09/10/15
Today we split into two groups (Robert, Oliver, Charlie // Lorna, James, Lewis, Rhiannon) and picked a news story each. My group chose one about a robot, called Android Dick, which is an attempt to create thinking and reasoning artificial intelligence with human traits. Our story explains what the robot is, what it can do, who its creator was and the possible future with robots. Our task was to tell this story in a way which included props, media, sound/SFX, narration and physical theatre.
We began our piece with Rhiannon and Lewis centre stage, with Lewis (the creator) programming and starting up Rhiannon (the robot). James and I acted as narrators, telling the audience who the person and robot were, whilst walking to our seats (which were in the audience). Once seated in the audience, James and I would read out the next paragraph in the article, but slightly altering the structure, as to make it sound more like a conversation. Mine and James's aim was to include the audience in the piece, as this story effects every single one of us. Lewis's character then asks the robot is it thinks robots will take over the world. Whilst Rhiannon responds to the question, Lewis, James and I do a very short physical theatre phrase, presenting her response through movement whilst she explained through dialogue. Next both James and I go to the front of our performance space towards our prop - a piece of paper. This piece of paper symbolises the letter that "over 1000 scientists and experts" signed, warning of the dangers of "unchecked advancements in artificial intelligence". The paper remains in the same spot throughout the piece; most audience members would ignore the paper, thinking nothing of it, however it would become very significant at the end - the paper symbolises robots. Most people don't think about robots at the moment, not seeing their significance (self-service checkouts for example), however, they will become very significant and apparent later on (artificial intelligence if not controlled properly).
PROP - we included a prop by using a piece of paper to represent the letter
MEDIA - we are adding a projection of the opening scene of a programme called
"Humans" to show the development of technology and robots
SOUND/SFX - we have the song "I'm not a Robot" by Marina and the Diamonds
NARRATION - this was covered by James and I
PHYSICAL THEATRE - this was performed when Rhiannon answered Lewis's question
14/10/15
Today we performed our scenes to the rest of the class. The piece as a whole went well, though the final line (which was supposed to be communal voice) wasn't very effective, as we both struggled to say the line. It was frustrating that we achieved this fine in rehearsals but we didn't in our performance, but I continued with the rest of the line to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, James was thrown off by this and found it amusing, resulting in him giggling. However, the rest of the piece went smoothly and we had positive feedback on the whole. Many commented on our use of projection and song, saying it worked well with the theme and created an eerie atmosphere.
