Author: Lauren Hughes

Our time in the Safe House has come to an end.

Lauren Hughes / / CCTV, Performance process

Well it’s all over! I can comfortably say not one have us has ever experienced anything quite like the past few months. Site Specific has not only given us and hopefully the audience members an experience to remember, it’s opened up Drama as a subject even further for us as students.
For the CCTV group it’s been harder than we first predicted, we’ve gone from holding placards to the cameras, leaving messages around the house, treasure hunts, to finally finding something worthy of a performance. Instead of focusing on relaying messages to the audiences we decided to show the house in a different context, at night.

Going back to my first blog post, I reeled off the ideas and emotions that came to mind when I first entered the house on West Parade. When looking back now a few of my ideas were trialed and tested and eventually used in the final performances. Our group always wanted to use the CCTV to our advantage, for example whether we informed the audience they were being watched or to leave them to figure it out for themselves.

When the rehearsal process progressed so did our ideas, with the final piece being called Safe House, it developed our ideas for the CCTV room even further. Joining the CCTV group and Hayliegh in the Reception, we were the Agents within the Safe House ensuring their visit goes smoothly. With Hayliegh welcoming the two audience members to the house for their induction in the reception, she listed some rules and regulations within the house. There was then a phone call between me and the downstairs phone on speaker, asking the audience members questions about their choice of clothing, interrogating them as to whether they considered their clothing as a disguise when making way to the Safe House and so on and so forth.

On my performance evenings of the 1st and 2nd of May, improvisation was done during the performances mainly through the phone calls identifying individual visual aspects of each audience member. Identifying personal aspects ensured they knew they were being watched which clearly changed their body language straight away. Being in the Safe House for two performance evenings meant I had the opportunity to see several audience members explore the house and how each individual reacted differently to our weeks of work. When the audience members came across our room towards the end of their time in the house, several entered bewildered discussing their individual experiences, some came in quiet, calm and collected, others even tried interacting with me trying to provoke a reaction. The performance evenings were very exciting and nerve wrecking giving the improvisational aspects, it was fantastic seeing the reactions some audience members had when being asked personal questions about their appearance, watching their eyes race around the room before seeing the camera. One particular audience member entered the CCTV room at the end and were astonished they had been watching throughout the whole piece immediately saying in shock “Oh my goodness they’ve been watching us the whole time!?”

Choosing to leave the CCTV on for the audience members worked out really well, flipping the whole evening in their eyes on it’s head it was fantastic seeing their reaction, after watching this performance for the past sixty minutes and realising they were a part of it and that contradiction of all the performers now being unaware they were being watched. Although ours was an installation piece I was pleased we had the chance to see for ourselves the reaction the audiences had to our work. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there was something magical about watching the audience’s reaction to seeing the house as a whole on the CCTV screen.

Going back to the audience being a part of the performance the Living Room was probably the only room in which the audience had chance to be a performer knowingly. Some audience members literally sat with the performers for the full ten minutes, which was frustrating in that they didn’t explore the room they had put so much effort into. However the realisation set in that they may be trying to be a part of that performance as one audience member in particular sat still with them for the full ten minutes which could have been for that reason or maybe just the anxious, vulnerability they were feeling. The only sad aspect to the performance evenings was not being able to have a feedback session with the audience members afterwards to understand what was going through their minds and also what they took from each individual performance and if it was what we set out to accomplish or something totally different.

 

 

The Aesthetics of the Piece.

Lauren Hughes / / CCTV, Documentation, Performance process, Research

Discussing Fiona Templeton in my previous Blog post and how the performance Recognition influenced the idea of us being in the house through Multimedia on alternate performance evenings, we decided to do this through creating an installation piece with us videoed in and around the house. This meant we only needed one of us for each performance evening (solving the Health and Safety issues) to set up and man the equipment, which worked to our advantage as we still got to see the audiences reactions to our work.

The Invisible Man is a story based around a character and how he refers to himself as The Invisible Man as people refuse to acknowledge his presence due to the fact he is black. We chose to expand on this idea of feeling invisible and apply it to the house, however given the obvious fact we were a group of females we took the theme and alternated it to a feminism. Through this we decided to do filming after dark with torches lighting up each room in the house and see what affects this would create. We chose have a soundscape over this for example someone making a cup of tea in the kitchen, a news reel in the living room, brushing of teeth when a torch is shone from those rooms making them rooms come alive with the sounds. As well as this another layer of sound with our voices reading extracts from The Invisible Man narrating the piece.

When filming the rooms within the house at night, each room spoke its own aesthetic narrative. The footage had a layer of fuzz creating a grainy affect over it due to the resolution in the dark. With this totally new visual in the dark we decided the narrative idea could be taken so much further that the soundscape and torches idea wasn’t as necessary and focused on the aesthetics of the piece. In this we will give the audience a pair of headphones with our voices relaying a narrative to them while they absorb the imagery on the TV screen, some will be existing texts that complement the visuals and others will be our own pieces of writing. We decided to take 3 shots each and watch them repeatedly and simply write what we saw and felt.

“You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that your part of all the sound and anguish” ((Ellison, Ralph (1965) The Invisible Man, Great Britain: Penguin Books Ltd.)) This is taken from The Invisible Man, with so in depth descriptions of personal emotion we decided to still incorporate this as it sparked the idea as a whole and with most the imagery showing a shadow,

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Image by Lauren Hughes (2013)

silhouette

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Image by Lauren Hughes (2013)

or distorted face

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Image by Lauren Hughes (2013)

it linked in with that idea of having no identity, relating back to the title and also just giving that idea of feeling invisible and alone.

 

Safe house – definition; “a house in a secret location, used by spies or criminals in hiding” ((http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/safe%2Bhouse?q=safe+house Accessed; 25/03/13)), or “a house where someone can hide or shelter” ((http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/safe-house?q=safe+house, Accessed; 25/03.13)). The fact that when people are taken to a safe house they have their identity taken all links in with our contribution to the final performance. Also with the definition including shelter we did filming in other people’s homes to see what their definition of a home was, whether it’s the place or people etc. which we were going  to use within our piece before we came across The Invisible Man.

After recording the rooms at night we decided to have the CCTV room as the ‘room of screens’, with adding narratives to the videos, playing on a low volume when the audience enter filling the atmosphere with the ghostly whispers from the narratives. This project we decided to develop meant splitting the 1 minute clips of each room between us with 3 each sitting and watching these over and over…. And over again, we did this so the imagery could speak to us, even after watching one for 30 times unbelievably you would see something new or create a whole new narrative in your mind from these images. Giving that the three of us were female after reading the Invisible Man we chose to take the aspect of being invisible due to his ethnicity and use it through feminism and identity. Choosing to do so linked in really well with the Safe House which is all about identity.

Deciding to call the piece Safe House portrayed the essence of our piece as well as triggering ideas to enhance the feel of a Safe House, a safe homely feel, but also the authoritative aspects for example the agents, rules and regulations. “To start with, the dwelling space must give the impression of seclusion. If it is the task of the house to provide a refuge from the outside world, this must also find expression in the nature of the dwelling space” ((Bollnow, O.F (2011) “Human Space” London: Hyphen Press, p. 143)). A typical home for most of us is this way inclined and this is what the Safe House has… to a certain extent. The magic of our room being the last visited is for the audience to have explored the house knowing, but most likely forgetting for the majority of the piece that they are being watched, taking that idea of being secluded and keeping the private the private within a home is flipped on it’s head when they discover the CCTV screen.

When first hearing the term ‘Safe House’ I instantly envisaged films with characters being whisked away to a house in the country. However when researching into them it’s not all about the authorities keeping civilians safe, Safe Houses can be used to protect women who have been abused, foster children or hide illegal immigrants etc. When discovering the safe houses for women it linked in with our performance ideas, although our installation piece isn’t about being physically abused it still has that essence of oppression which is emphasised through the haunting atmosphere that fills the room when all the clips are playing in sync.

Research and Performance ideas

Lauren Hughes / / Research

After reading about Fiona Templeton and Michael Ramtomski’s performance Recognition it triggered some thoughts for me about how we could use the multimedia in our performance. We have discussed using pre recordings and projections but how close can we cut that line between the solid performance happening for the audience and the multimedia? I was touched how Ramtomski lived on through this performance after his death through the power of multimedia in performance.

Recognition 7

Image: Online: http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/352 (accessed: 3rd March 2013).

The piece involves Templeton interacting with a video of her late collaborator Ramtomski and a woman you cannot see which is presumably her. “She speaks words that are repeated moments later by the man in the video, or by her own voice recorded on the video; she turns the sound down and speaks words aloud as the man mouths them; she speaks in time with her own voice on the video and she speaks in his voice.” ((Baker, Clive (2000) New Theatre Quarterly 63, Cambridge: University Press p.208)). In the book New Theatre Quarterly 63 they describe the performance and how Templeton made the absent present through multimedia not only by playing a video of Michael Ramtomski but interacting with the media to make that presence much more real. A similar piece I saw was a third year student’s solo performance which I assume was inspired by Templeton’s work, where he used 3 different videos of himself and interacted with each one individually, each represented him in the past, one within hours, one within days and one slightly more. As he had this very convincing conversation with them he proceeded to inform them of the performance they will be taking part in (the one he was currently in). This type of performance evidently takes a vast amount of time and dedication however it could be used within our piece as due to health and safety reasons not all performers can be present for each performance.

 

Everyone’s a Performer

Lauren Hughes / / CCTV, Performance process, Uncategorized

                                                                           DESAbigbrother

Image:Online-https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=big+brother&hl=en&rlz=1C1SKPL_enGB453GB494&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=LG5AUZ-DPfS00QXdoYG4Aw&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=643(Accessed 20/02/2013).

“There is no single ‘Big Brother’ who is watching over us but lots of little brothers each with their own agendas.” ((Norris and Armstrong (1999) The Maximum Surveillance Society: The Rise Of CCTV, New York: Berg p.7)). We are always being watched,  when leaving our homes each day for work, college or university it is more than likely you will be filmed or photographed through CCTV.

“Studies by Honess and Charman (1992), Squires and Measor (1996) indicate that only between one third and two thirds of the population using streets with CCTV actually know they are being monitored.” ((Norris and Armstrong (1999) The Maximum Surveillance Society: The Rise Of CCTV, New York: Berg p.92)). With this gaze constantly over them, are they performing? When we trip over in the street a rush of embarrassment takes over where our minds are telling us we are hurt however we find ourselves laughing as were all this this performance together, everyone’s watching.  When walking down a street we are always aware eyes are on us not only cameras but people in windows, across the road and in cars. When our audience enter the house on West Parade will they become aware of the cameras straight away or will they spend the whole experience thinking they are aware of whom and when people are watching them?  We can use this to our advantage and show the audience they can be part of the performance as well. As the CCTV group we have discussed how we will be involved in the performance and how the audience could discover our room and then watch us as we roam the house performing as they have for us. Through this performance we can portray how people always know they’re being watched, with subtle glances at the cameras to eventually holding signs to signify our knowledge of the cameras, similar to The Surveillance Camera Players. Another way of incorporating this into the performance is interrupting the mini performances in each room and handing a sign/ placard to an audience member or performer and asking them to hold it to the camera.

“The real power of site-specific work is that it somehow activates, or engages with, the narratives of the site in some kind of way. That might be with its formal architecture, or it might be with the character of the building.” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance, London:Macmillan p.35)). When entering the house other than there being a television in the front room, it’s very bear and uninviting, it’s not an ideological notion of a modern home. The architectural design of the house makes the CCTV room one of the last rooms you may see which changes your whole outlook on the house when discovering it and extends that feeling of it being unappealing even more. It crosses the boundary between the outside world and the privacy within a home with inhabitants being aware they’re always being watched which you shouldn’t feel within a home. This ‘Big Brother’ feel the house has is a great characteristic we can work with for our performance. The most eerie room for most of us in the house is the cot room mainly as it’s the coldest room and the fact it has a cot gives it a lot of potential to play on that creepiness for the performance and we have incorporated this room into both our trailers so far. The character of the house instantly triggers narratives for performance ideas as you explore all its rooms.

As the CCTV group we have decided to take our filming to other people’s homes and interview them on their thoughts of home. What is ‘home’ to them? Starting by asking them to take us to the room/ place in which they feel most comfortable and asking them why they feel so attached to that part of their home. And if they’re a student whether their ‘home from home’ feels homely or just a place to stay. Then we suggested the idea of making negative comments about aspects of their home to see if they would defend it or agree, filming their reaction to this. These recordings will either be used for a trailer or within the piece or just for our own research.

 

 

Teaser Trailer

Lauren Hughes / / CCTV, Documentation

details

 

During one of our recent sessions we produced a teaser trailer for our piece involving placards, similar to the Surveillance Camera Players and shots revealing each room in the house within thirty seconds. We have decided to produce the snippets regularly to slowly reveal more information for our possible audience, for example the location.

 

((Surveillance Camera Players (2001) online: http://www.notbored.org/generic.jpg (accessed 20/02/2013)))

“The door is a crossing, a junction marking the divide between the realm of the public and the private” ((Heathcote, Edwin (2012) The Meaning of Home, London: Frances Lincoln p.25)) We have 18 different perspectives of home within our group, most of them will be similar with personal differences. For these short trailers as we don’t have a concrete idea of what each room in the houses final performances will entail we thought about exposing all types of home for different people, what the divide between the public and private is for them. Home for a lot of people is a safe zone, where you feel most comfort and at ease, however this isn’t the case for everyone.

After brainstorming between us one of the performance ideas we had was to show the idea of entrapment, with maybe a couple of performers sitting watching the television and when getting up to go get a drink their hands are tied behind them.

In our last session session we watched some clips of performances. One that stood out to me was Oreet Ashery’s Say Cheese. Seeing this clip shocked me as to how comfortable the ‘audience member’ felt in this situation. When watching at first I assumed they were lifelong friends confiding in each other. While watching this clip it occurred to me we have been devising ideas on making our audience feel vulnerable or uncomfortable rather than at home and safe which is what a home is supposed to feel like. In one of our trailers or for a pre-recording for the piece it would be nice if we could bring a couple people to the house and sit them in the different rooms and ask them what they think of as home and how it makes them feel. There was something special about seeing two strangers really enjoying each other’s company within such a small amount of time, it would be an idea to try to make one of our audience members feel this.

Image: Online: http://www.notbored.org/the-scp.html (accessed 10th Feburary 2013).