Blog Entry 4

Our group has complete scenes 1-3 already!
We actually wanted to complete the entire piece by 30th July but I don't think that is possible :p We still have 3 more scenes to go! But currently I think the group is progressing very well and they're all putting in effort!

Scene 1 (Parent and Child)
I've already made changes according to the feedback other groups gave during the showcase.
Now we have less words and more freezes when the words appear. Makes it more clean and it's easier for the audience to balance their attention on both movement + multimedia.
The movement is still not sharp and well synchronized yet and I think I will only do that after I've finished choreographing all 6 scenes.
Also, steph suggested that in order to make it less-dance-like, we should change some moves. Rather than keeping to the beat consistently, using the sound effects to emphasize the movements seem to work better.

(okay it's difficult for me to describe the movements here. Will take vids next week for Entry 5)

Scene 2 (Child and Friend 1)
I've changed quite alot of movements in this scene as well, after realising that it's really very dance-like. So we have more of child and friend 1 playing games, rather than dancing their way through happily. After the changes, Hamid commented that it's better but still didnt really show how friend 1 make the child forget about her problems she has with her father. So I think I should work on that!

(yes I think comments like this really helps me to improve the movements!!!)

Scene 3 (Child and Friend 2)
Friend 2 walks in straight lines, very angular, to show his "follow the rules" character. I feel that this way of moving around the space makes him look robotic. And that is what I feel it should be like, since friend 2 is like a tool for parent to take control and pressurize the child. This scene is a very strong statement I feel, to show how the child is being controlled and pushed to the edge. So I decided to make the child more emotional in this scene, also showing how friend 2 cannot make her happy like how friend 1 did.

(this scene was completed really fast because the entire group was there to help me and provide me with many ideas! I guess more brains help to get things done alot faster)

Other changes were the multimedia, set, lights and sounds. (okay basically everything)
Actually I feel that it's good to have changes every now and then, because this shows that we're progressing and thinking even harder each time on how to make this piece a better one. This is the golden period to further improve this performance! (after learning from the J2s)

Because Hamid suggested that we should have the words projected on an eye to show that this situation of the butterfly effect is seen through the child's eye, we decided to use paint an eye on the black cloth. However, we found out that black absords light -.- so we may have to other materials/colours or even forget about this idea and use the screen. But I feel that this idea really helps to link the multimedia and movements together so I wouldn't mind trying it out even if it fails in the end!

Also, Steph suggested a really good idea of putting the words in fish eye effect to show the eye dimension thing. However, WMM does not have that effect and it is quite taxing to edit each picture one by one then putting it into the video. That problem.. I guess we'll have to sort it out the next meeting!
We tried out the lightings with the movements during the last rehearsal and tried out new effects. It's quite a challenge for the person who will be doing the tech for us!!! :p hmm it's not confirmed though, but from what I see it seems quite complicating. I'm a lighting idiot.

Alright and thanks to Hamid for constantly reminding to READ READ READ... I read up on Laban Movement Analysis..................
Okay my apologies for really not taking this theory aspect seriously and it's not good because I realised that it helps the piece to be less-dance!!!
The Body Level, Effort Level, Space Level, Shape Level is the big fat key. I find it difficult to teach them because I'm not very sure of it myself :( Will try the strong weight and light weight thing for Scene 4, let's see if it turns out good! :D

I will take a video/pictures of scene 1-3 (and maybe 4, if we've completed it by next rehearsal)! :D