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openproject18 · 5 years

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The Sci-Fi Supercut-

This was a particularly important track for me because it was the section of the piece that I most related to. I loved all of the tracks that were in this and I felt this was the part of the piece that I felt most alive. I felt this track gave me the most to do in the piece and I think that it speaks to me as an individual and gives me something to react to. - Sarah

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openproject18 · 5 years

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The Fantasy Supercut-

This was for Ellis’ section of the piece and I feel that this really nicely summed up the section and the genre. I was not as involved in this section because personally I didn't connect with a lot of references that were made in it. I did enjoy the way that Ellis and Jack performed in this section and it was clear that they were enjoying what they were doing - Sarah

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openproject18 · 5 years

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The Super Hero Supercut

This was for Jacks section of the piece. It is a section that I know we all enjoy as a trio because it is the first time we see one of these collages of references. Jack particularly loved this section because he got to focus on Super Heros. It was also a great way to break out of the first big chunk of text and a great way to lift the energy in the piece once it was down for the speech. - Sarah

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openproject18 · 5 years

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The Opening Music Of The Piece -

We loved this opening and we felt that this really set the tone of the piece. We decided after the performance had taken place that this was actually one of the most important parts of the piece because this music paired with what happened on stage allowed our audience to instantly get what this piece was going to be. Fun, Lighthearted and a little bit ridiculous. - Sarah

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openproject18 · 5 years

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I struggled a lot with Vines as it’s not really something I’ve ever been into or that interested in. So when it game to the rule we came up with early on in the process that if you forgot a vine you’re out, I was eliminated straight away which left me doing nothing. Later on after Kevin feedback when we showed him the first 5 minutes we came up with, we abandon the vines and went for a little more pop culture media that a majority of the audience would of experienced and recognised.

Vines

It was my research task to find text, music and dance within vines and books. We chose vines and books because both are fairly nerdy and they are things we can quote and copy very easily.

However, we decided, after quite a long debate, to not include vine references apart from one. We decided this because we wanted to talk more about film and TV and something that was specifically nerdy. As vines were quite popular, they are not necessarily nerdy. The only reason we wanted to add them in was because they were something we collectively enjoyed quoting. We also, in our first version of our speeches that have since evolved, didn’t mention vines at all. This was another reason to why we decided not to include vines. There was one vine that we included and that was because it was part of our beginning and we enjoyed the movement and, for me, it allowed us to represent the vines that we weren’t putting in. It is also a fun beginning for the piece and it reflects us as people very well. Here is the list of the vines that we were thinking of quoting before we cut vines out:

VINES

- Road work ahead? uh, yeah, I sure hope it does

- look at all those chickens

- Give me your fucken MONEY!

- I smell like beef

- It’s Wednesday my dudes, aaaAAHHHH

- AHHH, stop, I could have dropped my croissant

- Iridosiclitus

- You can’t sit with us. Actually, Megan, I can’t sit anywhere, I have hemerhoids

- What up, I’m Jared, I’m 19, and I never fucken learned how to read

- and they were room mates….god they were room mates

- Blankets and sunglasses (Dance)

- So no head?

- ha ha ha, I do that

- Lebron james

- When there’s too much drama at school, all you gotta do is, walk away-ay-ay

- This is the dollar store, how good can it be?

- My poop is coming!

- Hey, thanks for checking in, I’m still a piece of garbage

- Whoever threw that paper, your mom’s a hoe

- There’s only 1 thing worse than a rapist. Boom. A child. No

- Baby it’s you, you’re the one I love, you’re the one I need (Music)

- Woman singing opera trying to get onto a bus (Music)

- Can I get a waffle? Can I please get a waffle?

- Oh, I’m sorry, I fell asleep while waiting for you to make me a sandwich. Go back to sleep and starve

- So basically, what I was thinking of was, erm, awh fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this

- And they came bounding over (dog impression)

- don’t tell your mother, kiss one another, DIE FOR EACH OTHER (Music)

- Chris! Is that a weed? No, this is a crayon. I’m calling the police! 911 what’s your emergency?

- The piano with the dancing man

- Adam!

Ellis

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Looking back at how the performance went, I believe it went incredibly well. In reflecting on anything that went wrong, I can only think about the fact the audience came in early and that I wasn’t able to get the space suit on time but I had already put that into consideration and decided if it was to happen like it did in the rehearsal was just to act off of to the best of my ability. Again this work with the “naff” style we where performing in as we where already struggle to get ourselves into these images one after another with only a few seconds apart. It also aloud us to have a genuine moment as the struggle of me attempting to rush the space suit on, causes not only the audience to laugh but also Ellis and Sarah and help contribute to us having fun and allowing us to express ourselves freely in the space as we are.

It was rather rewarding as performers to find the audience laughing along, a real axienty when rehearing it is while I myself many see it as entertaining the audience can have a complete different sense of humour and find it juvenile and boring, but luckily this wasn’t the case. I believe this was down to the fact we clearly where passionate in what we where trying to present and also where aware of how goofy these genres are with having such a rich material embed with in them that it also had a lot of opportunity to parody them. This parady didn’t take over the piece, nor was it intend to remission the worth of the martial we where recreating but as away to prasise it and bring it to people in a new way which audience may never have experienced before. It’s certianly a different experience, the more they laugh the more the desire as a performer you want to make them laugh bigger and harder next time. I think it best that as performers we knew this and didn’t play this up allowing the humour to come naturally.

I believe that the piece was a total success, and we accomplished our goal of letting the audience be comfortable with there our knowledge of these pop cultural figures presented in various media. We had plenty of audience members approach us and say they got all the references or wanted to talk about particular things we had referenced and express themselves and there interests, which was really lovely and rewarding to see and hear.

Jack

Reflection on the performance

The performance went well. It felt really good and fun when we were performing and I believe that the audience we enjoying themselves too, which is exactly what we wanted. At the start, we were not prepared for the audience to come in and so the lights were still on and we were talking when the first audience member came in. We quickly turned around and our technician turned the lights off. At the time, we were flustered and confused but we managed to calm ourselves down before we began. On reflection, this was a strange circumstance that, I believe, added to the homemade, amateur aesthetic that we were going for. Not every audience member saw this, it was only the first one or two, and so it was only those who got that additional insight into us as performers before we are performing. The audience coming in early also startled our technician and so they missed the first two cues for the lighting. However, I believe that this also added to the aesthetic that we had made. I believe it would have been better if thy were on time with the music but it wasn’t a huge problem that they weren’t.

As we got into the piece, we got into our comfort zone. I don’t think that we, as makers, realised how funny the performance was, and so, when the audience started laughing at what we were doing, we were a little confused at first. But, I think that the audience’s enthusiasm for the piece really helped us as performers as we knew that the audience were enjoying it. It made me enjoy it more as well as I got caught up in the atmosphere in the room and I think that it made me perform better. I think I enjoyed it more when performing in front of an audience than in rehearsals because there is a certain atmosphere that is created in the small room where people are sharing a space and are understanding one another.

I believe that I Thought You Ought To Know really did allow the audience to accept and invite their inner nerds to witness to the piece as a collective of people who love these films and TV shows. It allowed them and us to celebrate this nerdy culture with joy and laughter and music, which is exactly what we wanted.

- Ellis

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Sarah’s Reflection

After the performing ‘Thought You Ought To Know huhuh’ my opinion on the piece developed quite drastically than when I was in the process of making it.

Firstly I feel that I underestimated how much joy the piece contained. I don’t think I realised until after we performed how much I truly love to perform this show. I understand now how important that joy was for our performance but also for our creative process. Joy became a deciding factor of what was put in the piece and what was left out of the piece and I think that for our audience it was clear that we loved every second of being in the space. That joy helped us to connect to our audience and created an atmosphere in the room that allowed the audience to have that shared experience with us as we went through the piece.

Another point that was brought to my attention was that we were not individuals within the piece and it made me think a lot about what message we were giving as a trio. We felt that we were very individual about what we were doing, we felt that because we had very different topics and very clearly had different interests that we stood out as individuals, but for some audience, it was not the case, we were a faceless mass. It made me question the audience here and think about the stereotypes that we displayed. Were we just ‘nerds’? I honestly wouldn’t say that was all we were but looking from the outside I can see how easy it would be to make this assumption, for someone who doesn’t know a lot about Nerd culture I can see that these differences, that we understood, don’t stand out. We are just being Nerdy and that is all. Our quirks don’t show as much. I think that this is a fantastic challenge for the audience. It gives the audience the challenge to look for what we want them to see to challenge them to try and see beyond the stereotype. This is something that I would like to push further if we were to develop this piece.

A surprising part of the piece was our audience reaction. This was something that we didn't anticipate, we didn't necessarily think that we were very funny but our audience did seem to react and laugh at things that we didn’t expect. I think that this shifted the piece into a completely different zone. I think that we did play the piece more to the audience, but within a frame that allowed us to pull our audience in, it was not self-gratification of wanting more laughs but a need to share because someone had shown an interest in what we loved. It felt nice to be able to allow our audience to see how happy we were that they were listening and enjoying what we were showing them and we wanted to give them more than we first planned.

Overall I think that this was a successful performance. We set out to make a piece about nerd culture and share that with people. We wanted to convey the joy and the love we have for all things nerdy and let people into our little world. We aimed to challenge the audience to decide what a nerd is by presenting ourselves on stage and give people a chance to think about the way that we stereotype. I think that we met those aims and we had a thoroughly entertaining performance that I am incredibly proud of so I will call this nothing but a resounding success. - Sarah

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Superhero Text Reflection

Above are the versions of my text spoken in the piece during the Superhero genre homage, which I will be reflecting on during this post. We knew from the start we want to explore and present our interests in the geek culture. It was a good way in slowing the piece down, as with all the fast paced images of the different genres, we didn’t want to end having the audience switch off.

I enjoyed coming up with the text, I think the first two drafts, while good, go off at times with tangents of information that not needed or come across as distracting. I decided to focus more on Spider-Man, considering he is my favourite it would be odd to include chapter not closely sociated with him. The second draft worked more of him in but instead was to long and wasn’t as coherent.

Whilest writing the third daft, which would end up being the final draft as well, I thought it would be an interesting idea that we handed out a particular Spider-Man comic I was conceding to describe on different randomly selected chairs of the audience, for something for them to read and go through and take away. This bit of distributed content was another way I thought we could interact with the audience as for the most part there seemed to be very little of that during the finally show. Unfortunately due to time and reason this never happened, which was a shame as I had found the Issue online in it entirety.

Over all I’m happy with how my script ended up being, covering all the bases, about why I’m interested in Spider-Man, my knowledge of the character and relying back to being nerdy. I beloved that in reflection these three speak we have as performers balanced the piece perfectly instead of it feel so rushed.

Jack

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openproject18 · 5 years

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I believe the text was the weakest part of the performance because we kept changing it. Our speeches were personal, yes, but not very well developed. Because they changed so much, our speeches did not have the time to develop as much as the other material. We started off with quoting vines and the beginning lines of specific films/TV shows. We decided to cut the vine quotes because they did not really fit with the rest of the material we had. This was quite near the beginning of the process. Our relationship with the beginning lines was quite difficult. We kept cutting it and bringing it back and cutting it again. I think we all felt that there was something in this text that we really liked but fitting it into the performance was really quite difficult because it requires a lot of concentration, therefore we can only focus on that at that point and can’t really do much else while that’s going on. Eventually, we managed to find it a place in our ending which we really enjoyed, even though it was really difficult.

Our speeches changed a lot over the course of the 9 weeks. They didn’t get fully integrated until a few weeks in when we realised that the piece needed a little more context and personalisation. We started to write about why we liked our favourite films/TV shows and we ran with those for a few weeks but then decided that they needed to be more based on our sections rather than our favourite films, and so we re-wrote them. We used these speeches up until the week before our final performance because we felt that they really suited the piece, However, we felt that they didn’t really reflect us and why we loved that particular genre, so we decided to try both ideas. We decided to try and fit what film/TV show we loved in as well as why we loved that particular section. This then felt really natural and it still fit the piece really well so we agreed to use these speeches. However, because of this, they weren’t very well developed and definitely not as developed as we wanted them to be.

Over all, I believe that the text was the weaker point of the performance but without the text, the piece wouldn’t ave been the same nor would it have the same context or that personal feeling to it.

- Ellis

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Reflection on the performance

The performance went well. It felt really good and fun when we were performing and I believe that the audience we enjoying themselves too, which is exactly what we wanted. At the start, we were not prepared for the audience to come in and so the lights were still on and we were talking when the first audience member came in. We quickly turned around and our technician turned the lights off. At the time, we were flustered and confused but we managed to calm ourselves down before we began. On reflection, this was a strange circumstance that, I believe, added to the homemade, amateur aesthetic that we were going for. Not every audience member saw this, it was only the first one or two, and so it was only those who got that additional insight into us as performers before we are performing. The audience coming in early also startled our technician and so they missed the first two cues for the lighting. However, I believe that this also added to the aesthetic that we had made. I believe it would have been better if thy were on time with the music but it wasn’t a huge problem that they weren’t.

As we got into the piece, we got into our comfort zone. I don’t think that we, as makers, realised how funny the performance was, and so, when the audience started laughing at what we were doing, we were a little confused at first. But, I think that the audience’s enthusiasm for the piece really helped us as performers as we knew that the audience were enjoying it. It made me enjoy it more as well as I got caught up in the atmosphere in the room and I think that it made me perform better. I think I enjoyed it more when performing in front of an audience than in rehearsals because there is a certain atmosphere that is created in the small room where people are sharing a space and are understanding one another.

I believe that I Thought You Ought To Know really did allow the audience to accept and invite their inner nerds to witness to the piece as a collective of people who love these films and TV shows. It allowed them and us to celebrate this nerdy culture with joy and laughter and music, which is exactly what we wanted.

- Ellis

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Original Speeches: Tv and Film Reflection

When we first came up with the piece we we despise to split off and look through different materials to find quotes that we would like to use. I was give tv and film. This will be a reflection on the quotes I found with the benefit of the finished performance to reflect on my previous choices in these quotes. Because it was so early on in the piece and we hadn’t yet come up with the different categories that is three performers we take up, the quote we where looking for could be from anything we like or enjoyed. One of my favourite quotes to use was from The Incredibles, I line spoke by the character Bob, that goes ‘It's psychotic! They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity.’ I thought this worked well just because it mocked the over saturation that the nerd culture has been given by the mass media and claiming it to be a celebration of mediocrity. This quote was never used as if didn’t really fit into our piece very well and would of confused the theme of coming out and being proud of being a nerd and celebrating it while also calling that very action mediocre. ‘Tears in the Rain’ was a quote from Blade Runner that I was thinking of using but similar to The Incredibles the quote just really fit well within our piece, as it’s more about death than enjoyment and our piece throughout till the end was never that morbid or had such a concept brought into the space. While little quotes where used in the final piece this process was helpful as it was away to reasearch and come up with useful quotes for later on, such as the opening to our final piece where we recite quote from our three genres and at the end where we are saying quotes all the way through, progressively getting faster and faster.

Jack

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Sound and Music Reflection

In this post, I will be reflecting on the use of sound and music that was used in our piece, from how it’s changed through the creative process to where it is now. The sound and music has always been key to the performance from the very beginning. It main purpose is to be a signifier towards what we where referencing on stage for the audience. It was very beneficial in our final performances as it would help with the transition between different reactments of moments from our particular genres, as the music or sound would be played first, slowly the volume rising making the said transition smoother. It’s also a helps with the intertexuality, with our relationship with the text and the Nerdy culture of science fiction, fantasy and superheroes as the sound and music are stable as ironic in pop culture and the mass public. In conclusion music was a important factor to our piece as it allowed us to reference with audio and helped to recreate the images we presented visually

- Jack

The music was really the solid base of the piece. It was the one thing in the performance that the audience could solidly relate to. After getting some feedback after the performance from some of the audience members, we realised that the music the thing that connected everything together. It allowed the audience to recognise the references and get joy from that recognition. Some people even viewed it as a sort of competition, to see how many references they could get. The music not only allowed the audience to explore their knowledge of the nerd culture but also allowed the performers to explore their knowledge. I have not watched everything that was referenced in our performance and so it inspired me, as a performer, to explore those things. The music also allowed us to show how much fun we were having with the costumes and props which helped the audience have fun also.

- Ellis

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Jack

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Jack

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Making The Props

All in all, we made around 30 props, each one was made specifically for different parts of the performance. This was a huge part of our rehearsal process, namely because working with the props was very important and without them out piece felt flat and empty and we didn’t know how it ran without them.

Initially, Sarah was in charge of making the majority of the props, however, eventually, everyone did all pitch in and work together. This became a very important part of our process. Coming together for hours and making these props that we really care about was important in the making of the piece and it allowed us to all bond over the hard work that went into making the props and gave us a connection to them that went beyond liking them because of what they were from but loving them because we made them and even if they were a bit rubbish we still really appreciated what they meant.

We spent 60 hours over the course of several weeks making and designing props, specifically the larger props to a lot of time to make. Unfortunately, due to the time limit we had to make the props, we were not able to make everything that we wanted to and we did end up having to buy some things. In an ideal world, we would have made as much as we possibly could have to keep with the aesthetic of the piece but we felt that the low quality of the items we did buy was fitting enough that it was not a total misfit. - Sarah

The props were a major part if our final piece. The entire ‘home-made’ aesthetic was built by these props and I believe that they really helped the development of the piece. The props allowed us to address each part of the music with a different idea and attitude. We did use some props twice because we did not have a big enough budget to buy 2 of each prop. Plus, the fact that reused props bled into the idea that all of our sections are connected even though different. Overall, I think the props were a main part in the performance and that they added to the feel and aesthetic of the performance that we wanted to get across. - Ellis

Pictures Of All Props Below:

K- 9 - Doctor Who & Sarah Jane Adventures

Martian Tripod - War Of The Worlds

3 x Proton Packs - Ghostbusters

3 x Proton Guns - Ghostbusters

Superman Chestpiece - Superman

Glove - Iron Man

Infinity Gauntlet - Avengers: Infinity War

Flip Phone - Power Rangers

Sheild - Captain America

‘Pow’ ‘Sock ‘Zok’ - Batman

Mjolnir - Thor

Gun

Arrorws - Avengers

Box Of Eggos - Stranger Things

Huvr Board - Back To The Future: Part 1

Alien In Spaceship

Hypno Spiral - Twilight Zone

Sonic Screwdriver - Doctor Who

FBI Credentials - X-Files

Dock - Black Mirror

Vortex Manipulator - Torchwood

Vulcan Ears - Star Trek

Paper Air Plane as Thunderbird 2 - Thunderbirds

Moon - ET

Silver Table Cloth

Dean Winchester - Supernatural

Swords

Baymax - Big Hero 6

Wonder Woman - Wonder Woman

Baby Groot - Gaurdians Of The Galaxy

Whip And Hat - Indianna Jones

Ninja Masks - Tennage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Castiel - Supernatural

Sherlock Holmes - Sherlock

Darth Vader and Obi Wans Lightsabers - Star Wars

4th Doctors Scarf - Doctor Who

Lasso Of Truth - Wonder Woman

Cape

Crowley - Supernatural

Tyrion Lannister - Game Of Thrones

T-Rex - Jurassic Park

Rocket Racoon - Guardians Of The Galaxy

Harley Quinn - Suicide Squad

BB8 - Star Wars

Alien - Alien

Spiderman - Spiderman

Thanos - Avergers: Infinity War

Flash - Flash

Predator - Predator

Deadpool - Deadpool

Captain America - Captain America: The First Avenger

The Doctor - Doctor

Thor - Thor

Sunglasses & Memory Wipe - Men In Black

Groot - Guardians Of The Galaxy

Spiderman Mask - Spideman

White Wig, Ginger Wig, Blad Cap - Sarah The props were a major part if our final piece. The entire 'home-made' aesthetic was built by these props and I believe that they really helped the development of the piece. The props allowed us to adress each part of the music with a different idea and attitude. We did use some props twice because we did not have a big enough budget to buy 2 of each prop. Plus, the fact that reused props bled into the idea that all of our sections are connected even though different. Overall, I think the props were a main part in the performance and that they added to the feel and aesthetic of the performance that we wanted to get across. - Ellis

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Structure

In terms of structure, we were struggling. We had a lot of material but had no order and we were quite stuck. Whilst in conversation with our tutor, he hinted at maybe splitting some parts into themes. We decided to take that and do it to the whole piece. We chose three themes; Sci-Fi; Fantasy and Adventure; and Superheroes. Using these themes, we were able to split up the material and discover a structure. I think that the structure we have now is a solid one because it allows each performer to show their nerdy-ness in there own way without it being overbearing and confusing. I believe it was much easier for us to see how the performance was going to end up with this structure so we could actually see an end goal, which, in turn, motivated us to put more effort into the following rehearsals.

Each section includes; music from films/TV shows from that genre; and a speech delivered by a performer about their personal relationship with that genre.

Sarah had Sci-F and talked about Dr Who in her speech, Jack had Superheros and talked about Spider-Man, and Ellis had Fantasy and Adventure and talked about Jurassic Park in her speech.

With this structure in place, we were able to form the piece so it was not too repetitive but so each section was similar. The order of the piece was not a decision we actively made, the order came from a basic script that Ellis had written and they used the order from that to order the piece.

On reflection, I believe that the order worked really well and that each section had its own charm that added to the aesthetic of the piece as well as being different and allowing the different personalities of the performers to be highlighted. If we were to develop this further, I believe that it would benefit from having another performer and bringing in another section to the structure, especially if we want to develop it into a longer performance.

Overall, our structure was difficult to find at first but after we got some feedback, we were able to really build on it and it was vital to the success of the performance.

- Ellis

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openproject18 · 5 years

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Song For The Piece -

This was initially a way of us messing around and trying to have a bit of fun during our rehearsal. We were stuck on what to do and we were feeling a little frustrated so we decided that we would spend a little bit of time making a fun song.

Once we finished singing it we realised that we quite liked and felt that in the layering of the piece it fits quite nicely and we liked how the feeling of collage has transferred into the music of the piece as well as following the overall slightly hand made aesthetic of the piece.

Sarah

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