For the second lab I plan to take what I learnt from my lab 1 and the inter-connections show and transform into something in which my body (the artists body) is very much present within the work.

I will perform a series of movements that will progress throughout the duration of the lab. Initially I will film myself and green screen the given movements within the piece, this will be transformed into visual material that will be projected back onto my moving body. The moves will be isolated, varying in speed and expressive delivery. In a similar way to the interim show I will combine the mediated footage of my body shown against my performing body and then add in element of the live with a camera. I will use to capture the live performance in which will play a part within the final visuals.

My inspiration for the movements and the lab content will come from this poem, something that only become a vague inspiration for the interim show. I will play a part through movement and snippets of the audio within the lab installation showing....

 

Black Light Exposure

by dresnic

On reflection of the production process and the responses from both audience and peers I have learnt a lot regarding the work made- what worked/didn't work, what signifiers came to the forefront of the work and how the meaning and effect was understood from the installation showing.

As the the process of making the work, there were various aspects of it that changed. The main change was that of the equiste corpse and taking the visuals back to its simplistic state. This change was something I felt was a good choice as it stripped back too many extra bodies and just left the installation with the dancers physical and virtual bodies.

On reflection of this change if I had thought this earlier then I could have left out the green-screening and editing stage of the additional performer movements. Spending more time on capturing a sharper and more precise film of my dancers moves and then creating more of an interesting dynamic background to the green-screen. Even though this additional filming wasn't used, I am glad I completed this within the process as I have learnt a lot regarding the cropping, shaping and masking of film footage and how to isolate an area of given footage for exporting.

After talking through our individual work and how our audiences and peers read the work, I felt like I could consider each individual element a little clearer and how the spectator viewed my installation...

Comments concerning the aesthetic of the piece was very positive and individuals found it very striking to watch but the meaning wasn't always clear for a few of my peers. Regarding this I do feel little disappointed with how faint the live footage was against the mediated footage. I should have experimented with this more to see how to gain the best effect- particularly within the ]performances p a c e[ environment (with a lot of variation in the light and not enough contrast in the space compared to the visuals projected).

One element of the work I feel that needed to change and from feedback would have helped was that of the positioning of the piece and the set-up of the work. Placing of the installation and my performer against the corner of the space meant the meaning of the work was lost and just faded into the walls and the live and mediated interplay disappeared.

Bringing the piece more centralised into the space would have meant the spectator would have been able to move around the piece, seeing others watching enclosed the intimacy of piece to a higher level. Drawing attention to the live recording played back onto the performing body. This is something I plan to explore further during my next lab and removing another performer and placing myself within the centre of the work both controlling and performing. Firstly for the practicalities of rehearsing and getting my performer in the space to run the piece at a certain time and also for my presence being known within the performance. By doing this I feel the meaning of the piece would be clearer and the gap between spectator and performer is bridged.

 

The following areas were also talked about during the peer review:

Was the static needed when the installation wasn't active?

This element within my work was something added in the final stages of constructing the piece, I did feel that I wanted a presence within the piece when it wasn't being performed and with using the continuos live feed in the work that it would give the piece another purpose and an insight into how the piece will develop. I do agree that It would have given more of an impact having nothing happening then the installation starts up depicting the presence of the piece in the space.

 

Is the work new?

For me yes this work is new, but a big part of the process of my work developing within my practise. I work shown was my own, my own choreography, construction of visuals and me working the projections of the visuals. What happened within that space, at that time, with those spectators watching the work at 'Inter-connections'. This work is being developed further into the next lab making a more unique set-up of performance and hopefully the experience.

 

Do you think the pace of the piece could be slower?

An example of work similar to my installation had a performer still then slight movements occurring across her body. My peer said that might be more of an interesting thing to explore rather than too much movement happening. Having small movements progressing in speed and developing to a central point then decreased towards the end. Having the same happening on the visuals alongside with the time lapse gave the piece a fragmented quality and an interruption happening within the technological delivery.

 

Overall I am happy with the feedback and peer reviews and I showed what I wanted to show, even if on a simplistic level. Positioning as mentioned above was something that should have been considered more and how it effected the meaning presented within the piece.     

 

An Example of how the live can successfully interact with the mediated can be seen by the company 'Wife' and a piece entitled, 'The Grey Ones'. The work they create play with the idea of embodiment and the interplay between live and mediated alongside which they use live, contemporary dance to explore the idea of myth, folklore and subtleties of everyday human behaviour. For me the fascinating element within their work is the way in which the mediated objects and shapes are projected onto performers moving body, choreographed carefully to each beat of the music the lighting state reacts and the performers interact with the given object or shape as if it was physically present in the performance.  

The combination of live and mediated within the same given space offer additional layers of interest within live performance. Something key to consider when looking at the communication between live and mediated is that of the exchange between both elements. According to the chapter on shared bodies, shared spaces within 'The Transformative Power of Performance', Auslander talks about the experience of the live should try to reflect that of the mediated. I see this to be important for both entities to work cohesively alongside each other, but still for each to provide a clearly defined function within the visual aesthetic.

“The act of fusing multiple physical and virtual realities extends beyond the transformation of the stage space and into the viewing place. The shift into the use of mixed-media in dance performance creates a shift within the role that the audience plays as a perceiver, for the multi-sensorial experience pushes the viewer into the realm of the multimedia environment”

(GILLIGAN 2011)

 

This is Production Process I will use to formulate my final report for 'Physical Exchange'... 

 

'Inter-connections' Interim show 2012

'Physical Exchange'

Production Process:

• Meeting with my performer- showing powerpoint of narrative inspiration, the music and the check list of what the choreography should entail for the final piece.
• Put together basic timetable of the project for both me and Lizzie (the dancer) to know the arrangements.
• Green screen filming of performer performing the choreography that will be used within the final performance installation.
• Green screen filming of additional performers (non-dancers) carrying out isolated body movements.
• Editing the individual films with basic editing within Final Cut Pro (cropping, positioning, and editing the sound out of each film).
• Importing each individual film into After Effects I went about transforming the green screen background (prepping this with Keylighting) ready for adding in the next layer of visuals.
• Isolating the area of footage to be exported, positioning the material according to the body dimensions and then sending the footage to the render queue. (this was repeated for each of the films but keeping to the same exported dimensions).
• At this stage I decided that from the material I had collected and starting to put together- the visuals were becoming over complicated for the effect I wanted to show. So instead of creating the equisite corpse I would use the main green screen recording of my performer and add layers to that.
• With some warehouse footage I went about editing it in a way that the cold industrial feel of the space kept its essence but as the video continued the footage become higher in contrast and started to break down in appearance.
• Applying this to the installation visuals I added the dancer into the space and explored the dimensions of the visuals that were projected onto her moving body.
• While carrying out dress rehearsals in the ]performance s p a c e[ I started to add the live feed into the piece. Slowly adding in the intensity needed of the live feed throughout the performance duration.
• Showing over the 3 day event.

 

Pictures from my installation shown in 'Inter-connections' interim show:

(write up and video to follow)

(Photography by Chingya Chen)

During the past week, the Vizlang group have been setting up the Inter-connections show within the Wimbledon College theatre space. 

We did this to check all the technology was there for each installation and that we had all needed before going into ]performances p a c e[ next week. After a busy and constructive week I feel as a group we worked very well into getting the space set-up and having myself, thelma, yuan and youngshin checking the installation progression helped it a clear, and smooth check of the equipment.

Unfortunately, when we got to Thursday our deadline for the set-up before the practise run there was delays on a few of the installations with individuals having to make adjustments to their structures or cases where pieces were uncompleted. This way a shame as I feel we could have walked the show a few mores times if this had been done prior to this stage. 

1st stage installation set-up (projections angles have changed from this and will cover the whole of the installation space):

During the set-up within this space and looking at my visuals in relation to the space and placing my dancer into the installation I felt like I needed to simplify my content, my original idea of using the exquisite corpse idea which would look very interesting visually, but with adding in my dancers it needed to be less complicated for a small installation like this. 

Instead I have chosen to take the original screen recording of Lizzie apply a video I created which explores an industrial setting journey through an empty warehouse. Applying hey contrast and distortion to the video I have added this to the background of Lizzie. Within the show I plan to record the ]performances p a c e[ while the show is happening and adding this in to the projected visuals connecting the live and mediated, representing the exchange between her physical present body and that of her mediated represented dance body. 

Lizzie will enter into the building and walk through the exhibition space slowly, stopping and performing movements from my piece. She will slowly make her way to the installation and position herself in the space ready to perform. My body will be physically present to the side of the installation where I will control the projection visuals and mix in the live recordings as the piece progresses.

with Inayat Bunglawala, Maryam Namazie and DV8's Lloyd Newson

Freedom of speech, multiculturalism and Islam; a panel discussion about the issues raised in DV8's new production.

With Inayat Bunglawala, Founder and Chair of Muslims4UK,

Maryam Namazie, campaigner and Spokesperson for One Law for All,

and DV8's Artistic Director Lloyd Newson.

Chaired by Kaye Adams.

 

(http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=68439)

Last week, I visited the National Theatre to watch the performance of Can We Talk About This? performed by DV8 physical theatre company. I am a fan of the work that DV8 produce but I do feel on this occasion that it didn't hit the mark like they usually do. 

The political content alongside all the physical theatre became a little overwhelming at points and an overload of information and visual. As an opening I found the solo male performer delivery an introduction dialogue alongside simple clear moves to work very well against the back drop of a mirrored wall. We were introduced to other key figures within the performance during this section shown through a clear window within the glass structure framing the individuals profile. 

This glass wall then got moved back to form of the side of the set. Individual items of set and props were used to transform the space into different locations and a small room in the corner of the upstage area provided depth to the space and an area of storage for the unused props hidden by  a metal shutter.

I paritculrary impressed with the talent shown by two main male performers and the taller female performer- the ease of the movements and delivery of dialogue made their sections a little easier to absorb and visually very engaging to watch.

There we moments were dialogue was being delivered, movements performed and also use of video with subtitles were used- these were the areas where I don't remember the information given but instead very confusing. To many visual languages made these sections cluttered, the one scene which was beautifully executed and aesthetically stunning was the moment where the one male performer performed a simple lyrical dance piece accompanied by video footage of riots and subtitles providing the information needed.   

Today I carried out the fabrication/alterations to the visual screens for my installation (making the frame structures and the screen material)...

PROCESS:

separating the existing frames 

shortening the larger screen from 2.50m to 2.09m 

preparing metal supports for the screen frames sawing them to the appropriate lengths

sanding down the rusted metal to prepare the surface ready for wielding 

attaching the metal supports at the base of each frame structure and re-attaching the top of the larger frame

preparing the plastic sheeting with a combination of PVA Glue and white paint 

attaching the plastic to the frame with cable ties to keep to the industrial aesthetic

Last week green screening for installation visuals

Tuesday 13th March 

Non Dancer filming:

Thursday 16th March

Dancer filming:

(download)

Click here to download:

IMG_0162.MOV (13.87 MB)

Rusted metal frames for installation which will have distressed plastic sheeting within the frames for projecting visuals onto alongside dancer body.

Wooden plinth made to look like rusted block of metal that I will position my projector on at the front of my installation space...

layers of light and dark brown acrylic paint as the base coat

PV glue and iron filings that I sprayed with vinegar which oxidises to create the look of rust

 

 

List of things needed for the interim show fundraiser afternoon tea:

Poster

'Inter-connections' handouts

cakes/ sandwiches to sell

tea/ coffee/ juices

table dressings

flowers/ vases/ glasses ?

music ?

menu/ price list

I put together a simple poster for promoting the afternoon tea- clear one image, title and the event details...

Where: postgraduate studios

When: Thursday 15th March

Time: 1.30-3pm 

Along with this poster I printed out smaller/ handout sized versions of the 'inter-connections' show we can then hand these out on the day of the event and also leave them on tables for students/ staff to take.