In Connection which is a story about a girl who has an ability of telepathy can feel another girl’s sense the relationships between onstage actions and live and recorded video are explored. Particularly, I am working with the digital projections which use different viewpoints in variety ways. Through involving videos connecting two events which happened in different place at the same time. Presenting more than one angles to audience through the usage of video, like top view, side, double, close-up shots and POV shots. I also try to present inner state, thought, which is a abstract conception through projection. A party scene, for example, Lauren was chatting with naiming . Later on she stood still mean while the main screen was video about a girl’s death, which was representing Lauren’s feeling, sad.
1 There are too many elements at the same time
I think the main reasons for this is Connection itself is a complex story and I am trying to make every part clear but also to create a special feeling. However, I focused on too much details which should have been well arranged. For example, one time I showed four or five video images on the screen at the same time, appearing and disappearing. I think this was good to communicate a feeling or atmosphere, but it did not show the story clearly and confused audience.
2 Some audiences questioned if repeated videos and scenes necessary
In the performance, some video and performance scenes were repeated, but this was for essential reasons.
I used a repeated video, but reversed, to show a transition movement back in time. This is for the story to explain why Lauren had the strange feelings. So, the story ends when Lauren sees Yunzhe over a road. The live acting and the video then reversed to go back to the beginning of the story, in order to go forward again to explain Lauren’s range of strange actions. The reversed repeated video showed this time transition.
Secondly, some scenes that were live perfomance in the first part were repeated on video in the second part of Connection. For example, in the first part, Lauren dropped her shoes in live performance, and the she and the audience do not know why. In the second part, on video is the scene when Lauren dropped her shoes and in the live performance Yunzhe is on the subway and drops her map when a man passes her. The idea was show two related events at the same time but different space, and to swap the space from stage to screen because we go back in time.
This idea did not communicate well to audience. When planning the performance, I decided not to use dialogue or voiceover to explain the story. I did this because the connection effect is not clear to Lauren, she not understand her strange feelings, so I did not want to communicate the story over-direct. I wanted the style to be open and ambiguous a little for audience to feel what Lauren feeling, and try to understand.
This is also a question I am asking, about how clear the communication to the audience is. From the feedback, I understand I did not communicate clear enough, also with the problem of too many elements.
3 The live acting is weaker than video.
According to this problem, I should have been concerned more about onstage actions. Like, how can live acting work well with the projection. However, there are some practical reasons for this problem such as limited time offered by actors, limited time using the Portakabin and other technical problems.
I should have taken more time at rehearsal, testing how to well combine live acting with video, and cut some video.
No comments:
Post a Comment