Week of 4/19 : Videos! Graphics! Monologues! And More!
This week I worked a lot on the videos for the projections in the show. I created 2 animated text videos that give background information about Geena and another video that is supposed to help address Geena’s paranoia. I gather up a lot of my friends and had them record lines about what Geena imagines her friends say about her behind her back. The videos ended up being a little grainy so I added a threshold effect to the videos to create a more artistic atmosphere and I think it worked very well.
Part of this video was an animated character talking about how Geena is disappointing them which was, originally, very funny in my head — it did not translate well to the screen and will have to be cut which is disappointing because I spent a significant amount of time animating the character.
I created a sort of graphic identity for my project this week seen at the top of this post. It’s supposed to emulate the set. I like it quite a bit and hope, that if there’s time, I can print a poster or two.
Rehearsals are going well. We had a monologue workshop this week and talked through a lot of the heavier monologues in the show, namely Geena’s meltdown at the end, and Jem coaxing her out of it. Jem’s part is particularly difficult because what Jem is trying to be, first and foremost, is honest. And the truth is a little harsh but it’s what Geena needs because you lie and tell Geena that you know everything going to be alright, she’s not going to respond well. Jem tries to find truth in human existence and relate it back to Geena’s fears and it’s a very hard monologue to deliver, and it’s probably the most important monologue in the show. So it was nice to get some work done on it.
JEM: Geena, I’ve been doing this for a while now and I think it’s important for you to understand that you can’t save anyone. Life is complete and utter catastrophe. You’re absolutely right. The world is filled with death and disease and destruction that if we think about it too long it seems to suck out all the light in the world. Geena, you have not had it easy. This is a hard situation to be in. You’ve lost a lot. You’re allowed to struggle with — existence — it’s something humanity has done collectively since the beginning of time. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it will all be alright in the end — that Andy will come home and you’ll learn to like your writing and become a successful writer. I can’t promise that you’ll eventually want the things that are good for you instead of this spiraling whole of pessimism you’ve set yourself in. We don’t get to chose our hearts. Sometimes what we want for ourselves isn’t what society deems to be “good.” Look life — is many many things — but what I want to make to clear to you, right here and now — is that life is short. The world is cold. Fate is a cruel mistress, although perhaps the hands we are dealt by her aren’t always entirely random. Perhaps there is meaning behind our small tragedies and destinies. And Death may be inevitable but that doesn’t mean we don’t fight it til our very last breath. And maybe we’re not always that happy to be alive all the time, like right now, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try to improve, that we don’t try to live and see and exist in a world full of so many possibilities. We have to learn to immerse ourselves and see — maybe not the good — but see the everything and learn from it.
Looking towards graduation, I’m excited to announce that I have been accepted into the Integrated Media for Performance master program at CalArts and hopefully will be able to attend in the fall. It’s really nice to see the work I’m doing for thesis reflective of a possible future in this field.
It’s been a really productive week and it will be a really productive next week, finishing videos, getting off book, and practicing in the space and I’m very excited for all of it, but also very stressed because it’s a lot of work in very little time.
