We started with mental health. We went onto a computer to look up some images of mental aisles in America around the 1920's to 1940's. The images seemed to show small dark rooms that had no decoration or comfort to them at all. There was one stand out photo that had a row of beds all place next to each other, there was no windows and there was no space to stand on the floor in the room. This made our group think about the idea of us portraying characters in a mental hospital. James also decided to show us a video from "American Horror Story" where this female mental patient imagined everyone in the asylum dancing to a jazz record ever though it was all in her head. It made me think about the isolation of people in mental hospitals.
Taking on from this idea, we decided to watch a video from frantic assembly's ignition project, in which many people were interacting on a bed in very physical ways like doing repeat active movements and intertwining with other people. I thought this looked very effective as there was no stand out character but the chorus portrayed the fear as one.
Pau had an idea that we could all be mental patients that believe we are from a different time period or have a different story that they believe is true but actually they are just sitting in a mental hospital. Logan had the idea that each person could have a different mental illness that makes them seem normal when they talk about their back story but when they are back in their reality their mental illness kicks back in. It then made me think that as we follow each persons seperate stories, the extra chorus could the become the scene around them to make it seem more real for the patient and then nurses could drag them back to reality again. I also thought we could use the iratation stage in energy States as I thought it would subtly hint at the mental patient's illnesses.
We then decided to portray this theme of mental asylum in a scene. We all were going to take a mental illness and create one movement that would show of their illness and we could sound effects to our character. I took on the persona of and OCD patient. Since obsessive compulsion disorder means that you become paranoid about germs, I decided to have the motif of rubbing my hand and the bed to show how I was trying to be clean. The sound of the rubbing bed was quite quiet but it was constantly headed in the background like a small inratation. We did our movement whilst the song "let me off uptown" was being played.
I think this mental asylum theme was a good one to explore as our group was able to create many ideas around the theme and we could link it to some of our other themes if we wanted to explore this theme further. We would need to do more research into mental illnesses but I think it would be very effective for us.
We then decided to look into the theme of the Great Depression. At first we found it a hard theme to use as none of us had any idea where we wanted to take it, so Chloe suggested we use tableaux in order to generate some ideas. We started of with theme of money and we each individually stepped into the image. The image included Logan holding a single coin and everyone else either reaching for the coin or bowing to it as a sign of respect. It was the main object of the image which conveyed how money was the main want in the Great Depression.
Our next tableau was about brutality and violence. In this tableau we based our attention to James who was being abused by Pau and Chloe. It showed the statues divide as James was fully on the floor but Pau and Chloe standing above him. This linked to the segregation in race and class during the Great Depression and ever then successful people who benefitted from the depression.
Our final tableau was based around jazz. We created a piece where we all were having a happy time. We kind of took on the persona of the band from the song and we all took on the joy of the tableau. At first it seemed as if we were just trying to be the jazz band but when we re-looked at the picture it sort of looked like we were celebrating the end of the depression or that jazz was the hope in the depression.
After we established some themes we were able explore some of the key classes of the Great Depression. James came up with idea to use four corners in order to show all of our statues. I then split everyone into the corner. We had Rhys and Pau as the lords (who are at the top statues), me and Becca were the ladies, Chloe.H, Chloe.S and James were the working class and at the bottom Logan and Mike portrayed the slaves.
We started of by each group creating the four corner to travel to. Then we had the lords start to walk around and intract with the ladies. As they went passed each group, they would join onto the end of the line so we ended up with a line of statues with it gradually decaying at the end. I felt this was effective as it showed the attitudes of the social classes and the clear difference between them.
We then decided to follow our four corners but as we collided with other social classes we would interact depending on the relationship between the classes. It once again showed the difference between the classes and the statues effect on people.
Finally we decided to group at the end due to the jazz music. We all started dancing in the circle to the music, however Pau and Chloe noticed that it was very physical so I suggested that we could use round/by/through. It meant that the classes were lost and we all came together because of jazz and the end of the Great Depression. We ended by going back into our third tableau. I felt this was effective as it sort of symbolised the end of the Great Depression.
Good evidence of your improvisations and research in previous blog, well done. You write clearly and coherently.
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