Both myself and Olivia enjoy live theatre, we are not Internet 'haters' but we do feel that it is increasingly getting involved in peoples lives more than it has to and that people don't go out and experience the real world and their real friends enough. We also recognise that there are many dangers with the Internet.
As ever myself and Olivia have thought up many different performance ideas. Our first ideas involved getting a load of computers and smashing them up with sledge hammers and then planting seeds in front of the rubble, as much as we both liked the thought of this we decided it doesn't convey our thoughts and feelings well enough and wasn't justified. Our second idea filming a romance between a lady and her computer. Inspired by people who seem not to have lives outside of the Internet, we thought we would create a character who falls in love with a computer and dies tragically when tyring to have a romantic bath with the computer. We have also toyed with the idea of Liveness as we are both big fans of live theatre and performance but have struggled to find an interesting piece that would put across our ideas.
Our final idea and one which we are both taken with is, using our original blog page and the ideas that sprung out of that, create a seemingly real web cam dairy or two young best friends looking for companionship on the Internet. These two girls, as a result of bullying at school, have turned to the Internet for friendship. We will create the piece and post it on Youtube and our blog as if we are real people in a real situation. The last blog entry will be one of the girls getting excited about meeting someone off the Internet in real life. We hope that if people watch it they will be alerted to the dangers of the Internet. That they will think to themselves 'I will never be that stupid.'
We have already begun experimenting with cameras and are feeling confident that we can make an interesting yet informative performance. Aside from our dislike of the Internet as a platform for performance, posting our web cam diary here is justified as Internet goers are our target audience.
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
The Internet is Taking Over
Although Virtuality and Performance does not just mean the Internet, that is a big part of it. The Internet is a massive medium and can incorporate almost all of the other mediums. Soon there will be no other communication technologies. On the Internet one can listen to music, watch films, e-mail, chat, send texts, talk to people via web cams, work, shop, play games, the list goes on.
My personal opinions towards the Internet is that it lacks something. I don't want to do my shopping on the Internet, I want to try my clothes on and I want to pick out my fruit and vegetables to check that they are the one I want. I want to talk to my friends in person, I enjoy going to the cinema and watching a film as part of a community. I fear that if people live their lives through the Internet they will loose important skills. In ten years time will people even know how to talk to one and other in person or will it be thoroughly embarrassing? Will children learn how to write?
I also have opinions on the issue of liveness. Some theorists suggest that theatre is obsolete, performances of all kinds can be accessed in other ways. However I am a big fan of Liveness, I think things are much better Live and this is why I feel strongly that I do not want other mediums to take over from Theatre and Live performance. I will now list the debate of Mediated Vs Live:
MEDIATED
1. It has the ability to be watched in the home (and increasingly anywhere at all)
2. It is cheaper then paying to see something live.
3. There are plenty of options, when to use it, how to use it, who with, for how long.
4. Sometimes when things are live there are restrictions of what can be done, with mediated special effects can be added etc.
5. Sometimes live pieces can just be trying to re-create a film or drama on stage but just not achieving it as well.
LIVE
1. Seeing something live is a whole experience.
2. There is a feel of being part of a community.
3. You can see your favorite actor or singer in the flesh.
4. There is an exclusivity (you yourself are there watching, not millions of others)
5. Things like comedy always seem funnier when seen live or with a group of people, one persons reaction triggers other peoples reactions.
6. Music seen live is very powerful, the bass shakes in your bones and you feel freer to dance then you would in your living room.
7. Things can go wrong but that is exciting.
8. You are watching something unique, yes it might have been playing for three years in the same theatre, but each night it is different.
My personal opinions towards the Internet is that it lacks something. I don't want to do my shopping on the Internet, I want to try my clothes on and I want to pick out my fruit and vegetables to check that they are the one I want. I want to talk to my friends in person, I enjoy going to the cinema and watching a film as part of a community. I fear that if people live their lives through the Internet they will loose important skills. In ten years time will people even know how to talk to one and other in person or will it be thoroughly embarrassing? Will children learn how to write?
I also have opinions on the issue of liveness. Some theorists suggest that theatre is obsolete, performances of all kinds can be accessed in other ways. However I am a big fan of Liveness, I think things are much better Live and this is why I feel strongly that I do not want other mediums to take over from Theatre and Live performance. I will now list the debate of Mediated Vs Live:
MEDIATED
1. It has the ability to be watched in the home (and increasingly anywhere at all)
2. It is cheaper then paying to see something live.
3. There are plenty of options, when to use it, how to use it, who with, for how long.
4. Sometimes when things are live there are restrictions of what can be done, with mediated special effects can be added etc.
5. Sometimes live pieces can just be trying to re-create a film or drama on stage but just not achieving it as well.
LIVE
1. Seeing something live is a whole experience.
2. There is a feel of being part of a community.
3. You can see your favorite actor or singer in the flesh.
4. There is an exclusivity (you yourself are there watching, not millions of others)
5. Things like comedy always seem funnier when seen live or with a group of people, one persons reaction triggers other peoples reactions.
6. Music seen live is very powerful, the bass shakes in your bones and you feel freer to dance then you would in your living room.
7. Things can go wrong but that is exciting.
8. You are watching something unique, yes it might have been playing for three years in the same theatre, but each night it is different.
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
What is media?
Is theatre a medium?
Media- a means by which something is communicated or expressed. (Dictionary definition)
Through media, artworks loose their aura
Marshall Mcluhan
"The medium is the message", people get effected by their technologies
Different media has different properties
Raymond WIlliams
Society determins technology
Remediation- new media wanting to be better then the last, making it self the most officiant, the most technologically advanced. Or builds on the features of the old.
Media generates realities - its a little world that we can create.
Theatre in the digitalised platform
Peter Bonish
Theatre is a seeing place. Its main meaning is audience
An idea that theatre adapts every time there is a new media development and disperses it to the public. The theatre tries to become like the new media.
Theatre is transparent.
Theatres message is other media.
Theatre seems to re-enforce origionality.
Is theatre a medium?
Media- a means by which something is communicated or expressed. (Dictionary definition)
Through media, artworks loose their aura
Marshall Mcluhan
"The medium is the message", people get effected by their technologies
Different media has different properties
Raymond WIlliams
Society determins technology
Remediation- new media wanting to be better then the last, making it self the most officiant, the most technologically advanced. Or builds on the features of the old.
Media generates realities - its a little world that we can create.
Theatre in the digitalised platform
Peter Bonish
Theatre is a seeing place. Its main meaning is audience
An idea that theatre adapts every time there is a new media development and disperses it to the public. The theatre tries to become like the new media.
Theatre is transparent.
Theatres message is other media.
Theatre seems to re-enforce origionality.
what makes a worthwhile performance?
Before even thinking about answering the question of what constitutes a worthwhile performance, the question needs to be asked, what is performance? Until I truly thought about this question I would have answered saying, performance is found in theatre, it is aimed at a specific audience, it’s scripted and controlled. My problem is considering performance as being found in the theatre only, but once I took the idea of performance out of the theatre it opened up a great deal more formats. However, performance can be found anywhere it can be anything from dancing in a club, a web cam entry or a serious monologue on a stage. Even something like a profile page on Facebook or a teacher’s lecture can be considered a performance.
The problem here is that if, so many things are thought of as performance, is there a need to categorise them? Surely a Facebook profile page is not the same as a west end musical. Perhaps then, there could be the category, Personal Performance, referring to individuals uploading personal information and comments on the internet, or dancing seductively in a club. There could be a category of Political Performance, referring to PM’s speeches or the labour party website. Another category could be Entertaining Performance, referring to more traditional theatre performances, clips recorded then put on You Tube. I feel that I needed to categorise types of performance because they are all so completely different. Finally, all of these subcategories (the ones listed above are only suggestions there could be many more) should be split into live performance and mediated performance. There is, I believe, a considerable difference between live and mediated performance and therefore this should be taken into account when trying to categorise performance.
The internet has opened up the opportunities available for people to perform. Plenty of things on the internet are enjoyable and thought provoking however a great deal of it is completely irrelevant in my life. It is a brilliant forum to view things that otherwise would be unavailable, to have a bit of fun or even to advertise yourself. In my personal opinion I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to on Facebook and I occasionally look on You Tube both as an educational resource and for pleasure.
However, what is a worthwhile performance? This is very much open to personal opinion. In one sense, anything that provokes a response or reaction is worthwhile, even if it is just purely entertainment. If the term worthwhile is changed into, ‘what would you pay for?’ it changes the response. For example, I would not pay to look at one of my friends Facebook accounts, and I would not pay to view the sight “Ask a Ninja”. I would pay considerable amounts of money to see a play at the RSC or to buy my favourite bands DVD.
Anything can be a worthwhile performance as long as it is worthwhile to somebody. If you can gain something from someone else’s performance, or even your own then it is valuable. My personal opinion is different from the next persons, but it is individual interpretation that makes something meaningful to one person, and useless to another.
The problem here is that if, so many things are thought of as performance, is there a need to categorise them? Surely a Facebook profile page is not the same as a west end musical. Perhaps then, there could be the category, Personal Performance, referring to individuals uploading personal information and comments on the internet, or dancing seductively in a club. There could be a category of Political Performance, referring to PM’s speeches or the labour party website. Another category could be Entertaining Performance, referring to more traditional theatre performances, clips recorded then put on You Tube. I feel that I needed to categorise types of performance because they are all so completely different. Finally, all of these subcategories (the ones listed above are only suggestions there could be many more) should be split into live performance and mediated performance. There is, I believe, a considerable difference between live and mediated performance and therefore this should be taken into account when trying to categorise performance.
The internet has opened up the opportunities available for people to perform. Plenty of things on the internet are enjoyable and thought provoking however a great deal of it is completely irrelevant in my life. It is a brilliant forum to view things that otherwise would be unavailable, to have a bit of fun or even to advertise yourself. In my personal opinion I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to on Facebook and I occasionally look on You Tube both as an educational resource and for pleasure.
However, what is a worthwhile performance? This is very much open to personal opinion. In one sense, anything that provokes a response or reaction is worthwhile, even if it is just purely entertainment. If the term worthwhile is changed into, ‘what would you pay for?’ it changes the response. For example, I would not pay to look at one of my friends Facebook accounts, and I would not pay to view the sight “Ask a Ninja”. I would pay considerable amounts of money to see a play at the RSC or to buy my favourite bands DVD.
Anything can be a worthwhile performance as long as it is worthwhile to somebody. If you can gain something from someone else’s performance, or even your own then it is valuable. My personal opinion is different from the next persons, but it is individual interpretation that makes something meaningful to one person, and useless to another.
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
What is Virtuality?
I could live on-line, with out ever having to leave my desk chair. I could socialise with my friends, order food and clothes, go to work, play games. I could be a virtual Lucy if I wanted. As it stands, I dont want to. In fact I think that lving like that would be unhealthy physically and mentally. However the technology is there and it is expanding and getting bigger and better all the time.
Performance is becoming virtual. Why go to a theatre when you could sit comfortably in your own home and watch a performance on the internet? Not only could a piece be watched, you could research it on the web, get pictures of other shows and voice your opinion in a forum. The possibilities are endless. So, why then, do I feel so strongly against the internet and the mediatisation of society?
Performance is becoming virtual. Why go to a theatre when you could sit comfortably in your own home and watch a performance on the internet? Not only could a piece be watched, you could research it on the web, get pictures of other shows and voice your opinion in a forum. The possibilities are endless. So, why then, do I feel so strongly against the internet and the mediatisation of society?
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