IPP: From Page to Stage

Getting in touch with my imagination

What is imagination?

I view the imagination as a separate layer of the mind. It is located somewhere between the conscious and the subconscious portions of the brain, and it blurs that border ever so slightly. The imagination is wit and creativity, often at odds with the conscious, more rational side of a person, but sometimes an artist or a writer or anyone, really, has to learn to let the imagination win a couple fights.

What is an image in the mind?

An image in the mind is something you can see without seeing – that’s all I ever think about, really. How can I imagine a scene when my eyes do not register any visual information? How do I picture things as I read when all my brain should be registering is black ink on white paper? Fascinating.

What is the relationship between imagination and image?

The imagination gives rise to images, creates them – perhaps this is why that strange phenomenon happens when we read. Visual information is the conscious layer of the mind. Dreams are the subconscious, in which we don’t see but the brain is tricked into believing that we do. Perhaps an image is a strange blend of this.

What is the relationship between imagination and image and the sensible (or sensed) world?

An image is a poor word – it implies merely something of the sight, when the imagination has the potential to create a world. For the imaginations of the sensible world, I prefer the word ‘scene’. I create scenes in my head with vivid colors, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures.

What is the nature of the relationship between me and my imagination?

It’s strange, but I take my relationship with my imagination a bit far – I use my imagination to personify it, which is strange to think because then the imagination is personifying itself, but details, details, haha. My imagination is almost a rival to me, a friend that I can argue with. After all, he’s always tossing me ideas when I’m in no situation to catch them, and then he insists that I work with them as fast as I can. He also has too many ideas, and his argument is that I ‘work too slow’ when the problem is that he’s too efficient and moves from one idea to another too fast! I can’t complete anything that way! But in the end, I think my imagination and I have an understanding.

Can I talk to it?

Yes, given quiet and some concentration, I can speak to my imagination. In fact, I enjoy speaking to it aloud in the privacy of my room when I am working.

Can it talk to me?

Yes, it can talk to me – that’s what I call it when inspiration strikes me at the worst possible moment. It’s as if I’m just in a taxi, and I notice how the rain smears against the windshield when the wipers go fast, and then my muse is suddenly next to me hissing ‘write about this!’ and proceeds to harass me until I comply.

Can it teach me anything?

My imagination notices far more things than my rational, conscious one does. It seeks out intrigue in the most mundane of things, like the steam rising from a cup of tea. My imagination is also the thing that prompts me into taking interest in people and makes me wonder about all the stories that go untold in the world.

Can I deliberately and consciously “make” images?

I can easily conjure images in my mind, especially with a strong vision. Even more so with some specific music to help me get into the right mindset for the scene I have in mind.

Can I deliberately and consciously “erase” images?

Alas, this one is not possible. I can try to ignore images and scenes in my mind, yes, but ultimately I can’t deliberately erase them. They’re stuck with me until my imagination gets bored and they fade from memory like a dream.

Are images always pictures? Do they ever include words and/or other sensory perceptions?

As I stated before, images are not always pictures – to me, they include words, sounds, dialogue, emotions, time, things beyond the senses. They can be short little scenes or whole mental movies. That’s why I usually start to imagine things right before I sleep, so that I can have all the time I want and not have a scene cut short.

Is it possible to train, or educate, the imagination in order to make it more responsive, more dependable, and more focused?

Yes – I am a firm believer that the imagination and the mind, like anything else in the body, is like a muscle and can be honed with time. Imagination takes practice, like anything takes practice to better. I can honestly affirm that it has become easier to form scenes in my mind as I did it more frequently, and my bond with my imagination is far stronger now than it was in the past. As a result, my imagination is more responsive, more dependable, and yes, more focused.

Pitches

Reca - Set

• Motivations
• TOK; questioning the veracity of the mainstream media
• Heroism
• Recently written; relevant issues and references
• Thought-provoking and leaving room for artistic interpretation whilst not being so avant-garde that it's lost on the average teenager
• Maximizing our talents in our class
• Merging visual arts and theatre
• Creating a new world to immerse an audience member
• Learning the technical vocabulary and protocol for possible jobs in engineering
• Seeing complexity to seemingly simple themes
• Issues and Themes
• heroism
• transparency
• etc.
• Target Audience
• Upperclassmen
• Those random underclassmen that are 'up' with current events
• Parents
• Elements of Performance that will Excite and Inspire Audience Members
• SET - in-your-face-ness and immediacy of the realism
• Current events/names that we hear about on the news every day
• China's proximity to us (many people visit it frequently for things like APAC)
• Popular culture -> everyone's familiar with the Tank Man
• Fast-paced, action-driven
• Relationship between TOK and bias in the news
• End of hte play is very inconclusive; forces viewers to think long and hard about who the 'hero' was
• The original staging benefits us with stage transitions
• The Set Itself
• overlap of Zhang Lin and Joe
• Frank's Office atop of the cramped flower shop
• image from superman
• generic multi-purpose office
• benches for parks; tables for restaurants; etc.
• Scott Pask: The Pillowman
• that image is fantastic
• so much depth; scrim is almost opaque
• light up specific views
• Le Page; needles and opium
• projections on the walls and floor make fantastic textures and moods

Austin - Lighting

• Motivations
• media; influence of censorship
• International School
• a huge change from Brechtian style Epic Theatre
• Leaves everyone to ponder
• Target Audience:
• high school students and faculty
• Vision
• Theoretical vs. Practical vision (Darkness of Black Box)
• Director and Lighting Department; mutual vision
• propaganda / censorship
• murky vs. seeming cleanliness
• establishment of different scenes through lighting
• red and blue; this actually looks pretty darn cool
• pressured, claustrophobic atmosphere for China
• open and more tolerant atmosphere with America
• Practicality
• most of the light is the ceiling
• follow-spot, what is happening with the scrim?
• intensity will have to be high due to the darkness of the black box
• colors are visible but not dominant
• slowly mix the colors as we continue on
• will the colors blend? do we have barn-doors?
• what colors represent what?
• Functions
• visibility or obscurity
• mood
• Summary
• geographical and temporal discrepancy
• play with the intensity of the light for the past
• potentially starker lighting for the past to represent propaganda?

Andy - Film

• Cinematic vision:
• incorporate film in the production, mainly for background and past of characters
• creating the atmosphere around the set
• for example, the airplane set; having a background to emphasize the environment
• Zhang Lin's apartment - the feeling of a Chinese apartment
• Keywords
• Hazy - pollution in China
• Overwhelm - claustrophobic environment
• Censorship - media in China
• Urbanization - cities, traffic lights
• The past - 1989 Tienanmen Square
• Population - Chinese population, crowded
• Robert Lepage's approach in Film and Theatre
• juxtaposing multicutural elements in theatrical plays
• bringing together various art forms by combining tech and live performances in the development of a multimedia project (Zulu Time)
• cinematic quality, using media screens and technology to tell stories
• "facilitating multiple viewpoints on the same subject through the variation of camera angles"
• When you have realism, but have to go beyond that, it is about 'close-up', and film is there to bring things closer to the audiences
• audiences are far from the object and action, etc.
• example images
• CCTV for the torture scene

RI Works Cited

Ariba LIVE 2013 Opening Performance. Prod. Pilobolus Creative Services. PilobolusDance. YouTube, 24 May 2013. Web. 23 Dec. 2013.

• A unique production by the Pilobolus Dance Theatre Company, this source provided me with great insight into the potential of shadows in theatre and storytelling. From this source, I particularly took inspiration regarding smooth lighting and mood transitions during a shadow performance. It also provided me with the ideas of utilizing multiple smaller lights to create a contrasting effect to the shadows, which shaped much of my research investigation.

Bear, B. E. "Some Advice on Stage Lighting." The Strand Archive. The Strand Archive, Sept. 1966. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

• Although this source provides great information regarding specific lighting techniques, such as the effects different intensities of light have to offer and the importance of keeping the audience's condition in mind while designing lights, the age of this piece draws away from its credibility. There is the unfortunate chance that this source is outdated, despite its sound information.

Blood, Melanie. "Lighting Design." Lighting Design. State University of New York Geneseo, 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

• This source was fundamental for my research investigation. Its review of basic lighting concepts such as color, intensity, direction, and movement greatly helped to form my own ideas regarding Metamorphoses whereas more specific vocabulary provided me with the knowledge of lighting design I needed in order to compose a professional report. The examples of lighting available on the site, although not relevant to contemporary shadow theatre, allowed me to see how lighting can change the mood of a scene and the importance of using lighting to enhance the acting rather than hinder it. This source is credible, as it is from a series of lecture notes from the State University of New York Geneseo, and also relevant as it is from 2012.

Ghosts of the River. By Octavio Solís. Dir. Larry Reed. ShadowLight Productions, 2013. DVD.

• This source provided great insight into the use of shadows in storytelling. It provided key reminders that shadows should not be a distraction to the story, and provided techniques regarding smooth transitions from one scene to another using multiple projectors and premade sets. This source also contributed techniques regarding the use of both shadows and real actors simultaneously in a scene. Although this source took much of its information from traditional shadow theatre, such as Balinese and Chinese theatre, I found that the techniques regarding the use of projectors, lighting, and storytelling remain relevant in contemporary shadow theatre as well. This source is highly credible, as it is a recent educational DVD produced by a well-known theatre company, and the producers traveled throughout the world to explore shadow theatre techniques directly from the source.

Lord, William H. Stagecraft 1: A Complete Guide to Backstage Work. Colorado Springs, Colo: Meriwether Pub., 1991. Print.

Pe'er, Oriel. The Umbrella Project. Digital image. Pilobolus Blog. Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Sept. 2013. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.

Reid, Francis. The Stage Lighting Handbook. London: A&C Black, 1992. Print.

Salzberg, Jeffery, and Judy Kupferman. "Stage Lighting for Students." Stage Lighting for Students. Stage Lighting Primer, Nov. 2012. Web. 23 Dec. 2013.

Sayer, Rob. "Lighting & Shadow." On Stage Lighting. On Stage Lighting, 3 Dec. 2008. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.

• Although basic in its nature, this source provided a simple beginner's guide regarding the use of shadow in lighting. It dispersed common myths about shadows, such as the idea that more light will be able to erase shadows, while also introducing techniques on how to establish different intensities of shadows using different kinds of lights. This source is recent and credible, as the author has the credentials to back him up. Sayer is a renown man in technical production, having trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Sayer, Rob. "Stage Lighting Focus Guide." On Stage Lighting. On Stage Lighting, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.

Shadowland. Dir. Jorge Delgadillo. Pilobolus Dance Theatre, 2013. Performance.

• As the inspiration for this entire research investigation, Shadowland served me greatly as a source of ideas as well as references for lighting concepts and techniques. This production showed me much of how to utilize colors and lighting intensity in order to establish the mood of the story as well as how to use the two-dimensional world of shadows to its full potential.

"ShadowStage Productions." ShadowStage Productions - The UK's First Professional Company Dedicated to Contemporary Shadow Theatre Techniques. Shadow Stage Productions, 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.

"Stage Lighting Guide." Stage Lighting Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

The Wild Party. By John M. March. Dir. Larry Reed. ShadowLight Productions, 2008. DVD.

Williams, Bill. "Stage Lighting Design 101." Stage Lighting Design 101. N.p., 1999. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

Zimmerman, Mary, David R. Slavitt, and Ovid. Metamorphoses: A Play. Evanston, IL: Northwestern UP, 2002. Print.

Research Updated Here (cannot reformat; every time I try, blogger crashes; lost a ton of information this way that I could not recopy from word document without it crashing)

TPPP Final Draft

My name is Sabrina Sung, candidate number 000166-067, and I am an IB Higher Level Year 2 Theatre student attending Seoul Foreign School.

What Makes a Good Director?

1. Understanding; a willingness to understand the play, the ensemble, and the audience all together
2. Discipline; to create a constructive environment, the director must be disciplined his or herself; they must put in as much, if not more, effort into the production as all the other elements
3. Diligence; a director must be willing to work hard in a consistent manner, or the production will never come to fruition
4. Communication; a prerequisite to understanding and efficiency; it cannot be one-sided
5. Enthusiasm; if the director has no interest in the production, that's already too much momentum and energy lost
6. Motivation; different from enthusiasm, the motivation is the driving force towards completion and perfection
7. Objectivity; a director must be able to have a clear goal in mind and think of what is practical; how to make the best play they can, even if it results in some difficult decisions with the rest of the ensemble; of course, communication and understanding is also key
8. Awareness; of the world around them, of society, of the happenings in their ensemble, of the progress of work, the conditions of their cast, and more
9. Adventurous; a director must be willing to take risks and have the motivation to see it through.
10. Love; for the play, for the ensemble, for the audience

Relationship between director and the actor:

1. Willingness to communicate and understand each other's needs and want
2. Respect for one another and their ideas; available to listen to ideas
3. Every member of the ensemble is important, and there is no insignificant role in the play; the director must understand this

TPPP Tips

• transitions; keep note of them
• reference images and image changes; "As you can see in image 1, etc."
• opening and closing
• symbol should be an overarching theme
• two world theatres
• more than one practitioner
• do not just list facts; show evidence of reflection
• synthesis

BTB Response to David Park

1. Vertigo (1958) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
2. District 9 (2009) dir. Neill Blomkamp
3. A Man Escaped (1956) dir. Robert Bresson
4. The Mirror (1975) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
5. Blow Out (1981) dir. Brian DePalma
6. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
7. Bigger Than Life (1956) dir. Nicholas Ray
8. Playtime (1967) dir. Jacques Tati
9. Suspiria (1977) dir. Dario Argento
10. In The Mood For Love (2000) Wong Kar Wai

I admit, I never watched any of these movies, and now I'll likely be spending my winter vacation tracking them all down. Reading the contents of the message, I can't help but feel that I would enjoy these movies.

What makes a story 'good' or 'bad', especially in visual media such as film, has suffered from the mass attention to fame and stardom. "While I have my own opinions about all of these matters, I strive to look beyond my personal tastes and to delve deeper and discover the director's intent in the decisions they've made. Roger Ebert once said quite eloquently that a film is not what it's about, it's how it's about what it's about."

I completely agree.

I have always been more of a writer and a reader than interested in film, but I feel that the same philosophy applies to all art - it is not the content alone that should be evaluated, but the presentation as well, and the active choices that were made.

I appreciate stories that linger with me. Sometimes movies that people deem 'great' or 'fantastic' leave me with nothing - it was a brief moment that fades too quickly to be memorable. The simplest comparison I can make is that some movies are like a piece of candy and another is like a cake. One leaves you filling more fulfilled.

Out of time; tbc