Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Fringe -- FE awards --Cats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJXQEqnpajY&feature=youtu.be
This is one of the most popular songs that have been produced this year and because of this it has been featured in much of the media. Its popularity makes it a hit with both the young people and their parents. Many people have made their own choreography and flash mobs therefore obtaining inspiration would not be difficult. On that popularity subject the song just makes the cut because unlike the song happy produced last year people have made flash mobs for it but not as many as there are for the song happy. It is also fairly new therefore it is not at the point were people are getting annoyed with the song because they have heard too many times.
FE Awards
For this performance we incorporated numerous songs from musicals that have been done in our college allowing us to work with the ex students from the college. I think what made our piece special was that it was a mash up in contrast to having one five minute song like the other colleges did. In a space of 5 minutes we sang six songs that had different energy levels allowing us to take the audience in an emotional journey. The other colleges had one song which I thought was of a high standard because they lots of time to focus on it and that showed in their performance however if that was someone's first time encounting musical theatre they would have felt left out. Another element to why our performance worked was that we tried to keep the movement to a minimum but not just stand still like a choir because no one wants to eat a meal to a choir.
Cats
The two songs I chose contrasted each other and I think that they helped express my strengths and weaknesses in my vocals which would contribute to the director's decision. One of the songs I sang was written by the author of the musical. This helped show that I could cop with songs of that genre and tone , while the other song helped express one of my strengths which was holding notes. This would make a good candidate for the songs that require a male role holding notes. Having tried tried a few other songs I chose these two because they allowed me to keep the same key while moving up and down the scales
This is one of the most popular songs that have been produced this year and because of this it has been featured in much of the media. Its popularity makes it a hit with both the young people and their parents. Many people have made their own choreography and flash mobs therefore obtaining inspiration would not be difficult. On that popularity subject the song just makes the cut because unlike the song happy produced last year people have made flash mobs for it but not as many as there are for the song happy. It is also fairly new therefore it is not at the point were people are getting annoyed with the song because they have heard too many times.
FE Awards
For this performance we incorporated numerous songs from musicals that have been done in our college allowing us to work with the ex students from the college. I think what made our piece special was that it was a mash up in contrast to having one five minute song like the other colleges did. In a space of 5 minutes we sang six songs that had different energy levels allowing us to take the audience in an emotional journey. The other colleges had one song which I thought was of a high standard because they lots of time to focus on it and that showed in their performance however if that was someone's first time encounting musical theatre they would have felt left out. Another element to why our performance worked was that we tried to keep the movement to a minimum but not just stand still like a choir because no one wants to eat a meal to a choir.
Cats
The two songs I chose contrasted each other and I think that they helped express my strengths and weaknesses in my vocals which would contribute to the director's decision. One of the songs I sang was written by the author of the musical. This helped show that I could cop with songs of that genre and tone , while the other song helped express one of my strengths which was holding notes. This would make a good candidate for the songs that require a male role holding notes. Having tried tried a few other songs I chose these two because they allowed me to keep the same key while moving up and down the scales
Friday, 12 June 2015
Rehearsal Log
Rehearsal video
This was the first video evidence we recorded for the Brighton fringe festival performance. In this rehearsal it was starting to come together in contrast to the previous rehearsals were we didn't have much material. I think that it was hard for us to start because of the number of people in the group , having six heads all wanting to have their own way to start the piece was a challenging because I thought we were going to be having trouble coming up with any sort of material. I pictured the piece starting with one person followed by another till we were all in almost like a flash mob effect because we were the opening act of the second half therefore we needed to grab their attention. As the rehearsal went on we agreed to run in and hype up the crowd because it was an upbeat song. In the rehearsal we polished all we had planned last few rehearsals and watching it back I think that it looks great even though we could be a bit more fluid and uniform with our movements.
Uptown funk is a 3 minute and at this point we have about a minute worth of material therefore in the next rehearsal we will start to play around with choreographic devices to enhance our piece. A choreographic device we could use is repetition, I think that if we had a motif that was repeated we stand a good chance of leaving a mark on the audience as they would think of our routine every time they hear the song. Repetition would also extended length of our piece plus it could be used alongside other choreographic devices like fragmentation to spice up our choreography.
Another obstacle we faced in this rehearsal was not having all the members of the group in the rehearsal. This had an effect on the ideas we generated because we had less brains in the room plus if we were all in we could have worked on tiding up how we looked as group. Everyone is allocated a solo in the song therefore not having people in means we just stand through their part(s) which reduces our feel of what it will be like when we perform it next week.
Fringe Performance Tech Run
Above is our tech run just before the show , it looks great however there are tiny little bits were some members don't remember the routine therefore when we get there we will run through them quickly to ensure we perform to the best of our abilities.
Final performance
This was the first video evidence we recorded for the Brighton fringe festival performance. In this rehearsal it was starting to come together in contrast to the previous rehearsals were we didn't have much material. I think that it was hard for us to start because of the number of people in the group , having six heads all wanting to have their own way to start the piece was a challenging because I thought we were going to be having trouble coming up with any sort of material. I pictured the piece starting with one person followed by another till we were all in almost like a flash mob effect because we were the opening act of the second half therefore we needed to grab their attention. As the rehearsal went on we agreed to run in and hype up the crowd because it was an upbeat song. In the rehearsal we polished all we had planned last few rehearsals and watching it back I think that it looks great even though we could be a bit more fluid and uniform with our movements.
Uptown funk is a 3 minute and at this point we have about a minute worth of material therefore in the next rehearsal we will start to play around with choreographic devices to enhance our piece. A choreographic device we could use is repetition, I think that if we had a motif that was repeated we stand a good chance of leaving a mark on the audience as they would think of our routine every time they hear the song. Repetition would also extended length of our piece plus it could be used alongside other choreographic devices like fragmentation to spice up our choreography.
Another obstacle we faced in this rehearsal was not having all the members of the group in the rehearsal. This had an effect on the ideas we generated because we had less brains in the room plus if we were all in we could have worked on tiding up how we looked as group. Everyone is allocated a solo in the song therefore not having people in means we just stand through their part(s) which reduces our feel of what it will be like when we perform it next week.
Fringe Performance Tech Run
Above is our tech run just before the show , it looks great however there are tiny little bits were some members don't remember the routine therefore when we get there we will run through them quickly to ensure we perform to the best of our abilities.
Final performance
Variety Report
Variety is were different types of acts are put together to form one show. What one may classify as a variety performance can be anything from dancing to circuit to comedy , any type of performance qualifies. Popular acts back when it all started would have been comical singing however some acts were 'were unashamedly patriotic or sentimental, about true love, mother love, moon and June, idyllic villages, shady trees and wandering streams' which enforces that variety can be any type of performance.
Its origins can be traced back to the 18th century where it first appeared in music halls and supper rooms. Supper rooms was where working class citizens gathered for some food and entertainment as the owners noticed that providing entertainment increased their sales in alcohol. In Britain these supper halls had a rough audience that talked over the performers and sometimes attacked them with food if they didn't enjoy the performance. At the end of a long day the middle class men would attend these supper rooms and for an affordable price provide food and entertainment for them. The acts that were mainly successful were comical songs written for the working class about the rich for example songs mocking their bosses that they would sing along to. This type of entertainment saw the birth of Sam Cowell and other comical singers like Sam Collins.
Super rooms were male only and as time went some evolved to music halls that provided more professional singers, allowed females to attend and also a less harsher crowd. The London pavilion is an example of this because it started as a supper room and in 1861 became a Music Hall. Music halls did not enforce social divide however you were likely to find more working class in super rooms than in music halls.
The evolution of variety turn a slight turn with the induction of music halls because singers kept the comedy element from super rooms singing about everyday life (bosses, rent, unfaithful wives etc.) and addressed social issues in their entertainment. an example can be found in on the VAM website 'Many songs, and much of the comedy, were a comment on social conditions. They reflected working class life. Marie Lloyd’s hit 'My Old Man Said Follow the Van, and Don’t Dilly-Dally on the Way' was about doing a moonlight flit to avoid paying the rent and Gus Elen’s 'If it Wasn’t for the Houses in Between' was about the overcrowded living conditions in London’s East End' This was a form of one of the popular acts known as character songs.
The Victorian Era saw rise of Lion Comique and George Leybourne was noted the best in Comiques. This was the birth of boy bands that have now evolved to groups such as the modern one direction and take that. During the Victorian Era these were young character singers that sang about the high life and their attitudes were 'distinctly laddish' in contrast to modern boy bands.
Surprisingly audiences would go back time after time to see the same acts which allowed them to memorise the songs and sing along to them just like people at football games would go watch their team and chant the same songs match after match. I think that media played a big part in their society because they didn't have any sort of media therefore they had to the halls to see and listen to their favourite songs. Think had a knock on effect to modern variety because people can now access thousands of entertainment however variety is still popular in modern context for example shows like
Britain's Got Talent are still a big hit and there are also other nation loved programmes that originated from variety for example the X Factor (offers a range of different singing genres.)
These super rooms turned to music halls that encouraged women to attend and offered different entertainments on different days. The Canterbury music hall was the first of the music hall kind. It provided free entry making profit through food sales. I think that this place had a significant impact on the evolution of Variety because it was the first to provide tables and seats (700 seat capacity as the business improved) for the audiences to comfortably enjoy their food and entertainment. Music halls were a big hit with the society because it allowed women to dine with men and not just sit at home all day this meant more sales in alcohol and food for the owner therefore more places like this started to open.
Variety continued to evolve as the early 20th century saw large purpose built theatres like the Edwardian Theatres mainly designed by Frank Matcham. These theatres were beautiful with golf leaf traits and red chairs that were fixed in contrast to the table settings in music halls. Eating and drinking faded away in these sort of theatres and the darkening of the auditorium minimised the interaction between the audience. Its capacity and pricing was a big hit for the upper class and still affordable by the average working class which meant that it generated larger audiences.This the beginning of modern theatre as we know it because our theatres have red seats that are not in table settings. We have now added surround sound and 3D viewing as adaptations from the 20th century plus some places now offer 4D screenings.
Music halls provided more professional singers such Sam Cowell however the 20th century saw new built theatres that provided top end performers and everything was controlled by the new developed role of producers. This was the beginning of the large number of jobs that the theatre offers. Many traits of modern theatre originated from variety for Oswald Stoll owned a string of music halls and tried to pay his actors as little as possible which is something that we modern times leading to minimum actors pay laws to be introduced.
Historically media (writing and performing) was used mainly to consult social issues because people did not have the right to speak up to authority or go against them because punishments were extreme in modern views. Nowadays media is still used to consult social issues for example Malala used Facebook to get support on fighting for girl's rights to attend school in Islamic states. As technology has advance media has grown and most use it for entertainment purposes and the media industry generates lots of money through providing entertainment.
Variety has grown overtime and there are lots of programmes seen in Morden television that enforce this for example there are plenty of dancing / singing / comedy shows that offer different types acts within the same genre. Apart from being separated into categories some people have kept it original proving performers in their bars ,others offering karaoke nights. The evolution of variety is mother to stand up comedy and open mic evening provided in theatres.
Britain's Got Talent offers the general public a chance to perform in the royal variety show and sum prize of £250 000. The awards provide them with publicity and thousands of people enter the show which means thousands watch the show which generates them thousands of pounds plus people get to vote for their favourite acts making them even more money. In the eyes of the public they are offering a large sum of money for next to nothing however from that they get lots of money just like the alcohol provided lots of money behind the acts performing back when variety started. X Factor works just about the same way which reflects the evolution of variety and how media is used to get these events/ programmes popular.
In 1912 the Royal King George V and Queen Mary attended the 'Royal Command Performance' which is the equivalent of the Royal Variety Show where only a chosen few get to perform in front of the Royals. This still happens every year and it is a big owner to even get a ticket to be a member of the audience in this event let alone to perform in this occasion. The first royal theatre saw 'Vesta Tilley appear on stage in trousers' which was a big deal because it was not considered moderate for a women to be seen in a pair of trousers at that time.
The contrast between the famous acts back when it all started to modern context is quite sublime as more acts have been added to variety performance for example Britain's Got talent the last two year his been won by dog acts. Out of thousands of performers trained animals seem to a hit with modern society. When variety first started it was all about comical singing for example performers like Sam Cowell were a hit with the public. 'The theme of the ballad is the traditional one of lovers parted by parental interference who then commit suicide and are buried in one grave' something along the lines of Romeo and Juliet.
Two acts I might do would be a solo in our variety show or a group performance in the Brighton Fringe festival. I that the main difference between the two would be audience that come to see it for example in the college variety show friends and parents would come and watch therefore it is guaranteed not to be a harsh crowd. On the other hand a bigger audience is guaranteed however most members of the audience may have had a bit to drink and maybe not so friendly towards the acts that they don't like just like the super room set up in the super rooms. Another important factor with the differences between the two would be that in a solo I will have to generate the ideas by myself in contrast to the group one were I will be working alongside others to come up with material. Both have cons and pros because the trouble with having more people is that there are more chances of conflict leading to slow progress being made in contrast to a solo where I could just get on with my idea and there would be no clash of ideas.
After considering a few factors I decided to go for the Brighton fringe because it will be a chance to represent my college. The group setting will enhance hard work because of the motivation given to be by others and some that I give out. I find it easy getting along with others in a project and I think that it will also help me perform at my best.I would have more rehearsal time as it would take the group longer to be in sync.
(sources used-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_show http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/music-hall-character-acts/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9NWMmiXtWw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZTliSF_c9s
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/music-hall-character-acts/ )
Thursday, 4 June 2015
production role
For this production I was assigned the marketing role with Saxona. Overall it didn't go well because I didn't not manage to secure any donations or sponsorships. I think that the main aspect for the failure in the production role was time. I didn't manage to get hold of Sax outside college times therefore I decided to take matters to my own hand by writing the letter. I hoped that she was going to help me spread the letter round to potential targets since the production was based around fashion. After a few weeks of no progress I started sending the letter to big companies such as H&M , Next , New look and others. The emails I sent were straight to their administrators and some took a week for the replies. All the replies gave me an email to redirect my enquiry. At this point it was a fortnight away from the show and I sent out the emails. Some of the companies notified me that their charity enquiries can take up to six weeks for me to get a response , others said they don't support charity works as they run their own charities and some said they will get back to me a decision in the coming weeks. Having received the production role I should have done my research to how long it takes and what companies Do and what companies Don't support individual projects. A positive would have been that I attempted my role and if I was going to be assigned this role in the future I would have my later ready earlier and reach out to more companies because the more companies I required with the higher the chance of us getting some sponsorship.
Hi my name is Magic Sine Sibanda currently studying musical theatre at Worthing College. I have been put in charge of the marketing for this production. Cats will be our last performance and by far the most memorable because of the sheer amount of dedication and preparation that is going into it.
Our version of the traditional Musical, reflects on the different roles & personalities that can be found in the Fashion Industry and also touches on the concept of people having another chance in life through a character who is despised by all the others in the play. Fashion is very important to people because it represents who they are and can portray different aspects of their personalities.
In order to accurately reflect our theme we need to have lots of glamorous clothing and it made sense to turn to you for donations of any shiny or sparkly clothing that you do not use or need!
Anything donated would be very much appreciated, as we are planning to have two rails filed with clothing. In return you will get your logo in our program, free tickets to all your staff members that may be interested in attending the show and lots of happy faces.
Friday, 22 May 2015
Dr Faustus (summary and context)
Play plot summary
Faustus is respected professor who wanted to have more knowledge than he had already obtained. He then decides that he wanted to practise black magic and calls upon Mephastophilis (a devil) who warns him of the horrors of hell however Faustus does not listen. He commands Mephastophilis to go back to his 'master with an offer of Faustus' soul in return of 24 years of service from Mephastophilis'. During this process things go bad for the professor which makes him wonder if he should go ahead with the deal, however when Mephastophilis returns with an accepted offer Faustus takes it. Upon offer acceptance branded words on the professor's arms appear and he has even more doubts but the devils blinds him with 'riches and a book of spells to learn' and answers all his questions. The devil however does not tell him who made the universe which yet again brings doubts then the devil and Lucifer push the seven deadly sins into the doctor's life pushing away any remaining doubts.
Having all these powers Faustus goes round playing series of pranks on people including visiting the pop in invisible form and playing tricks on him and also demanding to meet Alexander the great which could be the equivalent of demanding to meet Obama just because you want to meet him. After years of silly tricks Faustus awakes an ancient beauty to impress a group of scholars an occasion in which an old man warns Faustus to repent , not knowing that this was his last chance to repent he drives him away.
The last thing the professor decided to do as time was coming to a close was telling the scholars about his pact, this shocked the respected man who started praying for him but at this point it was too late. At midnight the devils came to pick up his soul as agreed and Faustus is taken to hell, with his limbs left behind and buried by the scholars.
The writer
Christopher Marlow was actor and script writer who lived in the Elizabethan times. During this era earning a living as a writer was unheard of. Having graduated from Cambridge university with the Crown stepping in when the university declined to give him his qualification because they believed he had converted to Catholism in a protestant England led many scholars to believe that he was an agent for the crown. After getting his qualification he challenged the religion and society at the time through his writing. Marlow made his trademark by figuring out what his audience wanted (violent fiction) and giving them exactly that.
Four plays written by Marlow provided the famous William Shakespeare to create his four well known plays. Christopher provided Shakespeare with plots that he then explored in the majority of his plays. Jew of Malta became Massacre of Paris ; Faustus became Macbeth ; Edward the second became Richard the II and Timberlake was developed by William into the Henry plays. Shakespeare was much appreciated in his time however Marlow wasn't which is reflected in his early death at 29. History records suggest he was stubbed in the eye and accused of trison just before his death.
Elizabethan Era
This was an Era that was new to theatre, people didn't know how to take the idea of people challenging the church through writing however they started to ease up as time went on. I think that this is reflected on how Marlow was treated in contrast to William Shakespeare. This era also saw the war of the roses which was a 32 years of war for power from two branches of Edward III descendants. When I was looking up the war of the roses I came across the Tudor family rein (royal family at the time.)
This family's rein enforces that religion was a big factor in people's life in that era because it influenced how the country was run for example during this time we saw Henry VIII separate the church of England from the Catholics turning the nation protestant. Marlow was not given his qualifications because they believed he turn to catholism which shows the power of the religious separation at the time.
This religious war did not stop when Henry had decided the nation was to be protestant because Catholism was previously in power and people don't really like change therefore the war went on and in from 55 for three years the nation was once again catholic under bloody Mary.
Mary was the most hated queen in the country of England because of her horrific decisions of burning those that were against Catholism. There is a lot of hate towards this women however she didn't have it easy. Her father wanted a son but his mum had 4 miscarriages before her. He then had another wife then another till he got a son. The public celebrated the birth of the son which mentally took a blow to Mary's head , during this time there were rumours of Mary's execution which made her live in fear plus she was scared to be poisoned and I can only imagine how miserable this must have been for her. Years down her father passed away and her 9 year old brother was put in power and he grew up a strong protestant white washing churches and taking his father's steps to the next level. Edward asks Mary to turn away from Catholism however Mary refused as she had grew closer to her religion during the tough times in her life. Edward decided alongside the protestant church leaders that Mary Jane a cousin to Edward was going to take over because Mary was not protestant. This enhanced Mary's anger therefore she started a movement to get in power expressing that she was blood to Henry. People supported her but little did they know that giving her power was going to bring hell to those against Catholism. Everyone who had made her life a misery paid back through being burnt alongside anyone against Catholism , inserting fear in the public. The blood spilt got her the name bloody Mary and she decided to Mary a men who later on left her because she was barren which mentally attacked her putting her in a bad physical and mental state. This led her to think that she had upset God making her die a disappointed women an her sister taking over and uniting the nation through removing catholism.
Faustus is respected professor who wanted to have more knowledge than he had already obtained. He then decides that he wanted to practise black magic and calls upon Mephastophilis (a devil) who warns him of the horrors of hell however Faustus does not listen. He commands Mephastophilis to go back to his 'master with an offer of Faustus' soul in return of 24 years of service from Mephastophilis'. During this process things go bad for the professor which makes him wonder if he should go ahead with the deal, however when Mephastophilis returns with an accepted offer Faustus takes it. Upon offer acceptance branded words on the professor's arms appear and he has even more doubts but the devils blinds him with 'riches and a book of spells to learn' and answers all his questions. The devil however does not tell him who made the universe which yet again brings doubts then the devil and Lucifer push the seven deadly sins into the doctor's life pushing away any remaining doubts.
Having all these powers Faustus goes round playing series of pranks on people including visiting the pop in invisible form and playing tricks on him and also demanding to meet Alexander the great which could be the equivalent of demanding to meet Obama just because you want to meet him. After years of silly tricks Faustus awakes an ancient beauty to impress a group of scholars an occasion in which an old man warns Faustus to repent , not knowing that this was his last chance to repent he drives him away.
The last thing the professor decided to do as time was coming to a close was telling the scholars about his pact, this shocked the respected man who started praying for him but at this point it was too late. At midnight the devils came to pick up his soul as agreed and Faustus is taken to hell, with his limbs left behind and buried by the scholars.
The writer
Christopher Marlow was actor and script writer who lived in the Elizabethan times. During this era earning a living as a writer was unheard of. Having graduated from Cambridge university with the Crown stepping in when the university declined to give him his qualification because they believed he had converted to Catholism in a protestant England led many scholars to believe that he was an agent for the crown. After getting his qualification he challenged the religion and society at the time through his writing. Marlow made his trademark by figuring out what his audience wanted (violent fiction) and giving them exactly that.
Four plays written by Marlow provided the famous William Shakespeare to create his four well known plays. Christopher provided Shakespeare with plots that he then explored in the majority of his plays. Jew of Malta became Massacre of Paris ; Faustus became Macbeth ; Edward the second became Richard the II and Timberlake was developed by William into the Henry plays. Shakespeare was much appreciated in his time however Marlow wasn't which is reflected in his early death at 29. History records suggest he was stubbed in the eye and accused of trison just before his death.
Elizabethan Era
This was an Era that was new to theatre, people didn't know how to take the idea of people challenging the church through writing however they started to ease up as time went on. I think that this is reflected on how Marlow was treated in contrast to William Shakespeare. This era also saw the war of the roses which was a 32 years of war for power from two branches of Edward III descendants. When I was looking up the war of the roses I came across the Tudor family rein (royal family at the time.)
This family's rein enforces that religion was a big factor in people's life in that era because it influenced how the country was run for example during this time we saw Henry VIII separate the church of England from the Catholics turning the nation protestant. Marlow was not given his qualifications because they believed he turn to catholism which shows the power of the religious separation at the time.
This religious war did not stop when Henry had decided the nation was to be protestant because Catholism was previously in power and people don't really like change therefore the war went on and in from 55 for three years the nation was once again catholic under bloody Mary.
Mary was the most hated queen in the country of England because of her horrific decisions of burning those that were against Catholism. There is a lot of hate towards this women however she didn't have it easy. Her father wanted a son but his mum had 4 miscarriages before her. He then had another wife then another till he got a son. The public celebrated the birth of the son which mentally took a blow to Mary's head , during this time there were rumours of Mary's execution which made her live in fear plus she was scared to be poisoned and I can only imagine how miserable this must have been for her. Years down her father passed away and her 9 year old brother was put in power and he grew up a strong protestant white washing churches and taking his father's steps to the next level. Edward asks Mary to turn away from Catholism however Mary refused as she had grew closer to her religion during the tough times in her life. Edward decided alongside the protestant church leaders that Mary Jane a cousin to Edward was going to take over because Mary was not protestant. This enhanced Mary's anger therefore she started a movement to get in power expressing that she was blood to Henry. People supported her but little did they know that giving her power was going to bring hell to those against Catholism. Everyone who had made her life a misery paid back through being burnt alongside anyone against Catholism , inserting fear in the public. The blood spilt got her the name bloody Mary and she decided to Mary a men who later on left her because she was barren which mentally attacked her putting her in a bad physical and mental state. This led her to think that she had upset God making her die a disappointed women an her sister taking over and uniting the nation through removing catholism.
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
DFF Evaluation
This was a tough assignment to get going but after a while I started putting the video together. My initial idea was based around toys, this was because toys are controlled and I wanted to focus on robotic hip hop dancing. I created a mind map of all the connotations of toys and the one that stood out the most was the word feel. This helped me develop my piece because there are a few different emotions that I could choose from. I looked around for music to go with this theme because I could improvise to the music to come up with some material. The song that I found was Logic under pressure intro. The song contained lyrics about feeling (the singer mentions that he used to 'wonder what it feels like') which was a great start as it left the conclusion open as it didn't mention what emotion it was about. I watched some hip hop dance videos for inspiration but looking at other people's choreography didn't help at all so I started improvising and devising from my own head. I played the song over and over again dancing along to it until I had 30sec worth of choreography.
After the 30 seconds of the choreography I started scanning the internet for some dance moves I could Inco-operate to make my choreography better from which I came across some robotic hand dance moves. I found out that they fell under a genre called tutting which is famous in street dancing. I then spent a few days learning this type of dance , at first it was difficult to make the 90 degree shapes but with time I started making straighter lines and started to pick up speed which is reflected in my first draft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbBqtuYvags After watching this video about tutting I decided that I wanted to explore the dance and the following are some links from which I learnt the core basics of this dance which allowed me to create and develop my own moves within the dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0rV2qcbEgc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkpvM2AfvTc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lZ_1ZqJ9vg
After developing my skills in tutting and the material I created I had about 45 seconds worth and I needed a minute minimum for the criteria. I started thinking about exploring the location in depth for example have a few seconds of the song showing the location. That gave me a few more seconds however didn't really do much therefore I included some of my personal life into the story which got me even more engaged with the project. At this point I was learning to play a guitar and the first song I learnt was all of me therefore I got emotionally attached to it and dancing to it brought back memories which set me up with a storyline for the video---we see the character tuning a guitar and starts strumming the first melody of the song then stops gets up and starts dancing then gets back to picking up guitar in the end---I wanted this to show that nothing comes easy therefore if you want something then you need to work for it and not give up.
I then showed It to my friends and they seemed to like it therefore I recorded the progress which I then showed to the rest of the class. Showing the clip to the rest of the class paid off as I received some valuable feedback which is what I needed to improve my piece. Costume was one of the factors most touched upon as the majority of the class thought I could improve from my mickey mouse jumper to something more professional looking like a shirt. Originally I did take costume into consideration even though it may not come across that way. The idea of wearing the jumper was to empathise and enforce my stimulus because humans emotionally respond to the sense of touch.
The second most raised point was location. Shooting at Josh's place allowed me to access high angle shots and provided a warm wash light setting which are things that are not accessible everywhere. Indoors filming also meant that we could film despite what the weather was like outside.
Overall the feedback was amazing from my class mates which gave me a good feeling about working on this project. Many people complimented my lyrical movements which I later on found to be something I could also strengthen. Watching myself back I thought that the piece needed lots of improvement as some of my dance moves were not sharp or to the level that I was aiming to reach.
I decided to keep the idea of toys and controlling but have fluid control which visually looks better because when you include waving your body looks like its flowing in one motion. The music however did not let me go ahead with this idea and at the time I liked the song all of me and spent some time thinking about the stimulus and choreography link. Fluid made me think of water therefore I decided to film it on the beach which was visually appealing and complimented the fluid body movements I choreographed. While I practising my movements John legend's 'All of me' started playing and I didn't skip it and continued to improvise using the material I already created and surprisingly it seemed to work. Having spent weeks learning how to tut I had to include it in my choreography and from the first draft a friend had asked how quick I can because it looked impressive when done very quickly. Playing around with the speed allowed me to create more material however as a beginner I could only tut so fast and inside I just wanted to tut very fast like I saw some the guys on YouTube doing. Unfortunately that required years of practise therefore having it very fast was no longer and option. I then thought what would happen if I slowed it down instead of increasing the speed, I tried it out and showed to a friend who said it looked good. Having it slower allowed me to make cleaner shapes which visually looked better than doing it very fast and not keeping the right angles. The music went well with this therefore it was a win win situation.
Having a media student as a friend allowed me to play around with the music slowing and speeding it up however I wanted a violin playing in the background because it gave the song some uniqueness. Fortunately Josh could do just that for me. Having changed the music , I decided to pay a bit more attention to my costume. Filming on the beach I decided to wear a white shirt to compliment the beautiful background. White also enforced the perfection implication from the lyrics which provided a link of the song and choreography. I wore a black tie to help reflect the pureness of the white shirt. Since the song was about love I decided to contribute other themes of love , this was because it doesn't always go well therefore the black trousers showed that there can be a bad side such as a heartbreak which is something that we don't see in the song. For footwear I decided to wear my Nike rose runs because they wear blue and had a sunrise beach image which blended well with the location we were shooting at.
After filming I realised that it had all been done in ultra slow motion which was a big let down and I feared all the hard work had gone to waste ,however with the help of some media students I managed work with what I had and end up with a an improved dance project in contrast to the first take.
After the 30 seconds of the choreography I started scanning the internet for some dance moves I could Inco-operate to make my choreography better from which I came across some robotic hand dance moves. I found out that they fell under a genre called tutting which is famous in street dancing. I then spent a few days learning this type of dance , at first it was difficult to make the 90 degree shapes but with time I started making straighter lines and started to pick up speed which is reflected in my first draft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbBqtuYvags After watching this video about tutting I decided that I wanted to explore the dance and the following are some links from which I learnt the core basics of this dance which allowed me to create and develop my own moves within the dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0rV2qcbEgc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkpvM2AfvTc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lZ_1ZqJ9vg
After developing my skills in tutting and the material I created I had about 45 seconds worth and I needed a minute minimum for the criteria. I started thinking about exploring the location in depth for example have a few seconds of the song showing the location. That gave me a few more seconds however didn't really do much therefore I included some of my personal life into the story which got me even more engaged with the project. At this point I was learning to play a guitar and the first song I learnt was all of me therefore I got emotionally attached to it and dancing to it brought back memories which set me up with a storyline for the video---we see the character tuning a guitar and starts strumming the first melody of the song then stops gets up and starts dancing then gets back to picking up guitar in the end---I wanted this to show that nothing comes easy therefore if you want something then you need to work for it and not give up.
I then showed It to my friends and they seemed to like it therefore I recorded the progress which I then showed to the rest of the class. Showing the clip to the rest of the class paid off as I received some valuable feedback which is what I needed to improve my piece. Costume was one of the factors most touched upon as the majority of the class thought I could improve from my mickey mouse jumper to something more professional looking like a shirt. Originally I did take costume into consideration even though it may not come across that way. The idea of wearing the jumper was to empathise and enforce my stimulus because humans emotionally respond to the sense of touch.
The second most raised point was location. Shooting at Josh's place allowed me to access high angle shots and provided a warm wash light setting which are things that are not accessible everywhere. Indoors filming also meant that we could film despite what the weather was like outside.
Overall the feedback was amazing from my class mates which gave me a good feeling about working on this project. Many people complimented my lyrical movements which I later on found to be something I could also strengthen. Watching myself back I thought that the piece needed lots of improvement as some of my dance moves were not sharp or to the level that I was aiming to reach.
I decided to keep the idea of toys and controlling but have fluid control which visually looks better because when you include waving your body looks like its flowing in one motion. The music however did not let me go ahead with this idea and at the time I liked the song all of me and spent some time thinking about the stimulus and choreography link. Fluid made me think of water therefore I decided to film it on the beach which was visually appealing and complimented the fluid body movements I choreographed. While I practising my movements John legend's 'All of me' started playing and I didn't skip it and continued to improvise using the material I already created and surprisingly it seemed to work. Having spent weeks learning how to tut I had to include it in my choreography and from the first draft a friend had asked how quick I can because it looked impressive when done very quickly. Playing around with the speed allowed me to create more material however as a beginner I could only tut so fast and inside I just wanted to tut very fast like I saw some the guys on YouTube doing. Unfortunately that required years of practise therefore having it very fast was no longer and option. I then thought what would happen if I slowed it down instead of increasing the speed, I tried it out and showed to a friend who said it looked good. Having it slower allowed me to make cleaner shapes which visually looked better than doing it very fast and not keeping the right angles. The music went well with this therefore it was a win win situation.
Having a media student as a friend allowed me to play around with the music slowing and speeding it up however I wanted a violin playing in the background because it gave the song some uniqueness. Fortunately Josh could do just that for me. Having changed the music , I decided to pay a bit more attention to my costume. Filming on the beach I decided to wear a white shirt to compliment the beautiful background. White also enforced the perfection implication from the lyrics which provided a link of the song and choreography. I wore a black tie to help reflect the pureness of the white shirt. Since the song was about love I decided to contribute other themes of love , this was because it doesn't always go well therefore the black trousers showed that there can be a bad side such as a heartbreak which is something that we don't see in the song. For footwear I decided to wear my Nike rose runs because they wear blue and had a sunrise beach image which blended well with the location we were shooting at.
After filming I realised that it had all been done in ultra slow motion which was a big let down and I feared all the hard work had gone to waste ,however with the help of some media students I managed work with what I had and end up with a an improved dance project in contrast to the first take.
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