I'm in the process of looking over my Media in Performance class notes, videos and just generally reviewing. Blogging actually helps! You can click on the images if you really want to read my notes.
During the first couple of classes we talked about our experiences with media in performances - what we liked and what we didn't. I talked about working with Lifeforms in the mid-nineties and how for me it was more about coming up with choreographic ideas rather than projecting it during a performance. It was my first taste with integrating software into the choreographic process. My fascination with video editing and animation is ever-present, however Lifeforms is a distant blip on my choreographic EKG.
I enjoyed reading "Saturday." Above are some of my notes. I felt it useful to transcribe some entries that denoted time for me. I'd like to read it again this summer when I have to time to actually savor it! Another reading that was particularly useful and one I will revisit many times I'm sure is Ann Bogart's "A Director Prepares." I wrote about this earlier during the quarter. Here's a quick link to that entry: http://rashanaworks.blogspot.com/2010/05/quick-note-from-reading-1.html. An additional thing I will say about directing - I feel like I move slowly. I want to think it's me trying to be patient, but I'm not quite sure about that. I was a bit frustrated during this process. I couldn't always find the right words for Joda. Some metaphors worked and others did not. I need a directing class. Naturally, I would have loved more rehearsal time.
To the left are notes from our first study. Alexis Del Sol, Joda Lee and I had the task of creating work that utilized a computer monitor (or TV screen). This was particularly challenging. With a projector you have more choices about what to project the images on. With a monitor - that's it. That's your surface. Further, there were some discrepancies about whether we were supposed to use the large TV screen connected to a big tower, a laptop, or smaller computer monitor. I went ahead and used the large TV screen just to make things a little more difficult for myself. Once in place, I couldn't move (what I like to call) the Tower of Technology.It was heavy and clunky and of course, full of wires. On the other hand, it made me think about the content of the video and the integration of movement by Joda Lee, my dancer for the study. The study was only two minutes. For something so short, I still think I could work more on this without going over two minutes. I wanted more time to direct Joda and investigate more movement options. Time continues to be problematic throughout the quarter. (How interesting that we would start the quarter reading about time!)
Something positive that continued to come up for me during the quarter - video examination. I have elements of Joda examining the video of himself in the first study, of him videotaping himself, of him responding to seeing himself, etc. I have also been examining videos, literally picking them apart - not only for this class, but also for the "Theories of the Body" class. For my final paper in that class, I took three videos and examined camera angles and framing, timing and pacing, and sound in order to determine the motives or intensions for the videos. I'm completely fascinated about how sound can completely alter our "gaze." I just scratched the surface on this idea, but I will be diving into it a lot more this summer during an independent study project.
I found it useful to draw out the space for our final project. I still wish I would have used the space differently, but I felt like, for the purpose of a 12 minute piece that needed to accommodate all three of our pieces, we did okay. At one point there were layers of projections through screens that I really liked, but the logistics of moving those screens for other sections of our final project seemed to overrule the necessity of the layers. I was and still am incredibly intrigued with projecting small images onto objects (or large images onto small objects), however, I would like to do it in an installation environment instead of a traditionally laid out stage space. If anything, this final project gave me more ideas about collaborating with other artists to actually create objects for which to project from and onto.Below are technical notes for the final showing. I ran lights for Mair, Tiffeny and Kristen. On the left are the notes for those cues. I really enjoyed working with light. I want to do more! I especially think this is important when there's projection on stage. I appreciated Shawn Hove's lighting suggestions - it's amazing how much (light) bounce you can get from white scrims. Too bad I didn't use them.
On the right, are Isadora notes for my group's work. I would have enjoyed working more with Isadora and I definitely can see myself doing this. It's not even a question of "if" - it's "when". Luckily Isadora has great tutorials, so maybe I can work on my own. Shawn mentioned getting Isadora in the media lab. I really hope so! That could be a great class all on its own.
Finally, here are the feedback notes I took after our first showing of our last project. Bebe, as usual, brought up some great questions. I just can't help wondering what this process would have been like if all of us weren't so overcommitted this quarter. Nevertheless, this project was shown and the class is over. I'll see where all this video, projection, lighting, and Isadora-ing will take me next. Or rather, I'll see where I take video, projection, lighting and Isadora!
