My apologies for the late post. Blogger haven’t been doing me good.
There were slight changes to the multi-media set. Well, we’ve incorporated the use of the “fish-eye effect”, which is also called warp, into our projection. Yes, brilliant, isn’t it? Not my idea because I don’t have that software for such brilliant thing. Now I’ve to find a photoshop. And also because of this, we’d have to use pictures to substitute all the video sections. Wow.
And that’s freaking taxing. Thanks Steph. I know you know not so much about how things work here.
Currently, I’m still sourcing for softwares to produce the fish-eye effect. Oh yes, I’m not really against the idea. I mean, it’s brilliant! Superbly good. But it ain’t feasible? Yeah?
Lighting wise;
Designs for the first 4 scenes have been (not fixed) but set. Though some things still needs editing, others (such as colours), are more or less done up. Installations of side lights completed! =D And I’ve found out that we don’t have that many flood lights and extension wires, so I’ve decided to abolish the oh-so-brilliant idea of using floods as a side effect.
So much for that, I hope I’m not eating too much into other groups’ usage of lights because they base their lighting sequences, or design, on ours. (Well, so far, that’s the case.) But whatever it is, everything’s going in such worrying pace, I’ve no clue how it’s gonna be done up properly.
Set wise;
Not so good. The movements are taking up so much space, there’s apparently no space for the installation of side-screen and we just “found out” that black absorbs colours! As a physics student, I’m guilty of not raising it up to the group.
Why not we’ve a white screen instead? I mean, white reflects lights (also colours!). So if we project anything on a white screen, all can be seen. If our scrim’s gonna be coloured, then the colour of the scrim will be emphasized and everything else will diminish and the effect we want would be gone!
Pardon my long sentences, I’m really worried.
For me, I’ve not been really working hard to accomplish some work done. Basically because I need side references and help. And with the pace the group is going, it’s tough for me to accomplish such activity in a short time. Well, we’ll still see. So far, there’s still time.
So much for that, everything’s going fine.
Oh yes! Musique! xP
Music choices are starting to differ and vary! Well, I’ve looked into expressionistic pieces other than Anime soundtracks. Things researched on are Irish folk music, and expressionistic artists such as John Cage and Steve Reich. Okay maybe not so much of the “expressionistic” factor but more or impressionistic art. That’s to actually fit into the groups’ piece. Well, yeah. The group in all, must come to the consensus on the choice of music otherwise, nothing else will work since they must listen to them oh-so-frequently.
Whatever it is, this is how it’s all going.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
2 Hours Before A New World.
Multi-media.
Lights; Sounds; Projections; Set.
Lights; Sounds; Projections; Set.
Okay, let me first touch on disputes. There's a little argument with the genre of sound chosen. People feedback that it's "gay", "unsuitable", and "tribal". Rather than "expressive", "fun" and "suitable".
But the group have been going against the idea of using multi-dynamic music (music that swings with the flow of emotions, exploring the field of repetitive music dynamics variations; some famous bands that adapted this whole new genre of music are "Immanu El", "Port-Royal" and "This Will Destroy You"). Okay, to put it simply, this genre of music has instrumental emphasis over lyrics (so they'll be more expressionistic - ugly, unbearable music). With this type of music, it'll present multiple climaxes in different scenes, yet returning back to the original motif that the audience can relate to as "calm", and "hollow" and "boring".
And yes, that was exactly what the group got and immediately abandoned the idea of choosing this genre as their main music theme because it's boring, with an ever changing tempo. So Rui Shan and Stephanie went on to research chose their favourite songs like Lena Park - Plastic Flowers and 冬天来了(dong1 tian1 lai2 le4) that were reluctantly added into the soundtracks. Okay, I'm not going against their idea or whatsoever. But I'm just stating that those aren't really all that suitable pieces for theatre (especially physical). Unless, used to represent other things like a badly noise-polluted room (as seen in Wendy's monologue).
Currently, the group haven't had its script confirmed. Or rather, one or two of the group members haven't come to the consensus about how the group piece should progress and end. But even so, the 5 soundtracks are now currently on standby, ready to be edited.
Just got a little feedback after the previous showcase yesterday. Whatever I've got about the music was rather expected. It's too rhythmic and melodious in a sense, making it seem more like a dance piece. Yes. So I guess the group have to return to the drawing board and decide on whatever that should be played through the piece. But of course, minimal changes should be done on scene one since it's more or less fixed.
Lights - the only aspect that got really good comments so far. The use of leitmotif (or thematic emphasis) really worked. Though it's only the first scene with 3 parts to it (only 2 for showcase because we didn't move any light), it grabbed the audiences' attention and inform them about what's about to come. At the moment, I'm playing with audio-visual emphasis; allowing the sound and lights transitions to come at the same time, denoting also the thematic changes.
So far, these are the lighting colour themes for the emotions.
But the group have been going against the idea of using multi-dynamic music (music that swings with the flow of emotions, exploring the field of repetitive music dynamics variations; some famous bands that adapted this whole new genre of music are "Immanu El", "Port-Royal" and "This Will Destroy You"). Okay, to put it simply, this genre of music has instrumental emphasis over lyrics (so they'll be more expressionistic - ugly, unbearable music). With this type of music, it'll present multiple climaxes in different scenes, yet returning back to the original motif that the audience can relate to as "calm", and "hollow" and "boring".
And yes, that was exactly what the group got and immediately abandoned the idea of choosing this genre as their main music theme because it's boring, with an ever changing tempo. So Rui Shan and Stephanie went on to research chose their favourite songs like Lena Park - Plastic Flowers and 冬天来了(dong1 tian1 lai2 le4) that were reluctantly added into the soundtracks. Okay, I'm not going against their idea or whatsoever. But I'm just stating that those aren't really all that suitable pieces for theatre (especially physical). Unless, used to represent other things like a badly noise-polluted room (as seen in Wendy's monologue).
Currently, the group haven't had its script confirmed. Or rather, one or two of the group members haven't come to the consensus about how the group piece should progress and end. But even so, the 5 soundtracks are now currently on standby, ready to be edited.
Just got a little feedback after the previous showcase yesterday. Whatever I've got about the music was rather expected. It's too rhythmic and melodious in a sense, making it seem more like a dance piece. Yes. So I guess the group have to return to the drawing board and decide on whatever that should be played through the piece. But of course, minimal changes should be done on scene one since it's more or less fixed.
Lights - the only aspect that got really good comments so far. The use of leitmotif (or thematic emphasis) really worked. Though it's only the first scene with 3 parts to it (only 2 for showcase because we didn't move any light), it grabbed the audiences' attention and inform them about what's about to come. At the moment, I'm playing with audio-visual emphasis; allowing the sound and lights transitions to come at the same time, denoting also the thematic changes.
So far, these are the lighting colour themes for the emotions.
Dark / With hidden dangers / Eerie - Blue.
Danger / Problems - Red
Fun / Good times - Yellow with Orange.
Awkward - White with dimed blue.
Resolution - Blue (if ending on a sad note), Red transiting with Yellow (on an impactful note).
Danger / Problems - Red
Fun / Good times - Yellow with Orange.
Awkward - White with dimed blue.
Resolution - Blue (if ending on a sad note), Red transiting with Yellow (on an impactful note).
The lighting plans are still rather un-fixed due to the lack of wirings and yes, lights. Looks like we've to really play with whatever that we have. I will look into it.
Projections - Pictures? Expressionistic pictures? Will the picture also disrupt audiences' attention from the movement? What if they're projected onto the set?
... Will be discussed during group meetings.
Set - Still unsure unless for the first scene. Set depends on the choreographing, how the actors move and what should they react with. Also, what scene do they want to be in. However, we're playing with minimalism so as to maximize the space given for the movements.
... Will be discussed during group meetings.
Projections - Pictures? Expressionistic pictures? Will the picture also disrupt audiences' attention from the movement? What if they're projected onto the set?
... Will be discussed during group meetings.
Set - Still unsure unless for the first scene. Set depends on the choreographing, how the actors move and what should they react with. Also, what scene do they want to be in. However, we're playing with minimalism so as to maximize the space given for the movements.
... Will be discussed during group meetings.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Aloha!
Task: Total Theatre in relation to The Politics of Identity.
Chosen theatrical style: Expressionism Physical Theatre!
Required readings: Any plays of Sarah Kane.
But yes, I've read almost all of them:
- Blasted, Crave, Phaedra's Love, and half of Cleansed.
What I've found in this series of plays are just basically, filled with sadistic sexual harassing scenes and... Her plays revolves around with humans cravings and self-centeredness. It presents countless scenes of torture, sexual harassment's, rapes, masturbation's, etc. Although these plays depicts reality, and portrays the lack of one's emotional, mental, and spiritual growth in the modern age, to fully adapt any of these plays would be very much a disaster. We've decided the on the group's first meeting after completed our first round of required readings, to eliminate Sarah Kane from our referal list.
According to WIKI (the most trusted source by many),
Animes made use of soundtracks to enhance dramatic sequences. Hence, the effects used in a typical anime soundtrack are highly exaggerated; like that of an expressionistic theatre. The instrumentation of a typical anime soundtrack is also really large. Musicians were able to play around with these huge instrumentation to create different effects that an anime would require. From this, I can derive the suspense that I want to create in the play just by sourcing and arranging different anime soundtracks together.
I've made use of leitmotif to ease audiences' problem of identifying characters, symptoms, or a certain recurring situations. In this case, I've arranged the tracks in such a way that every time Sally's bipolar disorder starts, the track, Vampire Knight Guilty - Suna no Oshiro (off-vocal), will be played.
Animes that I've looked into (not in order of frequencies used)
- Vampire Knight, Clannad, D. Gray-man Original, and Tsubasa Chronicles.
This is the completed draft for the multi-media aspect of it for the first scene.
Yeapp!!
Download to listen. =)
Scene 2 to 5 soundtracks.
This is the completed version of scene 6, draft one.
Okay, so much for the multimedia aspect of it...
My CHARACTER!!
From Group's Blog.
"Friend #1:
Timmy, 9. I’m Jamie’s schoolmate. We met during recess. I spend a lot of time with her. Her father doesn’t seem to like it, and I don’t know why. I’m scared of him. I’m very sad that I don’t get to hang out with her. She hangs out with her other friends now, but it’s not the same. Her daddy will start saying mean thing to me when I see him, then he will take her away to play with Ben. I met Ben before, when Ben was with all of his friends asking help for homework. I don’t like it that Jamie gets to spend more time with Ben. I’m an only child, so I spend a lot of time with her. Sally? She’s the weird girl who laughs and cries simultaneously. I think she’s sick, or crazy. I’ve seen her with Jamie before. I don’t know what bipolar is. Jamie tells me her family tortures her, is that true?"
YES IT IS TRUE AND I INSISTED ON THAT.
Okay that's how my character goes.
But I still doubt that character analysis is that important for a movement piece. Well yes it is. But it doesn't show that much. That's what I thought initially. (But I didn't tell the group, I've to admit.)
Then I recalled my secondary school WUSHU coach mentioned something like "Feel your movement and indulge in it". That's when I changed my perception of it. In order to do it well, we must feel for the character, even when it's a speechless movement piece.
Movements!
I think I'm flexible enough! But the more I stretch, my bone hurts. Especially my kneecap! Maybe it's my bone structure. =( I'll work on the split thing though... It'll be so torturous. D;
p.s:-currently, the soundtracks are under serious editing. Some of the previous anime ideas have been abolished. Why? Their "Happy tune" are just too happy to choreograph. Update again.
Chosen theatrical style: Expressionism Physical Theatre!
Required readings: Any plays of Sarah Kane.
But yes, I've read almost all of them:
- Blasted, Crave, Phaedra's Love, and half of Cleansed.
What I've found in this series of plays are just basically, filled with sadistic sexual harassing scenes and... Her plays revolves around with humans cravings and self-centeredness. It presents countless scenes of torture, sexual harassment's, rapes, masturbation's, etc. Although these plays depicts reality, and portrays the lack of one's emotional, mental, and spiritual growth in the modern age, to fully adapt any of these plays would be very much a disaster. We've decided the on the group's first meeting after completed our first round of required readings, to eliminate Sarah Kane from our referal list.
According to WIKI (the most trusted source by many),
Expressionist theatre is theatre with expressionistic goals in mind. As opposed to having the primary aim of creating theatre to educate (like Brecht), to entertain (like Commedia dell'arte), or to be realistic (like Stanislavski); expressionistic theatre's main aim is to express emotion.Expressionistic theatre is different from realism - actors will behave how most people wouldn't in real life, their physical and vocal qualities exaggerating their emotions; sets designs will be exaggerated to emphasise the tone of the setting, etc.
Inspired by the literal and figurative meaning of "A Doll's House", we aim to present a physical expression that represent a child's life under the control of a totalitarian father with relations to her surroundings.
Our DV is "We're all connected; One person's actions influences another."
Characters influcences one another. A puppet manipulating another. One puppet higher of a higher status than the other. Well, our piece mainly played with the theme of "Chain Reactions", where one element influences the next; one character controls and affect the other characters' movements and reactions. We took this interpretation rather literally and used strings. Tying strings onto each other as we move throughout the space. My only concern is, can it work?! There may be changes, I don't know. I'm not experienced in this field of movements too so I'll most probably just go with the flow and see how things turn out.
The group chose movements and multi-media to fully portray this plot.
Well, according to Ruishan's (the movements choreographer.);
"We decided on a movement and multimedia piece. Wanted to present a physical piece with a child living in a pressurizing environment, trying to find her identity"
Given movements, the next best thing that would go together with it would be the use of multi-media to enhance the movements made. We are venturing into the lights, sounds, and other projections (videos projected using projectors). Currently, we're still at the initial stage of production. I'll continue to work on the multi-media as the movements slowly get fixed; no movements, no idea what spaces' used, no idea what's the set, no idea what to light up / project. The first draft of the videos & soundtracks are posted below. Videos will too, be used to bring out any change in situations, scenes, or changes in characters.
MUSIQUE!
Animes made use of soundtracks to enhance dramatic sequences. Hence, the effects used in a typical anime soundtrack are highly exaggerated; like that of an expressionistic theatre. The instrumentation of a typical anime soundtrack is also really large. Musicians were able to play around with these huge instrumentation to create different effects that an anime would require. From this, I can derive the suspense that I want to create in the play just by sourcing and arranging different anime soundtracks together.
I've made use of leitmotif to ease audiences' problem of identifying characters, symptoms, or a certain recurring situations. In this case, I've arranged the tracks in such a way that every time Sally's bipolar disorder starts, the track, Vampire Knight Guilty - Suna no Oshiro (off-vocal), will be played.
Animes that I've looked into (not in order of frequencies used)
- Vampire Knight, Clannad, D. Gray-man Original, and Tsubasa Chronicles.
This is the completed draft for the multi-media aspect of it for the first scene.
Yeapp!!
Download to listen. =)
Scene 2 to 5 soundtracks.
Scene 2 and 3._0002.wma
Scene 4_0002.wma
Scene 5_0001.wma
This is the completed version of scene 6, draft one.
Okay, so much for the multimedia aspect of it...
My CHARACTER!!
From Group's Blog.
"Friend #1:
Timmy, 9. I’m Jamie’s schoolmate. We met during recess. I spend a lot of time with her. Her father doesn’t seem to like it, and I don’t know why. I’m scared of him. I’m very sad that I don’t get to hang out with her. She hangs out with her other friends now, but it’s not the same. Her daddy will start saying mean thing to me when I see him, then he will take her away to play with Ben. I met Ben before, when Ben was with all of his friends asking help for homework. I don’t like it that Jamie gets to spend more time with Ben. I’m an only child, so I spend a lot of time with her. Sally? She’s the weird girl who laughs and cries simultaneously. I think she’s sick, or crazy. I’ve seen her with Jamie before. I don’t know what bipolar is. Jamie tells me her family tortures her, is that true?"
YES IT IS TRUE AND I INSISTED ON THAT.
Okay that's how my character goes.
But I still doubt that character analysis is that important for a movement piece. Well yes it is. But it doesn't show that much. That's what I thought initially. (But I didn't tell the group, I've to admit.)
Then I recalled my secondary school WUSHU coach mentioned something like "Feel your movement and indulge in it". That's when I changed my perception of it. In order to do it well, we must feel for the character, even when it's a speechless movement piece.
Movements!
I think I'm flexible enough! But the more I stretch, my bone hurts. Especially my kneecap! Maybe it's my bone structure. =( I'll work on the split thing though... It'll be so torturous. D;
p.s:-currently, the soundtracks are under serious editing. Some of the previous anime ideas have been abolished. Why? Their "Happy tune" are just too happy to choreograph. Update again.
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