Context

Today we recorded the moment of choral speaking and some breath. 

Why did we do this?

The choral speaking was recorded in order for the audience it hear

An example of a Greek Chours

the speech clearly. This piece of chorus is being performed in the courtyard while the audience watch from the window high up in the school building. This means that it is going to be difficult for the audience to hear the speech. Hearing the speech is extremely important for plays like Antigone as there story lines can often be very difficult to keep up with as their so complicated. Lots of aspects of the play are interwoven within each other and these things wont be identified if they can't hear the speech probably. Therefore it's more effective to have the speech played by a speaker in the room. The breath was recorded in order to enhance this piece of chorus. Breathing has a calming aspect to it as well as a climactic aspect. Deep breathing is used to become still and quiet in yourself. Fast shallow breathing,however, often connotes a chase or some sort of frantic action where every action is crucial. The breathing that we recorded was steady slow breathing that went to counts of 4. In for 4 and out for 4. This type of breathing would help the audience to connect with the topics raised in this piece of chours as it talks about things like disease and death. Deep breathing would also calm the audience down as the sound of rhythmic breathing enables you to become tranquil. This stillness allows the audience to enter deep thoughts and reflections, enabling them to go on the emotional journey that Antigone will take them on.

How will having the pre-recorded sound support this moment of the performance? The audience will be listening to this whilst you perform on the basketball court. 

Chours

Pre-recorded sound supports this moment as it means that the audience can focus on the movement that happening in the courtyard, while the pre-recorded sound is able just to sink in and flow around them. It adds context to the physical movements that's going on down in the courtyard, this is vital in order for the audience to grasp the themes in the play and have a basic understanding. 

We discussed how the pieces that you are creating are relevant for a contemporary audience.
How is your piece relevant for an audience? 

My scene in Antigone deals with the idea of suicide. It revolves around the idea that Antigone and Heamon have both committed suicide. This is extremely relevant to modern society because suicide is more common than ever.  Teenage suicides or self harming is a big part of this society and is something that isn't always talked about. There's a big question today about how right committing suicide is and the concept of aiding someone in death if they really want to die. Our scene brings attention to two youths who commit suicide of their own free will because they couldn't stand not being without one another. It sheds light on some of the reasons and thought processes that go on behind the scenes when committing suicide. This could help modern audiences reflect on these issues and develop their own views.  

How is the moment of multi-media in your piece relevant for the piece? 

The multi-media used in our piece features two youths committing suicide. This is relevant to our piece as its symbolic of there presence always being over cast over everything even after they have died. In our scene the messenger tells Euridice (Heamons mother) that her son and Antigone have committed suicide. This repeated footage of their suicide will be played over and over again through the scene. It shows how the memory of them will never leave the people that were closest with them. It also shines the light on their death and not on the life that they have lived.  It represents how the moment of their death, something that changed the world around them forever, will always haunt here and be presents where ever she goes. It shows how you remember their death and will never forget one of the most painful and traumatic moments of their lives. While their day to day lives are erased from their memories

Some groups did some filming today. How did it go? How will this support your piece?

The filming for our group took a long while to come together and there were a lot of difficulties and issues. Firstly, on the day where all the other groups filmed our group didn't. This was due to their not being enough cameras to go around. Our filming date was delayed until the following week. However, due to a Spanish exchange trip I wouldn't be there to help film our footage, although lucky I wasn't going to be in any of the footage. This meant they could film everything while I was away. Although, when I came back on the Monday before our performance on the Thursday I found that actually my group hadn't been granted the access to the cameras or been given the time during the lesson, so the filming hadn't taken place. They had filmed it, but on their phones and the quality was extremely bad. Cameron was also in the shot in the background when he wasn't supposed to be, this meant that the footage was unuasable. Therefore we had to take time out of the lesson today to film it. When we finally got around to the filming it went very well, it was just finding the time and getting our act together that was the problam. Once we got to where we were planning on filming, we had to alter our orignal idea so we could manage it in the time. This meant completly cutting Camerons running scene, and instead we had him in the background of the shot witnessing it all. He would then turn and run to tell Euridicie what he had scene. The amount of time we had avalible (which is only two and a bit days until our preformance) also meant that complicated editing couldn't take place. Therefore the idea of having two spearate films, of Antigone and Heamon dying couldn't be done in the time. As it would mean having to find a way of being able to play them one after the other on repeat without anyone presing play or pausing it. This caused us to change it slightly so its all one piece of footage. We adapted it so that Atigone is already hanging when the footage starts and you see Heamon coming in to witness her death. This then causes him to stab himself. We also talked about having the footage in black and white to give it a more sombre feel, yet this  may not be possible in the time frame. This footage supports our piece a lot because not only does it add context to our scene. But its adds an emotional feel and gives our scene some sort of symbolic meaning. I have outlined the connotations and effects this footage has earlier on in this post and through out the blog. 

An example of another groups multimedia

What planning did you have to do before the filming?  Write the script? Rehearse? Think about the best place to film it? Costumes?

The only real preperation we had to do for filming was think about subtible places to film and how we would stage it. This took a while as we need a tree that Antigone can hang of. This tree must be small enough to reach the branches so we can make it look as if Antigones hanigng without actually hanging her. We also had to consider what would be in the background of the shot as it all had to link into context, and something backgrounds just looked plain ugly. After searching around the school we finally found a tree that was low enough for us to reach and the location was in context. Then there was the problem of how to stage someone being hung. We discused using a chair and only filming her upper body, therefore the chair wouldn't be in the shot. But when we changed it to having Heamon in shot as well that wasn't a option. The reason for this was that Heamon falls onto the floor when he dies, therefore the feet must be in shot. After debating idea, we decided that we could use a rock for her to stand on. This rock would be placed behind a stump of grass, hiding it from the cameras view. This meant that if she stood on her tiptoes it would look as if she was suspended in mid air from the nose. We also had to consider costumes as the characters through out all the videos used had to be wearing the same thing, so the audience could identify them. After a class discussion we decided that certain characters would wear certain colours, for example all the Antigone's would wear red.

We then shared your scenes so far. Type up he notes you made on the groups. 

Tara's Group - 

• There was a good use of torch light to enhance their scene. The torch lights meant that the audiences focus was drawn into the centre of the piece and not any where else. The people who held the lights also played the chours, this was a great way tot incorporate them into the scene and not just have them standing there like lemons. However, when the chours spoke their lights dropped to the ground automatically, the scene lost a bit of its power due to this.
• I found the people holding the lights also represented the way women were treated. The light holders, who were all women, stood silently behind Creon and Heamon as they watched the events unfold before them. Yet they were powerless to do anything about it or voice their thoughts on the subject. 

Harmony's Group -

• Jake's character was great physically, you could see he had made some very bold choices in his character in order to define and separate him from the rest of the characters. The choices he made with his voice were also very bold and exaggerated. He was committed to his character through out the performance. 
• I also loved the use of music and physical movement that was coming from Natasha and Harmony. I felt as if they were circling Jake, like a predator circles his prey. It also seemed to represent flames creeping every nearer, linking into the context of this scene. As an audience member, it had a big impact on me because it showed that doom and darkness was looming ahead. 

Lloyd's Group - 

• I really liked how the three girls moved in unison, to me it symbolised how women had no voice or rights in this time period. It links to how in this scene Creon is declaring that no one will be allowed to bury Polynicies, a law that may people, including Antigone, don't agree with yet are forced to accept it because Creon holds all power. There was the fact that Creon and his advisers were standing high up on chairs while the women moved on the ground almost like animals. 

Roseby's Group - 

• Benji's character was very bold and you could see he had made some strong decisions about his character. There was a clear separation of characters between Benji's and the character of Creon. The strong contrast in characters worked well to provide humor for the audience. 
• I also loved how they included a new report. This made it more modern and easier to relate to. Loads of people watch the news daily and thereofre the concpet of this being so important it becomes breaking new is easier to understand because the idea of not being able to bury somebody maybe harder for some people tto understand why its so significant. 
• The news report also represented the barrier between Creons public life and his life behind closed doors. In the news report you can see him as the respectable harded headed man hes suppposed to be. Then behind closed door you see his true colours wheres hes having a fit to one of his guards. 

Nina's Group - 

• I liked how they had made it more modern and relevant to a modern audience by including the idea of having wi-fi in the scene. There was also a large comedy element that came from the way Antonia and Tim interact wiht each other. This worked really well in that scene. 
• I also thought that the way they interacted with the audience was great. This links to the idea of a promand as it feel like you are walking through this drama and not just sitting on a sit watching it. 

Oliver's Group - 

•  I loved how this group Incorporated the chours. The chours was shown as guards who were constantly walking abut as Ismene and Antigone had their discussion about polynicies body. The guards provided a good way to relieve the tension that Danyella and Jamie created through their argument. 
• It also seemed to show how people are always listening and Creons men are always around, therefore there is no privacy in their lives. 
• I also thought the way the two sisters changed their levels of intensity, it provided some dynamics in the way the scene was done and also added to this idea of them being watched as they changed to low levels of intensity to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

In my opinion some of the most successful moment were where groups really pushed their ideas. This often meant their peice had an abstract and symbolic element. An example of this is in Harmony's group. 

What moments are successful and why? 

What meets need to be developed and why? 

How did the pieces become relevant for a contemporary audience?

Social Context of Antigone

What do we mean by the social context?

Social context is the environment of people that surrounds something. It shows how the people around that something use and interpret it. The social context of that thing also influences how something is viewed. 

How did people live at the time Antigone was created? 

At this time society in Athens was very male-dominated. Only men had the rights to be citizens and upper-class men were the only ones to enjoy a formal education. There were few political rights given to women as they were expected to stay at home and bear children. The Greeks also had salves, these were usually people who had be captured during the clashes that extended Greek influence overseas. One quarter of the population was made up of slaves. The salves were used to provide much of the manpower that fuelled the growing economy, they worked in shipyards, quarries, mines and as domestic servants. The houses were mostly modest and without widows. The homes were generally built around a central courtyard, furniture was rare. People spent most of their time out doors while enjoying the sun. Wealthy upper/middle-class people would attend markets or shows during their spare time. They main factors in their food was wine and bread

Most homes were modest, windowless and wrapped around a courtyard. Furniture was rare. People spent the majority of the day out of doors enjoying the mild Mediterranean climate. The Greek diet was also modest, based largely on wine and bread. A typical day would start with bread dipped in wine, the same for lunch and a dinner of wine, fruits, vegetables and fish. Consumption of meat was reserved for special occasions such as religious holidays.

Who was the target audience for this piece?  

The target audience for Antigone was mostly upper class, middle aged men.  It is a story that pits the law of the gods—"unwritten law"—against the state laws of humankind, family ties against city duty's, and man against woman. These themes apply to upper class men. The story depicts one women who goes against the laws, laws that were put in place by a man (showing how they hold all the power in society). Many playwrights in Ancient Greece used their plays to comment on social and political concerns of their time. This is what Sophocles may have intended when he wrote Antigone. Sophocles may have been trying to send a message to the men in power about the dangers of authoritarian rule. These tragedies were written to be performed at the Great Dionysia (a festival in Honor of the god Dionysus, the god of fertility, theatre, and wine) in Athens. Attending these plays was considered a duty of the city, even criminals were let out of jail to attend. The audience often reflects on the issues raised in the plays that they watch. The play presents a realistic interpretation of society and turns this into a world of death, pain and hurt. Terisias is a character that prophecies great doom if they don't change thier ways, this relates to audience. As the play presents a realistic view of the society it links into reality, commenting on the fact that if change doesn't occur soon, the final outcome wont be good. 
What were the needs, values and beliefs of the target audience?
Men held the power and were expected to do the important jobs such as being a politician, farmer or a fighter. Where as women were seen as people only fit for childbearing and household jobs. These patriarchies were a strong part of the audiences beliefs.


How did this influence the themes and characters of Antigone.

Antigone is very much about challenging these views as it the main character is a women. Not only a women but a strong minded independent women who goes again the authority of the king, and therefore men.  By posing these ideas in his play, it gives the audience an opportunity to reflect on the society as they knew it. 

 What have you found out about the social context of Antigone? Think about what was going on at the time that Sophocles wrote the play. 

 Around the time of Sophocles there was another greek philosipher called Socrates. He seemes very much like the characters of Antigone, both hold onto the same values. Its possible Sophocles based Antigone on the story of Socrates. The gornment believed that Socrates didn't honour the gods enough and this angered the government, later causing them to sentenced him to death. This links to Antigone because although she died becuase she believed the city didn't honour the gods, her death was still caused by her beliefs in religion, just like Socrates.

Who went to the theatre?

The theatre was made up entirely of men while the women stayed at home to do housework or other odd jobs. Men from all the different classes went to the theatre, however people of more higher class and status would sit at the front, such as priests or political leaders where as the public would sit further back away from the pit. Whole army groups also went to the theatre, they would sit and watch the show in these groups. 

What was the relationship between theatre, politics and religion? 

 These three things were very closely linked, comedies often mocked politics and the people involved and the plays in general often raised questions about religion such as Antigone. Going to the theatre was as a semi religious thing as its said that plays evolved out of worship songs to the Greek god Dionysus.  Before plays there is always a short  ceremony to thank and worship Dionysus a good example is the festival of Dionysus (Great Dionysia) . The amphitheatres were also sometimes used for politics such as campaigning, the space was a universal one for all to use.

Set Design Project

Set Design Project

This is the design for the backdrop of the stage. I decided to set this version of Antigone in Proscinium Arch, meaning that only the back and side walls need to be covered with a set. The reason for this  is that Antigone is quiet a hard play to coprehend and the themes raised can be extremly hard to come to terms with. Therefore I thought it would be better to stage it in a traditional staging so they can focus on the play and not on the staging. Some people find it difficult to concentate on the play if they are being introduced to new things. So the staging is standered to draw their focus to the play and its context. My version of Antigone is set outside Camdam Town tube station and is the story is based in a gang. Camden seemed the ideal place to set it as Camden is a well known party and gang area for young people. This makes the play more relatable to young people as they are usually the ones who struggle to understand acient plays like Antigone. Some young people may have even had experience in gangs and thereofre the dynamics of the play and of the community that its set in will be easier to get to grips with. Creon will of course be the leader of that gang and therefore have all power.

Camden Town Station

Camdan also is a place that has two sides to it. There is the market during the day, that's bouncy and entertaining. Then there the night life of Camdan. This relates to Creons character as you have the public view of Creon where he's forceful and in charge. Then there's the private view of Creon that can be seen having hissy fits and so on. The colous of the set are mostly greys and dull colours. This seems to reflect the depressing side of London that is often hidden. However fun and amazing it may seem to tourists, it can be a place of poverty and unhappiness. This contrasts with the bright colous in the tube sign, a symbol that is widley recongnised by foreginers. It's again showing the contrast of things that are broadcasted for the public and things that are hidden from the public. There is also graffiti on the walls. This represents the people's voice. Graffiti is often used to express your concerns as it's difficult to identify the speaker and it's not direct. This

The type of gang Antigone is set in

makes it easier for modern youths to relate because probably some of them will have participated in graffiti, and therefor voiced there thoughts. The blank rectangle in the centre will be a space that goes further down into the space, it will have more depth than the rest of the stage. This will be where most people can enter and exit from, it represents the entrance to the tube station. This is also symbolic as entering the tube station is something that will take you on a journey and you don't always know where you will end up. The characters the enter or exit from there are constantly on a journey and the audience can connect with that journey as if it was their own. Scene can also happen in that space ifyouths  want to separate that scene from the majority of the play. Things like a prison for example would happen in that space because it's this idea of being separate from society. 

Multimedia - Exploring Chours

Today we spent the lesson working on the chours. The first half of the lesson was dedicated to working with mr crowther on the - . This piece of chous is going to be preformed out side on the courtyard while the audience watch from a window. The majority of the chrous is preformed unison. However, there is a small part of the chours where we devised some actions in groups. These actions would be done in a canon where we start one after another. These set phrases would then be repeated over and over again untill we all stop on a key word. My group had the line '____'. After a quick descusion we decided that we would try and symbolically replicate a mountin range.  This was done by all of us standing/lunging in a semi circle. The people as the back would stand, and ther nearer you were to the front the lower down you were. Alex would then burst out of the 'moutins' to create the idea of a wild beast. I found that one of the main challenges was keeping in time as a group. It tool a while for the us as a chours to find a rythem. This may have been because we werent speaking the lines, therefore we found it harder to find a genral rythem as normally the speech connects us to a rythem. I really enjoyed this exersice as it was a physical exersice. I felt you could really get stuck in and connect the play to the way your body moves. Sometimes my acting is only in the face and doesnt go into the body so i found it very benifical to connect my movments. The next part of the lesson was also dedictaed to working on a chours. But this time it was a different chours that was about prasing the Gods. This peice evolved around bringing awareness to the Gods and their superiority. This was done by raising our eyes and hands to the heveans while saying our lines. We then created the skyline of 'rome'. Abstract shapes were formed with our bodys to create the shilohet of what would be Rome. To me this seems to symbolise the view from the heavens(hows the Gods see earth) They do not look at the day to day part of each person life but the broad idea of what happens on earth. It shows their superiotry and strength and therefore gives respect. I also enjoy how everybody became one voice. Sometimes is theatre it can become you and the people on stage and there is no sense of a communtiy but when your doing th chours its different. Everbody supports each other and you become one body on stage. 

Multimedia - Live Feed and Garage Band

In that lesson we also looked at live feed and garage band. Both of which would be very useful tools when devising our sections. Live feed is when you are filming the footage that is being played on the stage in that moment. Its not prerecorded. You can use this devise is so many ways to create lots of different effects. One way of using live feed is too be present on the stage as you film so the audience can acknowledge your role. This creates a great effect as the audience are looking in onto what looks like a film set. Its abstract and whether or not the audience chooses to accept the cameraman as part of the play is their choice. Live feed enables you to bring different locations or situations to the stage. An example we looked a in class is creating the effect of a video chat. You could be up on stage filming one end of the video chat as its being played onto a projector screen while another person talks to the screen as if they were on skype. This creates a barrier between the two characters on stage as they aren't physically interacting with each other. Garage band can be used to create music or sound effects that are specific to what you want. It allows you to create something that fits your piece exactly that you may not have been able to find if you had looked at prerecorded songs or sound tracks. It also means you can create the sounds of a guitar or piano without physically bringing a piano into the room which would cost money and would need a certain level of skill in order to play it. Garage band means you can create all the desired sounds with ease as you don't have to use a professional recording studio.