Casey Wells

Once re-recording the final take of my video and audio for my performance, I realised that I was still left with some of the same errors as previous. The popping of my voice against the microphone was still present and there wasn’t any time left where this would be able to be fixed. Although, this didn’t seem to become a problem during the final performance and after the first minute or so, it became the very least of the audiences focus. However, a positive factor about the final recording was that it was slower which meant that it was a lot clearer and at a nicer pace to listen to and watch. Therefore, this wasn’t a major issue for this performance but I understand that if I were to perform anything including sound in the future, I would assure that the recording was completed professionally, for example, in a studio or filmed by an expert etc, so that it would be of better quality.

The task of trying to rebuild the flower at the end of the performance was difficult seeing as though the flowers were fresh. This meant that they couldn’t be taped back together properly as the texture of the flower was too slippy. This was made worse in the fact that the tape that I had over my mouth was losing its stickiness due to perspiration over my mouth. The flower therefore wasn’t easy to “rebuild” but, I felt that while the flower was falling apart as it was being mended, it symbolised the whole concept of my performance. Also, I had to remember that my performance wasn’t supposed to be focused entirely on the final product of the rebuilt flower, more so about the process of rebuilding it. However, luckily, I was able to mend the flower which meant that my piece concluded positively.

For the performance, I thought that the sound, projection, and the act of rebuilding the flower were meant to be of perfect quality etc. However, the content of my performance focused on an ugly aspect of something beautiful, therefore, what I have now learnt is that the imperfections of my performance reflected the imperfections in my piece and how not always are those imperfections a bad thing.

From the beginning of the module to the present, my feelings towards solo performance have changed. I began the module very unsure of what was expected of me and my biggest anxiety was to open up, personally, within my performance which I had sworn that I would never do. Ironically, in the end, I had constructed a piece that was entirely personal, but at this point I also understood the difference between personal and autobiographical. I now know that it was autobiography that concerned me as I didn’t wish to tell a story in my performance but, performing something personal means that the performer is taking an event or experience from their life and executing and adapting it into a performance. My final piece didn’t necessarily tell a story of happenings or particular characters, but gave indications to universal emotions and feelings that occurred from a particular event. This was so that the piece had the ability to be interpreted in whichever way individual audience members wished.

 

After weeks of doubt but creativity and bravery, I am now pleased to announce that I have completed my monologue which will be the core of my performance. It is exactly 12 minutes long, which is perfect as it was once 21 minutes long. It was apparent that I had unnecessary material and so cutting it seemed wise, especially as I wanted every word to count. As there is tape across my mouth for the performance, the monologue is going to be performed through audio and video meaning that I needed to get it recorded. This was difficult as I had to make sure the camera was set up steadily and that my mouth was fixed to the correct alignment of the screen throughout the whole recording, so that nothing was out of shape or moving out of place. I could also only do it in one take as I needed the audio and video to be synchronised.

After the recording, the next step that I had to take, was of course, collecting feedback. I needed to know if my idea, along with the material would work.

Therefore, this week, I previewed my final performance to a few of my peers. I had come to a point in the process where I could now only progress if I had critical responses. Without some of the technical aesthetics, which included the picture frame, roisterer, projection and lighting, I was only able to present my audio and physical performance. Everything went accordingly and my feedback was positive and valuable. My peers understood the narrative of my piece, crediting the subtlety in my movement opposing the detail of my audio and suggested that with the extra technical requirements it should look strong and effective.

The opening line of the script is ‘Women are like flowers’. However, my peers suggested that considering that I do not refer to I, she, or he in the rest of the script, I should change the first line to ‘We are like flowers’, insinuating that ‘We’ is universal. Of course the audio links to the video which my peers stated was a bonus as although they said I didn’t necessarily need it, it would help with the understanding of the speech. Not to say that my speech isn’t well spoken but the quality of the audio was disturbed slightly. I was also advised that once I begin to rebuild the flower, my projection should be switched off, as this is the first moment that I move my head within the piece. This makes sense, as the projection is also a kind of substitute for the movement whilst I am static.

Regarding my costume, instead of a long, appealing dress, I have decided to wear a white over-sized shirt. This is because the beauty in this piece lies within the flower and so I didn’t want to detract from this. In addition, I wanted to keep a colour theme of white/cream, symbolising vulnerability. Something in which one of my peers also added to this point is that I wear no make up, tie my hair back and take all of my jewelry off too.

A final point that my peers had proposed was that I record the video and audio again as there happened to be a couple of pops, stumbles or other background noises that they felt distracted the piece. Seeing as though my audio is what is carrying my performance through, it should be almost perfect.

These are all points that I agree on entirely and I will record my final video and audio before my tech slot on Sunday.

Here is the link to my final script: Rebuilt – script final

After the last session, I knew that I had a fair few things that I needed to explore. When I arrived in Studio 2, which was to become my performance space, I picked out a frame that was to be hung from the ceiling in front of me, symbolising me as a picture in a gallery. The frame was only temporarily set up to test out whether the vision I had would work. It was apparent that the gap between the top of my head to the top of the frame was unnecessarily too big. I needed to raise myself higher so that it wouldn’t look odd and what was being recommended for me was a chair or a wooden block to sit upon. However, I didn’t want it to spoil the aesthetics so I suggested sitting on a roisterer and the frame being hung at a desirable height.

The technicians that I were working with were able to set up the projection onto the tape that I had also obtained to strap across my mouth. When my head made the slightest movement, the projection moved slightly on my face and there was never going to be a way to keep the projection fixed. I had realised that the alignment of the projection that I had wanted to be perfect, actually looked more authentic when it wasn’t. I wanted to use the tape from my mouth to piece together the flower that I would dismantle throughout the piece. I also figured that it was hard to rip the tape from my mouth in strips, thin enough to tape the flower back together. Therefore, I cut up the tape into small strips half way down, so there was just enough left to rip off, which also made it look like my mouth was stitched, adding to the meaning of the piece. The  video projected well onto the white tape and although the photo doesn’t do it enough justice, the focus and quality of the video worked well.

I intend to dismantle the appearance of a flower by ripping off the petals and breaking the stem, symbolising the breakdown of a person. The flower links to the person in a self explanatory way in that they are both beautiful and created naturally. When they are broken, like a flower, the human attempts to mend itself. I use the tape from my mouth to piece together the broken flower and by the time I have rebuilt it, I will no longer be muted and like me, the flower will be rebuilt. I really like the idea of the tape being visible on the flower symbolising that of scars being exposed on a person’s body. It also signifies that once a person is damaged and reformed, they are never completely the same as they once were. By improvising the scene in today’s tech session, I decided that the title of my piece is called ‘Rebuilt’.

   

For me to represent “being silenced,” I wish to tape my mouth shut and project a video of my lips onto the tape. The projection of my lips would be revealing thoughts, feelings and a state of mind and being whilst I am physically muted. This is as though the present and the past are colliding. Before I solidify this idea, I needed first to experiment with projection. With the video that I had already recorded, I then got myself into a studio and linked the video to a projector, using a piece of paper as the substitute for the tape. I found that I needed to be less than 30cm away from the projector for it to even fit the paper in alignment with my face. This was now a concern that I would need to think about for further experimentation. Considering that I don’t want to be sat on stage with a projector in front of my face, it would mean that a great deal of formatting of the video would need to be completed in order to properly align the video to the small surface area, that is the tape over my lips. Unless of course, I get help from the technicians to set up a projector from afar. Another concern was that the tape would be of different consistency to the paper meaning that the result of the projection would be different also. This meant that I needed to get hold of the tape very soon to practice and I also need to discuss my idea with the technicians to see whether or not my idea is possible. I have now scheduled a time to explore the tech and will update my progress on my next blog.