Production Meeting 3

Production Meeting 3

Unit 4 Drama

25/3/11

Production Management

· Budget will have to remain as an even split until all departments and agreed of a final costing before we can share it out

·        We do not have a portable silks frameit was hired.

·        I have emailed Neil regarding silk time in the theatre, he’s happy to do it but Jo Loader will have to agree a time and date? Potential dates are 20^th ,21^st, 22^nd April

·        Waiting to hear back from the brain observatoryHave heard back, we can use their videos just need to record the show and send them a copy of the show.

·        CBS news video – need to find out about the rights.

·        Is it possible to have a Q&A after the one of the afternoon shows?

·        Running times – maximum of 1 hour 15 mins.

·        Get in starts on the 26th

Stage Management

·    Have you attended rehearsals?Alicia (DSM) has attended rehearsals.

·    Anything to feedback from rehearsals?Worked off the students script from now on will be the directors script.

·    How’s search for props going?Very well, the hospital props are perfect. 3 stethoscopes needed. 

·    Has the ground plan gone down into rehearsals?Yes, as much as possible .

·    When do you think you will be able to complete the props list (date)

·    Have you compiled a list with props / set re; who’s getting what?Yes, Polly is going to take pictures of everything and make up a full props list.

·    Stage management need a rehearsal schedule.

·    The design for the bar is going well, the raised part will be made into a mine theatre, there will be a guest book and a way record comments (maybe in the Q&A?)

·    In the gift bags we could have comment cards/business cards with the blog on them.

·    Do we have a lectern? Maybe in the lecture room.

Lighting– Mike not present for meeting

·    Do you have any question for the directors?Any specific things? Just the silks.

·    Dates for& final design?Waiting for Mike.

·    Have you attended rehearsals?Yes – Spencer has.

·    Have you had a look at the ground plan?Yes – Spencer has.

·    Going to sit down with the set designer and go over the model box.

·    Projection? Maybe use the screens or televisions.

·    MEETING NEXT MONDAYLUNCHTIME ABOUT FLYING WITH PM/SET/LIGHTING/JO LOADER…

Sound

·    What was the outcome with your meeting with Vanessa?

·    Dates for final design ?

·    Are you able to attend rehearsals?

·    Have you researched the music discussed last meeting?

·    Have you had a look at the ground plan?

·    Will have a sound meeting with the director after this production meeting or tomorrow morning.

·    Zach is coming in the recording equipment tomorrow morning to record some performers. (10am).

·    Has an initial design, if anybody would like a copy please let Zach know. 

Set

·    Could we have the design in a4 please?Not needed anymore

·    How are the designs coming along?All the hung flats are built, window, screens, wallpaper, table, lecture table and sink unit basically done, just finishes need doing.

·    Are you flying anything?

·    Need to arrange a walk through with the director and performers, maybe tomorrow during ‘Swan’ morning.

Props

·    Could we have a date for when the props will be ready?

·    Will you be making or sourcing rehearsal props?

Costumes

·      Could we have a date for when the costumes will be ready?Trousers and lab coats ready for next Wednesday other costumes will be ready for production week.

·      Costumes are coming along well, all measurements have been taken.

·      Trouser fittings Friday if possible, performers have a schedule – it should take 15 mins per performer, two at a time.

AOB

·      Publicity – Spencer has sketched an initial design for the poster

·      Devon, Becca and Spencer will meet and liaise about the publicity 

Next Meeting 6th April 13:30 Production Room

Production Manager: Josh Attwood 07917654611

Assistant Production Manager: Ruby Cooper

Audience gifts

Should we give audience a gift?
A party bag, memento, gift box?
With memory related things in it like smells, a card with the blog address on it....
ANY IDEAS or THOUGHTS please comment

Obituary for Henry Molaison‏‏

An impact he could never appreciate Wednesday, December 3, 2008

 

From Suzanne Corkin (MIT):

"Henry G. Molaison, 82, of Windsor Locks, CT died on Tuesday. He is known in the medical and scientific literatures as "the amnesic patient, H.M." He was born in Manchester, CT and graduated from East Hartford High School. In 1953, he underwent an experimental brain operation at the Hartford Hospital to relieve his seizure disorder. Immediately after the operation, Mr. Molaison showed a profound amnesia, which became the topic of intense scientific study for more than five decades. From age 27 on, he was unable to establish new memories for events in his everyday life and to acquire general information about the world in which he lived. His memory impairment was "pure" and not accompanied by intellectual or personality disorders. For this reason, and because the operation has not been repeated, he is the most widely studied and famous case in the neuroscience literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. Mr. Molaison's contributions to knowledge about memory have been groundbreaking, and researchers worldwide are in his debt. Burial will be private.

Thinking about SOUND

• How can sound show the passing of time to help us tell the story of how suzanne actually spent nearly 40 years studying Henry?

• Shall we have  a recording of the soundtrack to the operation that scoville performed. it can start maybe realistic, with conversations on top, then get a little more expressionistic.

• Shall we record a lot of the dialogue so that it can dress the movement sequences? Editing it with loops etc might also help convey loss of short term memory. Or Henry's continual confusion about the present moment.

• What music for the silks? If Tom and Carmen start on the silks, what music? opera, classical? What can fade into carmen's over the rainbow?

• Do we have live music? Where, how, why?

• What if most of what characters from the past say is pre-recorded? And those from the present is not? or the other way round?

• If we had mp3 players, what would we want the audience to listen to privately? And why?

• I would like us to use some of the music from the Papaioannou clips 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ5krTgV98g&feature=player_embedded#at=20  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6mjMnj9PF8&feature=player_embedded  

Tango Inspiration

Something I found online, Blue tango music was released by Leroy Anderson in 1952 and was number 1 for 5 consecutive weeks in May.

This has more teamwork movement than the first... but again its for inspiration if the tango sequence is still happening.
Tyrone :)

Suzanne Corkin!

·        Former graduate of Brenda Miners at McGill who runs the behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory at MIT

·         Took over as lead investigator on all things Henry related in the 1970’s

·         She is known to be fiercely protective of her prized test subject vetting researchers exhaustively demanding the signing of non-disclosure contracts

·         Disallowed tape recorders etc

·         She built a good portion of her career on her special access to Henry, she won’t just let anybody in

·         She discovered that Henry is able to recognize the intensity of smells, but not their provenance unable to discriminate  the fragrance of rose from the smell of dog poo.

·         She gave H.M a list of names, all beginning with C and he could pick out Corkin.

·         When she got the call about H.M dying she said… “I was very sad at the time, but I also knew there was important work to be done. H.M and his conservator signed a Brain donation form. After he died, we brought him up to MGH and we scanned his brain for nine hours. In the middle of that night, I wrote his obituary. That was the first time I had the opportunity to confront my emotions about his death. And I was very sad because I realised that I had lost my friend of many years, it was hard.

·         She was fiercely protective over her prized subject.

·         She first met henry at Brenda  Mills lab in 1962

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2009/dec/10/first-complete-brain-dissection-also-social-media-/

This is a radio interview... Speaking to Suzanne Corkin and Jaccopo!

Ria! :)

images from script writing

for inspiration

Rehearsing

ideas and images from today

• scoville operating; soundscape of operation fading into Jacopo's music
• Suzanne and Henry dance through the decades
• scientists gliding
• jacopo reads henry's diary and quotes
• scream stops lecture
• doctors guarding brain / rush around dying Henry

Phineas Script

 Bear in mind this is still quite rough copy, but it should give you an idea of what's going on.

Hope this helps.

(Phineas is being inspected by a doctor right after the accident, telling bystanders what has just happened)


Phineas: So like i was saying, I had just packed the hole in the rock with the blast powder, fused it and was packing down the sand with my tamping iron and all of a sudden kablam! All I remeber at that point is a flash of light and thinking how much money it will cost to replace my custom bar, I know it sounds rediculous but hey, that's what I was thinking at the time. My nieghour made it for me you see 'coz all the ones they make here are awful, cost a pretty penny as well. (chuckles) I spose I should thank him really, maybe that's what saved my life!

Doctor: I'm sorry Mr.Gage, although your brain appears to be exposed, there is no way you'd still be alive if the pole had indeed entered your head. However we can operat....

Phineas: I'm telling the truth doc! The pole shot through my head, that's why it shot 80 feet away covered in my blood and brains! I know it seems inplausable but this is just one of those miricles that...

(Phineas vomits and a piece of his brain falls out. He beggins to become increasingly exausted, becomes disorientated and eventualy vomits. Also a piece of his prain falls to the floor.)





<INSERT PHYSICAL THEATRE HERE>
(Consisting of things showing: Attatchment to pole, comatosed, change in personality, flashbacks, obserdity, socking scenes, noticable change in tempo.




Monologue:

Curse the ones who did this. Damn them all the blood and puss spurting purgatory depths of hell! With everything I've been throough, they have no consideration to what I may be feeling after my traumatic ordeal. They have some real nerve letting me go, after years of loyal service as a foreman to the rail line; they dare sack me? The way they looked at me, the way they spoke to me, like I still had the bar through my head, I can't comprehend the disgusted feeling that came from them. Once my friends, have now turned on me...the souless traitors. Fine, I'm better off without them, it's their loss, I wasn't prepared to continue working with any cunting Irish pissheads at any rate, Id rather fuck my mother on her grave than associate with those them ever again.
I'll become a legend, a prophecy! Me and my tamping bar...we'll travel the world, showing everyone my amazing defience against the icy cold hand of death, as the man who survived the pole being shot through his open skull. They will know me...as a deity.

Some pics of the Acrobalance session from 22nd March...

Hey.... Here are a few Pics from the Acrobalance the Actors did today....

How can we incoroporate this into the show? Where?

                                                                 Ria :)

pina bausch trailer

Scoville grandson

hey had some ideas around the use of Scovilles grandson and would like some feedback. i see Scovilles grandson as an almost goastly figure who is within all of the pieces overseeing the outcome of the scenes and making notes towards his article throughout. this should be a very physical and abstract character that is part of the show but seems outside at the same time. maybe you dont understand the reson he is in the performance until the end when the pitch is made for the research (or this could be made at the begining of the performance).
let me know what you think and where you feel adaptations can be made.
this will also give a different meaning to the performance and allow the piece to gain some absurditiy.
Maria Pullen : )

Using the scenes we worked on Wednesday, we had to focus on the viewpoints within the scene.
Is it more effective with a different duration and tempo?
What about spacing and using shapes?
How could this evolve our scenes?
experimenting with viewpoints helped take a scene that may have been previously based on chairs to something like a mirror image with both actors mirroring one another's movement.

We have also worked on scheduling.
which scenes to block on which day and who is in or off during those days. this will help us know what we are doing each day and what scenes we need to work on, Tom is in charge of scheduling so if anyone needs to ask anything he's your man for that.

for the weekend many of us have been given scenes to script which we will show next week and work on.

-Scenes-
Lecture (which leads to *)
*Phenias
*Tan
*Korbinian / Wolf
Henry's Accident
Scoville and Henry
Scoville Henry Brenda
Brenda Henry Suzanne
Henry Suzanne Jaccapo
Betty
Luke Pitching
Luke and Scoville
Broca and Wernicke Boast
Henry Alone - Pre Surgery and Post Surgery

Friday 18th... Videos!!

Hey Guys,

Putting videos up on the FB page, of the work that actors have done in the lesson today....

Enjoy!!

Ria :)

photos of the set model

Videos of Actors' work 16th March....

Hey Guys,

I'm uploading some Videos of the scenes that actors have been working on today...
They are on the FB Memory page... So check them out!!

Ria :)

actors perform at the Dome in Brighton. This Thursday!

http://www.brightondome.org/events/A-Night-of-Commedia-Dell%27art%C3%A8/4189

To celebrate international "Comedia dell'Arte Day"
FdA actors are performing at the Brighton Dome in the Pavilion Theatre.
This is an exciting take on some of the nonsense in our everyday lives drawing on a tradition of Comedia dell'Arte, slapstick, and television comedy. 
Thursday 17th March at 7.30pm
Brighton Dome - Pavilion Theatre
£5
Please be there!!!!!!!!!!!!

science and theatre

Stage chemistry: the marriage of science and theatre is going strong

Science is being poured into theatres – and the results are exciting, explosive and unexpected

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/mar/09/stage-chemistry-marriage-science-theatre

How Long?

As you are considering devising processes you might now want to count how many days are left till the show.

What do you want to have achieved each day? By next week? The week after.

Come up with a plan and a timetable.

As you do, compare to others' experiences, processes and schedules.

off we go....

we have a set.

we have costumes.

we have characters.

now all we need to do is make them. well done all.

Actors you really ought to look further into the characters. What accents, what languages, what characteristics.

How do they help us understand memory. 

What do they have to do with Henry?

How are we introduced to them? 

Those with transformer costumes, who else are you and what is your contribution to the lecture, lab etc. 

What is your relationship to Jacoppo?

What happens on the silks?

Do we show the taking of the brain? The journey, the aeroplance, the beginning?

Do we show the bicycle accident?

How do we tell the story of Henry but also something beyond the facts of the story? 

What is the subtext and what view of the world are we taking in the show?

Final Costume Designs

This week we finalised designs for each character! We're using a wall in D161 to display our ideas and development so feel free to come and have a look :) all of the designs will be there too

Casting

We have a HEnry.

Decisions we need to make asap and things you might consider before auditioning or pitching for a part.
See costume entry for which characters transform from doctors to Brocca etc.
Costume designers had idea that Betty sings something from wizard of oz
Who is twelfth character? Could be the grandson, a new character, a doctor,Henry father or mother.........

Set design

Exciting model box.
Pictures please and updates.

Had a thought. If the lecture room was turned round, blocked off by say flying in and out projector screen, then magical transformations and flashbacks can happen in lab and by wall and silks. If sight lines allow for audience to still see some of these spaces, it frees us up to not have to move the audience too much. Is that possible?

Also, can some of costumes contribute to wall and mural?

Costume designs

Some great costume ideas presented today. Exciting and inspiring.pictures coming soon hopefully.

Lab coats that magically transform into costumes for:
Broca
Tan
Korbinius
Wernicke
Phenias


Also costumes for
Jacoppo
Brenda
Betty
Suzanne
Scoville
Harry

Chair Test.

Working in pairs we did three movements to our partner, then they to us. We played around with this for a while, then we created, in our pairs, a course of three movements each and we kept repeating these. Some of us then carried on these movements while our partner wasn't in the chair next to us, this was difficult as our partner wasn't there to move us and to move them.
We carried on this devising further to creating a game with rules, all without speaking. As soon as each pair knew the rules of their own game we added to a line of the script. This gave the game a whole new dimension and meaning. Within the game that Rory and I were playing it became that Rory seemed to be Henry and I seemed to be Brenda.

We also came up with ideas to lead the audience around the space.

Rope Memory - Have a long rope or a silk with memories attached, maybe memories of Henry, or memories we have collected throughout the process of the making of the show. Also thought we could have empty paperclips so the audience could attach their own memories.
Another idea was to have visiter tags, or hospital wrist bands, and either attach them to the piece of material and the audience, or just on the material. This seems similar to slavery, being a slave to memories.

Bicycle Bell - Have Henry introduce himself, and explain to follow the bell when you hear it. The bell would take you to a scene, then from that scene on of the characters could take you onto the next scene where the audience need to be. We thought having a bicycle bell would work best within the piece as Henry gets knocked over by a bike and thats what caused Henry to become H.M. We thought we could end with showing the accident, then in the audiences' minds it will click why we had to follow the bell.

Hospital Curtains - Using the curtains to 'trap' the audience into a scene, open up the curtains for the audience to walk through, and to keep the audience in one group close in the curtains behind them.

Theatre Truck - To somehow get everybody onto the truck, maybe without them knowing it's a truck, then once they are on we pull them round to the next scene or where we want them to go.


Britt

Chairs!

A rough picture of the kind of work we were doing on the chairs to give you an idea - Ria :)

Wednesday 9th....

Wednesday 9^th March

Physicalistic subtext – expressive

·         Rules

·         Accident

·         Random

·         Tracks

·         Expressive and literal

The chairs:

 Sitting next to each other on chairs, We had to move our partner’s positions with three movements, move their arm, leg, head etc into a different position, then staying in that position they would then move their partner three times. We did this a number of times and changed partners. We were given different characters to help us make the movements. Kali and Todd from Stockholm, then Henry Moliasion, Dr Jacopo, Dr Scoville…. This gave us a little more objective when moving our partner.

Making a game:

Silently, we created a game with rules, after we knew the rules of the game; we incorporated some text from the scenes that we performed yesterday.  Then once we knew the rules of the text  we changed the text… for example the text that Taz and I used was..

I will find my memory and You have no memory.

Once we knew when these lines came in, we changed them and muddled them up. So we said parts of the lines at different times during the game.  So mine and Taz’s piece ended up sounding like…

You

I

Memory

Will

No

I

Have

No

Memory

Find

My

You

This taught us a new way of devising and trying our new ideas. From the chair scene or from the games that were created, we could turn into a scene, or discover more about or character? And the relationships between some of the character?

Ria :)

Collaboration

Please leave a comment responding to this quote and to the questions below.

' If earlier models of devising process represented collaboration as an alternative to the hierarchy of the director's theatre, is contemporary devising still defined by its collaborative nature and, if so, what kinds of collaboration are employed?... What kinds of relationship exist between visual, physical, verbal and textual elements of performance?'

Mermikides 2010: 5

• How would you describe our collaborative model?

• How do you imagine the different elements in the show working together? 

• What kinds of languages are we using?

wednesday 9th

hello, thanks for uploading videos. Actors came up with some good material today. Each wrote a scene to work on.  Please see videos.


plan for tomorrow for actors.

• auditions for Henry
• rework on scenes old and new
• work on how we move the audience.
• Next article for your reading pleasure.
• peer and self assessments

A few pictures from today's idea's....

Here are some pics from the scene that Carmen, Tyrone and I performed earlier today... We chose to do the scene where Henry is taking the Star mirror test, and the more times he does it, he gets better without realising as he forgets that he has already taken it. We thought that this scene could be shown throughout the show, so maybe have Henry take four tests at different times during the performance, and each time he takes it, he gets better.

Ria :)