Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (24) (Evaluation)

We have now performed our "Chasing Pavements" devised piece and therefore have completed this unit. Overall, we are happy with how our piece developed from the initial stimulus to the finishing product, but we felt our performance could have gone a lot better.

When we first heard of our stimulus, "Chasing Pavements", we began making a mind map of the ideas that came to mind. The ideas we initially came up with were rather broad and could be interpreted in different ways - this was a good thing though as it opened up more different ways in which we could go with our piece. The main vague ideas we decided to experiment with were as follows: time (linked with the idea of "chasing" and running), options / different pathways ("pavements" and different roads to take in life), games ("chasing" and playing tag), violence ("chasing" has connotations of danger), death (all the different routes in life end up in one place), "Burying your brother in the pavement" (a play by Jack Thorne) and relationships (the couple in the music video were lovers). We did have other ideas (such as poverty / suffering, rejection / ageism, and running away from home) but decided that the ones mentioned previously were our favourites as they gave us more inspiration.

When we had established which ideas we thought we could get the most out of, we decided to do some research into them. The main ideas we researched were domestic abuse (from the ideas of relationships and violence), abortion (from the ideas of options / decisions, time, death and youth) and child soldiers (from the ideas of violence [war], "Burying your brother in the pavement" [due to children and death] and games [children and youth]).

• The first idea we developed was the idea that involved abortions. We discussed creating a movement piece to portray a couple making love (this scene would include the ideas of relationships and childlike naivety) and would result in the couple becoming pregnant (thus giving us the opportunity to explore the ideas of options / decisions and death [of the foetus]). I researched abortions at this point, so if we decided to use this idea, we knew more about the topic, thus allowing us to make an accurate piece designed to make the audience think.
• The second idea we experimented with was domestic violence (inspired by the ideas of violence [as "chasing" has connotations of danger]) and relationships). Katya researched domestic violence so we could make our piece very factual. The techniques we experimented with during this scene were soundscapes, narration, physical theatre and slow motion. 
• The third idea we developed into a short scene was war and how it effects everyone (inspired by the ideas of violence, "Burying your brother in the pavement" and games). For this scene we used the following techniques: freeze frames, cross cutting, stop-start motion, physical theatre and abstract theatre.

After exploring a variety of different ideas by creating three different scenes, we sat down and discussed what ideas we liked the most and what techniques we found most effective. The techniques we chose to include were abstract theatre, physical theatre, narration, cross cutting, soundscapes and motifs. The ideas we ended up exploring in our final piece were relationships, decisions (whether to have an abortion or not), violence (abortion) and teenage naivety (thinking that they wouldn't become pregnant).

To ensure we made most of all of our rehearsals we tried not to waste time, so did some individual work outside of lessons and then brought this work into the next lesson. This individual work included research, making of props, staging ideas and character development ideas. In the earlier stages of the rehearsal process, we didn't use a rehearsal schedule and instead got done whatever we felt we needed to do at that time - the reason we didn't apply a rehearsal schedule earlier was because we hadn't fully established what we wanted in out piece, so the schedule would have been changed too many times. However, later on in the rehearsal process we did enforce a rehearsal schedule - this schedule kept us focussed and ensured we achieved everything we needed to with time to do several full runs of the piece and time to polish sections at the end.

Overall, I feel we worked really well as a group. We tried to incorporate everyone's ideas throughout the entire process of putting our piece together - from the initial ideas to the finished product. Moreover, we also split the individual work load equally so we all had work to do at home, rather than just one person doing everything. As well as splitting the work load equally, we tried to split the work so everyone had the opportunity to try everything - for example, we all had a go at doing some script-writing and also some prop-making too. Thankfully, there were no arguments in our group or severe differences in opinion - mainly because we get on well anyway, but also as we all share the same opinion on abortions and the issues we raised and explored in our piece. As we get on so well as a group, there was no awkwardness between us, thus allowing us to get very close to each other in the movement sections especially.

Below is an overview of how our piece went and what we would do differently next time:

• What went well:
  One aspect of our piece that went well was our transitions: they went smoothly, thus making our whole piece cleaner and more seamless. Also, everyone remembered their lines and showed good characterisation (due to strong facial expressions and convincing body language) thus helping the audience understand our piece better. The audience clearly felt uncomfortable during our game show scenes and they didn't know how to react; this suggested that they were effected by our piece and thought the way we presented the controversial topic of abortion was very shocking. This was our aim, as it made the audience really think about the issues we presented. Our use of props seemed to be really effective - a cyclical structure was formed by us bringing the book from the beginning into our final scene, the coat hangers made the audience feel really uncomfortable, and mine and Kat's accessories in the first scene symbolised our mental age and naivety.
• What could have been better:
  Unfortunately we had a few technical difficulties during our piece to do with the sound. Although I had written a cue list for when we needed which tracks, some tracks were played at the wrong times as we hadn't practised our piece with someone else doing the sound for us (as we had always done the music ourselves). To avoid this from happening in a piece in the future, we shall always do a rehearsal with the person who will be doing our sound for us in the actual performance. Also, we shall have all of the tracks in the right order and on one phone in one album (rather than having the tracks on two different phones). Thankfully, the only issue with sound was during the behind the scenes section of the game show - backstage there would be a lot of noise anyway, so this wasn't too much of a problem as it could have been (for example, it would have been worse if our music stopped during one of our movement sections).
• What we would do differently next time:
  Next time, we would ensure we do extra rehearsals with somebody else doing our sound for us. Moreover, if we were to do this piece again, we might put more scripted scenes in rather than a lot of movement sections (although the movement sections were effective and worked well in our piece, the piece did become very movement-based). Furthermore, we could have made a questionnaire for our audience to fill out after our piece so we could get feedback on our entire piece so we would know what to do to improve. In our rehearsal schedule, we could have included peer-assessment; we could have asked another group to watch us perform certain scenes and give us feedback on what they thought of it and what they thought needed altering. 

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (23) (Full run)

In this lesson we ran our entire piece, polishing anything that needed polishing as we went, to make our piece as smooth as possible. Below is what we have left to do:

• Do a costume run
• Do a complete run with all lighting and the music.
• Sort the hangers for the Game show scene with numbers and signs
• Strengthen the book with card to ensure it doesn't bend 

Before our performance on tuesday Katya will strengthen the book with card to make it more sturdy and stand up by itself.  I have got the "Deal or No Deal" theme tune and just edited it with a fade in and a fade out to make the piece cleaner and sounding more professional. Between now and the performance, I shall make the signs for the hangers and the boys will work out what they are going to wear. In our final rehearsal at the beginning of next lesson, we shall ensure we include all of our props as well as our pieces of music. We shall ask someone in our class to do the music and sound for us, and we shall brief them in what they need to do.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (22) (Top and tail run // Costume)

In this lesson we did a top and tail run of our entire piece so we could focus on our transitions. We wanted to make our transitions as smooth as possible to make our piece seamless. The smoother our transitions, the more engaged our audience will hopefully remain - this is because the piece will be smooth as opposed to being disjointed and it looking like we do not know what we are doing. Katya also worked on our lighting to add more atmosphere to our piece and to make the audience feel more tense.

We then begun discussing costume. Ollie and Robert are still not entirely sure on what they are going to wear, but Katya and I have now decided. As we are supposed to be the same person, Katya and I shall wear black leggings, a black top, matching chokers and our hair exactly the same. We shall wear black leggings as we can move freely in them for our movement sections. We decided to wear black tops so our character is dressed in dark colours, which would form a contrast to the connotations of the noun "princess". The choker is to ensure the audience realise that we are supposed to be dressed the same, as opposed to just wearing all blacks. We are having our hair down to enable us to use our hair in the piece, but we shall have the top part of our hair up so it doesn't get in our faces as to ensure our facial expressions are visible at all times.

Katya then came up with a really dark but really clever idea for the Game show scene... instead of using boxes we shall use coat hangers. We shall have a costume rack set stage right throughout the entire piece. We will a number of coat hangers on this rack facing the same way. The coat hangers will all be numbered and we shall have "abort" or "no abort" on the back of them.

Next lesson we shall do an entire run through, as opposed to just a top and tail run.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (21) (Track editting)

For our opening scene we were using the version of "Crazy in Love" from "50 Shades of Grey". However, we wanted to begin the piece with the original version of "Crazy in Love" to create the party atmosphere. Therefore we decided that we needed to mix the two tracks.

My first step in the editing process was to get the two songs and put them on to audacity. I then cut the original track of "Crazy in Love", and kept only the parted we needed. I then moved the "50 Shades of Grey" version to where we wanted it to come in. I decided to overlap the two tracks so the second track started where we wanted it to, but also so it gradually came in. I then faded the first track out and the second track in so the merge was smoother.

I then decided that we needed an explosive change to make the transition clear. I therefore downloaded an explosion sound effect and added it to the audacity project. I moved the effect to the desired place and then tested the track. However, the sound effect didn't sound very realistic and was a little bit too clean, as we wanted the piece to sound a bit messy to symbolise the amount of alcohol consumed. To do this, I added the "wah wah" effect to the explosion sound.

After this, I decided to alter the tempo of the first song nearing the explosion. This was because the transition between the two songs was a bit sharp still, and we wanted the tracks to blend better. Also, by altering the tempo, the vocals and the track became distorted which represents the sheer amount of alcohol they consumed.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (20) (Scene order // Evaluating progress)

In today's lesson we created a scene order and then ran all of our scenes, but pausing after each scene to make notes on what needs improving. Our scene order is as follows: "Party" -->  "Game show" (3) --> "Chasing Pavements" --> "Conversation with best friend" --> "Chasing Pavements reverse" --> "Sound scape". We thought it would be interesting to start with the Party scene as the audience would think the rest of the piece would be fun and crazy (as it starts with Ollie and I pretending we were at a party), thus making the events to come more shocking and hard-hitting. Starting with this scene would also confuse the audience as to what style we would use to portray our narrative/ideas (as we are using dance and story-telling and acting as children in one scene). We chose to do our "Game show" scene after the party scene as this is the scene that would make the audience feel really uncomfortable, and having this scene after our "Party" would form a massive contrast in atmosphere and techniques used (as the party is movement based and story-telling, whilst the game show is scripted dialogue). Having then done three dialogue scenes in one, we thought it best to have our movement scene of "Chasing Pavements". As we created this scene at the same time as our "conversation" scene, we had already worked out a smooth transition from "Chasing Pavements" to "conversations", so we decided to put the "conversations" scene straight after "Chasing Pavements". We knew we wanted to close our piece with our "sound scape" scene as we thought of an effective ending for it, so we put our "Chasing Pavements reverse" section as our penultimate scene. Also it is quite effective having the "Chasing Pavements", then the conversation about it, and then the reverse of it.

Below are our scenes and what we have left to do for each of them now. This lesson the improvements we made were the ending scene final position, the blocking of the Game Show and the staging for the conversation scene...

• Party / Story book: --- Mix the music track --- K&R learn lines --- Strengthen the book with card
• Game show: --- Make boxes --- All learn lines --- Get the theme tune and voice overs sorted
• Chasing Pavements: Complete
• Conversations: --- Learn lines
• Chasing pavements reverse: Complete
• Sound scape: Complete

 For the sound scape, we decided to alter our final position. Originally we finished with Katya and I hugging, and Robert and Ollie off stage. However, we decided it would be nice to finish with all of us on stage and we thought we could make our ending deeper. Therefore, we decided that Katya and I could turn opposite sides and lay down in the foetal position - this would bring people's attention back to the foetus that the situation is actually about (as they probably would have forgotten about the life inside of the girl and were focussing more on the couple). Moreover, we decided that whilst Kat and I lie as still as we can, Rob and Ollie would stand behind us looking at the book. This would create a sort of cyclical structure as we began with the book and ended with the book.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (19) (Party scene // Book)

In this lesson we completed our party scene (apart from having the final track made) and made some decisions on a scene order. Ollie and I spent some time polishing our dance phrase, whilst Kat and Rob went through the script together. After this, Kat and Rob read their script whilst Ollie and I did our dance so we could see what part needed lengthening, and if any of our dance needed adapting. Kat and Rob had a lot of script left over when Ollie and I finished, so we knew that we needed to add more to our dance anyway. Ollie and I also paid close attention to what Kat and Rob were saying and what point in our dance, so we could see if we could change steps around to ensure that our movements fitted exactly with what they were saying.

Afterwards, Kat began designing and making "the storybook", whilst Rob typed up the script so he had a copy, and Ollie and I discussed what we should do with our movement section. Kat has made a book cover for our "storybook"; she called the book "The Princess and the Party" to ensure it sounded like a child's book. This will be the book that Kat and Rob read from during the Party scene. The idea of this is to show that they are the same characters, but are acting their mental ages (suggesting their characters were silly, naive and immature at the party). Ollie and I came up with the idea of performing our chasing pavements motif for the rest of this scene (as not only does it fit perfectly with the gap we had but it makes sense!). We thought that by performing this motif during this scene to the "50 Shades of Grey" version of "Crazy in Love" shows that they had sex at the party and also shows the reality of this - the "Chasing Pavements" song suggests confusion but has connotations of them supporting each other, whilst "Crazy in Love" suggests confusion and greed.

After polishing the dance section, and altering parts to ensure that it consistently linked with the story and told a story itself (rather than just being a random dance), we discussed scene order briefly. Although this wasn't on our agenda for this lesson, we couldn't help ourselves as we had all come up with practically the same idea - begin with the party scene, with the book centre stage with a single spot light on it. We then came up with the idea of ending the piece with the sound scape (as then it would begin and end with a movement piece) as Katya and I would end hugging and could then pick up the book and end looking at it together. This could then suggest that our character is looking back at the events that happened, as if it were a biography on her life.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (18) (Party Scene)

Robert wasn't in this lesson so we decided to make our party scene. We had already decided that Robert and Katya were going to do the narration for this scene in a comical style (as Ollie and I have already had a scene of [dark] comedy dialogue, whilst Katya and Robert haven't had a comical scene yet), whilst Ollie and I do the movement side. Therefore Ollie and I began choreographing this scene, whilst Katya began scriptwriting. Katya decided that she wanted the narration to be told as if it were children reading a story, as this would symbolise the naivety of the teenagers, and present their "silly" behaviour. To create a massive contrast between the children's fairy tale and the party, I created a more sexual and dark movement phrase. We decided to use the song "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé as it is very upbeat and a tune that we can party to, and we can then use the version of "Crazy in Love" from the "50 Shades of Grey" film as it is a slower and more sexual version of the song. We thought that I could mix the two tracks, starting with the Beyoncé version and then cutting to the "50 Shades of Grey" version. This change in tempo would symbolise our characters becoming more drunk and disorientated. Ollie will teach me "how to freestyle" as if we were at a party for the Beyoncé version of the piece (as I don't really know what to do in this section!), whilst in this lesson, I create a movement section to the slow version. My movements were very flirtatious and sexual whilst I choreographed Ollie's movements to be a little bit aggressive and powerful. The majority of the time, Ollie and I perform the same movements (to show that we are equally as intoxicated as each other), but my character has more provocative movements to show that she lead him on and encouraged him. Next lesson, we shall show Robert what we did and fit in him to this scene.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (17) (Runs)

26/02/16 Today we stuck to our rehearsal schedule and managed to complete our second "behind the scene's" script, as well as managing to stage it as well. We wanted to script this scene in a way that it would make the audience feel uncomfortable and uneasy - therefore we decided to be vague when mentioning the "manager" so we didn't give any information about them to allow the audience to use their imaginations (as our piece is aiming to make the audience think throughout it).We then staged this scene (which didn't take very long at all as we wanted to keep this scene very simple and not move much at all as to create more tension). Next lesson we shall run the game show scene in its entirety a couple of times to polish it. We shall film it as well so we can look back over it to decide if we want to change anything. We shall also run everything else as well to keep it fresh in our minds.

01/03/16 Today we ran everything that we had so far and filmed the game show scene in its entirety. We thought this was needed so we can look back at it and see what we needed to improve. On the right is the video of the game show with both of the "behind the scenes" sections either side. Obviously one of our first steps to getting this scene to where we want it to be is for all of us to learn our lines so we don't need our scripts - thus enabling us to move more freely and focus on our characterisation more. Also, we will have a voice-over recording for the following lines: "this is your five minute call", "and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and "and we're off" (the last line being an additional line we shall add between Ollie saying that we shall have an ad-break and our last scene that makes up the game show - I feel this is needed to make the change between Ollie and I on stage and off stage more clear). Another thing we need to improve is our staging; we felt this scene was a bit static so we shall develop our movement. We also need to actually make the boxes, rather than just using Ollie's journal as a stand in prop! Finally, we shall be adding music and costume to this scene at some point, a little bit nearer the time.

03/03/16 This lesson we ran absolutely everything and timed everything too. We timed our main scenes and then also timed what was going to become our motif: the beginning of our Chasing Pavements movement section up until the press-up. To show either going back in time or to use in the "possibilities" scene we had discussed in our earlier lessons, we could take them same section but perform it in reverse. We had to run through this a few times to understand what we were doing and also to polish it as well. We did discuss playing the track in reverse but decided against this as the vocals and track just sounds messy - we thought that having just the movement in reverse was enough and looked and sounded tidier. Not including the reverse dance section, so far our piece is just under the fifteen minute minimum time limit. However, once we have added the reverse dance scene, our party scene and maybe our "possibilities" scene if we feel like we need it, we will definitely go over the fifteen minute mark. Although we didn't get round to getting up and devising our party scene we did manage to come up with some ideas for it. The notes we made for our party scene are as follows:
   - music
   - movement / slow-motion
   - narration / story-telling
   - contrast between narration and movement
   - sound effects
Although we didn't get to devise anything for our party scene yet as we spent a lot of time polishing and timing sections, I felt this was a better use of time as we needed to know how long our piece is so far (as to know if we are on track) and so we can have our scenes even stronger by the time we perform.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (16) (Run // Movement)

23/02/16 In this lesson we ran through all of our scenes so far. We began with the movement section (intercourse) and then went straight into the scripted scene between the best friends. As we haven't done this for a little while, this scene wasn't as smooth as it used to be so we spent a little while making this cleaner. Our dialogue section was fine so we didn't need to spend much time going over it. The next thing we went over was the scene before the game show and then the game show itself. Our main focus when running through this was to perfect our blocking of this scene. We wanted to work on our character's movements and body language. Mine and Ollie's characters in this scene needed to be so inseparable that they were intimidating and false, whilst Kat and Rob's characters had to be very realistic. We decided that we would like to include a scene after the game show to show the two presenters and the two contestants behind the scenes.

However, we thought we would save writing this scene until next lesson as we were in a very practical mood. Therefore, we recorded our sound scape for the abortion clinic instead. We had to think of what noises we could include, and eventually decided on a heart monitor, a heartbeat, someone breathing and a calming voice. We ended our sound scape with one elongated "beep". Although we thought this might not work as that is the sound at a hospital when a person died, we decided this would work as it is the foetus that dies. We then decided to begin developing a movement section to go with the sound scape, so the audience had something to watch whilst listening to the sound scape. However, we didn't finish this movement section this lesson, so we made a plan to complete it next lesson.


25/02/16 Today's lesson was spent completing and polishing our movement section for our sound scape and also we began writing our "behind the scene's" section after our game show scene. We began this lesson by making a rehearsal schedule to ensure we achieve everything we wish to achieve with plenty of time to spare before the performance. We intend to stick to this schedule as best as we can (as we made the schedule together carefully considering what we do on each day, as to try and make best use of our time).


The movement piece now looks really effective. It took us quite a while to polish it and get it to the standard we wanted but we are finally there now. We wanted to ensure our timing was correct and that all movements flowed smoothly into each other, as well as ensuring we got the message across that we wanted to. We wanted every movement that Kat and I do together to be in unison to represent us being the same person. To ensure that the audience understood this, when we face each other we both mirrored each other by tidying our hair. This "mirror" section also aims to present that our character is trying her best to put on a brave face although she is struggling inside. The fast movements of pushing away suggests that our character feels uncomfortable and is extremely distressed. She eventually hugs her best friend (so we ensured I was partners with Rob and Kat was partners with Ollie to match the conversation scene earlier), who has been standing back just watching and waiting the whole time, to show she is grateful for their presence. Although Kat and I are supposed to be the same person in this scene, we decided we would end with a hug to show that at the end of the day it is her decision to have the abortion. As a group of people who are against abortions (unless it will save the baby or mother suffering severely - mentally or physically) we found this scene quite challenging but are  happy with it as we hope to raise awareness and make our audience think about the topic and maybe even challenge their own views.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (15) (Movement)

In this lesson we weren't going to add any more to our piece as we were supposed to be watching the Nation Theatre Live performance version of "Frankenstein" all lesson instead to give us inspiration and an idea of different techniques we could use; however, we had some technical difficulties with the video which delayed the start, so to make use of time we decided to add more to our piece instead. As we didn't know how long we would have, we decided we wouldn't add any more on to the game show scene and instead decided to run our sound scape again. We went over the movement as well as the sound but couldn't add more on to it as we didn't know what to do with it next, so we left it and will come back to it at another stage. Instead we began creating another little movement section to show the abortion. Our movement section outline (and the reasons for each stage) is shown below [K = Katya, L = Lorna, O = Ollie, R = Robert]:

• L standing in front of R, with R holding L's stomach. K standing next to L with O behind, holding K's stomach -- Both girls are pregnant. They stand together to protect each other.
• L and K face each other. They put their right hand on the others left shoulder forming a cross -- Shows support and strength in numbers.
• L and K touch hands -- Again, to show support and suggest that what they are doing is right.
• Both L and K and push R and O's hands of their stomachs and turn around -- They do not need the men and want them to leave them alone. They want to "turn" back the clock and start a fresh.
• L and K run forward but are stopped by R and O who pull them back -- You can't just run away from your problems.

 At this point, we were told that the film was working so we watched the film for the remainder of the lesson. Next lesson, we shall discuss what techniques we liked from "Frankenstein" and shall also continue developing our movement scene (and hopefully run and stage our game show scene so far as well).

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (14) (Script work)

Today we spoke to Katya about our idea of having a scene either just before or just after the game show. We then came up with a conclusion: why not have a small section before and after the show?! We decided that we would all write the "before the show" section together. Our aim of this section before the main scene is to intrigue the audience and increase the tension levels. We also wanted to show a contrast between mine and Ollie's character onstage and offstage. By having this section end with Kat and Rob's characters having an argument, makes Robert's breakdown onstage confuse the audience as they are left unsure if Rob's character came round to Kat's way of thinking and was part of a plan, or if he genuinely broke down onstage.

We read through our new scene a couple of times to get used to our characters offstage and then eventually read this scene straight into the actual game show scene. I felt a lot happier with my character when we did this as I feel I have improved my characterisation by making my character profile, as I understand my character better. We didn't block the scene today so I didn't get to explore my character's movement, but I have decided to make my voice sound more patronising by raising my pitch and elongating vowel sounds to belittle the contestants in the show.

Next lesson, we shall write a script for a "behind the scenes" section after the game show. To be able to do this we had to decide whether our game show was live or recorded first. If we were to pretend our game show was recorded then Ollie and I could get obviously frustrated and stop Robert's character once he had finished and then demanded we did another take. However, if we pretended our game show was live then we wouldn't be able to do this and would instead jump to an ad break instead. We eventually decided the our game show would be live as it creates more tension (as there is more pressure on the contestants) and also our piece is actually in front of a real live audience, and so our game show is technically in front of a real live audience too, so we thought we could use this to our advantage. Having decided that our game show would be live, we can begin writing the next section of our script next lesson. 

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (13) (Character Profile)

Katya wasn't in this lesson, so we decided to have a lesson of comparing notes we have made so far to ensure we all had everything we needed (for example, the list of scenes we have / are wishing to include so far and what type of scene they are). Once we established we all had everything we needed, I decided that I would make a character profile for when I am the presenter of the game show "Keep or No Keep". I thought this would be very useful for me as my character is quite complicated anyway. Although Katya and I are playing the same character throughout our piece, this character is very different and shows a different side of the pregnant girl. This character shows her hostility towards everyone (as she gets frustrated at those who try to get involved) and shows her tendency to have mood swings (one moment caring only for her appearance on camera, and the next admitting she wishes to have a family).


Having done my character profile, Ollie and I discussed our game show scene. We spoke about our characters and how we are going to portray them. I decided that I wanted my character to be more patronising as to make the audience feel even more uncomfortable and possibly frustrated at how the contestants are being treated. I therefore decided to change the way I said my line about having "a family as well" and being "able to make them memories". Originally I said these lines as if my character did actually want a family; however, now I am saying this line as if to mock Rob's character - my character is perhaps laughing at him. Ollie and I also spoke about our inspiration for this scene (the "Ten Tiny Fingers" script) and thought of having an offstage moment either before or after this scene to show contrast and to make the audience feel more sympathy for the contestants. We then spoke to Robert about this idea later on and he liked the sound of it. Next lesson we shall ask Katya what she thinks on the idea and whether she would like to include it as well.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (12) (Prop design // Staging)

04/02/16

This lesson we were missing Ollie again so decided to continue with our script writing and began "box designing". The boxes are for our Game show of "Keep or no Keep". We are planning on getting hold of three boxes and painting them red, to look like the boxes on the television game show "Deal or no Deal". We would also like to have tabs on the boxes which we have to pull to open them; however, we have to be careful when designing and making these as we need to ensure that we can open the boxes easily enough still. Haven written the numbers of the boxes we were going to include in our script, I decided to get three pieces of paper and paint a different number on each in red (copying them from images on line to look like the numbers on the boxes on the actual show). I then decided to outline the numbers in thick black pen to make the edges neater and to ensure they were as clear as they could be. Whilst Rob and I were designing and beginning to make the boxes, Katya continued with script writing. Hopefully Ollie will be in next lesson so we can read through this scene and begin staging it next lesson.


05/02/16

This lesson we got our scene up on its feet! We began this lesson by just reading through the scene together and thinking about how we would play our characters. We then read through the scene a couple of times swapping characters each time. This exercise was useful as we could see how other people would play our individual roles. I particularly liked the way that Robert made my character a bit patronising and sarcastic at the same time, making everybody else feel uneasy as they don't know how to take this character. Therefore, I have decided to take his patronising approach as I want the audience to feel uneasy about the topic and the way it is being presented. In this scene, Ollie and I will always be over-the-top for the camera (always by each other's side), Katya shall be a little bit theatrical (as if she is reluctantly abiding by our conditions on how to behave on TV), whilst Rob shall be completely blunt and uncomfortable (and doesn't cooperate with our TV conditions, frustrating my character who tries not to let her anger show).

Although we were happy with the way we staged it, I decided I wanted to try something out... to show that Kat and I are the same people and Rob is therefore my boyfriend as well as Kat's, I thought that when I introduce "myself and my boyfriend" out on to the set that Kat and I could mirror each other with a gesture (like tucking our hair behind our ear or adjusting a piece of clothing) whilst Rob and I would then hug. We thought this idea looked interesting but we need to make this clearer. Despite this scene being effective at creating our intended effects on the audience, we are going to adapt the script a little bit by adding more to the beginning of the scene (as if they were getting ready to start filming the show - our inspiration for this section came from the section of "Ten Tiny Fingers" posted one of my previous blog posts). Next lesson we shall write this part of the script and continue building our characters by making character profiles for this scene. 

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (11) (Scene order // Staging // Inspiration)

Today we had another discussion based lesson. We spoke about what scenes we have at the moment and what ones we would like to include. We haven't decided on an order for these scenes as we don't feel this is our priority at the moment, and instead we should be focusing on getting these scenes down and sorted. Also, we think that we should look at our scenes (once completed) and decide which one would be best first (as this would open our entire piece and we want to see what effects on the audience different scenes would create if they were first). So far what we have decided is as follows:
   -   Love making (Movement) = Complete
   -   Talking to the best friend (Dialogue) = Complete
   -   Game show: Keep or No Keep (Dialogue) = Started
   -   Party (Slow mo / movement / dialogue) = No started
   -   Abortion clinic (Sound scape) = Started
   -   What would have happened if they had kept/didn't keep (Split screen) = No started

We also decided on what staging we would like to use. We have decided not to use a traditional and well-known type of staging (like proscenium arch, thrust, in-the-round or traverse) but have instead gone for our own type of staging. We have decided that we would like the audience positioned as if they were in a clinic waiting room. We decided against proscenium arch as we wanted a more unusual and more complicated type of staging, as the issues explored in our piece are complicated and challenging. However, we decided against in-the-round and traverse as these two wouldn't work for our dance scene (Love Making) as we would like people to see it from mainly the front. We have decided on the staging shown in the picture on the left as it is unique and would fit with our scenes so far.

After discussing staging, we spoke about our Game show scene. We read a part of Scene Five from "Ten Tiny Fingers, Nine Tiny Toes", in which a serious situation is presented like a show. We were inspired by this style and wanted to make our Game show completely inappropriate (hopefully without offending anyone) to express how some people don't think about the seriousness of the topic and see it as a way out completely disregarding the consequences.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (10) (Progression // Ideas // Research)

This lesson was mainly discussion based to stop and look at what we have so far and what we plan to do next. We were worried that our piece was ending up too movement based so we broke our scenes down in to categories to see exactly what we have. So far our piece is shaping up to be fairly equal in terms of involvement of movement, dialogue and soundscapes; however, we don't want our piece to be too movement based so we have decided that we shall create more scripted scenes to explore characters in more depth to enable us to explore the issues of abortion and teenage naivety in greater detail.

As a way to include dialogue, Kat came up with the idea of having a game show to decide whether her character was going to have an abortion or not. Firstly, we came up with the idea of changing "The Weakest Link" to fit the theme of abortions, however although we thought the host would be effective and debates could arise, we decided against it as there are too many people involved and it wouldn't be focused on our main character. Our next idea was doing our own version of "Who wants to be a millionaire". We thought this idea could work quite well as it would be focused on our main character, and we could phone a friend (the female character's best friend) but thought we would be over complicating it when it came to the "50:50" and ask the audience. Also, we wouldn't know what questions to ask. Finally, we came up with the idea of doing our own version of "Deal or no Deal" - or "Keep or no Keep" as we like to call it. We liked this idea as it would be focused on the main character and we could incorporate the majority of the aspects from the show. The "banker" could be called the "terminator" as he will ultimately terminate the pregnancy. I would be the host, whilst Robert and Kat would be contestants. Furthermore, this idea enables Kat and I to be the same character still - with Kat being the pregnant girl whilst I am the other side of her mind.

We want our game show scene to make the audience feel a little bit uncomfortable. Ollie and I then remembered a scene we did together at the beginning of the course from a futuristic play called "Ten Tiny Fingers - Nine Tiny Toes" by Sue Townsend. The scene we performed was about two pregnant women (Dot and Lucinda) who were both being forced to have an abortion (Dot because she is from the bottom class and Lucinda because her baby was missing a toe). The nurse in this scene is called Orderly. Orderly has no morals nor any understanding of how the women must be feeling. Orderly is completely heartless and doesn't see anything wrong with abortions at all. Orderly moans at the women for crying, stating the they were making an awful noise. Conveniently, Ollie performed this role when we did this scene so already knows how to characterise this type of role, so Ollie would work very well as "the terminator".

In addition to making the audience feel uncomfortable about the topic being discussed we want to "glam up" the topic in a completely inappropriate way (without offending anyone though). We got inspiration for this idea from the programme "Hunger Games", in which each contestant is introduced in an over-the-top way despite knowing that only one of them shall survive. We want the audience to be shocked at how such a topic is presented: for example, in "Hunger Games" one woman was being forced to fight to the death with her
fiancé, so they put her in her wedding dress and made a do a twirl for them. Another example of "glitter and glam" when not appropriate is how Herod treats Jesus Christ in Herod's Song from Jesus Christ Superstar. We want to use this idea of making a serious topic sound like a game to make the audience question what they see and think.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (9) (Movement // Soundscape)

In this lesson we ran the dance phrase and the scripted scene. We also tried to make a clean transition between the two. We had to recap the scene a couple of times to get the timing right and to nail our characterisation. The dance section had to be performed a couple of times to get the timing right on this too. However, once we were happy with the dance and the scene, we performed them both together again. We then decided to create something new. One of the techniques that we thought worked effectively that we could include was a soundscape. We then thought of when a soundscape would be appropriate in our piece and decided that in a hospital or an abortion clinic would work. We then thought of what sounds you would hear at these places and came up with a heart monitor sound, a clock ticking, footsteps, a heartbeat, and a baby crying. We then made these noises and quickly realised that we were going to need a sound effect of a baby crying as none of us could make this noise sound convincing! We then decided to put some movement to it to make it look more interesting. This was just a little bit of an experiment. We decided to stand in a straight line and move in a square shape, swapping positions with the person next to us.

We soon realised that our piece is very movement based at the moment and actually need to do some straight acting! Therefore we stopped making a soundscape for the time being, and quickly went over the dance into the scene and filmed it (the video was not at all professional as it was just for us to see what it was looking like - hence why Ollie ran across the room to turn the music off). After watching the video, we then realised that we forgot to stage it how we did before (with both pairs in different corners). However, we have decided to change the staging now anyway. We shall make sure that Ollie and I do our first dance break behind Rob and Kat to ensure that they are visible (as they are on a low level, whilst Ollie and I are standing). We will therefore have to alter mine and Ollie's duet a little bit as there will then be no need for us to run round to the back (as we will already be there!). Moreover, we decided that we want more of a duet between Rob and Kat because they go from being in love in the dance scene straight to the scene where they are having difficulties.

Rob and Kat shall work out this section next lesson, whilst Ollie and I shall sort out our duet section. Then we shall move on to a completely different scene (with dialogue as our piece is to movement based at the moment).

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (8) (Script work)

Today we completed our script for the confessions scene. We have the two duologues overlapping; whilst one pair is speaking, the other pair is in mime. Kat's character sees abortion as a solution to an unwanted pregnancy, whilst Rob's character is completely against abortions and finds the whole matter entirely serious (and rightly so). Once we had written this script, we did a read through; however, as we were focussing on our lines we were not in character. We then read through the script again but this time in character. Unfortunately, at this time, we felt the scene was a little bit flat so we separated the dialogue again (to form two conversations - one between Ollie and Kat, and the other between Robert and I) and read through it. However, we did actually prefer the integrated version as we thought this was an interesting style of writing (which we got inspiration for from the play "Flint Street Nativity" as the playwright jumps between conversations between different characters). We then decided to do a little exercise to give us a better understanding of our characters and to enable us to make character choices. This exercise consisted of us switching characters and reading the scene again as different characters. This enabled us to watch other members of our group perform our roles - any choices that they made whilst reading as our characters that we liked we could use for when we are these characters. We all took it in turns and eventually had the chance to play every character in this script. We then spoke about creating a soundscape here but we didn't get this far as we were focusing on character building and development.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (7) (Dialogue)

As our previous lessons have been movement based, we decided to start working with dialogue. We decided to think of a scene which we wanted strong dialogue for - I then thought of a conversation (duologue) between the pregnant girl and her best friend. We wanted this scene to be quite hard hitting so we want to have gritty dialogue. We thought that Kat and I could be the same person throughout the piece and Ollie and Rob being the same person throughout the piece. However, the relationships couples would be Kat & Robert and Ollie & I; whilst the best friend pairs would be Kat & Ollie and Robert & I. We tried out having Kat telling Ollie what she wished telling him would be like, whilst Robert and I mimed what she was saying. However we felt that this was a little bit cliche so we decided to change it. We then thought about cross-cutting and the views and opinions of both Kat/my character and Rob/Ollie's character.

Ollie and Kat improvised their conversation, whilst Rob and I made notes on what we thought should/could be altered. Although they were trying to think of how they would act towards a friend telling them they were pregnant, it became quite false as they were thinking too far into it. Therefore, Rob and I told them to actually pretend Kat was pregnant. As Ollie and Kat are actually close friends anyway, the whole scene became more believable as they were talking to each other as they would normally. We also decided to put in a little bit of comedy (with Ollie asking where she had her "cheeky little shag", and if it was in his bed or not) before Kat revealed that she was pregnant and was going to have an abortion. By having a little bit of comedy before revealing her news, makes the news more shocking and unexpected.

Kat's character finds the situation not too serious, as she sees abortion as a solution to the pregnancy being unwanted. However, Rob's character is deeply in love with Kat's character and believes he deserves a say in the matter as he is against abortion and wants to keep the baby. Currently, we are in the process of writing a script (as this would ensure our dialogue is suitable and well crafted) which would jump between the two conversations.

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (6) (Movement // Opinions)

Having discussed what techniques we would like to include and what ideas we would like to explore, we had a practical lesson developing what we had devised/choreographed in the second lesson of this unit. I brought up the idea that I had went we first created this movement section: of Ollie and I continuing the dance, whilst Kat and Rob stopped and discussed the result of her pregnancy test. Therefore whilst Ollie and I choreographed more of the dance section, Kat and Rob began to script this section; however, they were struggling to do so without making it cheesy or typical. I then suggested that they could either speak in third person or state what the other person said to them using reporting clauses. However, they were still struggling with this section so they decided to create a floor-based movement section instead. To ensure this floor section was visible, Ollie and I found a way we could both travel around them and to the back. Once Ollie and I got behind them, we froze for a couple of bars as to not distract the audience from them. We then joined in with the action again with fluid but explosive dynamics to represent the thoughts and feelings flowing but being very strong. We ended this section by going separate ways to foreshadow the end of their discussion. (At the end of the video Ollie got a bit confused on the choreography as he had just learned it and it was our first run)

We decided to have a break from dancing so we sat down and had a discussion on our views of abortion. To begin this discussion, I explained what I had learned from doing my research. When doing the actual research itself I found some horrible images that I felt I couldn't put on the blog as they are too graphic and disturbing. To sum up our discussion we are all against abortions (in almost all cases). The only times which we would be more accepting if a woman chose to have an abortion would be if it put her or the baby's life in danger or if the pregnancy was the result of rape. 

Devised Unit - Chasing Pavements (5) (Idea development)

In this lesson we continued developing our short scene based on the idea of "Burying your brother in the pavement". We began by briefing Robert on what he missed in the previous lesson. We then continued developing the rest of the piece. The ideas we incorporated into this piece were childhood innocence/naivety and war. We included the techniques of freeze frames, naturalistic acting, abstract drama and stop-start motion (with clicking). We wanted to make our transitions between acting as children and our war freeze frames (or abstract war scenes) as smooth as possible, therefore we decided to make them link:
  Children playing a game of tag/it   --->   Freeze frame of soldiers in battle
  Children eating packed lunch, talking about a papercut   --->   Freeze frame of injured soldier      
  Children playing eye spy and spotting a plane   --->   Abstract representation of a fighter jet
  Children playing tag/it   --->   Abstract drama of chaos of bomb exploding

As well as having a member of our group click to stop and start the piece, we decided to add a school bell sound to begin and end our piece. This bell would signify the beginning and end of the children's lunch time and would also give our piece a cyclical structure.

After performing this piece we sat down as a group and discussed what we have done in the previous lessons and our current thoughts and feelings. We decided to write down what techniques we included in each of the three different ideas we explored:

1. TEENAGE NAIVETY / SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS: Movement / dance based
2. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Facts; sound scape; narration; movement / dance based
3. INNOCENCE / WAR: Freeze frames; non-naturalistic; abstract; stop-start motion

The techniques we liked the most and wish to include in our final piece are freeze frames, abstract theatre, sound scapes, dance and motifs. We did like the stop-start motion but we feel it would be more effective if we changed the click to a clap or a different louder sound so that it was obvious what we were doing. We then discussed what themes we would like to use for our piece; these themes were teenage naivety (with sexual relationships), alcohol abuse, abortions and domestic violence. We liked our third piece the most so we shall use the techniques from it but we decided against acting as children as we have all done a contemporary play where we had to be children and Robert and I have performed Fantastic Mr Fox for children as well as being child soldiers in our Brechtian Refugee piece for double. Therefore, instead of exploring childhood innocence, we shall explore the naivety and ignorance of teenagers.