece. Unfortunately, I don't have the video of the rehearsal process on Monday but I have the video from N2C where we performed to the Baby BTECs and returning MeganOG and HannahOG. The video of the piece can be seen below and my analysis video is also below:

The major positives of the piece was that we managed to incorporate much of what we had taken from the workshop and adapt it for our needs. The additional lifts that we included were impressive and allowed for there to be a sense of danger present within the piece, playing to Frantic Assembly's style. Although, as the majority of us had a constant blank expression which is something that Frantic wouldn't want within a piece, it took away from the emotion and the impact that we were trying to make on the audience. I do think that I tried to have less of a blank expression in the above performance due to the presence of an audience, however, this could be improved the next time we show the piece which will be our final performance.


After we showed this piece we were shown the lower BTECs and their version of the Frantic piece, one of which will be used in the school musical. These performances can be seen below. During these pieces we were told to imagine that these stories related to our own stories that we had made. I found this quite hard because I felt that these stories were not reminiscent of the one that I was in in the big BTEC piece, mostly because they both involved cheating whereas mine was about trying to find a true love. In some ways this could be related but in my own opinion I felt that they were completely different and thus hard to relate to.

We were then split into groups which would support the lower BTECs performance allowing them to have the major focus and with the inclusion of the table. The group that I was with consisted of: Megan, Disney, Imogen, HannahOG, Izzy, Marlon, Leah, Maya and Peter. The final product can be seen in the video below:

The story portrayed in the piece and how we were told it was showing was completely different to what I originally thought which was that Imogen was cheating on Disney with Megan. The story differs because it shows how Megan sees the relationship of her parents, Imogen and Disney, in the past to how it is now, the tensions of which have been caused by Megan herself. The main theme therefore is that of a parental relationship breakdown by that of a child which in some respects is similar to AOAS.


The initial major change from the piece before was that Imogen and Disney are standing on a table which altered their movement slightly but allowed for Megan to view their relationship on a pedestal. It is therefore significant that Imogen and Disney come off the table/pedestal later in the sequence showing that Megan no longer views their relationship as something good and something to be worshipped. The slow movement at the beginning of the piece is done to show this true love (which is somewhat similar to my piece in the big BTEC performance) which would therefore allow an audience to describe their movements as tender. Megan's facial expressions are clearly seen throughout the piece which is a major strength of hers - the ability to perform Frantic Assembly but also use large and visible facial expressions that add another layer of depth to the piece.


At 31 seconds, Marlon and Izzy walk in and are representative of how Imogen and Disney met. the two are looking down on their past selves and are seeing how happy they used to be before the birth of Megan. When I enter the piece, I do think that this is representative of Megan's presence within the piece especially because Izzy seems completely in love with the prospect of myself as shown by my finger being moved under her chin which is the same movement that we do in our piece in the big BTEC performance. This effect on their relationship by the presence of a child is further shown as we lift Imogen off the table which includes her stretching over to Megan to draw this 'nerve' into her stomach.


 At 1:10 when Disney and Imogen face each other I feel that its supposed to represent Imogen telling Disney about the baby which he then leaves because he can't face the pressure as shown by the following lifts and when we cover him up. The mid-air walk that Disney does at 1:40 which we have used in my Berkoff piece shows Disney re-joining the family and the subsequent issues this creates because he's been absent for so long Imogen has a much stronger attachment to Megan than she ever had with Disney. This lack of a family unit gives a negative impact on Imogen's wellbeing and thus she is much more nervous when Disney touches her than what she was like before which is potentially also caused by the abusive relationship which she is then thrust into which may have started with the influence of Megan - Disney doesn't feel as though he's needed and thus must do anything in his power to keep his grip on the family unit.


The rapid movement of the table at 1:46 and the movement we do with the table after this, is supposed to represent Imogen and Disney's relationship metaphorically as we handle the table with violence and don't care what happens to it which is similar to the story-arc that appears within the toxic relationship at the front of the stage. At 2:10 after the use of the table we take the watching element from our piece and apply it to this piece, potentially to show that society is watching this family and is disgusted which is pronounced when we turn away from the relationship a little later in the piece. This turn is in time with when Megan enters the piece which further demonstrates how society may think that a child has ruined this perfect relationship from before - she has fractured the relationship beyond repair. Disney and Imogen's movements are much faster in this sequence to show the lack of love that is between them - they are now simply just going through the motions and thus this has a large impact on Megan and how she would perceive their relationship.


After c.10 seconds, the people behind the main sequence begin to do nerve work taken from Leah's piece from the main performance. We begin doing them fast at first but slow the pace down as we get exhausted to represent how the relationship at the front of the stage has started to decay and fall apart/not work properly over time. It also allows for the baby BTECs to have the best possible view for the audience to see them allowing them to have much more focus, grabbing the audience's attention, which allows the original piece to show through.