Girls Gone Wild - Red LIght District and Devising Unit

-The girls started almost like this was a performance for the people on the street, but they then used it to drop a message after everyone had gotten into it and surprise them - they were enjoying themselves and weren’t expecting it
-I was very confused at first and wasn’t sure what was going on and why they had started dancing
-The music and actions were kind of intense and the red lights and dark colors made it seem surreal in a way.
-Women on display in windows

The idea that people think that they are just watching a performance but they are tricked into receiving an important message, while at the same time (in the girls case in the video) the performers have been tricked as well. It also creates a greater impact on the audience when they don’t see it coming and were just enjoying themselves, especially because they were part of the problem.

People trying to ignore or avoid a reality that they might not like or that makes them uncomfortable, even though they might know about it.

Ideas for devising:
- Leading the audience on and then twisting the ending by revealing that the characters had been tricked

Spoken Word Poem

I was sitting in a classroom

With two good friends

In an after-care program

That took place after school ends.

We were talking just like normal

So I felt right in place

When one of them said something

And I almost felt erased.

She said she’d pick the other friend

That it was Allison who “got her” more

And I’ve only just now realized

What I didn’t know before.

That she’ll never know I “get her”

If I never let her “get me”

I’m always so closed off

So there’s this part that people don’t see.

That they don’t know.

They don’t know.

They don’t know.

That in my head there are

Fireworks

That ricochet off my

Skull

And sometimes they are

Beautiful

But also very

Loud

And those fireworks are

Passion

And I feel them in my

Bones

But they never seem to

Stop

So I always feel a-

lone -

No, not really alone

There are people around me

Always

But they don’t know

What I

Know.

And the fireworks get

bigger

but they never

explode

I’m a tiger in a cage

One that nobody can see

Because that cage is my head

And the tiger is me.

And I know if I could

Let go

It would all turn out just

Fine

But my head won’t let me

Do that

So the tiger waits in

Line.

Because the truth is

Fireworks were not meant to be contained.

What they don’t know, they don’t know, they don’t know,

Is the tiger.

They don’t know.

But I want them to.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Wipeout

One thing that the group did very well was making each character very distinct in the way they moved and the way they went through the obstacle course. Giving each one their own song to match them was also a good way to make each one unique. It was really funny to watch each one play out and I liked the effects they added. Hunter did a good job as the old man and the fat man - he added a lot of physical comedy while he was going through the obstacle course and really stayed in character. Sarah’s characters (the nerd and the little girl) were also both very funny, especially the little girl at the end. She made her look very happy and carefree. I also likes how her first character kept reading the book until the very end. Jordan did a really good job after he shot himself in the foot - he was very dramatic and the music also made it a lot funnier.

The group could have added more of an ending to the show, rather than just finishing after the little girl. They could have announced the winner or had the person who finished go last instead of having it happen so early on. Some of the songs with a lot of words were a little distracting and kind of took away from the purpose of the silent movie. The ones without words seemed to match the characters better because they sounded less like songs you might listen to in your free time and more like a theme song playing for each character. The words weren’t always relevant to what was actually going on in the movie - like the song from Tangled at the end - even if they fit the mood and feel of the character.

Silent Movie Reflection

Making a silent movie was very different from the other projects we’ve done so far, in that there were a lot of different aspects that I’d never covered before. Because there was no dialogue we had to tell the story completely through actions, especially because we didn’t use any text slides. We had to convey a lot through our expressions and exaggerate more than we normally would (like inserting clips of me with an evil face) to show what was really happening, otherwise parts of the plot might get lost. Another thing that we’d never done before is work with a camera to get shots from several different angles, though I was disappointed that some of our final clips didn’t end up in the final draft - the part where I take off my disguise and knock out Erin was replaced by an earlier clip that wasn’t as good. This also allowed us to retake shots that we didn’t like or wanted to improve. Adding the music and editing clips to speed them up allowed us to make scenes funnier or create a different mood, and I liked that we got to make up the plot.

    We could have improved on drawing out our scenes and making them longer. We really just did the scene, and as long as it went well we put it into the final draft. As a result we didn’t focus much on using the right body language or maximizing the comedic effect. I wish we had done more takes of the beginning scene because I would have liked to have worked more on taking off the disguise and being more dramatic about it. I also think that if we had all had had a part in editing the video we could have gotten in the clips that didn’t end up in the video. We probably could have also worked out getting the video of Erin and I at the beginning to alternate with the part where Maddie robs the bank.

    I thought I did a good job emphasizing my movements when there was a lot of action going on, like during the scene where I trip and the chase scene.