Lissie

Hi Lissie,

We really need the writing you have done for the inspecter, Anna has alot of conversation with you she is keen to work on and we are kinda stuck because your not here.

Please can you get in touch, and email me the writing you have done to ami.l.philpott@gmail.com by this afternoon or early this evening because we really need it and its holding us back with our devsing today.

thanks in adavnce.

The Dream team x

Vanessa's whiteboard

In case anyone didn't write it down ;)

Thoughts from the TED talks

TED Talks

Handspring Puppet Company TED Talk

*Joey the horse from War Horse is a puppet created by them. He must be able to be ridden, to breath, to walk, canter and gallop, he must have emotional impact (the emotions of a horse are apparent through their ear movements (back for scared, forwards for playful, around for observation - the horses hearing is almost more important to them than their eyesight).

*Puppets are ‘dead' objects brought to life, "the actor struggles to die on stage, the puppet struggles to live”. 

The true life is breathed metaphorically into the puppet by the puppeteer(s)(link to Motion Capture)

 (in this case three for Joey, one at the hindquarters for tail (side to side and up and down) and legs, one at the ‘heart centre’ for the front two legs and breath up and down movement (anatomically incorrect, but this does not matter as 1. side to side movement is not as easy to see, and the audience can believe that this is breathe) plus a puppeteer who controls the head (ears, movement of the neck)

synchronisation of the three puppeteers is what truly brings the puppet to life, example, the whinnying and breath of the horse is not recorded, but starts with a puppeteer and spreads through to the others organically (without any verbal communication between the puppeteers).

This made me think of a recent film released called The Hobbit (Both ‘An Unexpected Journey and ‘The Desolation of Smaug’) and of the films The Lord of the Rings (1,2,3). In conversations I’ve had with my best friend who has a film degree, he commented that the reason he believed that the recent Hobbit films were not as good because the production team relied too heavily on CGI, when the could have used actual actors:

This then made me think about the amazing performance of Andy Serkis as Gollum, and the fact that, in my opinion, this performance was so good because he (Serkis) was on set in full Mo-Cap suit with Martin Freeman, much more like a theatre stage set rather than Freeman interacting with a green screen process. (Also, Serkis’ voice was captured at the same time). To me, this is like a 21st century version of puppetry.

Then, I begun thinking about Smaug, the main antagonist of the second Hobbit movie, who also happens to be a dragon. Although I have yet to see the dragon puppet we are using, I believe this behind the scene look at Benedict Cumberbatch doing the Mo-Cap and voice for the dragon will be super useful for us.

Julie Taymor - TED Talk - Spiderman, The Lion King and life on the creative edge

What is the Idiograph for Beowulf (The circle for The Lion King, a sandcastle for The Tempest) 

Theatre is a ‘rough magic’, the stage hands coming on stage to water the sandcastle are visible and obvious, the audience still ’see’ them, then the light changes and the audience see only the water and sandcastle, they ‘suspend their disbelief’.

The mechanics used in the show must be equal to the story (puppet, scenery etc must be as good/not better, than the story or visa versa)

Beowulf: King of the Geats

Beowulf: King of Geats from melissa.springham on 8tracks Radio.

Getting slightly obsessed with hair!

Ladies first

Men

Invisible Theatre

Invisible Theatre

For this weeks lecture on Politics, Vanessa has asked me and Anna (and Jack, I think?) to come up with a short piece of Invisible Theatre.
As Invisible Theatre was designed as a form of protest (Theatre of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal and Panagiotis Assimakopoulos) it would make sense to come up with a piece that may be reflected in the lecture.
Invisible Theatre is not a form of Candid Camera etc, as this type of 'theatre' has nothing to do with showing oppression within society.

I think the location might be key to our performance. Perhaps within the lecture, but I also wonder if it might be interesting to do it outside the lecture hall?

Anyone got any ideas?

Non-Dragon make-up!

Okay, so I just thought that these were really cool, especially as they look pretty Anglo-Saxon. I especially like the blacked-out face with gold highlights on the nose and t-zone! It made me think of that famous Sutton Hoo Helmet! How cool is that!
Also the dragon hoards gold, and burns things to cinders, so black and gold!
Their also all 'raw'. By this I mean that they look like they've just been wiped on my bloodied hands after a battle!
And, all the make-up can be gender neutral. Boys can rock makeup!

Sutton Hoo helmet

Errikos Andreou's Black and Gold

Linky-link here

What is the Dragon?

Beowulf's Dragon

“Middle English (also denoting a large serpent): from Old French, via Latin from Greek drakōn 'serpent'. A mythical monster like a giant reptile. In European tradition the dragon is typically fire-breathing and tends to symbolize chaos or evil.” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013)

The story:
After successfully slaying Grendels Mother, Beowulf rules Geatland as their King for 50 years.
However a slave steals a golden cup from the Dragons lair and awakens him the dragon then burns all the Geats homes and land. Beowulf (though now in his old age) decides to slay the dragon. He and the Thanes climb to the Dragons lair, but when the Thanes see the Dragon they abandon Beowulf and Wiglaf. They successfully slay the Dragon, only to find that Beowulf has been mortally wounded by a bite in his neck.

Beowulf is the first piece of English Literature to present a Dragonslayer (Evans, 2010) and a fire breathing Dragon, and was later the basis on which J. R. R. Tolkien based Smaug in The Hobbit, which was the forerunner of the modern High Fantasy genre (Tolkien, 1936). However, the original author would have had access to earlier Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian oral stories, although these stories have been lost.

Characteristics:
• Fire breathing
• Venomous
• Draca (dragon) and wyrm (worm)
• Nocturnal
• Treasure hoarding
• Vengeful

Semiotics of ‘The Dragon” (Beowulf specific)
• Fire: Hell fire,
• Middle English word Dragon: Chaos and evil
• Nocturnal: Darkness is its protection; also means the fire looks cooler! :p
• Gold: Hoarding, against the code of Hospitality
• The battle of Beowulf and the dragon probably symbolizes the battle against evil (Alaxender, 2003)
• It is actually Wiglaf who finishes the dragon off, not Beowulf. Its his courage that shows him the be the right successor of Beowulf.

Cool things I think are cool:
I found the entire book of Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics by Tolkien and you can read it online! http://www.scribd.com/doc/21301124/J-R-R-Tolkien-Beowulf-The-Monsters-and-the-Critics

Bibliography
Alaxender, M., 2003. Beowulf. Penguin Books Limited.
Evans, J., 2010. The Dragon'Lore of Middle Earth: Tolkien and Old English and Old Norse Tradition. Greenwood Press.
Oxford Dictionaries, 2013. dragon. [Online] Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/dragon?q=dragon [Accessed 22 January 2013].
Tolkien, J.R.R., 1936. Beowulf: The Monsters and The Critics. New ed. [Lecture] Harper Collins. Sir Israel Gollancz Lecture.

P.s. Most dragon make-up isn't that good, to be honest. But I found a few that I thought were cool.

(Notes) Beowulf Devising Week One

Beowulf

Week One

Tuesday 

Beowulf is a hero of the Geats, problems Grendel slaughters everyone, goes and kills her mum, 50 years later he Beowulf is king, goes to fight the dragon but is killed by the dragon

Beowulf is a compound name, sometimes thought to mean "Bee-wolf" or Bear, as the bee is not afraid of the bear (trying to steal their honey), and is therefore like a wolf.

Tribe was Geat

Written here in Britain 800 AD

Based in Denmark/Scandinavia/Sweden

Britian had just Converted to Christianity from Paganism

Written by a Christian but about a pagan story

Heroic Epic Poetry, not about the rhyme, about the plot/narrative

Alliteration has to cross over a Caesura (…//)

Some examples of compound-rhymes or Kennings

• Kenning - Compound words
• Whale road = the sea
• Whale rider = boat
• Ring giver = king

Germanic form, four stresses two on each side of the caesura

Often translated into prose story as this can be easier for a modern audience

One of the themes is the Germanic heroic warrior code:

• "Loyalty, bravery, strength, hospitality generosity political skill"

Names mean many things like lineage

Latsey – nothing to do with the plot, designated point something not important to the plot

Wednesday

No costume (thought they can source) but we have make up

Darkly humorous

Use different angles,

Fecund the mermaid song spy monkey

Five stages of the Beowulf  

Mead hall is called Heorot

The noise disturbs Grendel at the bottom of a mear

He kills 30 of the warriors in their sleep

12 years of fear of Grendel

Beowulf Prince of the Geats

Sets sails from southern Sweden

Greeted in the mead hall

Beowulf wrestles the monster and pulls his arm off and displays it

The mother monster steals the arm and the Ashear

·      Beowulf makes army

·      Celebration for Beowulf and army

·      Beowulf kills Grendel (monster) (rips of monsters arm) and gets treasure from King

·      Dive under cave kill Grendel mother

·      50 years later fights dragon rips out heart cuts off own arm (and dies)

Light

Tent

Artuadian

Sensory theatre

Distant light source

Finger puppetry

Strobe light

Sound effects