Performance Preview: Orpheus

Farnham UCA second visit, 13/04/2016.

Our second visit was to get updated with the Performing Arts students concerning the progress of their performances, as well as pitch and discuss design ideas. We also brought along examples of the most recent project we've completed at university in order to demonstrate the way we work and what we have the potential to create.

Passing around images of Joy's model, and actually having my spacesuit and Magda's crown and costume to hand, the students seemed suitably impressed on our previous project work, which provided motivation and moral for both them and ourselves. It was actually great to see them get excited about work I'd created, and encouraged me to bring the same motivation to this project.

After showing them our work, it was decided that they would perform a few minutes of the scenes from the play's they had been working on (Images left). This let us see how far they'd progressed with learning the scripts and choreography of their productions, which was really insightful as we were able to get a feel for the kind of performance they wanted to put on.

Altogether, this opportunity to sit down and spend a day with the actors was very valuable, as we were able to show one another the way we work separately and get an idea of the concepts, staging, lighting, genre and costumes in mind.

Augmented Reality, Medway and Swale projecy (Informal note summary)

25.02.2016

Overview: A treasure hunt styled game to be played on smartphones and tablets. This will be a sequel to the first game, which the employer worked on with local artists previously. The first one was set in Rochester high street, this one is to instead be set in Chatham town, with special attention to creative or artistic areas.

In terms of story, the first game had a Steampunk styled zookeeper acting as a guide to lead the player around Rochester, attempting to hunt down his escaped animals. In the same story telling style, our team threw around the potential idea of a murder mystery type game, each character or object giving you clues that are styled to or inspired by the location they're in, e.g. A stylised nurse standing by a real life hospital.

In order to make this happen, the kind of things that we as the employees will need to make are prosthetics, costumes, and props. The set is already provided for us in the form of real life buildings and the route we decide on through Chatham. Character design will also be a big aspect of this project.

Mapping out and locations will be first on the list of priorities, as then we will know which locations and kinds of scenery we will be working with.  Making the objects/ people/ monsters tie in with background is cool idea, which also makes the game more immersive and believable.

Potential plot twists are possible as part of writing the narrative, such as having the player as the murderers next victim etc. So far the Genre remains undefined but computer interface is of a steampunk style, so we don't want to stray from that massively. As a team, these are the different roles available in this project, which of course will be overlapped so everyone is able to do more than one:

In chronological order of the project: Location team Character designers Writers collabing with both Then: Character builders Prop builders Writers continue with collabing with both to maintain context, but building and making at same time. Then: Sound design, shooting finals, photographers.

Bridewell Theatre notes (Informal Summary)

26.02.2016

Bridewell theatre (notes on the theatre itself):

1) Used to be a Victorian swimming pool; smaller width and larger depth of stage. 2) Back wall at an angle. It was mentioned that the acoustics aren't great, and this should be taken into consideration when thinking about sound. 3) Wood colour is blue; Not to be painted. however it lends itself to current show.

4) Sight line: can't see actors on balcony from back. 5) Trapdoors: use but use CAREFULLY (this was emphasised!) Entrance point behind audience seating. Centre line of theatre is slightly off centre stairs. The true centre lines up with trapdoor.

6) No use of wings, however if a back panel to the staging can be incorporated then space behind that could be used for potential storage, or temporary wings.

7) Interior scenes must be able to be moved on and off of the stage.

Notes on production:

1) Refer madness: based on awful film from the 1930s on the effects of marijuana on youth. Leads straight A students to a path of bad choices and murder and suicide etc. Attempted to be a serious film.
2) Showing world as a cartoonish musical; the world exists as a cartoon. Everything very 2D looking? Edward scissor hands type environment, meaning everything bright colours, pristine, American modern view of perfect town and community.

(Image from Edward Scissorhands, Dir. Tim Burton)
It was emphasised that boundaries should be pushed! Thinking outside of the box and going big is encouraged! My thoughts and extra details: A white card model or sculptures of potential sets would be a good next step to take, if I so choose to work/ or am assigned to this production. A stack of TVs? Tv head? Object head costumes? Look at cartoons possibly inspired by the 30s??

Costume; keep them as a separate brief. Communication of colour palette and shapes. Budget; £1000 Potential for prop costume. Show: May 14th 15th get in. Show opens on 17th.

Farnham Maltings Briefing (Informal note summary)

This project collaborates with another of the UCA universities, specifically with the performing arts course at Farnham. Teaming up with these students allows us too create the sets, costume and props visualised in the briefings and meetings we will be having with the students themselves. This makes it a project directed almost entirely by students, making it a great opportunity for more a more independent experience. The notes i gathered during the group briefing are as follows:

1) Be free with the production, it doesn't have to look a certain way. Just because we're studying works of Shakespeare or old Greek stage plays does not mean we have to stick to that aesthetic style or cant transpose it to a different genre or era. Break down the conventions of modern theatre.

2) 12th May are the final performances.
3) 'Littlebulb' are a company they're working with as well as us, could be worth looking up and seeing what their work is like? 
4) This project provides an opportunity to work closely with light and sound. Supported by professional technicians on lighting and sound, which is something I'm personally very interested in. 
5) The angle they wish to approach this project is that of a theatre festival, making all the shows an experience from the moment the viewer steps into the building. Because of this, potentially looking into 'Punchdrunk' or immersive theatre could be of use. 
6) To go with the immersive aspect of this project costumed guides to lead the viewers from one show to another could be both useful and add to the immersion. Potential characters for the guides could be harpies, burlesque styled dancers or other visually intriguing roles from the plays the viewers will be watching.