Before starting this unit of work I decided I wanted to be a step ahead so I read the novel written by George Orwell so I would like to write my feelings on that before I start.
Orwellian Dystopianism at its finest. The book was an insightful and critically acclaimed viewed in to totalitarianism, privacy, control, social class and the dangers of thought. In my opinion it was an allegory detailing man-kinds fate if it was to continue down the path of full government control. The book had so many amazing moment that portrayed humanity and the true desire to have thought and feelings and to be free of control. It was also very graphic and sometimes hard to read. It created this eerie and frighting atmosphere where you are told the fate of protagonist in the opening chapters. It made me question life and the true nature of the government with it's people. Do we live in a world where 2+2=5? Is the truth only what I am made to believe? Can a single lie become a truth when it is believe by everyone? The whole novel is a depressing slap in the face from 1949.
The 1984 screen adaptation stayed fairly true to it's source material and overall was an adequate re-telling of the infamous story but I am not here to critique it! I would like to write about some of the key moments in the film that can be transferred into my multimedia performance.
SPY YOUTH HIKING SONG: One of the many pieces of music within the piece that helped create the atmosphere of the world, this song is sung by the creepy and positively ghastly children of the spy youth. This song tells you some much about the dehumanizing and the death of innocence within the youth of 1984. Lines like "And to die with dignity" show that these kids do not fear death and gladly welcome it as long as they were to die in order to help the party. Because my group is in charge of the Spy youth sequences outside we could use a speaker to blast this song out during exercises. Even if we are not granted access to electricity we could use the medium of song - I would use this to try alienate the audience and give a strong sense of patriotism.
CREATING A DARK ATMOSPHERE (USING MULTIMEDIA): Whilst watching the film it gave me tonnes of ideas on how to create an eerie atmosphere using things in the background. The constant mumble of the telescreens gave me an oppressed and monitored feel as I was watching the movie, Even though it wasn't at the forefront of must of scenes it was a consistently creepy thing running in the background. Using hidden speakers and simple monitors we can create this environment and the effect it will have on the audience will be subconscious and very effective.
INVISIBLE THOUGHT POLICE: Through out the film the thought police are mentioned all the time and after a while I was creating my own image of who the thought police were and much like the Gestapo in Nazi Germany I saw them as an all seeing all hearing organisation with almost super human power. Yet we only actually seem them once through out the entire once. The director creates these characters without evening showing which we could possibly do. If we get different characters to hint at the existence of the thought police instead of actually showing them the audiences imagination will do the rest of the work.
CRESCENDOS AND SILENCES: As with most films there are climatic moments were the action peeks whether that be through the explosion of a rocket bomb or the capture of Winston and Julia. There should be moments when the audience witness something high energy and maybe even frightening and there own personal story should peak. On the other hand if everything is in their face 24/7 it will become slightly awkward. There should be moments when the dust settles and they can collect their thoughts. The Rose Garden is a place of tranquillity and quietness. We can set up soothing nature sounds and fill it with prop flowers and use it as a place of respite and calmness devoid of the craziness of the rooms such as the fitness court.
MORNING EXERCISE WOMAN: There is a great scene where Winston is awoken early in the morning and is forced to do hardcore stretches and humiliating exercises. How I can relate this to my own performance is by having there be a live broadcast around all of "Oceania" and make everyone stop and do exercise. This could be done by using a live feed camera and a singular broadcast on multiple monitors. Now to add an extra level of realness to this sequence I call upon a random citizen and say they are not trying hard enough and make them step forward and pinpoint them like in the film. This will add an extra depth and make the audience believe I have the capability to see them.
No comments:
Post a Comment