The shoot so far...

So sample photos from my final major project - title TBC.

Twenty Test Shots for Story - In order starting at the top

Film Noir

Film noir is now a genre of highly recognisable and iconic movies, such as Double Indemnity sporting one of the classic plots, the femme fatal. A genre that has be created from films being classified retrospectively. However, some will argue that film noir is not a genre based on content as most genres are. This is based on style, mainly those of dark long shadows and a moody undertone. Interestingly enough though these were films created without any of this in mind, they were created in a style of the time. Some of the films created addressed issues within society, one film in case is dealing with anti-Semitism in Crossfire.

One elements that I really do enjoy is that of the hard-boiled detective and the seedy underworld, all played out in smoky bars and it’s usually raining. Plus the Dutch angles to add an unsettled quirky feel but not forgetting the sinister and very effective use of silhouettes.

I do feel quite enthused looking at these images and having a go at attempting to, though not reproduce, but imitate the style with references from those types of books, such as Robert Crais, though a modern author, the time setting can be adjusted.

Similarly a photo shoot created from that of a film noir script by Raymond Chandler and from what I have read, key elements from that script have been encapsulated into a set of photographs with A-list actors. The project was created by Annie Leibovitz and Michael Roberts, the final piece was named after the original script - Killers Kill, Dead Men Die.

Visual Communication - Media Product Essay

This essay will demonstrate the requirement of a stage set, no matter how small, for a theatrical performance. This will be referencing my media product, which is a short film, created via time lapse photography, detailing the creation of a set for Sitting Pretty from an empty stage to that of a completed set and a fully lit stage. Though not directly related to the media product, I will be discussing set design and no matter how limited the space, it is there to enhance the situation, and in some cases with just subtle details.

The rule of thirds can almost fall apart, indeed it can be implemented to create a centre line view. However, a theatre set is not viewed from one location, though for an audience, they will interact with the ensemble from a certain static angle, perhaps seeing slightly more than someone two or three feet to the left or right of them, never the less the rule of thirds, if implemented, they will have to be carefully constructed to be aesthetically pleasing from all auditorium angles.

Set design is usually, if not mainly, created with one specific point of view in mind, usually in the middle of the auditorium. The more accomplished and creative set designers, incorporate the whole audience and adapt the stage and all sight lines to create a spectacle for the whole seating arrangement.

The manipulation of the script from page to stage is not of one singular step, it is in fact that of a transfer of digested text, thus from the stage of the mind to that of the stage of the theatre into the space available. However, this has its own pit falls as addressed by Bassnett-McGuire (1985, p.87):

“The two texts – written and performed – are coexistent and inseparable, and it is in this relationship that the paradox for the translator lies. The translator is effectively being asked to accomplish the impossible – to treat a written text that is part of a larger complex of sign systems, involving paralinguistic and kinesic features, as if it were a literary text, created solely for the page, to be read off the page.”

Indeed the golden ration and the Phi Spiral have no place within a theatre set because it is a semi-static environment, each audience member interacting with the signs displayed to them, albeit from a single point of view. Each member engages from a different perspective, be it bringing in their own private background or social standing; however, the audience needs to keep up with the information presented and piece together as the dialogue unfolds, for when an audience engage they are filling in the pauses with their own reactions but also of past experiences, therefore one can say that one play was not seen, the same number of plays have been seen as audience members. A one thousand seat auditorium when filled will actually host one thousand different plays in that one performance.

A theatre stage set is a signifier, hosting a whole collection of signifieds. These suggestions are representing not only the time and place but also the text and when performed, the spoken word. All these elements are analogical, ostensive. Besbes (2007) quotes Roland Barthes description of the theatre as that of a ‘cybernetic machine’, Besbes goes on to describe Barthes statement to be view in two different ways, firstly the polyfunctionality of the theatre and secondly the audience interacting with these ‘cybenetic’ messages. I will be discussing the involvement of the audience later.

The theatre set is in itself a reciprocal sign and self-referring signifier because the audience knows that this is a temporary space, yet it self-perpetuates by defining and strengthening its existence as the movements and dialogue unfold, though not reality, it does indeed take on a distorted quasi-reality, as stated by Elam (1980):

“…the fictional world of the theatre is also, in fact, mediated by discourse and there is merely the “illusion of direct presentation of the constructed world”.”

Also the visual aspect is that of a network of meanings:

“… as Brecht, Handke and many others have been anxious to underline – permitting the audience to ‘bracket off’ what is presented to them from normal social praxis and so perceive the performance as a network of meanings, i.e. as a text.” (ibid.)

Following on from this statement, I believe that Elam could also have referred to the set being read as a text, though contradictorily viewing it in a non-linear ensemble.

Within the set there are varying types and styles of semiotics, obviously depending on the subject matter, be it a Henry V, many will be iconic, however should the play for instance be Noises Off, most will be arbitrary and metaphoric. However, not to be led away by the visual only, sounds, some natural others artificial, are heavily index based, these indices indicate, for example, that the weather has changed, e.g. rain, or a car has passed by and with these indices we can create a deeper picture without the necessary visual aids. Can a set be created all from sound with an actor in front of a black back drop, I do not believe that this is the case; this is a too immersive medium to be created and delivered to only one of our senses though this does open up a whole new discussion about the visually impaired or indeed other senses, though I feel that these issues should be discussed separately.

Paradoxically the play by Alan Bennett farce Habeas Corpus is set in a black curtained set, making use of only 3 chairs, though this does work, the playwright actually wrote with the idea of, is it possible to write and perform a play without a set, or as minimal as possible; this has been tackled here and to my knowledge, not by many. I feel that this is due to the standard, in this case, of an extremely high writing skill and also a carefully chosen cast.

One issue I’d like to tackle here and discuss is the setup of the acting and viewing space, why is it that we the audience are always looking though the forth wall as a seated unit, I do not have an issue with this fourth wall, what I do wish to contest is why this viewing space cannot be fluid, dynamic, from the point of view of the viewer and hand some level of control and personal interaction with the unfurling events creating before them. This you could say is the point of theatre in the round; however, my argument is that this is still static for the viewer. I can only assume that this is intrinsically led from the Greeks and then to the Romans and their staging, handed down and we are locked in a mentality of ‘this is how we have always done it’, for me this attitude does not cut it anymore in the modern age, we can visit contemporary galleries where we are encouraged to look from different angles, sometimes encouraged to touch, interact or manipulate it in some way. I put it to the reader, why cannot this paradigm be extended to this art form.

One other but relating issue following on from the argument above is the performance in the public space, where the stage is the world, to change a famous phrase. Mime and various street performers require the energy and conviction in their art to hold the eye of the watcher and also to be chameleonic within their immediate surroundings, they are wholly dependent on the gestural sign, as Peick (2005) says that:

“Research suggests that approximately 60-65% of social meaning is derived from nonverbal behaviours (DeVito, Guerrero & Hecht, 1999)”

My conclusion from my findings and research is that, although technically whatever a performance is delivered in front of, it is still a set and the mind will enhance this situation depending on the content of the performance, therefore it will always remain that there will be the requirement of a theatre set, even just a smattering of props for the space of a simple set, for the performance to create and the audience to accept the space as ‘real’, fully utilising the suspension of disbelief and the power of illusion.

References:

Bassnett-McGuire, S. (1985) ‘WAYS THROUGH THE LABYRINTH: Strategies and Methods for Translating Theatre Texts’ in Hermans, H (eds), The Manipulation of literature: studies in literature translation, London: Billing & Sons Ltd, pp. 87-102.

Besbes, K. (2007) The Semiotics of Beckett’s Theatre: A Semiotic Study of the Complete Dramatic Works Of Samuel Beckett. USA: Universal Publishers.

Elam, K. (1980) The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. London: Methuen & Co Ltd.

Peick, M. (2005) Dance as Communication: Messages Sent and Received Through Dance. UW-L Journal of Undergraduate Research VIII (2005), 8, pp.1-11.

Bibliography:

Aston, E. & Savona, G. (1991) Theatre as a sign-system: A Semiotics of Text and Performance. London: Routledge.

Ubersfeld, A. et al (1999) Reading theatre. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Incorporated

Zuber-Skerritt, O et al. eds. (1984) Page To Stage: Theatre in Translation, 48 vol., Amsterdam: Rodopi

My Media Product - Time lapse photography

My final piece for course work one - a time lapse photographic short film of the creating of full stage set from that of an empty stage, in stage lighting as it appeared in the run, then the morning of the strike to that of an empty stage again. This is to display the creation of a temporary but acknowledged reality.

Pan’s Labyrinth – Hero Monomyth – Semiotics – Hermeneutics & Tropes

The film poster of Pan’s Labyrinth will be the subject of my attempt at combining a few of the elements of what we have learnt in this module and use of previous blogs.

The first order message is that of denotation, the common sense, the obviousness of the image. The tree is one of the first areas that we decipher, it’s gnarled almost muscular branches giving the feeling of unkindly strength and this in turn is cradling the moon, finally the girl stood before this dramatic scene, our protagonist, all of is in a wash of blue dark night. Also the small branches that frame the whole image gives also gives a sinister feel and makes us feel we are looking in to another world that the girl, first hand, is looking into.

The second order message, the signifieds of the signifiers, the connotations, the denotations is what the image is and the connotations is how it is presented, the tree being old, holding secrets, the moon linked to that of lunar activities, werewolves, witches, thus giving us by the connotations of a sense of foreboding. All of this, as stated, is in the dark, giving this the supernatural twist, yet at the bottom of the tree is green grass, the only colour breaking the darkness, giving a sense of hope and fruition.

The third message or third order of signification is that of the myth, these can be described as metaphors, either cultural or social, generated by the layering of older myths; although there may not me a clear historical myth within this film, it is itself a myth created by the knowledge of other myths, the anthology of storytelling, in this case, coming of age, how children think and deal and adapt with the situations around them.

From the Hero Monomyth perspective, using the image from an earlier blog:

The twelve steps:

1. Ordinary world – The girl living in 1944 with her mother and stepfather.
2. The Call to adventure – a fairy takes her to see a faun in an old labyrinth.
3. Refusal of the task – this is not dealt with as the young girl likes fairy tales and follow the fair.
4. Meeting with the mentor – Meets the faun, explains his and her position and gives her a book plus 3 tasks to complete.
5. Crossing the first threshold – Into the tree.
6. Test, allies & enemies:
   1^st test -she has to kill a frog to retrieve a key from its belly, get filthy told of by mother and then stepfather.
   2^nd test – use the key to retrieve an ornate dagger, but is chased by a child eating man.
   3^rd test – take her baby brother to the labyrinth.
7. Approach to the inmost cave – Finally at the labyrinth but girl has to hand over baby for its blood needs to be used.
8. Supreme ordeal – Refusal of the handover of the baby to the faun – stepfather takes baby – fatally shoots the girl.
9. Reward – girls own blood drips on to the labyrinth floor thus completing the task.
10. The road back – her dying takes her to her parents.
11. Resurrection – reborn in the fairy kingdom.
12. Return with the elixir – this is not used however the happily ever after scenario is used.

Regarding the hermeneutics of the story the area and time is 1944 war torn Spain, rebels in the wood not far from the village causing her stepfather problems and the girls pregnant mother, which has its own fatal complications, all adding to crate diversions.

The Syntagmatic structure clearly plays its part here via various kernels, namely the twelve monomythic steps, each crating it's own enigma, plot creation and part resolution, mainly and cleverly utilised by the three internal tests given; satellites are prevalent due to the involvement of the wood based guerrillas and internal conflicts, forged friendships and the revealing of loyalties within the house.

Division Bell

From a pure photographic form ‘The Division Bell’ album, designed by Strom Thorgerson, released in 1994 is that of two huge metal half faces in an upright position in a ploughed field looking at each other but also creating a third face, both not viewed at the same time, as Thorgerson and Curzon state

“Two heads facing, or talking to each other (‘Keep Talking’), making up a third face, which would get in the way both visually and literally, seemed like a good idea. The single eyes of the two faces looking at each other become the two eyes of a single face looking at you, the viewer. It was intended that the viewer should not see both at the same time. One was the single face, or the two profiles. If one saw both it was alternating, like an optical illusion, which was even better because it meant that the viewer was interacting, or communicating with the image directly, viscerally” (1997, p.130).

Oddly enough, this image, which is also on the front of Storm Thorgersons’ book in not displayed on or within the cover of Division Bell album, the subtle difference is that on the album the reference to talking is that of four spotlights and the unpublished image has three red flags.

This image is discussing linguistics, the act of communication either to someone else or from someone to us. The eyes look like bulls eyes from a dart board and in turn can be connoted to that of talking to your targeted audience. When viewing as two faces talking to each other, we feel like a third person, an almost non-entity within that diologue, perhaps also infringing on their privacy, yet when viewed as a full face, the eyes look menacing, due to the slightly lower angle and our looking up give it a sense of domination, one can also see a switch from two people talking to combining into a single joint force about to reprimand the eavesdropper, us.

Thorgerson, S. & Curzon, P. (1997). Mind Over Matter, The Images Of Pink Floyd. London: Sanctuary Publishing Limited.