Hey guys!
Tried to post the video's from the Silks workshop that the Actors did today, we had a few ideas for the Do not enter room, Gift shop and sensory room....
But I can't upload them to the blog so I have uploaded them to the Memory page on Facebook.... So go check them out!!...
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Memory-Play/199379723405820
Ria :)
Monday 28 February 2011
Shows
some relevant work you might see locally.
science festival event on the brain in brighton,
ropetackle's show (venue have offered us 2 for 1 tickets for students,
derren brown.
Also, Lepage show at the Barbican might be of interest. Some other great companies also at the Barbican. Check out Duckie and the all night show.
Thursday 24 February 2011
Production Meeting One
Production Meeting 1
Forgetting Tom
11/02/2011
Due to this being an initial meeting we discussed the outline of the play and what the actors/designers had come up with so far.
The play is based in the brain observatory in San Diago, where Henry Gustav Molaison’s brain is kept.
Our show will be promenade, made up of a number of rooms created with softs etc. these rooms will consist of:
A lecture room (3D brain parts)
A maze room
A room where you hear two peoples memories then choose which one to enter
A room that shows how memories are collected (sound proofed?)
A room that contains memories of the theatre (photos of past productions and tutors etc)
It will be devised.
AV may be needed.
Josh needs to check the legalities of using you tube clips, texts and recorded speech.
Can everyone join the BLOG please, it s a great way to keep in contact and exchange ideas easily. Vanessa can give you the password so you can add to the blog or you can just comment. The web address for this is - http://memoryplay.blogspot.com/
They are rehearsing Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays rooms to be confirmed.
Can we find out about getting some donations for gift bags that will be given to the audience as they leave. These need to contain things that involve memories, ie smelly things, brain sweets…
If people have any ideas about how we can draw the audience into people memories can they please post it on the blog. One example that was given was for a show where they gave everybody goggle which had films in them so they felt as though they were really there.
Audience capacity will be roughly 40-50 for the main part then they will be split into small groups and be taken to separate rooms.
Thank you,
Josh Attwood, Production Manager
Ruby Jack Cooper, Assistant Production Manager
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Monday 21 February 2011
making of memories radio programmes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/memory/listenagain/
- are taxi drivers' heads different from studying 'the knowledge'?
- how does brain find the correct file when it wants to recall a memory? THEY REALLY DON'T KNOW!
- How do triggers/cues work to bring back old memory? in terms of what happens to the brain, no idea!
How memories are created.
Just found a site that explains the process of memories being created. It's a good website and takes you through all the different processes of creating a memory.
Here is a small snippet of the encoding section......
''Encoding is a biological event beginning with perception through the senses. The perceived sensations are decoded in the various sensory areas of the cortex, and then combined in thebrain’s hippocampus into one single experience. The hippocampus is then responsible for analyzing these inputs and ultimately deciding if they will be committed to long-term memory. It acts as a kind of sorting centre where the new sensations are compared and associated with previously recorded ones. The various threads of information are then stored in various different parts of the brain, although the exact way in which these pieces are identified and recalled later remains largely unknown''
http://www.human-memory.net/processes.html
Ryan =]
Here is a small snippet of the encoding section......
''Encoding is a biological event beginning with perception through the senses. The perceived sensations are decoded in the various sensory areas of the cortex, and then combined in thebrain’s hippocampus into one single experience. The hippocampus is then responsible for analyzing these inputs and ultimately deciding if they will be committed to long-term memory. It acts as a kind of sorting centre where the new sensations are compared and associated with previously recorded ones. The various threads of information are then stored in various different parts of the brain, although the exact way in which these pieces are identified and recalled later remains largely unknown''
http://www.human-memory.net/processes.html
Ryan =]
Why we we forget?
Hi everyone found a good experiment into why we forget that these scientists down onto flies, its a really good read check it out.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100218125149.htm
Ryan =]
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100218125149.htm
Ryan =]
Friday 18 February 2011
Immersive theatre
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/08/you-me-bum-bum-train-one-on-one-theatre/
Thought this was quite interesting,
Josh
Production Manager
Thought this was quite interesting,
Josh
Production Manager
Thursday 17 February 2011
Collective Memory
“in the telling and retelling the stories of our past, the events in question become stereotyped and selectively distorted as they become embedded in our collective memory.” Arthur Neal
The event is gradually filtered and details are forgotten. The significance of the collective memory lies in the event’s meaning not in the accuracy of the memory.
http://www.uic.edu/classes/comm/comm200am/teamprojects/MemoryTechnologies/Collective_Memory.htm
Ria :)
The event is gradually filtered and details are forgotten. The significance of the collective memory lies in the event’s meaning not in the accuracy of the memory.
Ria :)
Memory test... From "Use your head", Tony Buzan 1989.
Special memory systems and Mnemonics from "Use your Head by Tony Buzan... (Page 67 – 70)
Test 4 Memory systems
"Here is a list of words next to numbers, read each item once, covering the ones you have read with a card as you progress down the list. The purpose of this is to remember which words went with which number..”
4. Leaf
9. Shirt
1. Table
6. Orange
10. Poker
5. Student
8. Pencil
3. Cat
7. Car
2. Feather
“In order to remember these it is necessary to have some system which enables us to use the associative and linking power of memory to connect them with their proper number.”
The Systems
“Since the time of the Greeks, certain individuals have impressed their fellow men with the most amazing feats of memory. They have been able to remember hundreds of items backwards and forwards in any order.”
“In most cases these individuals were using special memorising principles known as mnemonics… recently the attitude towards them has changed, it has been realised that the methods which initially enable minds to remember something more easily and quickly, and then to remember it for much longer afterwards.”
Ria :)
Test 4 Memory systems
"Here is a list of words next to numbers, read each item once, covering the ones you have read with a card as you progress down the list. The purpose of this is to remember which words went with which number..”
4. Leaf
9. Shirt
1. Table
6. Orange
10. Poker
5. Student
8. Pencil
3. Cat
7. Car
2. Feather
“In order to remember these it is necessary to have some system which enables us to use the associative and linking power of memory to connect them with their proper number.”
The Systems
“Since the time of the Greeks, certain individuals have impressed their fellow men with the most amazing feats of memory. They have been able to remember hundreds of items backwards and forwards in any order.”
“In most cases these individuals were using special memorising principles known as mnemonics… recently the attitude towards them has changed, it has been realised that the methods which initially enable minds to remember something more easily and quickly, and then to remember it for much longer afterwards.”
Ria :)
Research Quotes that are interesting... From Double take, Collective memory and currant art. (The soundbank centre/ Parkett 1992)
Double take, Collective memory and currant art. (The soundbank centre/ Parkett 1992)
"Collective memory is a phrase that can mean all or nothing to different people” (Page 12)
“Historical memory is currently constructed mostly from and grows increasingly dependent on material provided by reproductive technologies – Photography, film, video and audio recordings. And private memory has largely been subsumed in public spectacle” (Page 24)
“Significantly, it is photography which provides access to not merely a past, but to emotional recollections. This points to the extent to which the shards and shreds of all our memories, even those from childhood, are increasingly supplemented, shaped, structured and recomposed – albeit often unwittingly – by reproductive imagery.”
The Site of Memory (Lynne Cooke)
“…Elephants know where to go and die. Led by the memory of something that hadn’t happened to them… We’re not elephants, or Salmon that swim upstream to cold water, and memory isn’t an instinct, but after a while once the thing has happened, the event, the gesture, the word spoken or withheld. It becomes a fact in your body that may not be physical but is returned to as if it were instinct..” (Lynne Tillman, fixing memory 1987) Page 23.
“Family photographs that she possesses are indeed the source of authentic memories” (Blade runner)
“It is by the presence of memories, and their attendant emotions that humans are distinguished from replicates, or stimulated humans, she crosses over and is accepted as human.
For all their affectivity, these are nonetheless, false memories since the figures pictured in the photographs are not Rachel’s relatives nor could she herself have been actually present. And yet, Deckard reasons, given in depth of her belief in these images, and the intensity with which she has invested in them, they have become for her as potent as a genuine memory.” (Page 23)
“There is little to distinguish fabricated memories and experimental memories, today, this notion no longer belongs to the realm of futuristic fiction” (Page 23)
"Collective memory is a phrase that can mean all or nothing to different people” (Page 12)
“Historical memory is currently constructed mostly from and grows increasingly dependent on material provided by reproductive technologies – Photography, film, video and audio recordings. And private memory has largely been subsumed in public spectacle” (Page 24)
“Significantly, it is photography which provides access to not merely a past, but to emotional recollections. This points to the extent to which the shards and shreds of all our memories, even those from childhood, are increasingly supplemented, shaped, structured and recomposed – albeit often unwittingly – by reproductive imagery.”
The Site of Memory (Lynne Cooke)
“…Elephants know where to go and die. Led by the memory of something that hadn’t happened to them… We’re not elephants, or Salmon that swim upstream to cold water, and memory isn’t an instinct, but after a while once the thing has happened, the event, the gesture, the word spoken or withheld. It becomes a fact in your body that may not be physical but is returned to as if it were instinct..” (Lynne Tillman, fixing memory 1987) Page 23.
“Family photographs that she possesses are indeed the source of authentic memories” (Blade runner)
“It is by the presence of memories, and their attendant emotions that humans are distinguished from replicates, or stimulated humans, she crosses over and is accepted as human.
For all their affectivity, these are nonetheless, false memories since the figures pictured in the photographs are not Rachel’s relatives nor could she herself have been actually present. And yet, Deckard reasons, given in depth of her belief in these images, and the intensity with which she has invested in them, they have become for her as potent as a genuine memory.” (Page 23)
“There is little to distinguish fabricated memories and experimental memories, today, this notion no longer belongs to the realm of futuristic fiction” (Page 23)
Hope some of these are useful!!
Ria :)
Wednesday 16 February 2011
Collective Historical Memory
It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. These are often highly structured and selective as myths. Images and symbolic constructs of the past are imprinted, almost in the manner of genetic information, on our sensibility. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past.
George Steiner, In Bluebeard's Castle
cited Kandel E. in Search of Memory
George Steiner, In Bluebeard's Castle
cited Kandel E. in Search of Memory
Where we are
Northbrook memory; a space where the building memories are stored. Snippets from shows, flyers, videos, songs, some live, some recorded.- A lecture / show about how memory in the brain works. Contains silks. Memory video on Brain Observatory website best to help. http://thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu/content/video-scientia-nova-memory
- A Henry room that contains his brain, information about him, a piece
- A discussion and piece on collective and historical memory. Sitted around a big round table?
- A wall, maze, space where people’s written memories are displayed. We have began collecting these.
- A museum of memory experiments, real and bizarre. Maybe divide theatre adn have this at the back? Reference
museum ofJurassic - An autobiographical memory space. Audience hear both memories? Choose to enter and be immersed in either Toby’s or Carmen’s personal memory.
- A space where a brain is hooked to a projector.
- A quiz at the end. In the bar? Great jingle ready!
Characters
· Henry, the wandering old man who tries to re collect his memories. His is the brain that the building was built to examine.
· The brain observatory brain surgeon. Jacopo Annese. Nice suits and is on skates. Obsessed with the science of the brain.
· A theatre company commissioned by the brain observatory to create a piece for open day to explain to public how memory works in the brain.
· Characters in the memory museum; Carmen trying to teach Romanian song; tom trying to memorise dv8 choreography; shaune trying to memorise card trick. Weird and bizarre memory finds. The first pea brain? The first memory ever held? A lost and found memory box?
· A memory thief?
· Demonstrators, doctors (designers?)
Costumes
· Some snazzy suits for everyone at the brain observatory? That contain their own memories inside.
· Costumes for the theatre company. Or do we just use extravagant props?
· Ushers with lab coats. That could be the designers. Or is this a slightly weird utopia?
· Henry, falling apart, rebuilding, remembering only the past but trying, trying. He cannot make new memories.
· The comeback man.
Some pictures of the set from the design days!!
Ria :)
Fridays session - Performing our Research
Small pieces of theatre
In Friday’s session, the actors each performed a small piece of theatre, showing the audience the research that had done on their chosen topic.
Carmen – Brain turns reality into dreams, some people remember dreams but not the actual event. Carmen explained this by Tyrone playing a game of noughts and crosses….. Then he dreamt about it, and when he had woken up, he played again, but this time he used a different hand and a different technique to play the game. So he had remembered how he played in his dreams, not the actual event. After discussing this, we thought that this could go into the experiment room?
Ryan – Repression of memory. Research had told Ryan that repression of memories at this stage is not a proven face and is still only a theory, when people repress their memory , it is usually due to a traumatic experience in which their subconscious takes over to protect the host by blocking it out. When Ryan performed this he used a technique that psychologists use in the same situation, when Ryan performed this, he took the place of a psychologist and was questioning his patient, towards the end of the piece, he began to get a little harder in the questioning.. which made his patient realise that he had in fact killed his wife.
Brittany – Mirrors and Dual personality, we were taken on a tour around a museum where Britt explained about a woman who had dual personalities. We were taken to a room of mirrors where we were told that in this room, she has realised that she has a dual personality as she had seen herself change in the mirror. We were then taken to a wall, where we were shown all the certificates from the woman’s achievements, here we were told that she had a degree in psychology? But due to her dual personalities she, half the time she couldn’t remember… so she worked in a shop. Then we were taken over to the sofa, where it was explained to us that she had been abused as a child and this sofa is where the abuse took place, and this may very well be what began her breakdown.
Rory – Collective Memory museum (Coach trip), During Rory’s piece he involved the audience and took us around the museum with him. He spoke to us about collective memory. Which after led us to the discussion of, what is collective memory? ….. Also if we were to use the idea of a collective memory tour in our show, could the audience all work together on deciding what their collective memory is and agree on a memory? And what is the biggest collective memory for England and why?
Paul – Game show ‘Numskullz’ Paul chose two members of the audience to be the contestants on his show. They were asked questions about the brain, and memory.. for example “Which one of these represents the Hippocampus?” a)Giraffe B)Seahorse… There were two round of the game show. We discussed whether we could use a game show in the Memory show? Would it be a quiz show? Will the same members of the audience take part? At what point in the show will the quiz be? Will we have prizes? And will Frederico Mombasa be there to chalk out the scores?
Toby – Autobiographical memory, Toby played and sang a song that was relevant to his Autobiographical memory, he had written the song himself. He then played a ‘Chasing Cars’ by Snow Patrol. Which seemed to have an effect on the audiences memory, as we discussed, the song had triggered of different memories for quite a few of us.
Ria – Enhancing memory and the effects of Drugs and Alcohol on the brain. During the performance, I did an ‘experiment’ on a sedated rat, and explained that if you inject a protein called IGF-II (Insulin – like growth factor II, then it can develop the brain and later impact on the memory formation. This test was actually done on a Rat, but I was unable to find out what the results of the test were. Using images of the brain, I then went onto explain the effects that binge drinking and drug taking have on the brain and how it can impact your memory. E.g When taking drugs, THC will attach to the receptors in the hippocampus and weakens the short term memory. Also Pro – Longed alcohol abuse causes permanent damage to the memory system and you will have difficulty in remembering new information. Would we be able to use this in the show? Is the information actually all true? As it came from websites and not books.
Here is a scan of Brain, see the difference from a Non alcoholic compared to and Alcoholics brain!
Here is a scan of Brain, see the difference from a Non alcoholic compared to and Alcoholics brain!
Tyrone – Created a voice over… where he was questioned about his granddad and his dog, he was reminiscing and remembering the times that he and his granddad went fishing, and how a couple came all the way down from Scotland to buy his dog. He used pictures and when the voiceover was playing, he was sitting in the chair letting the thoughts run through his head, and we could see from his facial expressions the effect that the memories had on him.
Please add anything that I have missed!!Ria :)
Monday 14 February 2011
Saturday 12 February 2011
The Brain Observatory
http://thebrainobservatory.ucsd.edu/content/video-scientia-nova-memory#comment_start
Some very interesting videos on memory and HM and articles. If anyone can, do upload here. otherwise visit the website.
Some very interesting videos on memory and HM and articles. If anyone can, do upload here. otherwise visit the website.
Thursday 10 February 2011
Evaluation of our piece.
We started by looking at what experiments would be the most useful to create a piece of theater.We found an experiment which involved the implication of false memories. It consisted of a group people being paired up with their friends and seeing if they could convince the other that a something happened that never did. To do this they split up into two groups, 1s being the liars and 2s being the believer. The number 2s also had to try and fit a random word into their vocabulary, so that they would not be trying to figure out what the other groups objective is.
We decided that this would best work if we actually performed the experiment again.. Personally i believe this worked well as it allowed the audience to get involved in the show, making it a different experience to traditional performances.
We also tried to test the audience by creating a move for each character and then seeing if the audience can remember what they were at the end of the performance. This worked well as each of the moves were remembered nearly exactly word for word.
Lastly, if i were to do this task again i would try to make the piece more informative and serious.
Ryan
We decided that this would best work if we actually performed the experiment again.. Personally i believe this worked well as it allowed the audience to get involved in the show, making it a different experience to traditional performances.
We also tried to test the audience by creating a move for each character and then seeing if the audience can remember what they were at the end of the performance. This worked well as each of the moves were remembered nearly exactly word for word.
Lastly, if i were to do this task again i would try to make the piece more informative and serious.
Ryan
In our show...
At this stage I would like to explore these things in the show
1. Forgetting Tom
2. Entering a memory
3. Brain show/lecture
4. Round table discussion on collective memory
5. The Henry room
6. Data collection/museum
7. Memory test/ mnemonics
8. The memory of the building
9. Wall of memories
10. The old man Henry
11. Brain hooked to video
12. Audience record memory
13. Comeback man
14. Gift bag
1. Forgetting Tom
2. Entering a memory
3. Brain show/lecture
4. Round table discussion on collective memory
5. The Henry room
6. Data collection/museum
7. Memory test/ mnemonics
8. The memory of the building
9. Wall of memories
10. The old man Henry
11. Brain hooked to video
12. Audience record memory
13. Comeback man
14. Gift bag
Wednesday 9 February 2011
for friday
Please look at these books for friday. you can read some of them through amazon; i have bought them and hope to have them by friday.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192806750/ref=pe_25661_23687211_pe_vfe_t1#reader_0192806750
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0393329372/ref=oss_product
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0192806750/ref=pe_25661_23687211_pe_vfe_t1#reader_0192806750
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0393329372/ref=oss_product
Theatre Companies and interesting shows
http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/event-detail.asp?ID=10545
http://www.ilpixelrosso.org.uk/Shows.html
https://www.barbican.org.uk/theatre/event-detail.asp?ID=11492
http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/index.php
http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/
http://forcedentertainment.com/
http://www.stationhouseopera.com/
http://www.forkbeardfantasy.co.uk/
http://www.periplum.co.uk/coda/
http://www.ilpixelrosso.org.uk/Shows.html
https://www.barbican.org.uk/theatre/event-detail.asp?ID=11492
http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/index.php
http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/
http://forcedentertainment.com/
http://www.stationhouseopera.com/
http://www.forkbeardfantasy.co.uk/
http://www.periplum.co.uk/coda/
Trying To Remember Memories Using Visual Indicators
Our piece focussed on how a visual indicator such as an item of clothing could be used to try and uncover memories from a person past. The performance looked at how a person suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's would react by being shown a sentimental piece of clothing from thier past.
The group felt that the piece could possibly be involved in the final performanace if it were adapted and made more medical and scientific. Far more research into Alzheimer's would need to be used if the performance were to be beliveable and realistic for the audience. Also a far wider variety of outfits to show patients would be helpful as different clothes may uncover different memories. We unfortunately couldnt make more outfits due to lack of time and available materials.
The overall reaction for the piece was fairly positive. The audeince liked the idea that the Alzheimers patient had their back to them as it created a tense atmosphere. The lack of audience participation was also uselful as it created the effect that the people viewing were just flies on the wall and that the patient was unaware of their presence therfore making it very intimate and intense.
Rory, Emma and April
Flashbulb memory performance and Evaluation
Flashbuble memory
We created a short piece of theatre on flashbulb memory, and asked the audience why we remember certain dates and times from months and why we struggle to remember simple things such as what we had for breakfast last week....
We took video's during our trip ice skating today, and created some memerable moments. Like videoing the first person to fall over, the first person on the ice and a hotdog skating around the rink.
During our performance we asked the audience questions such as -
We feel that it could not necessarily be used in the show, but could be used before the show in the bar or such, and then question the audience at the end of the show or drop hints about what happened in the bae. We think that our performance could have been better by speaking more about the research we did, and we feel that we could have had better control over audience conversation, as it began to deviate away from the point at times.
We feel that prehaps instead of being ourselves, we could have performed it as one of us having the flashbulb memory instead of asking the audience about this mornings memeory.
We also think that it would have been a good test to ask these questions 3 months down the line and then see how much they all remembered without the footage, then show the footage and see what jolts their memory and why they think it would prehaps jolt their memory. So if we were to use this idea in the show, then we could maybe find some way to keep the audience interacting for some time after the show is finished, and send them an email or text asking what they remember, how well they remember it and why they remember it so well.
Ria, Brittany, Tyrone and Sophie :)
We created a short piece of theatre on flashbulb memory, and asked the audience why we remember certain dates and times from months and why we struggle to remember simple things such as what we had for breakfast last week....
We took video's during our trip ice skating today, and created some memerable moments. Like videoing the first person to fall over, the first person on the ice and a hotdog skating around the rink.
During our performance we asked the audience questions such as -
- Can you remember where you were when Princess Diana died?
- Can you remember where tou were and what you were doing on 11th September 2001?
- Can you rembember what you were doing on 18th April 2003 (Irrelivant date for most of the audience)
- Who was the first person on the ice?
- Who was the first Actor on the ice?
- What time was the group photo taken?
- Who was the first to fall over?
- What time did the hotdog come out on the ice?
- Would you more likely remember a member of the class falling over, or the hotdog falling over and why?
We feel that it could not necessarily be used in the show, but could be used before the show in the bar or such, and then question the audience at the end of the show or drop hints about what happened in the bae. We think that our performance could have been better by speaking more about the research we did, and we feel that we could have had better control over audience conversation, as it began to deviate away from the point at times.
We feel that prehaps instead of being ourselves, we could have performed it as one of us having the flashbulb memory instead of asking the audience about this mornings memeory.
We also think that it would have been a good test to ask these questions 3 months down the line and then see how much they all remembered without the footage, then show the footage and see what jolts their memory and why they think it would prehaps jolt their memory. So if we were to use this idea in the show, then we could maybe find some way to keep the audience interacting for some time after the show is finished, and send them an email or text asking what they remember, how well they remember it and why they remember it so well.
Ria, Brittany, Tyrone and Sophie :)
Tuesday 8 February 2011
Day with designers
Discussions on challenges in devising. when do decisions have to be taken? What is ideal making time and is that stage too soon for directors and actors to make decisions? How much and how long can you keep developing, changing and adding material? Are ideas and makes scrapped or recycled? Does you work have to be in the final performance to be in the 'show'?
Ideas for research:
what structures are there in devising?
how do other companies devise?
what is the relationship between the different disciplines?
what types and models of collaboration are there?
more ideas that have come up:
what is in the do not enter room and where is it?
what is the memory of the building?
what is the experience of the audience waiting to go in, if only few audience members allowed in at a time?
let's start collecting memories from potential audiences; happy memories?
groups working on:
the lecture
entering a memory
the old man and the costumes
collective memory
memory tests and experiments.
and more questions:
how do you enter a memory?
will audience enter a 'no entry' room?
what kinds of memories do buildings have?
vanessa
Ideas for research:
what structures are there in devising?
how do other companies devise?
what is the relationship between the different disciplines?
what types and models of collaboration are there?
more ideas that have come up:
what is in the do not enter room and where is it?
what is the memory of the building?
what is the experience of the audience waiting to go in, if only few audience members allowed in at a time?
let's start collecting memories from potential audiences; happy memories?
groups working on:
the lecture
entering a memory
the old man and the costumes
collective memory
memory tests and experiments.
and more questions:
how do you enter a memory?
will audience enter a 'no entry' room?
what kinds of memories do buildings have?
vanessa
Facebook!
Hey Guys!
We are now also on Facebook... Join the page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Memory-Play
Ria :)
We are now also on Facebook... Join the page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Memory-Play
Ria :)
Flash Bulb Memory
Here is some Information on FlashBulb memory that our group have been researching:
Flashbulb Memory
Flashbulb memories are distinctly vivid, precise, concrete, long-lasting memories of a personal circumstance surrounding a person’s discovery of shocking events. People remember with almost perceptual clarity details of the context in which they first heard about the news, such as what they were doing, with whom they were with and where they were.
These flashbulb memories are not as accurate or permanent as photographic memories but the flashbulb memories’ forgetting curve is far less affected by time than is the case for other types of memories studied in basic memory research.
The flashbulb memories are stored on one occasion and retained for a lifetime. These memories are associated with important historical or autobiographical events. Such events could include, for example, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. or the attack on Pearl Harbor.
What makes the flashbulb memory special is the emotional arousal at the moment that the event was registered to the memory. It is the emotions elicited by a flashbulb memory event that increase the ability to recall the details of the event.
One reason that the flashbulb memories are remembered is because these memories tend to be retold over and over again. Sometimes, though, these memories are not necessarily accurate. Accuracy reduces during the first 3 months and levels at about 12 months.
The events of September 11 renewed interest in the phenomenon of flashbulb memories. In a classic paper, Brown and Kulik defined the flashbulb memory as an vividly detailed memory of the circumstances under which one first learned of a surprising, consequential, emotionally involving event.
Flashbulb memories were so named because it seems as if the mind has "taken a picture" of the circumstances in which the news was learned. Accordingly, most analyses have focused on the accuracy of flashbulb memories.
Accurate or not, flashbulb memories are still memories, and are interesting nonetheless. Flashbulb memories.
The Hotdoggers (Ria, Brittany, Tyrone, Sophie, Steven and Becky)
Do Not Enter Room!!!!
A few ideas for what we could have outside the 'Do Not Enter Room' thought about having a peep hole in the door?
Or thought we could have a normal door, however when you open it, all that is behing the door is another wall of bricks with one missing to see through?!
What if there is no door? Just a wall, white and clinical, with a keyhole to peep through.
Britts
Or thought we could have a normal door, however when you open it, all that is behing the door is another wall of bricks with one missing to see through?!
What if there is no door? Just a wall, white and clinical, with a keyhole to peep through.
Britts
Mirrors.
I love the idea of mirrors, and incorporating them within our piece. If we are using the idea of different rooms maybe having one of the rooms filled with mirrors. I also love the idea of looking into a mirror and it not being you or not seeing anybody there at all. I also really like that this can give off the idea of dual personality. The audience not know which id the true you.
You can become non-excistent within the mirrors, which part of you is the truth and which is lies? How do YOU or the sudience know which is the real you and which is a reflection or true reflection? Have you created anonymity?
Dual personality is where two or more personalities or identities alternativly take control in the same person. Each personality is unaware of the other. This can be portrayed through the mirrors, or could have started here.
Britts
You can become non-excistent within the mirrors, which part of you is the truth and which is lies? How do YOU or the sudience know which is the real you and which is a reflection or true reflection? Have you created anonymity?
Dual personality is where two or more personalities or identities alternativly take control in the same person. Each personality is unaware of the other. This can be portrayed through the mirrors, or could have started here.
Britts
Mr Miyagi - Wax on, Wax off!!!!!
As you can see, our group headed by Pandora, Pip, Sam, Shaune and Ryan. We called ourselves Mr. Miyagi.
We are looking at experiments into memory that we can incorporate into a piece of theatre.
We are looking at experiments into memory that we can incorporate into a piece of theatre.
Sunday 6 February 2011
We're on twitter!!!
if anyone cares we are now also on twitter so also be tweeting our updates... @MemoryPlay.
idea
How about a little cubicle, 'staff only' on the door, maybe in the bar? full of your memories of creating the show. videos, conversation, photos.......
Interesting info...
http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/2011/02/brains-forget-information-rate-1-bit-neuron/ worth a read! :)
Friday 4 February 2011
today's ideas and improvisations
to have different rooms representing different things, for exaple a laboratory, a library, this way each audience member make their own experience, no one person's experiences will be the same. Along with having rooms that may be entered have one room that is comepletly closed off, this will spark off curiosity in the audiences' minds.
Memories being inside bubbles, having all the senses inside these bubbles and so when the pop brings back memories, different memories for each person.
Having the memory fall to the floor for the audience to either smell, touch, see, hear or taste.
Having some of the actors in bright coloured clothing in pitch black lighting so they can be seen, then having the rest in blacks whilst moving things around.
from this had the idea of painting eyes onto out eyelids so it looks like our eyes are open then when we really do open them the audience realise. have to find some way of the audience being able to see that close up.
We worked on some improvisations of the ideas of the different rooms.
some ideas that came from there was to get the audience involved, was nice to have them as artefacts in a museum, and also walking around the museum. Also really worked that Tom and Shaune were part of the audience.
Using a quiz show and relating it to memory, maybe getting the audience to watch a clip and then quiz them about it afterwards to test their memories this way gets the audience involved as contestants.
Britt
Memories being inside bubbles, having all the senses inside these bubbles and so when the pop brings back memories, different memories for each person.
Having the memory fall to the floor for the audience to either smell, touch, see, hear or taste.
Having some of the actors in bright coloured clothing in pitch black lighting so they can be seen, then having the rest in blacks whilst moving things around.
from this had the idea of painting eyes onto out eyelids so it looks like our eyes are open then when we really do open them the audience realise. have to find some way of the audience being able to see that close up.
We worked on some improvisations of the ideas of the different rooms.
some ideas that came from there was to get the audience involved, was nice to have them as artefacts in a museum, and also walking around the museum. Also really worked that Tom and Shaune were part of the audience.
Using a quiz show and relating it to memory, maybe getting the audience to watch a clip and then quiz them about it afterwards to test their memories this way gets the audience involved as contestants.
Britt
Thursday 3 February 2011
I found a article about memory, but it is about a woman called AJ, who remembers everything, and every detail of her memories!! She even remembers dates and times and days of things that happened before she was born.... I thought it was quite interesting, as we have done alot on memory loss, and losing out memory, but this is kind of the opposite.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1738881&page=1
Ria :)
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1738881&page=1
Ria :)
research
I have been doing more research on memory, and found this... http://frenchtribune.com/
It's about enhancing the memory and it gives and example of how they have tested it.
Also, this memory test, you do it online and it gives you a score at the end and tells you how good your memory is. http://www.nymemory.org/
Ria
It's about enhancing the memory and it gives and example of how they have tested it.
Also, this memory test, you do it online and it gives you a score at the end and tells you how good your memory is. http://www.nymemory.org/
Ria
idea
The Memory Idea
A building came to existence to host one man’s brain. An ordinary man who was run over by a bike when he was 7. For year he was known only as HM. Scientists in this building called the Brain Observatory, have preserved his brain meticulously; they hope that what is written stays and that one day the programme will exist that can read what is written in this brain. Henry is long gone but, non omnis moriar; not all of him has died and maybe one day...
Our play is in that building. Our audience are the guests and guinea pigs. They are to undergo experiments, visit the memory museum, share, create and revisit memories.
What kind of utopia / corporation is this? Scientists, librarians, data inputters, volunteers, student doctors, inmates? Their search is to find how memory works.
There are rooms where activities happen. Some of the activities seem odd but we explain them convincingly and scientifically. There are tests, lectures, tributes to the man, displays of the brain that began it all. The mirror test takes place in one room, actors are tested on their memory motor skills, flashbulb memories are tested; some of this is very common sensical; some of it is bizarre.
There is a labyrinth where audience leave memory notes.
Maybe they bring something?
There is a dusty old library full of memory memorabilia. Museum displays of how memories used to be collected pre and post computers. There are experiments that try to visually project lost memories.
The audience choose 1 of three things; visit the comeback man, leave a message, create a memory
They walk past the old man who tries to fit in all the memories in the box, to tidy up, to not lose, to organise and remember who he is.
They wonder about the man who build the building, who took the brain, who build his whole life around finding the lost Henry. Is there something strange going on here?
and can science explain all of memory? or is it something more, beyond something that language and science must pass over in silence?
and can science explain all of memory? or is it something more, beyond something that language and science must pass over in silence?
Maybe there are bubbles and when they accidentally break, the memories come out: and big theatrical musical numbers. Fragments of song, half forgotten words, colours and misremembered harsh looks.
In one room, a patient tries to recreate the costume of his lost wife. But they don’t seem to get it right.
What disclaimer do the audience have to sign? Agree to have their short memory erased? Order a new memory? Order a dvd of their memories? A memory voucher? Can they scan a memory code in their i phones? Donate their brains? Agree to remember a word that we tell them and to tell it back to us later, much later? Did they give away something they didn’t mean to?
And what, will they remember of their visit when we ask them?
Wednesday 2 February 2011
The brain and memory
Ria's notes from Eric Kandel's lecture.
Eric Kandel - Mapping Memory In the Brain 2/
The Systems problem of memory –
Where in the brain is memory stored?
The Molecular problem of memory –
What are the mechanisms whereby storage occurs at each side?
Can any mental process be localized to the brain?
Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) –
All mental functions are biological and arise from the brain. Different mental functions can be localized to different regions of the cerebral cortex.
The brain is bilaterally symmetrical (Left hemisphere,Infoldings: Sulci, Crests: Gyri) The cortex is convoluted.
The brains has four lobes – Frontal, Parental, temporal and occipital
How to localize mental functions? He has to localize more than 40 different functions. How? Take people and see where is the lesion?
He did it a different way, studied people very closely, he didn’t want to study and diseased brain. There would be 40 different functions. Identify them in different regions in the following way, Intellectual, comparison and thinking at the front of the brain. Romantic functions, like love, parental love etc at the back of the brain and Sentiments, like hope and happiness in the middle of the brain.
Careful observer, look at the shape of people skulls… different shape skulls, have different character structures and different personalities. Looking at bumps in the skull he could look at how they function as intellectual and social human beings.
Head shapes, (Prominent forehead) for thinking and for making comparisons,
Profound thicker – Good at comparison, Shallow thinker – Poor at comparison
If you use the function, eg comparison it would bulk up like a muscle over exercise, and cause the skull to bulge out.
Got his class to check others heads? Skulls?
Pieree-Paul Broca (1824-1880)
1861 – Thinks that all mental functions come from the brain, is very likely that mental functions can be localized in different regions.
Argues that you had to get inside the brain
“I had thought that if there were a phrenologicalscience… it would be phrenology of convolutions in the cortex and not the phrenology of bumps on the head” (Pierre paul broca, 1861)
Mental functions can be localized to a specific region of the brain through clinical-pathological correlations.
Aphasia (Order of language) He came across a Patient Leborgne – He could understand language perfectly well, but could not express language.
Could whistle, hum, could not express language in writing, even though he understood language very well.
Leborgne’s aphasia: a defect in language production – A lesion on the front on the left side of the brain. Naming the area involved with speech production. He named it after himself, calling it Broca’s area (Naming area involved with speech production.
He found that we speak with the left hemisphere.
more ideas
costumes on mannequiens, presented by designers.
data inputters and filing systems.
set with a cardboard floor audience can write on. a cardboard maze with photos of audience and notes. post - its and scribbles
The memory thief.
audience bring memories to fill the box.
wall of post-its.
a story that starts from a post - it. or a knot. but she has forgotten what it is supposed to remind her. and we go on her journey of remembering. it's not something very important but why can't she remember?
data inputters and filing systems.
set with a cardboard floor audience can write on. a cardboard maze with photos of audience and notes. post - its and scribbles
The memory thief.
audience bring memories to fill the box.
wall of post-its.
a story that starts from a post - it. or a knot. but she has forgotten what it is supposed to remind her. and we go on her journey of remembering. it's not something very important but why can't she remember?
sets and costumes
The comeback man
you know when you replay a memory and wish you had said something different? something clever and timely and snappy? That's when you need comeback man. He goes back to the memory with you and fixes it.
Churches with upside down windows
The old man trying to gather the bits of paper together and squeeze them back in the memory box.
Bubbles hanging from the ceiling.
A body full of hands.
Unravelling wool and knitting it back into a jumper. extreme knitting!
Pandora's memory filing system
the data inputter. if only he could pick up the fallen bits you might get the right memories at the right time. and the senses you sense would make sense in time.
the dusty old librarian, filing, filing.
memories 20 digits long.
memories that you remember only from being told, not from being there.
Escher stairwells.
Revolving doors
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