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.
