Alright. This should be the last entry. Hence the name of this blog. Anyway, this will basically be a reflection of the thought process in terms of scriptwriting thus far.
Directorial Vision
Since the beginning when we decided to incorporate themes from Ibsen's A Doll's House, we have stuck to the same directorial vision of: We are all connected and that one person's actions can influence another's. This DV has been the focus for our play and we have been improving the script as well as choreographing the movements according to this performance intention. However, due to recent comments that the intention of everyone being interconnected is not as clear as the idea that every character has to make choices, it has led to a change in our DV.
Therefore, our new DV is: One person's action can influence another person's choice.
Thought Process
Since Expressionistic scripts are episodic by nature, I have tried to incorporate this nature into the script. The script consists of scenes that are not elaborately written in terms of lines, but yet provide a basic structure for the whole play so that movements can be choreographed according to the performance intention of each scene. The script also provided a structure for the lights and song choices so that the proper atmosphere for each scene can be created. Lines should not be too elaborate as this will place a restriction on the creation of the movements.
In terms of the performance intention of each scene, basically, it is to show how the different characters are forced to make choices after being influenced by other characters around them. Prime examples are:
Scene 1: Parent's treatment of Child and Sibling starts their diverging paths.
Scene 2: Child has to choose between a more free lifestyle(Friend 1) or a restricted one(Friend 2). Friend 1 and 2 try to experience each other's lifestyle as well.
Scene 3: Parent's mistreatment of Sibling seals her fate in the sense that her choice was enforced upon her.
Scene 4: Sibling shows Child the result of a choice that she(Child) could have made.
Scene 5: Child makes a decision to decide who she wants to be according to her own decisions and not be controlled by others.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Entry Six
Pre-examination Showcase
Pardon my late entries. Blogger has been giving me problems for quite some time. Livejournal next time! But I digress.
Anyway, we had another showcase on Thursday to the J3s. This showcase incorporated all our new changes, including script and movements for each scene. Chenxing was absent so we could only showcase 3 out of 5 scenes. And the 2 scenes that were not shown were actually the most important scenes as they are actually the main scenes that show our DV.
But despite this, the J3s were able to get an idea of the DV of our piece(wow!) as well as some of the ideas that we were trying to push forward. Such as the idea of control, abuse, and struggle. And here are some of the comments that they gave us:
Movement Wise
They felt that we were still not purposeful enough in our movements. It seemed as if we were carrying out the movements as if it was memorized, but not as if it was part of our character. So, inner monologue is important. We must not only do it, but also feel it. There were also certain scenes that they felt was weird. For example, the vomiting part of the Parent/Sibling scene. It seemed as if the Parent had an upset tummy halfway through. Anyway, we plan to portray the video of my mouth saying deregatory words, making the intention of verbal abuse more clear. The Child/Sibling scene is still a crowd favourite, just that movement intention must be made more clear. They also felt that the timing for all our movements seemed off, but this can be solved with more rehearsals, and making our movements second nature!
Light/Sounds wise
They felt that our lights were okay. Kudos to our lighting tech. Only concerns were that there needs to be better demarkation of spacing so that our expressions can always been seen by the audience. Overspill is inevitable, but we still need to take note. We also need to learn the justifications behind each of our lighting choices! In the case of our sound, they felt that there were times that the song choices overpowered our movements. And that sometimes, they felt the emotions not because of our movements, but because of our song choices, so this has made our movements less impactful. Even though lights/sounds is one of our skills, the main crux of our performance is still our movements and so we will have to work on this.
All in all, the J3s felt that our concept was interesting and has a potential to develop further!
Post Showcase
And so, one thing that we are trying desperately to do right now is to incorpate Laban's movement analysis's effort drives into our movements. Theories involving our weight, direction, timing, flow. This will help to show the transition in characters more clearly. This should have been done long ago, but it ain't over till the fat lady sings!
In terms of script, final changes will be made tonight. Even though its the last draft and still seems sparse, Expressionistic scripts are supposed to be like that, so that it allows more room for the creation of movements. (ie. less restrictive)
We must remember, we are not miracle workers. We don't aim for perfection. We aim for Excellence!
Pardon my late entries. Blogger has been giving me problems for quite some time. Livejournal next time! But I digress.
Anyway, we had another showcase on Thursday to the J3s. This showcase incorporated all our new changes, including script and movements for each scene. Chenxing was absent so we could only showcase 3 out of 5 scenes. And the 2 scenes that were not shown were actually the most important scenes as they are actually the main scenes that show our DV.
But despite this, the J3s were able to get an idea of the DV of our piece(wow!) as well as some of the ideas that we were trying to push forward. Such as the idea of control, abuse, and struggle. And here are some of the comments that they gave us:
Movement Wise
They felt that we were still not purposeful enough in our movements. It seemed as if we were carrying out the movements as if it was memorized, but not as if it was part of our character. So, inner monologue is important. We must not only do it, but also feel it. There were also certain scenes that they felt was weird. For example, the vomiting part of the Parent/Sibling scene. It seemed as if the Parent had an upset tummy halfway through. Anyway, we plan to portray the video of my mouth saying deregatory words, making the intention of verbal abuse more clear. The Child/Sibling scene is still a crowd favourite, just that movement intention must be made more clear. They also felt that the timing for all our movements seemed off, but this can be solved with more rehearsals, and making our movements second nature!
Light/Sounds wise
They felt that our lights were okay. Kudos to our lighting tech. Only concerns were that there needs to be better demarkation of spacing so that our expressions can always been seen by the audience. Overspill is inevitable, but we still need to take note. We also need to learn the justifications behind each of our lighting choices! In the case of our sound, they felt that there were times that the song choices overpowered our movements. And that sometimes, they felt the emotions not because of our movements, but because of our song choices, so this has made our movements less impactful. Even though lights/sounds is one of our skills, the main crux of our performance is still our movements and so we will have to work on this.
All in all, the J3s felt that our concept was interesting and has a potential to develop further!
Post Showcase
And so, one thing that we are trying desperately to do right now is to incorpate Laban's movement analysis's effort drives into our movements. Theories involving our weight, direction, timing, flow. This will help to show the transition in characters more clearly. This should have been done long ago, but it ain't over till the fat lady sings!
In terms of script, final changes will be made tonight. Even though its the last draft and still seems sparse, Expressionistic scripts are supposed to be like that, so that it allows more room for the creation of movements. (ie. less restrictive)
We must remember, we are not miracle workers. We don't aim for perfection. We aim for Excellence!
Entry Five
Pre-Humanities Week Showcase
Okay, so basically the main comments we were given was that
1) They could see the clear divergence between Child and Sibling.
2) Struggle of identity(ie. Politics of Identity) was still unclear.
Comment number one was something that we could work off, because the audience could see that the characters, specifically the Child & Sibling, were forced to make a choice. This resulted in two clear and different end result; Sibling going mad and Child still remaining sane. So basically, we decided to incorporate this idea of every single character in our piece having to make a choice.
This has resulted in quite a major change in most scenes of the script. These include:
1) Number of scenes reduced from 6 to 5.
2) Instead of trying to make a running storyline, we incorporated more episodic elements.
3) Every single character will have to face the predicament of making a choice. (ie. emotional journey)
4) More buildup for the character of Parent so that violence doesn't seem to sudden.
5) Friend 1&2 will have more 'air-time", with their roles being of more importance.
6) Child and Sibling will be faced with the sense of choice and struggle.
Therefore, Identity will be based upon how the characters are going to choose amidst external factors.(ie. how characters affect each other.->DV) Internal struggle ensues.
Another change to note is that our 2 skills are now, Movement and Sound/light. No more multimedia. It will be another load off our shoulders as we feel that we won't be able to produce a good multimedia product in the short span of time.
Okay, so basically the main comments we were given was that
1) They could see the clear divergence between Child and Sibling.
2) Struggle of identity(ie. Politics of Identity) was still unclear.
Comment number one was something that we could work off, because the audience could see that the characters, specifically the Child & Sibling, were forced to make a choice. This resulted in two clear and different end result; Sibling going mad and Child still remaining sane. So basically, we decided to incorporate this idea of every single character in our piece having to make a choice.
This has resulted in quite a major change in most scenes of the script. These include:
1) Number of scenes reduced from 6 to 5.
2) Instead of trying to make a running storyline, we incorporated more episodic elements.
3) Every single character will have to face the predicament of making a choice. (ie. emotional journey)
4) More buildup for the character of Parent so that violence doesn't seem to sudden.
5) Friend 1&2 will have more 'air-time", with their roles being of more importance.
6) Child and Sibling will be faced with the sense of choice and struggle.
Therefore, Identity will be based upon how the characters are going to choose amidst external factors.(ie. how characters affect each other.->DV) Internal struggle ensues.
Another change to note is that our 2 skills are now, Movement and Sound/light. No more multimedia. It will be another load off our shoulders as we feel that we won't be able to produce a good multimedia product in the short span of time.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Entry Four
Reflection on Progress we have made thus far
1) Movement wise
Alright, we have made considerable progress in terms of our movement. Our original deadline was to actually have our whole performance choreographed by 30th July, so that we can start on full-dress rehearsals, but we realised that this was quite an impossible target. Considering the fact that we had little experience in physical theatre and that we had to re-choreograph plenty of our movements to make it less "dancey". These comments were made after our showcase of the first scene.
Therefore, we realised that we could make the movements less "dancey", especially for the first scene, by moving off-beat to the music. Basically, it means that we do not move to the music, but rather the music should fit our movements. Therefore, we tend not to follow the rhythm and tempo of our music. We plan to incorporate this in our following scenes.
Currently, we have completed 4 scenes out of 6.
2) Multimedia wise
Currently, our lights are pretty much already done. We just need to have more tech-runs to make our light changes more fluid.
In terms of sound, we are currently facing a problem. Miss Norzian commented that one reason why our movement piece seemed "dancey" was because our music were songs instead of sound. Songs have their own specific beat and rhythm, and when we perform our movements, we perform them according to the beat of the songs. Rather, we should have choreographed our movements first, before either designing or finding a sound that fits our movements.
Therefore, in order to tackle this problem, we have re-choreographed the "narvas" portion of the first scene as this portion was the most "dancey" part of our whole performance. We are also going to change our song choices for the remainder of the scenes.
3) Set/Costume wise
I think we are pretty much done with the set as the props we need are pretty much already acquired. The only major problem we have is regrading the screen. We are still trying to come up with an idea to implement the fish-eye effect for our projections, but at the same time we have to find a suitable screen. Our original idea to use a black cloth fell through, so we are thinking of using a white one. But if we use a white one, we might as well just use the current projection screen, no? The problem with this though is that it might pose a distraction. Therefore, we are trying to remedy this by doing a freeze-frame whenever words are projected on the screen.
In terms of costume, it is still work in progress. Steph has been coming up with the sketches and they are quite promising. We are going costume shopping soon so we should be able to get the costumes done and over with as soon as possible!
1) Movement wise
Alright, we have made considerable progress in terms of our movement. Our original deadline was to actually have our whole performance choreographed by 30th July, so that we can start on full-dress rehearsals, but we realised that this was quite an impossible target. Considering the fact that we had little experience in physical theatre and that we had to re-choreograph plenty of our movements to make it less "dancey". These comments were made after our showcase of the first scene.
Therefore, we realised that we could make the movements less "dancey", especially for the first scene, by moving off-beat to the music. Basically, it means that we do not move to the music, but rather the music should fit our movements. Therefore, we tend not to follow the rhythm and tempo of our music. We plan to incorporate this in our following scenes.
Currently, we have completed 4 scenes out of 6.
2) Multimedia wise
Currently, our lights are pretty much already done. We just need to have more tech-runs to make our light changes more fluid.
In terms of sound, we are currently facing a problem. Miss Norzian commented that one reason why our movement piece seemed "dancey" was because our music were songs instead of sound. Songs have their own specific beat and rhythm, and when we perform our movements, we perform them according to the beat of the songs. Rather, we should have choreographed our movements first, before either designing or finding a sound that fits our movements.
Therefore, in order to tackle this problem, we have re-choreographed the "narvas" portion of the first scene as this portion was the most "dancey" part of our whole performance. We are also going to change our song choices for the remainder of the scenes.
3) Set/Costume wise
I think we are pretty much done with the set as the props we need are pretty much already acquired. The only major problem we have is regrading the screen. We are still trying to come up with an idea to implement the fish-eye effect for our projections, but at the same time we have to find a suitable screen. Our original idea to use a black cloth fell through, so we are thinking of using a white one. But if we use a white one, we might as well just use the current projection screen, no? The problem with this though is that it might pose a distraction. Therefore, we are trying to remedy this by doing a freeze-frame whenever words are projected on the screen.
In terms of costume, it is still work in progress. Steph has been coming up with the sketches and they are quite promising. We are going costume shopping soon so we should be able to get the costumes done and over with as soon as possible!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Entry Three
No Strings Attached Script Synopsis
Characters
Characters
- Child
- Parent
- Sibling
- Friend 1
- Friend 2
- Parent, Child, and Sibling appears.
- A happy scene is shown whereby Parent is trying to develop a close relationship with his children.
- However, Parent is soon affected by society's view on how proper "Parenting" should be.
- In turn, he takes it out on the Child, as the Sibling is sent off, and watches helplessly.
- Child and Friend 1 appears in the scene.
- Child attempts to hide her father's mistreatment but fails to do so.
- Friend 1 tries to cheer her up by playing games with her.
- Suddenly, Parent enters the scene to bring Child away, sending Friend 1 away at the same time.
- Parent introduces Child to Friend 2 and wants them to befriend each other.
- Child tries to befriend Friend 2 to no avail.
- After a few awkward situations, Friend 2 finally manages to get Child to study.
- Scene changes to show Parent and Sibling.
- Sibling suffers from bipolar disorder, and informs Parent that there is no cure.
- Parent, enraged by this news, starts verbally abusing the Sibling.
- Sibling tries to persuade Parent to accept her, but fails.
- Sibling enters to meet Child.
- They laugh at the awkwardness between Child and Friend 2 previously.
- However, Child upon mentioning Parent, causes Sibling to have severe mood swings.
- Sibling's bipolar disorder kicks in, causing severe changes in emotions.
- Child, not knowing that her sister has this illness, is extremely disillusioned and shocked.
- She runs away.
- Child turns on TV and watches a video.
- She realises that everything is connected and that one person's actions has an effect on others.
- This is portrayed in a subsequent movement scene.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Entry Two
Secondary Role in Group Piece
My secondary role in the group piece is that of the scriptwriter. My role is to come up with a script that is compatible with that of a movement piece, and yet is able to bring forward the directorial vision of our piece. Being a novice, my perception of a script for a movement piece would be that of a succint one, as a single line could translate to a series of movements.
I have based our script based on "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen. But rather than adapt directly from the play, I have decided to come up with a piece, drawing inspiration from real life. Just like how symbols were used in the play, I have decided to use the same type of representation in the script in order to represent the moments in which the main character is being controlled.
Expressionistic plays are usually depicted in multiple short scenes in order to potray the emotions. Rather than present these emotions to the audience in a drawed out piece, expressionistic plays aim to shock the audience in a sharp manner. Therefore, I have decided to write the script in such a way that the range of emotions is presented to the audience in a series of short scenes as well.
The play is still currently a work in progress however, as I still need to include more elements similar to the play of "A Doll's House", as well as make the plot more realistic, and adaptable to movements.
My secondary role in the group piece is that of the scriptwriter. My role is to come up with a script that is compatible with that of a movement piece, and yet is able to bring forward the directorial vision of our piece. Being a novice, my perception of a script for a movement piece would be that of a succint one, as a single line could translate to a series of movements.
I have based our script based on "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen. But rather than adapt directly from the play, I have decided to come up with a piece, drawing inspiration from real life. Just like how symbols were used in the play, I have decided to use the same type of representation in the script in order to represent the moments in which the main character is being controlled.
Expressionistic plays are usually depicted in multiple short scenes in order to potray the emotions. Rather than present these emotions to the audience in a drawed out piece, expressionistic plays aim to shock the audience in a sharp manner. Therefore, I have decided to write the script in such a way that the range of emotions is presented to the audience in a series of short scenes as well.
The play is still currently a work in progress however, as I still need to include more elements similar to the play of "A Doll's House", as well as make the plot more realistic, and adaptable to movements.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Entry One
Task: Devise a short piece of ‘total theatre’ (i.e. drama which consciously attempts to
involve other art forms) based on the theme of ‘Politics of Identity’.
Inspiration
We read up on the required texts beforehand, keeping in mind that we needed to either adapt or come up with a piece of our own, drawing inspiration from these texts. However, we didn't gain much inspiration from these texts for we felt that it was very difficult to adapt these plays, let along try to put up a form of "total theatre".
Creative Process
At first, we decided to adapt our piece from Macbeth. However, it was later changed to Ibsen's "A Doll's House" as we felt that the our directorial vision could be better presented with the emulation of this play.
Directorial Vision: "We are all connected; one person's actions influences another."
Performance Traditions
The two skills that we are going to do for our piece are Movement and Multimedia. We will be Contemporary dance as our movement style, with Multimedia being the only support as there will be no reading of lines. In order to achieve this, we decided to follow an Expressionistic style.
Expressionist Theatre - 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; set designs will be exaggerated to emphasise the tone of the setting. The artist is not concerned with reality as it appears but with its inner nature and with the emotions aroused by the subject. To achieve these ends, the subject is frequently caricatured, exaggerated, distorted, or otherwise altered in order to stress the emotional experience in its most intense and concentrated form.
involve other art forms) based on the theme of ‘Politics of Identity’.
Inspiration
We read up on the required texts beforehand, keeping in mind that we needed to either adapt or come up with a piece of our own, drawing inspiration from these texts. However, we didn't gain much inspiration from these texts for we felt that it was very difficult to adapt these plays, let along try to put up a form of "total theatre".
Creative Process
At first, we decided to adapt our piece from Macbeth. However, it was later changed to Ibsen's "A Doll's House" as we felt that the our directorial vision could be better presented with the emulation of this play.
Directorial Vision: "We are all connected; one person's actions influences another."
Performance Traditions
The two skills that we are going to do for our piece are Movement and Multimedia. We will be Contemporary dance as our movement style, with Multimedia being the only support as there will be no reading of lines. In order to achieve this, we decided to follow an Expressionistic style.
Expressionist Theatre - 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; set designs will be exaggerated to emphasise the tone of the setting. The artist is not concerned with reality as it appears but with its inner nature and with the emotions aroused by the subject. To achieve these ends, the subject is frequently caricatured, exaggerated, distorted, or otherwise altered in order to stress the emotional experience in its most intense and concentrated form.
Therefore, in accordance to our DV, we are planning to show the relationship of how everyone is connected, through the literal use of strings as well. Furthermore, we are basing our play on a web-like structure for the characters that we have come up with.
This relationship web will help us to show clearly how each character is interlinked, as well as the butterfly effect of each person's actions.
Turning Points
- We changed our style from Human Puppetry-esque actions to Contemporary Dance because that allowed for more movement and expression.
- Macbeth was intended to be a potential play to emulate, but that changed to Ibsen's A Doll's House.
- Our DV was changed once, and the new DV allowed us more room to work with.
- Our original relationship structure was more of a linear one at first. However, it was then changed to a more web-like one (see above) to bring out more fully the different connections between the characters that affect each other.
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