w/c 29/04/24

To start today's lesson, Liz announced another production meeting. With only four group members present, we struggled to make significant progress. Instead, we focused on other performance needs like the playlist and costumes. The only missing item was a camera, so Dylan offered to check if he had one at home. Ruby volunteered to bring a teddy bear by next Monday (I was going to bring one in however she did anyway), as it's part of her role as the "weird girl."

In our first production meeting, we set a goal for everyone to be off-script by May 2nd, which is next Thursday. Since no one knows all their lines yet, we decided to focus on line learning today. Present were me, Dylan, Ruby and Luca, but without Paige and Beth, progress was limited.

We also reviewed important dates: our tech and dress rehearsal, along with the performance, is on May 15th. We aim to finish the extracts by April 29th to get off script. These dates seem realistic, and I hope we meet these goals. The meeting ended early due to the absence of Paige and Beth, preventing further discussion.

We then continued devising our extract, focusing on making the chair duet more complex and completing the first extract. Caitlin’s next line involves turning down the lights and saying, “Single small spotlight on the juvenile leading lady.” We found this phrase impactful, so we decided Luca would repeat it three times, each with different emotions: once neutrally, once anxiously, and once confidently. The rest of us would shine phone flashlights on him during these repetitions to enhance the effect.

Following this, we planned to have Luca stand on our legs to create the illusion of him flying. However, we paused this development as we wanted Beth to be present to ensure she was comfortable with the plan. We then marked the script to indicate cast changes between the pairs playing Cameron and Caitlin (Luca, Beth, Paige, and I), aiming for an even distribution of scenes.

Luca suggested that the pair starting the performance should also finish it. To achieve smooth transitions, we decided to use lighting cues. Cameron would change first during a "lights down" moment, as his lines allowed for a less noticeable swap. Caitlin would change after a few more lines during another lighting cue, giving us time to switch the jacket and camera.

For the final extract, finding seamless transition points was more challenging. We identified two potential moments: when Cameron's camera batteries run out and when Caitlin knocks on the weird girl’s door. We decided Caitlin would switch after the line “help,” which we planned to emphasize in the performance. Cameron would switch when Beth, as Caitlin, hands him new batteries, symbolically taking the camera herself. These transitions, though more complex, were the best solutions without relying on lighting cues.

During the second lesson on Monday, Liz introduced us to a frantic assembly technique called phone numbers. For this task, I paired up with Dylan. Liz demonstrated three ways to use the phone numbers technique: using your head to look at numbers in front of you, using your feet to step on imaginary numbers on the floor, and using your hand to dial a number on an imaginary phone keypad. Dylan and I practiced this together, starting with our hands, then our heads, and finishing with our feet by crossing our legs to form an "X." Liz approved of our idea fondly due to the duologue ending on the line "X". We then presented our sequence clockwise with each pair. 

On Thursday, Liz informed us that we would be learning lifts to enhance our frantic assembly techniques and incorporate them into our performances. I was excited about this because we had several spots where a lift would be perfect. Liz started by showing us a video from Frantic Assembly demonstrating three different lifts. For the first lift, Liz had us form two lines and said she would serve as the base. Ruby volunteered to be lifted. We practiced lifting her to ensure safety, gradually reducing the number of people supporting her until only four people and Liz were holding her up. This practice was crucial since our groups are small, and we needed to ensure we could manage with fewer people. Liz then asked if anyone else wanted to be lifted, so we tried the lift with several volunteers, including myself, both being lifted and serving as the base. This helped us get comfortable with the technique and ensured we wouldn't drop anyone. Next, we attempted the jet pack lift in groups of four, as shown in the video we watched. I found this lift more challenging because it required significant upper body strength. My group included Harry, Dylan, and Grey, and I was the one being lifted. We executed it successfully on the first try, and Liz praised our stable and effective lift. We even moved across the room while maintaining the lift. However, I don't think we'll use this lift in our performance. The third lift involved walking up a wall, but Liz said we didn't have enough space or the right type of walls to execute it. It would also be difficult to incorporate into our performance due to the uncertainty of the space we'll have. 

Liz then instructed us to return to our performances and devise more of our extracts while incorporating a lift. We decided to use Luca's line, "you have these dreams about flying," for a big lift, opting to replace the lift we had initially planned with the new one we learned. Knowing this new lift was better, we went ahead with the change. In this session, we needed to focus on the other extracts since we were falling behind. First, we showed Paige and Beth the phone scene and other alterations. As we were performing for the class later, we aimed to make significant progress. We particularly wanted to expand Beth and Luca's chair duet, adding synchronization. When Beth talks about having "superhuman strength" in her dream, we choreographed a sequence where she punches Luca, who ducks, and she mimics a superhero. Then, she punches him again, and he falls. When she says, "not kill unless you feel like killing," she helps Luca up, emphasizing their duet. For the next series of lines, they sat on chairs, using each other’s hands and bodies to tell their dream stories through movement, reflecting Frantic Assembly's style. We positioned the chairs next to each other to signify they were in separate beds but connected, especially when they leaned on each other's shoulders. While we felt the first extract was strong, we were underprepared to perform for the class, having only 30 minutes to rehearse and devise. Nonetheless, Liz announced it was time to perform, so we proceeded despite our concerns. 

I was really disappointed with this performance because we kept messing up and overall, it just didn't go well. We didn't have enough time or space to properly devise and perform this week, especially with two members absent. You can see in the video that everyone kept forgetting things, and we couldn’t even finish the last part of extract one because we weren’t familiar enough with it. However, we still received feedback from the other group.

The Frantic Assembly techniques they noticed included:

- Chair duets

- Lifts

- Phone numbers

This feedback highlighted some positives since we incorporated three Frantic techniques in just one extract. The group appreciated the portrayal of the weird girl, noting that she appeared very isolated and effective, almost in her own world. They also praised Luca's repetition in the leading lady scene, finding it cool to see three different interpretations of his feelings. Additionally, they liked our staging, especially the use of chairs, saying it was visually pleasing. This was encouraging because strong staging is crucial to a performance.

The constructive feedback included the suggestion to think about adding music, as the weird girl scene felt quiet and awkward at times. However, Liz mentioned that the silence could be effective, though I feel some background music could enhance the scene's sadness, creepiness, and uniqueness. They also advised that only one person should make the DING noises in the phone number scene to avoid confusion, as multiple people doing it simultaneously made the performance messy.

Following the feedback, Liz asked us to set personal and group targets. Ruby suggested that our group target should be better communication, as the confusion and missed lines stemmed from poor communication during our lesson time. The rest of the group agreed. My personal target is to go off script, allowing me to focus more on movement and cues. This concluded our lesson.