My report on the Sleeping Beauty play.

Yes I understood it and I understood the events in the show. But, some were a little 'all over the place' like the addition of extra characters that hadn't seemed to be explained, I.e, The good and the bad fairies. The ending seemed out of place for the story too, there was a huge fight scene that didn't seem to make much sense, I think they made it a little too graceful if there is going to be a fight scene they could at least make it clear that it was one.

I have never been to the ballet before, I had a view that ballet wasn't for me, I didn't know that sleeping beauty was a ballet. I also had never heard of Matthew Bourne before, but liked the visual element of his work, I would research it after seeing the play. I would watch something like this again.

I didn't pay any attention to the audience, but our group enjoyed it, even though some struggled with lack of dialogue. There were a lot of older people in the audience, so I felt that the style suited the audience.

As a whole we understood the story, and I really enjoyed it, and it has made me want to go back to the theatre again. The advertising didn't stand out enough for me, but may have done for others, not my age range.

I think some of the dancing wasn't traditional enough, I didn't think it fitted.

The fairytale theme fits well with our work, although it was darker by nature, with some lighter moments.

The dancing made an impact on me, the puppetry was epic! The lights complimented the action and scenery, a happy ending was evident through the lighting. I think the music should have been live, it makes it more real. I couldn't see the actors faces properly, but I thought the costumes were perfect for the mis-en-scene. The stage was average, but a ramp was used and a lovely curtain greeted us, it set the 'phantom of the opera' style of the scene. 

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Sub-aquatic Choreography.

We all went to a pool to think of moves to do that went with emotions. Emotions such as happiness, sadness, jealousy and in love. We have plenty of photos and videos of people doing their work underwater.

Day 9

On day nine. We all got together and spoke about extra characters to run the market where we came up with some life size models. By dressing up some young producers and older producers as these suggested characters.


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Day 8

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Day 7.

Today we spoke about how we were going to depict certain things and how we would decorate scenery, colours and themes ect.

Ideas that I cam up with was possibly making the floor look like snow with maybe a white flooring of some sorts.. The only con I found with that is it possibly not lasting white for very long.

Snow cave? To get rid of the scary octopus aparatus in Aquarium.    Use it to serve drinks? Entertainment? Or even a false market (Part of the play).



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Day 6.

Rapunzel

Held up aloft, here I sit and sing and wish my days away whilst I await my bitter destiny – to be some handsome prince’s trophy wife, a glittering prize for some dim-witted, craggy-jawed daddy’s boy. I float up here in the clouds, in the sky, ensconced in my nest, waiting and wishing and waiting to take flight – and then to be bound to my new captor. When will I be free?

The time is passing; the walls are cracking, the roof is leaking…this tower is threatening to split down the middle. I bind it together, hold it together body and soul with my hair, binding the fissures, blocking out the wind and the rain with chunks of my hair – keeping my nest soft and safe and snug. I’m becoming part of my own prison.

All my life I’ve been waiting and singing and waiting to escape, but terrified to face the cold hard world outside. I don’t want to be alone, I need a friend, a faithful friend. I make friends with the birds – the owls, the kestrels, the robins pad my pillows with their feathers – but, though they visit every day in the summer months , in winter they grow silent and I sing alone, getting colder, hoping they’ll return soon.

I don’t know what I did wrong, what I did to deserve this. A smashed mirror, furious shouting, a fleeting hug, and then seven years of silence, seven years of bad luck, seven years of waiting for someone to claim me. My fate.

The worst thing is, I think I could have stopped this. I think I should have stopped this but I don’t know how. Some nights I wake up with the words on my lips but I don’t know what they are, I don’t recognise them and they go before I can say them – the spell, the name – the words that would stop all this or at least make it come to an end. They just burst like bubbles a second before I see them clearly. The words I nearly breathe blow away on the wind. It’s my fault – I don’t know why I don’t know how to break this spell.

It’s like I turned my back on happiness a long time ago when I was a child; I took a different path, followed breadcrumbs down the wrong track, and I ended up here, the witches house, a fly in a web, a bird in a gilded cage. I sit here patiently waiting and dreading and waiting to be gorged on or destroyed or be loved and doted upon. I just don’t know how this ends.

I miss how it was before. I’d walk through fire to get back to where this all started and just stop this. I wish this would end.

Jack

I want to be the hero, that’s the thing, you know the kind – rugged, strong, always gets the girl – a real Prince Charming.

I reckon I can become that man if I try – just need to get my head in the right place, maybe build myself a special suit so nothing can touch me, a super suit for a super hero. That’s what I need. So I could fly, and time travel and breathe underwater – fight off all the bad guys.

It would have to be strong this suit, robust, hardy. Although then, well then I couldn’t hug my Mum when she needs it and she often needs it. She’s tired, my Mum. Brittle. In my super suit, if I hugged her, she might break.

But if I don’t have the suit I’m just a wuss. It’s hard to be brave sometimes; brave enough to head out there and explore, climb, see. Although I do try and push myself into it and when I do I love the feeling; discovering something new, using that something to change stuff, to try and make things go right. The rush of blood, the thump in my chest, the hunger to do it again, do it better. But it doesn’t happen very often. I get the better of myself.

Maybe I could mix up some sort of bravery potion that would turn me into a hero instead – sharks teeth for strength and fish scales for protection and starfish blood for resilience. That might work.

Because then, with my superhero suit and my bravery potion I could take on anything and I’d be rugged and strong and get the girl. She’d be the new thing that could make it all better. Fix things. But what if she needs fixing too? What then?

I bet I could fix her. Well, I’d try, or at least, I give it a go. Sometimes things don’t turn out quite the way I’d planned, like with Chutzy – trying to make a dog talk was a mistake, or with Melodie; she was never going to grow, no matter how much I watered her feet, didn’t thank me for it either, pretty much hates my guts now. It just feels like my head gets carried away and I can’t pin down the best plan for doing things. But I mean well though, I always mean well. Isn’t that what heroes are, really? The ones that mean well?

These are two written images of Jack and Rapunzel done, based on all the research and pieces we have done so far. We spoke about these and used these to help us develop the two characters..

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Day 5.

Today we started the day looking at some videos that are considered art.
One video we looked at was actually quite strange. And consisted of a man crouching on top of a ladder seeming to be over dramatically distraught, or pretending. He was repeating these words " I'm not coming down, unless you promise not to break my heart again" whilst gradually getting higher and higher pitch and more and more ridiculously upset. This was made by a man called Rob about ten years ago.

We talked about what the message is that this video is trying to send out.





We all thought that this video was suppose to symbolise a sense of control and manipulation. The guy was talking about having his heart broken so it could be aimed at the camera man, a partner of a relationship or possibly the departed.



One idea that i came up with, is he could be mocking his partner, and over-acting a lot of his partners reactions to situations, he did play a pretty feminine role in the stance that he was taking and also his facial stance as he was talking..  His face was screwed up in tears and he was turning his head in a way that would suggest he was trying to act feminine.


Another thing that I thought it could be, is that he could be emotionally black-mailing someone, carrying on/ Causing a scene just so that he will get his own way, considering people generally don't act in this manner.


One of the young producers pointed out that this guy may have lost a pet and could be over reacting.


The other video that we decided to watch was actually the animation that I had found on YouTube called "The invention of love".

I had already talked about this on the Facebook-group-page and considered this could be an ending to avoid when thinking about the ending of 'The Fish Hearted Bride'.


I really like this piece because it is beautiful and very expressive. The style is really nice, it is silhouetted but also, it's very abstract.


Many theories on this video also came to the key-word "Control". Maybe you cannot control someone to change for love, and the person being changed the saying is for them to not allow themselves to be foolish for love and not allow themselves to be controlled.


Today each of the young producers produced a quote, they were anonymous and then we were to all pick a quote that wasn't our own that we felt we also related our selves to. Then we condensed them into categories. One was control, the other was time and Love. Then we took all of the quotes in one category.. And condensed them into three quotes, one for each category. 

After lots and lots of pondering we used the three quotes together to make one quote.



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Rapunzel.

This video I see really being Rapunzel.. With the stereotypical long blonde hair, looking very pretty and is locked away in her room all the time. She is very in touch with nature as the singing with the bird scene, shows. I mentioned this at the aquarium to the group and thought I should share it here.





I really like this image because it's an image of a heart in a jar.. But it's under water..
Rapunzel's heart will be under water as it will be a fish. The way I see it is her chest will be kinda like a fish jar.











This is a video that I found on Youtube of the Rapunzel story.



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Jack

This is a character, Jack. (ironically) From a Disney film called : Nightmare Before Christmas.
He is tall.. pale and has a big heart. He is quite compassionate with a scary twist. In some part of the film he seems quite knowledgeable on science and seems to have too much time on his hands.



The man in this video, Victor is seen to be quite a shy young man and has quite a big heart. He is quite in touch with his feminine side and can empathise with almost any situation. I see this personality in our Jack.





This is an image of Jack climbing a beanstalk. This image I found on Google and is the typical image that people see when they think of Jack and the beanstalk.














JACK

I think Jack will be rather thin for a unnaturally tall guy. I think with him being quite cast out from normality he will be quite Socially - awkward and will find it hard to connect to people.. Could be a language barrier, he's just too tall..  Or he has a really unlovable personality? ..  I think he will find it difficult to make friends as he has not had much practice when it comes to communication. I think he can connect with Rapunzel because he mistakes her for someone the same as her and she is also quite the same when it comes to being aboutto talk to another person.



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Home research.

I found two videos that I liked and that reminded me of the Fish Hearted Bride story.


I like this video. Because it is the same concept that we are kinda looking for. The only downside is the end. To me this expresses an ending that has gone wrong. Because the woman becomes the exact thing she hates (Ben's point) and the man isn't happy with a vegetable robot of a wife. I think he became so consumed in his robotics that he forgot that this was killing her.

This is the second video that I had chosen.

I like this video because it's a rather dark tale of how nothing can still mean everything. The fact that two out casts can make something worship-able. I like this.. I think this video can touch the hearts of many people in the point that it is trying to express.

I also like this video very much upon my research.

To me this video expresses our idea of the bad guy being in the story of the Fish Hearted Bride.
I like that the girl make a sacrifice, which in some aspects reminds me of Rapunzel. I like this because no matter how much the bad-guy tries to win..  He doesn't and there is a happy story to it. I like this because the aim is to have a happy ending.


I particularly like this video.

I like this video because there is a guy. Who is an out-cast.. And the fact that there is a love story to this..  That she gives up her purpose in life to just be with him..  This is a happy ending.And on the bright side. They get to spend eternity together. :)




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Day 4.

Once again starting the day with some more Granny sit down and some Fruit salad. Which i have to say it is pretty fun, it's nice to see that everyone has actually gotten comfortable talking to each other now and are able to pick out someone to personally compete with during games.

Once we were all warmed up and ready to go we did talk some more about the art pieces that we liked.
Then we went around the room to look at all the work that we had all produced since Friday, so that we could pick out a few ideas that we liked, or some images that we like that say ourselves or others had picked.

The ideas that I found appeasing from the previous day

I like the idea of using the Balcony of the large tank for Rapunzel, because it will be a good way to show that she is stuck. As from the balcony to the Big-tank Arena..  It is quite some way. The only flaw I really see with that is possibly the fact that Rapunzel is destined to fall. 
I guess it's a good place for the tower  apart from the placing of the entrance below it.
I think i like the idea, because it is a brilliant way to depict he being really high up.

Another idea I really liked is including the audience by Squirting them with water from maybe the top. I think this is a great way and the idea came from the Aquarium itself! ..  In the aquarium they have a 4D cinema, basically it's a short 3D movie that lasts up to 30 minutes and the other features are the seats that tip backwards and the water that squirts you in the face.

Another idea I also like was the seating, an idea to have little fish shaped cushions or little paddling pools to sit in. I like this because not only does it include them. But the play in some way becomes them. As they ARE the set. :)

I like an image that someone chose. I like this because it looks like a woman just descending under water. But she is not quite all under. I like this because her reflection is on the surface of the water and it is all blurry and disfigured, where as the image of her under the water is rather attractive and magical. This to me symbolises the battle of Rapunzel being on land or under the water. As her heart is a fish, and she is broken upon land, she sees clearly and is rather normal under the water. I guess this is a mental battle and a very difficult decision she must make.

And finally. I REALLY like the image that someone else picked out. It is an image of a wall and two windows. One near the floor with images of horse's legs and one REALLY high up with an image of a horse's head; I think that it stands for Jack and his purpose of being really tall.. And also Rapunzel for being trapped away in a high up tower.

Ideas by others!

One idea that I heard mentioned more than once, was the idea of an Owl figure as the Narrator. Also the idea of a bad guy in the story that tries to win Rapunzel's heart to ruin the story.
The idea of a love battle is a good idea to me also, because it's a chance to have some interaction with the audience. I.e..  "HE'S BEHIND YOU" or " BOOOOOOOOO!! ".

Also I heard people mention the image that people picked out a few times. I really like that image too. I was tempted to pick this image because it screamed it's purpose. But what the other saw was the idea of a Frankenstein like creature. The image is a picture of a child, and he's got four images stitched together to make a full image of his face. On the top left corner his eye is quite bright and content, then on the right his eye is almost like a dark brown.. Dark and depressing. On the bottom two images are his mouth and they are in different brightness.. And the mouth positioning just looks sad in both, just one sadder than the other. This image spoke to me. Because I've felt almost like this is an image depicting personalities..  To me meaning. Say a bubbly person, They could be a bit of a Dark Horse.. And they may have a different personality that will react to situations a little differently than they would if they were in a spectacular mood. To me this image also just depicts different states of confusion or thought process..   What people often call the five steps.. I.e..  Denial... Depression.. Till finally.. Acceptance.

Also there is an image that was mentioned a few times that I will agree with. It is an image of a woman descending into water. Almost diving. But the image can be perceived almost the same the opposite way up. I think as she is diving down, her feet are morphing into what looks like a mermaid tail and the bubbles are swirling around as if it would in some magical movie. I.e..  Shrek. .. And if you turn the image upside down.. It looks like the woman is swimming to the surface and it morphing back into a human.. With the bubbles once again.

JACK

I think Jack will be rather thin for a unnaturally tall guy. I think with him being quite cast out from normality he will be quite Socially - awkward and will find it hard to connect to people.. Could be a language barrier, he's just too tall..  Or he has a really unlovable personality? ..  I think he will find it difficult to make friends as he has not had much practice when it comes to communication. I think he can connect with Rapunzel because he mistakes her for someone the same as her and she is also quite the same when it comes to being about to talk to another person.




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Day 3.

We talked more about the images that we liked today. :)
I liked a lot of the choices that people made.

We also did more lot more communication building games.

Today we also went around the aquarium and chose a few fish that we like, or stood out to us because of there characteristic features. Then we wrote about why we like them and how we all thought of them. A lot of the fish chosen grew very quickly after the whole group giving their opinion.. Some of them even had names! :) 



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Day 2.

Today we did a lot of exercises and mingling games.
I think that this was pretty useful and fun. It helps us all get comfortable with one another, we also gain a lot of communication in doing so. I think I like this rather than just getting straight to hands on work. Because it gives the group a chance to get know each other, get a little comfortable and helps us get enthused into doing activities.




For the assignment that we were set yesterday I Chose a music video; Somebody I use to know- Gotye, Ft. Kimbra.
The reason I chose this music video. I like it because it is very emotional and simplistic and at the same time, Surreal.
I like it because this music video gives me a sense of familiarity, it also at the same time makes me a little sad.

I like the colours in this video, they are very natural and the shapes are very surreal.

i like the concept of the video that the two people are blaming each other for what is clear to be their past relationship, and are in they seem to be just standing next to each other.. But in the sense of this.. It feels like they are further apart than the video lets on, just they could be thinking the same things at the same time.

I like the movements in this video they are very surreal but subtle,
The colours are natural but still manage to stand out quite vividly.
I also like that the two subjects in this video are the same colour as the walls. Like they are the back ground. I think in some way it gives this music video a sense of a theme. I personally am a major fan of theme, because it's organised and I think it makes things look a lot tidier.




I chose two extra videos to write about because these two I also like. This one that I have chosen is; Who's laughing now- Jessie J. I'm not normally a huge fan of this artist but I like this video. I like this video because it's something I used to had to put up with through out my life. I like this video because it gives me a sense of victory. Cause I know that a lot of the people that used to say hurtful things to me in school aren't really doing so well in their lives as I am, and I don;t mean that as a personal attack. I talk to a lot of these people now and have grown past the names and the bullying..  But I know that they could have done so much better with their lives. Which is often a reoccurring theme in bullying, is that the victim tends to do better in their lives.. I like this video also because it reminds me that I have over come such things in my life.


I like this video because it's a sense of rebellion. She has just broken up with her boyfriend and now she's alive and doing what she likes. Maybe she always wanted to join the marines. It was just suppressed?
This song as well gives me a sense of familiarity  also in some sense too it makes me happy knowing that men cannot hold any woman back, I guess.





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Day 1.

1. What are the interesting place in the aquarium?
An interesting place in there is the aquarium shark tank because there is a place for people to sit and observe and there is a wide open space so if people waned to they could just sit there and chill. I like the low key lighting and the mellow blue. It makes you want to just sit cross legged under the fish tank and watch the fish and the sharks swimming.    Image found: Here.

Another area I liked is the Large tank with the Eals in and things, I like this because the surrounding room is round and it is more family friendly. Also there is a small octopus toy house for children to play and interact with each other, I feel this will be good for "Fish Hearted Bride" because it will give people a chance to mingle.
I also liked the Jelly-fish corridor because of the contrast of blues and pinks. I like the fact that the aquarium has some pinks as it will fit in with the play being love as the theme.
This is a photograph that I took myself.

2. What are interesting ways into the aquarium?
I thought the entrance to the tank observation area will be a great way to interact with people. An idea that popped up today was to have seaweed like decor to hang down for people to walk through to the theatre. I quite like the balcony too and feel that something could be done with that.

3. What are people reactions?
Well I reacted to the colours mainly. ..   Especially the jelly-fish. And the signs as the signs were like an obnoxious yellow and hard to miss.

Image found : Here. 






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