here's my version of how i envision things happening. if we all give our version maybe we will come up with a solid plan.
i'd like to really capitalize on the abject and just-off qualities about our space- really soak in the obsolete, pathetic remains of what used to there and which, if seen through a critical eye, may be said about any office space with its drone-like characters and repetitive mundane behaviors. i think the skymall products (which we partially selected) work into these ideas- they function to solve all kinds of day to day problems you never knew you had, but stepping back speak to a greater social malaise and spiritual yearning folks (perhaps those working the 9-5) may be seeking but never finding- the idea of hell being on earth. Visually they add a level of absurdity and comic relief to the person who uses them. if we decide to use this aspect in the project, i would like to see it taken more over the top, surrounding the actors, cluttering their personal space, maybe even making them immobile/trapped in their designated space. it might be nice to make it summer hot red in the room / add gels to the windows or even the opposite version of hell being more a cold, heatless place in desperate need of a dripping roof fix/plumber/insulation job.
i also really like the idea of repeating the scene twice but playing with what and how it is executed- the alternate version. what marianne suggested of the audience experiencing one version in the reception area, and a second version in the wood panel room. katie mentioned that maybe we should change the focus to the earlier section in the marlow text which questions where hell is/hell is on earth. this makes more sense to me as a good mirroring scene. i do think we need to add another dimension to it then because it pretty much becomes a statement that life in the corporate world is hell. that can work as a general mood and background motivation, but something more should happen- perhaps outside the text - created with the media, scene design, actions of the characters. i think until that's figured out, it doesn't make a lot of sense planning the video set up which might not complement the meaning. we could also loop, stop and play back/repeat lines to add to the idea of mirroring scenes and being stuck in an endless cycle.
but, as for mood, with a slow pacing grimness and the skymall stuff there could be a nice balance between poetics and humor. here's a good clip from tarkovsky's solaris which gives a bit of the mood i am thinking.
Friday Feb 19th
potential visuals for harness system and body configurations for the remaining actors Lucy McRae (Meph's gear):
don't know this source: (last 5 erwin wurm)
I also wanted to put up Franz West's adaptives but can't find any. he did these interactive sculptures in his early career that were odd shaded noodle like formations that you could hold and attach to your body as you pleased an made you look awkward.
___
Right now, we are working with the idea of breaking up the piece into two scenes both focusing on the dialogue between Meph. and Faust concerning the location of hell/hell on earth with the idea of switching perspectives from:
Scene 1 (wood panel room): P.O.V of Meph. Future, post-apocalypse- silent moments of looking back and regret at the havoc he has caused. use the earlier version of the text where meph is almost trying to give faust one more chance to resist signing the pact (given meph.s own experience being stuck in hell after witnessing the amazingness of heaven). There will be a video of Meph in close up as we watch him live. perhaps we can have the actor twitch and blink. i can also maybe stutter the video. a second video will mix the bubbling waters of solaris with the office scenes creating an abstracted eerie atmosphere. we hear faust on the audio recording. sound plays with the feedback in the room. other actors are treated as office furniture as they dangle from walls and awkwardly gesture on the floor wrapped in the pink foam and other skymall devices. Hieronymus Bosch may also be a decent reference for those that are skeptical of the point of the pink foam as a context for creating a mood of absurdity and obsolescence. Bosch paints a decadent scene of excess and frivolity as bodies contort themselves into over/under sexualized positions with and through odd structures and shapes:
Perhaps in our next round we can paly more with light and color in enhancing the mood of the scene.
Scene 2 (reception area): P.O.V of Faust and his blinded desire to satiate his desires. an overwhelming and loud projection of an office fight competes with his thoughts and conversations with meph. I'm making a video edit from found surveillance footage. the footage is a glimpse into the future chaos that may pursue. meph will be projected onto faust in dialogue. I got a 3rd projector rented from my department that we can use all semester.
here's my version of how i envision things happening. if we all give our version maybe we will come up with a solid plan.
i'd like to really capitalize on the abject and just-off qualities about our space- really soak in the obsolete, pathetic remains of what used to there and which, if seen through a critical eye, may be said about any office space with its drone-like characters and repetitive mundane behaviors. i think the skymall products (which we partially selected) work into these ideas- they function to solve all kinds of day to day problems you never knew you had, but stepping back speak to a greater social malaise and spiritual yearning folks (perhaps those working the 9-5) may be seeking but never finding- the idea of hell being on earth. Visually they add a level of absurdity and comic relief to the person who uses them. if we decide to use this aspect in the project, i would like to see it taken more over the top, surrounding the actors, cluttering their personal space, maybe even making them immobile/trapped in their designated space. it might be nice to make it summer hot red in the room / add gels to the windows or even the opposite version of hell being more a cold, heatless place in desperate need of a dripping roof fix/plumber/insulation job.
i also really like the idea of repeating the scene twice but playing with what and how it is executed- the alternate version. what marianne suggested of the audience experiencing one version in the reception area, and a second version in the wood panel room. katie mentioned that maybe we should change the focus to the earlier section in the marlow text which questions where hell is/hell is on earth. this makes more sense to me as a good mirroring scene. i do think we need to add another dimension to it then because it pretty much becomes a statement that life in the corporate world is hell. that can work as a general mood and background motivation, but something more should happen- perhaps outside the text - created with the media, scene design, actions of the characters. i think until that's figured out, it doesn't make a lot of sense planning the video set up which might not complement the meaning. we could also loop, stop and play back/repeat lines to add to the idea of mirroring scenes and being stuck in an endless cycle.
but, as for mood, with a slow pacing grimness and the skymall stuff there could be a nice balance between poetics and humor. here's a good clip from tarkovsky's solaris which gives a bit of the mood i am thinking.
or this one (go to 44:20 min when kelvin first arrives on the ship): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3370449932379913979&ei=91Z8S7ilG42OqAKOwOiuBA&q=solaris&hl=en&client=firefox-a#
*also, here's some stock imagery, video, interactive web material that might/might not be relevant.
a website that moves a flame around along with your cursor which we could project:
http://www.flamingcursor.com/
or to seal the deal:
http://www.fataltotheflesh.com/
surveillance of office workers going nuts:
Friday Feb 19th
potential visuals for harness system and body configurations for the remaining actors
Lucy McRae (Meph's gear):
don't know this source:
I also wanted to put up Franz West's adaptives but can't find any. he did these interactive sculptures in his early career that were odd shaded noodle like formations that you could hold and attach to your body as you pleased an made you look awkward.
___
Right now, we are working with the idea of breaking up the piece into two scenes both focusing on the dialogue between Meph. and Faust concerning the location of hell/hell on earth with the idea of switching perspectives from:
Scene 1 (wood panel room): P.O.V of Meph. Future, post-apocalypse- silent moments of looking back and regret at the havoc he has caused. use the earlier version of the text where meph is almost trying to give faust one more chance to resist signing the pact (given meph.s own experience being stuck in hell after witnessing the amazingness of heaven). There will be a video of Meph in close up as we watch him live. perhaps we can have the actor twitch and blink. i can also maybe stutter the video. a second video will mix the bubbling waters of solaris with the office scenes creating an abstracted eerie atmosphere. we hear faust on the audio recording. sound plays with the feedback in the room. other actors are treated as office furniture as they dangle from walls and awkwardly gesture on the floor wrapped in the pink foam and other skymall devices. Hieronymus Bosch may also be a decent reference for those that are skeptical of the point of the pink foam as a context for creating a mood of absurdity and obsolescence. Bosch paints a decadent scene of excess and frivolity as bodies contort themselves into over/under sexualized positions with and through odd structures and shapes:
Perhaps in our next round we can paly more with light and color in enhancing the mood of the scene.
Scene 2 (reception area): P.O.V of Faust and his blinded desire to satiate his desires. an overwhelming and loud projection of an office fight competes with his thoughts and conversations with meph. I'm making a video edit from found surveillance footage. the footage is a glimpse into the future chaos that may pursue. meph will be projected onto faust in dialogue. I got a 3rd projector rented from my department that we can use all semester.