Thursday 28 February 2008

Seeing RED at Cambridge Arts Picturehouse

I've been stuck in the house with laryngitis and a chest infection my doctor says could be pleurisy, so I jumped at the opportunity to get out as soon as I was starting to feel better. "Jumped the gun" might be a more accurate description as I turned up on Sunday thinking it was taking place then. A smirking usher put me straight.

Run by the Film and Digital Media Exchange, presented by 4K London who have one of the first RED One cameras in the UK, this was a chance to see RED One in action, followed by a hands on
demo at Anglia Ruskin University. Having heard the latter was full up, I'd committed to leaving after the initial event, so I was a little peeved when they announced the invitation-only session was now open to all. Having said that, the pros in the audience were talking a language a little beyond my understanding. Perhaps it was just as well I didn't turn up and embarrass myself.

The demo impressed me; apparently shot in the City of London at the weekend in a variety of light conditions and with no sign of the noise I noticed in the 2K version of Blade Runner projected here before Christmas.

Tuesday 12 February 2008

"The Audience are morons"

in situ: The Winter's Tale - Term 2, Week 5

I arrived this evening whereupon the whole class stopped and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. I don't think this has happened since I was six years old, so it was unexpected but very cheering.

We continued our exploration of the vaudeville style as a way to represent Bohemia, using the modern-day US-style situation comedy as a reference point.

"The form of acting American sitcoms are based on is 100 years old," director Richard told us. He further explained how you must speak slowly and clearly, accentuating dialogue with actions that literally portray what you are saying: "[it's as if] the audience are morons."

Saturday 9 February 2008

One day voice workshop with Noah Pikes

Richard our director has decided we need some help with our vocal work, so this term includes a one-day workshop with voice teacher Noah Pikes, founding member of Roy Hart Theatre.

We spend the day working on selected exercises from Noah's workshop The Whole Voice, chosen for their relevance to the scenes we've developed in the previous term and the past few weeks. I find I'm regularly tempted to locate my voice in my chest to increase the power, but Noah tries to encourage me to find something lower, in the stomach. By the end of the day, I'm starting to understand, but I doubt I'll be using that voice at any upcoming conference appearances.

I spend the following week repeating Noah's "uuuuuu-ooooooo-iiiiiiiii-eeeeeee-aaaaaaa" exercise, causing my eleven month old daughter great delight, before succumbing to laryngitis five days later.

I hope it's just coincidence.

Tuesday 5 February 2008

The Winter's Tale: Term 2, Week 4

The Winter's Tale: Term 2, Week 4

More varied work on the paranoid choruses