More of the process as it unfolds...

12th October 2010
Morning Session
We spoke about the form Vignette that introduced the world. There was also talk of:
- Social issues and disrepair
- Jonny’s observance of a polish family and a tramp
- Ignorance vs. Empathy e.g. Bystander

Do as your told
Forum- when the audience takes control
Important audience feels safe
- Audience learn rules/know to contribute
- Commented on our blameless society
“Can you say that I can?”- Deceiving
Bystander effect
- Choosing our own forms
After reading the Milgrim studies, taking the notion of showing to an audience. In an obvious yet convincing way. The psychology of “The Mob” and how inevitable our actions are even if we don’t like the sound/look of it (human choices)
- Burning building/smoking
- Dangerously drunk person
- How long does it get before we report

Silence
- Cultural Peer Pressure
- Conforming
- Everyone likes the affect of silent performance
- Dramatic and simple and self-explanatory
- Naturalistic- intense

1. Dance floor-
- Not in theatre
- Pre-show! Concept everyone likes!
- Opening of show, halving the audience.
- Organising wireless and live feed to show audience actions= explore this..

2. Queue-
- Involving us in the debate!
- Why and who do we go against?
- Concept worked so where to put it?
- Audience reaction
- Stealing a grape in a supermarket is NO different from stealing a TV.
- Shocking and Power had more affect when the audience realised the pun. How people behave as a mass… How far can we take the audience??

3. Tableaux and through bubble.
- Questioning theatre
- Flashbacks- effective
- Naturalistic acting with episodic form (we liked this and decided to explore it further)

Afternoon discussion
- Status
Are we taken seriously, as young creators with what we are trying to say? How can we make maximum impact?
- Reporting
How far does it go before we do? How do we feel when we don’t? What is the difference between noticing or not? How do we (humans) perceive danger collectively?
“We need to start stepping over responsibility”
- Forms
Vignette
Silence
Episodic
Naturalistic

18th October 2010
“The Inevitable Brick Wall”
Leaves and live feed:
Rules of Nabirit: it is never our problem, don’t waste a smile on strangers, don’t look me in the eye, and don’t pay attention to a queue, just get where you need to be.
Stimulus for Nabirit: female stomach parasite: A STD in which a tiny creature grows inside the woman’s belly for 9 months, the soothers out and eats all your money- avoid at all times.
Take the language and re-create for other British traits/human traits e.g. strikes, blackberries and technology, heavy bags, anti-social behaviour.
1. Nature Show
- Humour
- No eye contact
- Documentary
- Dramatise rules

2. Newsflash
- Ending was great!
- Room to explore
- Huge subject very relative
- “Life Berries”


3. False Forces
- Cover-ups/ Disguise
- Body VS Face
- Make-up and media
- Mocking
- Character, no expressions

Images from improvisation:
- Technology
- Wired up
- Communicating through technology
- ID cards on for heads
- Narrator (Zee)

19th October 2010
First day in public
What we found in 1 hr:
- Stationary argument
- Heavy bags dropped
- Illness
Not a lot of people were in today so our process came falling down and I felt like I was floating on a cloud not doing anything.
1st November 2010
Morning session
“Obedience Grid” (physical theatre)
How it works: Mix and change levels of speed, levels, repetition, mirror images, stillness, finding movements to freeze facial expressions, whispering, change in dynamics, formations (3), (4), (1) for example, visually pleasing, interactions.
How it doesn’t work: loosing focus, not being aware of the ensemble- contributing.
Afternoon session
We came up with a primary school scene where Jay was the teacher; Dan was the head teacher, and Natalie, Nuria, Jonnie, Rozana, Jo, Amy L, Zee, Katrice and I were school children. We wanted to show how we start off as misbehaved students who then get conformed into good students who follow every order they are told.
We also (for this scene) looked at:
- Socialised into society
- Conditioned
- Explore- Build Legs
- More Disciplined
- Questions- Picking nose, stripping off, Sucking thumb etc.
- Girls and Boys school effect (the difference between same sex and mixed school)
2nd November 2010
Split into groups- focus and ownership
Group 1- Establish your ritual. Use actors instead of general public for actual footage.
Group 2- 1st argument= Mild too fast
2nd argument= Entertained more than agitated
Why? What? Where are the variables?
Add to Pre Show! Definitely!
Group 3- Feedback overtime- keep an eye on progress.
Group 4- War- “My dad’s better than your dad”. This was a solid idea and very convincing.
Tasks to do before next session:
- To neaten up.
- Have puppet like opinions.
- Talk about the last scene.
- All groups to get scripting by 9th November

3rd November 2010
Today we had a critical theory recap to help us define what we wanted to do for the essay and to help us kick start our essays.
6th November 2010
I went to see “The Thrill of it all” by Forced Entertainment. This was to help me with my essay and to take my mind off the process as I have become very frustrated.
8th November 2010
Development
We were asked to bring in an object to use in this workshop. Amy L sat in the middle of the room and we used the objects to warm up and to give us a sense of Annihilation as children (thus bringing conformity). We then took this and created 3 devised scenes.
Group 1- Adults to Kids
- Language Change (war)
- Posture change
- Shorter but concise
- TV footage to validate propaganda.
For next session: Full Script (Amy L in charge) for 9th November.
Further scenes: Puppetry, Expand! Game consol.
2 minutes of final product.
Group 2. 2D to 3D
- Discussed 3D clowns
- Produced some initial imagery
- 2D need to fix it in relation to scene changes – so come back to before Christmas

Group 3. Experiments
- Established experiment, preparation for 9th November.
After we showed some new improvised ideas, we took the idea of an experiment as well as what we read in the milgrim studies in regards to the experiment based on conformity into account and decided to conduct our own experiment. Amy B and Lloyd then worked on a questionnaire for actors and students to complete for the experiment.
Things we were concerned about to do with the pending experiment:
1. Actor’s not being focused/ losing focus.
2. Students arriving early for experiment.
3. Students walking out half way through the experiment.
4. Noise from the outside.
5. Staff or general public getting involved.

9th November 2010
Two experiments were conducted today. One with the questionnaires and one with two people arguing loudly enough that the public could hear. The argument started outside in the corridor, but due to protocol with the Arts Depot we got told off. So we brought the argument into the exam room and see if the students would react. The actor’s job in this was to get frustrated over the exam, and breathe heavily. The student who sat next to the actor did look at him and didn’t know what to do until the exam finished as we did the exam realistically and with proper exam conditions.
Preparations for next Monday at Graseby House:
1. A repeat of the experiment in a different environment, with different clients.
2. To place the argument situation back into the piece as we won’t be in a public place.
In the last few hours of the session, we played Simon says. We were given a number and were told that Dan would be Simon. We were asked to walk on stage one by one and draw something innopropiate on the white board. We all started drawing breasts, penis’ among other things. This was then considered to be a part of the ensemble work.
Wednesday 10th November 2010
We had a production meeting today with Siobhan and after looking at the rough structure, she said we had too much tech work and not enough live work/ on stage scenes. We only had about 20 minutes work so we needed to step up. Along with 3 other students I felt singled out because some students got more favour than we did. I also find our directors too much work as well. It’s like they are taking too much and not giving enough. And 1 person in the group feels just like I do. If we try and mention something, our voice doesn’t get heard, and we get shoved aside. This isn’t fair. Something has to change…..
Tuesday 16th November 2010
Today we looked at the ensemble being children in the playground/classroom. We each wrote our own monologues, tested our obedience with Zee as our teacher on stilts and with Jo becoming a tramp child. However with all this in mind the directors forgot to tell us that all we worked on so far had been scrapped, so we all think well what are we going to do now? We started the whole things from scratch with the monologues. Some of the monologues were creative, and you really thought out of the box.
In the afternoon we were all divided into same sex groups. The boys had the task of becoming more feminine and the girls had the task of becoming more masculine. And then we were to test this on each other. Through this Lloyd and Amy B handpicked roles with a clear intent they had already done so before this workshop.

Monday 29th November 2010.
Today we focussed on the montage/ensemble part of the piece. Going from Children to Teenagers to doing the “Go Compare” advert to the Simples advert (Compare the market) to the Christmas coco cola advert (Holidays are coming). We then hot seated Natalie/Karisha. As soon as that was completed Natalie and Ayla showed their devised Facebook scene.
Later that day we looked at ways of being Zee’s puppets and dancing around him. We then focused on the naturalistic scene between Jo and Jay. We also looked at the possibility of having a rave scene for Natalie’s character Karisha. The montage was good as it reflected how we all grow up and whether we conform to the expectations of our parents, tutors, and friends or whether we don’t conform. However I could only observe as being the producer had last place in the list of considerations. I took a back seat and observed and I could tell that some people in the group wasn’t happy with the progress of the piece. Amy B and Lloyd had so many different ideas but they continued to be very vague with us about them. I tried to say something, but because (and I might be jumping to conclusions here) I have a weakness in my brain for letting people put me straight when then can’t be bothered to hear what I have to say. We as a group don’t have a chance to speak. It’s a full on dictatorship, and I’ve always said that if your friends are acting for you then you need to put your relationship with them first. You have to be self-less and not selfish. I think Amy B and Lloyd haven’t grasped this and just wanted to show us whose boss. Either they step up and realise this or something bad is going to happen. Then again I don’t want to get into a heated discussion, and ruin my chances of getting a good grade.