Presentations.

Presentations

For the presentationn project, my group created a play called 'Socialstopia' - we designed a Prezi and devised a small scene to accompany our explanation for our ideas. For the scene, we put 5 chairs put with one centered in the middle. Sam stayed standing and talked about the set, whilst Jacob sat in the middle and we sat on the other chairs. We got our phones out and turned the volume up, then began texting each other.

This is the link for our Prezi:

http://prezi.com/7fy3geqi3xch/distopia/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

This is the script:

Timeline

Timeline of performance

 

 

Researching Punch Drunk

Punch Drunk

Punch Drunk is an immersive theatre company that has been performing since 2000. Their shows are non-linear, meaning the audience is free to roam where they choose. They usually take over large warehouses and turn them into a whole different world for the audience to live and experience. 

Every audience member will have the own experience of the play, as it is their choice of how they view and enjoy the instillation. 

Evaluation Of The Performance

Evaluation of 2050 - 

1. What do we mean by Multi Media:

    There are many elements of multi media, including video, sound, lighting, props, dance, presentations and costume. All of these were used in our performance of 1984, in different rooms.

• Food Hall: The food hall used sound, video and props. The way that the group who created the food hall used these components of multi media was great. They created a sound loop that was on reapeat of a man's voice saying "War Is Peace". They used video by pre-filming inner party members announcing notices for the day, then they projected this on the wall and had it on mute. This was effective because it gave a feel of how it would be to be a normal person in this world, being told notices and commands all day, having no choice but to conform. Their props were their strongest factor; they bought supermarket food items, like baked beans, bisctuits, oats, lentils, flour and they stripped the original packaging and stuck on 'ingsoc' labels, making it feel like the food was all from Ingsoc. They also served real soup with bread in cheap papery bowls which audience members were allowed to eat in the allocated seating areas. The lighting in the room was plain and dull, ensuring that the feel to the room was drab. Their costumes were brilliant, they all really looked like canteen workers, or lunch ladies. They had their hair, neatly tied back in buns, with plastic aprons covering their dull clothes. Overall they did a really good job creating a 1984 inspired food hall. 

•  Room 101: Room 101 used sound, props, lighting, costume and video. They used sound by finding a MP3 of a baby crying, and put it on loop, this added to the feeling of torture because repetitive music or sound has been proven to have affects on humans. They used video in two ways; they projected the video on the walls of the square room, the first video was of a gruesome eye surgery and the second was a tv broadcast that was fuzzy. The lighting was used really well, they got hold of a really bright stage light that made the audience appear ill, it also made the room very hot and this added to the scary, dark atmosphere. Their costumes were, in my opionion the thing they did the best, but this was only because I did not get a chance to actually experience the torture room for myself. It was extremely effective - the main torturer wore a surgical suit that covered all of their body, including having a hood, and they held a riding crop in one hand. The other torturers wore all black quite corporative wear. Their props were the torture equipment, which they displayed in the room. 

•  Stanley's Room: The actors creating Stanley's Room used sound, video, costume, props and lighting. The sound they used was a sountrack of a radio show, with other background noises. They showed a video that they filmed of an exercise routine. The lighting was harsh and strong. Their costumes were different according to the character but Stanley wore frumpy clothing; a big blue jumper. Their props were really well used. They had an amazing, realistic diary, that was supposed to belong to Stanley. They bought a old looking diary and filled it in, so that the audience could browse through it. This would have really made it feel like Stanley was a living breathing person.

• The Space: Both of the groups used video, lighting, props and costume.  The Anti Sex League, which was my group, used video by projecting the video we filmed ourselves during our lecture. We used the room lighting and created a blackout (having a different appearance when the lights came back on) by switching them off at the wall, this was surprisingly effective because it gave the room a grungy damp feel, using the built in bright lights. We only had 3 props; the clipboards, which we all carried in our left arm, and the leaflets and posters we made, that had our logo on and some information about us. The costume was, in my opinion what made our group work. By wearing the very strict formal outfit that I explained in a previous post, we stood out from the drabness of the workers and presented higher class citizens. Two Minutes Hate, also used a video they filmed and directed themselves, of a rebel. They taped white x's to the floor in certain places, where the audience would be told to stand. This was successful because not only would the audience know where to go, but it made them conform to the structured two minutes hate. This group had an amazing 'lighting' idea: one of them brought in yellow flashing lights, sort of similar to sirens on top of a police car but yellow. They placed these around the room so that when the blackout happened the yellow 'building site type lights' were left flashing. Studies have shown that flashing lights interest us as human beings, and they have a 'moth to flame' effect on most people, meaning the audience was drawn to the performance. Their costume was 'black' with boots. The boots were used to create a rebel like setting.

• The Lecture Theatre: The group fabricating the Lecture Theatre; the reception for the audience, did an amazing job, in my opinion. They used a Prezi, a great job of lighting, sound, props and costume. The Prezi they created was explaining the rules of the performance or 'the tour', they designed the Prezi with 1984 in mind; it was dark and formal. They used the lighting so well; it was a simple touch but it was so effective! They held about 15 audience members in the space between two sets of doors, in complete darkness for 5 seconds, then as the front doors were opened the light came on and they were told to stand in lines. This must have been powerful for the audience in the dark holding area, but also the audience already in the room, because the it was almost like they were arriving in a corporate elevator. Their use of props and other actors was great, they asked us, the Anti- Sex League to help them organise and register the audience, and we went around the audience, with a survey that the Lecture Theatre group had put together, asking the audience questions such as: 'How old are you?', 'What is your Twitter name?' etc. They then, cleverly used this information in room 415. The sound they used was by having the actors in the room shout commands at the audience; for example: 'Keep in your allocated lines', 'Please refrain from talking' etc. (one actor even used a megaphone). Their costume was very besuited. They all wore very smart, 'office -like' clothing, I think that this worked well, as the audience would have gotten the sense of a real reception, administrative environment.

• The Hallways: The hallway group did not use much multi media elements like video but they had good costumes, props and they did use sound well. Their costumes were all similar - smart black clothing with an aspect of red somewhere about them; ie. hair bows, belt, etc. Their props were posters, which they stuck on various walls of the 'campus'. They also used the megaphone to shout things, which was very useful because the hallways were very cramped and busy. 

• Room 415: I did not get to experience this room but i saw the set before they performed. This group used theatrical lighting, good set, computers, and costume. The theatrical lighting was only used when O Brian did his speeches. This, I imagine worked very well, as it would attract the audience to the change in scene. The costume in the room was used as a set; they created a dressing room. They had an ironing board and clothes hanging up, this made the audience believe they had caught a moment of life in that room. They had two computers set up on a desk, and there were workers, sitting at them, filling in the audiences' details that we obtained previously. The audience would have been able to see their own details popping up on the screen, all their personal information being accessed by workers dressed in lab coats. O Brian and his P.A were dressed in smart suits - emphasising the separation between workers and people of status.

  2. What worked well? 

   - The costumes worked well - most people had black drab costumes apart from the youth rebels who wore bright yellow raincoats and the Anti - Sex League who wore white shirts and red neckerchiefs - this gave a feeling of difference between the groups. This led people to different rooms that would of been out of the path of the audience. 

- The surgical masks worked well because it made the audience separated from the actors. It also made the audience uncomfortable and feel a part of this world we created. It gave them an identity with a number assigned to them. You could call them by their number. We took the idea of the masks from Punch Drunk where the audience wear masks to allow their audiences the freedom to perform. It gives them permission to be someone else. 

We used "spectactors" (spectators /actors) The year 13's were in the role of ushers - they helped the show to run smoothly. They also acted in some scenes to encourage the audience to go along with the scene i.e.. clapping when needed, cheering, booing, rebelling etc.

The Multi media in our show was not to decorate the acting, but our Multi media WAS the play.

- In my opinion, the ending was very powerful. The audience were fully engaged about the odd rebellion that took place outside. The separation at the start was effective because it showed something was happening that not all the 'actors' were aware of. Then when the rebels, came and interacted with the other characters, the audience would have been even more puzzles; seeing strong characters such as the Anti- Sex League or people wearing suits, being grabbed by drab workers wearing tatty clothes. We were pushed by the rebels in to the small space of the bike shed. The audience, keen to know what was happening, followed the rebels over. Then a really strong image was created when the youth rebels in yellow raincoats, made a ring around the party members. Everyone was shouting and being confused until, a party member left the bike shed; surrendering and asking to go over to the rebels. The audience were fully engulfed. 

Our group's performance went well and we tried to stick to our schedule. Unfortunalely our timings got a bit messed up and we had to perform at different times, but this worked anyway. A problem we had was audience not being happy, when we said they could not come into that show because there were no spaces left. Our group worked really well as a team because when we were surprised by a rebellion (Year 13's) in our second lecture, we adjusted to this change and dealt with it, whilst staying in character. The only major problem we had was that most of us couldn't walk due to the incredible pain, the heels were giving our feet!!!

3. How could we have involved the audience more? 

To have involved the audience even further we could have given more props to audience members to look after, hold, show to other members etc. Audience members could have been whispered instruction whilst in a show/lecture and they could have started to rebel, instead of the Year 13's, meaning that, the family member, or friend that came to the show with them, would be utterly shocked to see them stand up and take part or rebel. 

The Space

This is where we are performing our lecture: we left it quite simple - we put 13 chairs on each side of the space and shut all the black curtains to keep a neat and lecture - type look. The back brick wall where there is a space in the curtains is where we projected our video. 

Research notes about the Presentation (Mr Crowther)

Today's lesson was very informative and having Mr Moir come in and talk through the subject in detail was very useful, I managed to take a few notes; 

Room 101 was origninaly a room in a university where students would find out their results.

George Orwell lived through a period of empire, two world wars, Great Depression and decolonisation. 

Orwell was a socialist. 

Orwell died when he was 46. 

Rehearsals

Today we rehearsed our lecture/scene. We finalised most things and discussed further how the structure will work. We have had an addition to our group so we worked around adding Anna to the lecture. We tried on our costumes an decided how our hair would be. (In the real performance we will all have ponytails with red lipsticks)

We also managed to film our advert today! We started with a scene of Anna (pretending not to be a member of the Anti-Sex league) and a theatre student in a intimate situation then we filmed what would be the 'consequences' - we used a old changing room that was quite creepy and gloomy to film Anna getting tortured! 

http://www.magisto.com/video/NFhEYl8QRzouAhZpYw

1984 Notes That I Took In The 1st Lesson

1984 NOTES:

.Lecture theatre

.Space 

.418 

.411 

.413 

.415

.Hallways

.Green space

PERFORMANCE: Thursday the 1st of May. 

We will be creating an immersive theatre experience. It was be audience led, they are free to go where they want.  All audience will be wearing surgical masks. The set must be really detailed; touch, smell, sound and sight.

Each of the spaces will have multimedia in them; video, projection, sound, lighting etc.

The audience is the story teller; some rooms might be empty.

The performance will last an hour. We will create 3 or 4 hours of performance material. Every audience member will have a different experience.  

A rebellion will signify the end of the show. O' Brian will die at the end of the show. 

Think about: 

1. Set and props

2. Multimedia 

3. Assets of the room 

Our play is called 2050. 

NEED TO DO: Research other theatre companies ( Punch Drunk), Doug Foster. 

                      ROOMS:

411: will be room 101 (torture room; worst fear comes true) We could get torture weapons etc. Recreation of Doug Fosters idea (box, with peep hole) 

LECTURE THEATRE: registration, where they start. Get information off them (worst fear). cold business like feeling. Masks will be issued. Protection of perfect society. Digital double website. 

418: Winston's home ( evolved character) might have his diary, clothes, half eaten food etc.

413: Food hall: actual food, cooks etc. (gruel - oats and water) 

 

415: o' Brian's office / monitoring station. (Video of audience as they move around) we will walk around with video cameras. 

SPACE: group hate room, footage showing rebels and we will be forced to have aggressive hate. Anti sex league

HALLWAYS: computer screens, soundscapes, announcements, posters. 

COURTYARD in between the main block and blue building: exercise area. Glimpse of what goes on in a Joy Camp. Synchronised exercises. 

GRASS AREAS: Audience might be enlisted to become part of the revolution. 

Audience are visitors to the world of 2050. Treat with respect. They will be briefed of what to expect. 

There will be a really strong security presence (weapons and costume needed.) When audience go from lecture theatre to 415, they will see other events. They are told to not look. 

There may be small group performances for individual audience members. 

Costume for Anti-Sex League

My group have decided that we will all wear exactly the same uniform to project a very strict image to the audience. We are going for the 'air hostess' look;

• Hair pinned back neatly

•   Black body con midi skirt 

• White shirt

• Red Neckerchief

• Black Kitten Heels

• Red Lipstick

 

• Black Tights
• Clipboard

 

 
 

Script & Staging For Anti-Sex League

Script & Staging for Anti-Sex League

For our mini performance, we have been given the Space to use. The space is a rectangle room and we have decided to put seats along both the longer walls, facing the middle of the room. We are only letting women into our performance; this is because of the nature of the subject, we are lecturing to women. We start by letting the audience into the Space. We are kind and all smiles when greeting them into the room, until the door closes and then we turn serious and intense. 

We then proceed to 'correcting' the audience, by telling them to "Sit Straight", "Chin Up" etc. 

After this, we shall show our advert. We will then continue to tell them about the following things; 

This is the script we have written; (the individuals lectures, we are writing separately.) 

Here is my individual monologue/lecture about adultery; 

This is the finished script as we decided not to do the monologues: 

Anti-Sex League

Anti-Sex League.

I have been cast to perform, script and create the Anti-Sex league along with Amber, Amber, Yasmin and Hannah. 

We have already come up with many ideas, we have decided to make an advert that will be shown in the performance. Here is the storyboard for the advert. We haven't yet filmed the advert;

The Storyboard was created by Hannah.

We have our props list and list of significant moments; 

We did a spider diagram to plot our initial ideas on paper and we also came up with a logo and slogan;

This are the leaflets we will be handing out on the performance night: 

Prezi Presentation of 1984 Narrative

Mine & Izzy's Prezi Presentation.

 

 

http://prezi.com/k3kwwin1u-f2/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy