Ancient Worlds

Hey guys,
apologies if this programme has been mentioned before but I thought it was really interesting to watch. It explores Ancient Greek civilisation and the many factors that come under that heading such as; people, places, economics etc.

Hope some of you find it useful :)

Jess x

You may laugh but..

also look at the beliefs and ideology of rastafari

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari_movement

Gem x

Aphrodite

Just a thought to the Aphroditians, i think it is important to think of our "tribe" as a religion too, there are many festivals around the world or tribes that delve into the world of music to help them connect to there God or beliefs, like a trance, the extremes of how the music effects them reminds me of our own tribe, so it is interesting to look up things like thaipusam, just thought it might help while we are devising

cheers Gem

Devising Ground Rules!

1) Respect everyone's input 

2) Don't pollute the work 

3) Be the best you can be in each moment (and if you can't step out) 

4) Avoid personal emotional attachment 

5) Take responsibility for your actions

6) Celebrate achievements 

7) Improve communication between sub groups 

8) Overall coordinator for each rehearsal 

9) More fluidity between the sub groups - all helping with writing/movment 

10) Retain your passion for the work 

Aphrodite - Introductory Dance 22/11/2010

Ayean Natura

It has been decided by the 'Artemis Tribe' that the name of our religion is:

Ayean Natura (pronounced: eye - enn   nach -ura) 

To the Greeks, Ayean means 'Herd', and Natura means 'Natural', meaning we are a natural herd. This incorporates the ties we have to Ancient Greece and the text, including the predomenance of Artemis, who is a hunter. Artemis' animal is often represented as a Deer, who travel in a herd. We are also focused on the natural world, and our individual place within the universe.

So, Aphroditeans, you have a name to hate and use!!

Suze x

Commune (artemis)

I know this is quite an old ARTICLE but it is a really good real life example of what we might have all been thinking about whilst creating our tribe/commune. Also I have heard that there is a commune somewhere between Bath and Bristol and I am just trying to find out more about it, especially as it is right on our doorstop. Hope this helps

charlotte

Meditation

Hi Everyone,

I am not sure what time we are rehearsing until tomorrow, but if the timing is right, I am going to a meditation class in Bath, held by the Amitabha Buddhist Centre. The class starts at 7 so it may not be possible to go. However..

This is my invitation to any of you to come with me on an artists date. It would particularly benefit the Artemis group, as we are using ideas of mediation and peaceful mind/body in our ensemble, and i am going because i want to see for myself how this sort of group ritual takes place. I'm not buddhist, nor do I think they are trying to convert people to Buddhism in the classes (they are self contained meditation classes) - but i think it would be a really valuable experience anyway.

Let me know,

Suze x

Hi everyone... Me and Rich accendently had a meeting the other day about the stucture and our thoughts on Unit -1. We then came up with an idea for a workshop for Douglas to hold in regards to the movement... We typed up the overal discussion that we had... and then took the workshop on Monday that went really well... i thought it might be handy for all to know...

"Going back to the description of the unit, it's not about lust, it's not about freedom, it's selfish indulgent hedonism - they don't worship Aphrodite for her own worth, but for what she represents and what she allows us personally, to live out our own fantasies and indulge, utter disregard for other people, the place and the time is what you worship. Interested in your own pleasure, other people are only good for aiding your own pleasure. IT IS THE SELF. IT IS SELFISH. IT IS MATERIAL. IT IS GREED.Fetish. Living out your fantasy. There are no boundaries. Anything goes.

After the MC battle that builds up this absolute tension, everyone is on the edge, keeping movement going. Then. There is this moment where everybody's anger reaches an ultimate high, and the music that overrides the bass drops and you are left with just the base, like outside a club, just this pulse and the room pulses, slow like a heartbeat, bass continues and the bass means that people start this disjointed popping, slow motion, it builds from the feet and increases with intense anger, contorted face, grotesque, scratching at their skin. As they reach this ultimate place of anger they begin to shake the beat reaches intense pulsing then drops into the song as they all let go, absolutely mental laying into the effigy of Artemis. The point before the break out into violence is an over whelming ache. Can play with vocal sound/song here - this guttural/throat noise - slow creates juxtaposition between the fun, fast rave feel of before, audience feel the tension. Really explains why they want to invade the Artemis camp, succinct, non-verbal communication of how they feel."

With the work that most of the group did on Monday the outcome was a really strong basis to work from and develop with the whole of the Aphrodite "camp" Emma Scott filmed this and they will soon follow. I hopw this is helpful.

Thank you,

Emma

Artemis Group

Hello

I had an idea last night after hearing the suggestion of fire from Emma for our group. Earlier in the day we found that we needed a drive and focus for our rituals, we decided this would be love for someone or something. Could the fire be our representation of this love? The fire could be in the centre of the cicle and our love could be sent towards the fire. Our belief could be that our love/prayer gets sent to that something or someone via the smoke of the fire?

What do we think?

Helen

Lust vs Purity

Hi Everyone,

This is a clip from Baz Luhrmann's version of 'Moulin Rouge' of a song called El Tango De Roxanne and I think it is a brilliant example of Lust vs Purity. If anyone has not seen the film (particularly from the Aphrodite group), then I would highly recommend watching it as there are a lot of visual images from it I have been picturing from our discussions about what sort of atmosphere we imagine there to be amongst our cult of ravers, and the way we can picture our characters to be dressed etc.

Els

tribal frog and class summary!

Hey so heres a (little long) clip showing what tribes about, the different kind of people that go etc might help us see what our club could be like possibly? blending this with a red light district of Amsterdam?

Ok so in Aphrodite group we came up with:

The Club:
Tribal frog / red light districts

cabaray of acts (that go to far) stand ups. comedy sketches, slam poetry battle

voodoo doll of Artemus

BE WHO YOU WANT TO BE

this is our safe place where we will not be judged

the music / beat is our drug / or like in Romeo and Juliet by Baz Lerman a pill with a heart on it

freedom to be what you want / do what you want

Who is Aphrodite

dj? club owner? writers came up with her being this sort of presence, who is so important she can swan around in and out of the club, poss a drag queen. The club is run by a presenter / MC or a duo

slam poetry is who we speak to one another

we (he or she included) are scared of the other tribe, we are unsure to what you do or who you are, but you are infringing on our rights to be free, and we dont like that! (could have taken key members of our tribe away?)

Ritual:

beat is in our DNA

rhythm beings us together with out it we are lost?

in euphoric movement

bring of people together for repetition

Tiff

p.s. good article about raving in Ibiza

Unit One Structure

I wasn't sure whether to e-mail this out or not, but thought the blog was the best place for it to go..
Here is what Artemis Script Team came up with today for Unit One structure:

UNIT ONE

- The audience are met outside in no-mans land. A follower of Artemis welcomes them to join prayer.
- Prayer Ritual.*
- Guru Speech, introdicing themselves (he/she) welcoming the new potential followers to the group, speaking about their beliefs.
-  Ritual prayer, dance, meditation, song and stories of the followers of the cult of Artemis then all take place at the same time, so the audience may only see or hear snippets of stories or dances. Intimate experience.
- The new 'members' (infiltraters) and the audience are then initiated, repeating the initiation prayer almost without realising what they are doing. This will involve speech of the initiation prayer, with music and dance and song- an event in itself. **


* Welcoming Prayer:

Gather, Children of the Earth.

Let the natural energy circulate freely through us all.

Allow our bodies and our planet to breathe deeply the respect of which we lend to them.

Let us look upon life kindly and appreciate this gift which we hold so dear.

Let selflessness cast no shadow upon our thought and action.

Let us become one.

Let no corruption taint our body nor our soul.

Let us guide those that take pleasure in sin, for we are their saviour.

Together we are cleansed.

** Initiation Chant:

As the deer loses his antlers,

Thus we leave our selfish world.

We enrich our souls.

We enrich our souls.

Brother, sister, hold my hand,

Unite as one, with earth, nature, the sun and the stars.

Let the universe guide us.

Enlighten our path.

Save us from self destruction.

We give ourselves to eachother.

Unite me.

Bind me.

Together we are cleansed.

Posted on behalf of the Artemis Script Team.

Middle Eastern ritual dance

Me again, sorry!
I came across this website which discusses some Middle Eastern dances which are seen as rituals. The author goes into detail about what the dances mean and the spiritual connection that the performers gain from it.
One of the rituals I found most fascinating was the 'Zar/Zaar' and here are some of my favourite videos of it from Youtube:

Zar 1

Zar 2


I think it is beautifully mesmorising yet disturbing at the same time.

Jess.

Articles

Hi everyone,

Found these two articles today that i thought are relevant to our research topics. The first is regarding a trip Beyonce took to Egypt, and the outcry from some religious leaders over her appearance. The second is about how Eastern men regard western women and culture.

Beyonce

Western Women

Hope this proves interesting!

Suzanne

Devil-Stoning Ritual

This is an article about Eid al-Adha- the festival of sacrifice, which is happening now. I think it is a good example of ritual just by the sheer size of it as well as showing how rituals cause people to collectivly come together.

Jess

Ritual

This is a clip of hotel Medea, the woman at the start says something interesting about ritual, also the whole sense of the piece, for me, is quite ritualistic.

Enjoy,

Ruth

Questions

I don't know if these will be used now, but here are our groups answers to the three questions...

What is it we want to say?
The media has too much power.

Why this story?
It best portrays the corruption of power.

What do we want to leave our audience with?
How easy it is to manipulate and be manipulated.

Hope this is of some use.
Helen

A little background research to our exec...

Just to add to what Charlotte wrote regarding the executive producer: interesting fictional characters to look at regarding this character as some research into this type of person, (as mentioned in class today), include Farley Flavors from the film 'Shock Treatment' (1981) and Christof from the film 'The Truman Show' (1998).

Particularly useful for this character I feel, for a more in depth look at the psychological workings of people with such power over others, is Gail Wynand from Ayn Rand's book 'The Fountainhead' (1943). In the first half of the book this character is, like our executive producer, an enigma to everyone, known only as an incredibly rich man with immense power and an unquestionably strong social influence, effectively deciding what the public should think and feel through his string of newspapers. As the book continues we eventually discover how he has achieved this position and, perhaps more interestingly, why he is doing it. It's a great read and I strongly recommend it, it includes a lot about manipulating people and public opinion which is of course very relevant to what we are trying to achieve.

Rich

Potentially Interesting...

Anyone who feels like doing it, have a look for a film called 'We Live in Public.' It's mainly about a series of documentaries and art pieces that came about with the rise of webcams, that looked at the effects on people who are on camera non-stop, but some of the literature about it says:

'we will willingly trade our privacy for the connection and recognition we all deeply desire.'

I'm planning on getting it when I'm back in Bath, but just thought it could prove interesting

Executive Producer and Floor Manager Roles

Today Rich and I came up with the characters and the role of the executive producer and floor manager within the gameshow. Here is a basic breakdown.
Executive Producer

• emotionally detached after having to deal with the vast amounts of bad television that he has had to produce due to audience demand
• has bought the whole studio and created an empire including the media to create the ultimate reality gameshow that he thinks the audience want and when it goes wrong he cannot understand why
• very much an enigma

Floor Manager

• a snappy persistent woman who knows how she wants things done
• is in charge of the runners and the groomers and presenters but answers to the producer
• alot of delegation work but a very perfectionist nature
• the floor manager is the one who shouts cut and controls the studio action
• very harsh movements and clean lines

Hope this has helped!

Charlotte

Hello. This is what we did in the runner/chorus group today:



Runner/Chorus group
Wed week 5

• Robot clones of the channel
• Ex- reality TV contestants who are now contracted to work for the studio/channel
• Robotic in first act, in second act when show goes wrong they’re personal stories are revealed.

Character profiles

1. Ex-Boxer: - Bruce Denton – 40, Short fuse, twitchy, Set in his ways, regimented. Lost his girlfriend to an opponent. Bald, has a gut, likes a drink
2. Singer: - Sapphire, 31. Had a one hit wonder- L.O.V.E baby. From Cornwall. Had a child when she was 21 and gave it up for adoption. Single, free spirit. Went on the show to re-kindle her fame.
3. Teenager: Christopher, 19. Wears black, into the devil, secluded. Doesn’t talk to anyone, very quiet. Mum entered him onto the show to get him out of his room.
4. Old Grumpy Man: “Bobby 4 fingers”, 70. Doesn’t talk to his family. Jazz, blues singer. Angry man
5. Topless model: Destiny Rivers, 25. From Essex. Wears minimal clothing and lots of make-up. Contracts with page 3 and “zoo”. Married a footballer but got cheated on so she left him to show her fans she was strong. Brought out a perfume called “so over you”, it was exposed that the perfume was tested on baby chimps so she lost all her contracts with the mags. Turns out that it was her management team tested the perfume behind her back. She went on the show to prove her innocence. But that didn’t turn out right.

6. Butch woman: Daisy, 44. Has short, red hair, quite fat. Lots of piercings and tattoos. From South London. Really angry. Went on the show to show the public that despite her appearance she is a good person and everyone has a right to express themselves indivually.

7. Gay/Camp boy: Crain Francis Donnelly, 20. Sensitive, camp. Catholic upbringing. Grew up in Manchester in council house with Mum Sister, no Dad. Bullied for scrawny appearance and emotional outbursts. He was secretly gay but his sexuality was revealed in the last show he went on. He suffered rejection from the church, friends and family. Has glasses. T-total, smoker, drinks camomile tea.

8. Wannabe: Juliana Forest, 18. Avid follower of anything celeb. Doesn’t have a job. Eccentric and fake. No personality. Broke up boyfriend to go on the show. Is totally obsessed with Destiny and went on the show because she heard she was on it that year.

9. Fitness Freak: Todd Fillips, 26. Loves to work out, eat healthy. Californian, moved to England because of bad break up. Works in a chain of gyms. Ex-footballer, semi-professional. O.C.D about cleaning.

10. Foreign Person: Juan Rodriguez, 26. Mexican immigrant. Thinks he’s good looking but has a big nose and is very hairy. Doesn’t speak much English, tries to help but doesn’t know what’s going on half the time. Was in low budget Mexican porno film.

Reality TV Producers

Hi everyone! Helen just informed me of what you've done today..would it be okay if someone writes the idea of the game down on the blog? i'm a little confused, just need it written down! Sorry to be a pain!

Also, one of my friends works in production on the X Factor, Britains Got Talent, Got to Dance and Must Be The Music, and i wrote to her to ask her some questions about the contestants from her perspective. Obviously, she can't give too much away as it would risk her job, but below is the questions i asked, and the answers she could give me.. hope this gives a little more insight into 'behind the scenes' on one of these shows...


- Before going on the show, are contestants briefed about what the outcome could be (eg media attention/infamy etc.) And after the contestants have been on the show, is there any post-show therapy or councilling available to those in distress or to those who have been subjected to media attention
All the contestants turn up to the pre-auditions only knowing from experience like you and me what can happen. Its only when they progress through the show at the later stages (ie. the bit where they will possibly be on television) that they do this sort of thing.
BGT and X Factor are much bigger shows obviously and basically what happens is there are appx 5 researchers on the programme who will be talking to the contestants throughout the day if they have any worries - they might not talk to everyone because even at this stage its still appx 40 people a day to be seen. There is also a child psychologist on the shows at all times who speaks to families with young entrants etc about anything and everything.
When X, BGT reaches the later stages like the live shows, each act is assigned a researcher. So basically this researcher will look after the act aswell as Cheryl, Simon etc at all times.
On smaller shows like GTD there are people called 'contestant producers' who talk to the acts when they get through to the shortlist about things like infamy and press questions.


- in the production process, how are people edited to be shown in a good/bad light, and what do the producers look for in a 'good' contestant (eg. one that is an amazing singer, or one that will cause drama/public attention)

Okay so this is where I have to be careful! Bascially they are talent shows, so producers are always looking for talent first and foremost. But what people have to remember is that aswell as it being a talent show its also an entertainment TV show. So people go in knowing what sort of things are shown on the show so yeah if someone is really really bad/funny they can be put through for entertainment value but this is NEVER children (below 18) and believe most people who is put through for this reason are generally very aware of it but go anyway. (They say things like "oh i know im put through because im the silly one") The shows are very unlikely to be mean, and im not saying that because Im biased!
If someone is put through for this reason, it is generally because although they are bad/funny the audience will like/encourage them so they will come out of it having a good experience anyway (and making good tv).

- particularly on the x-factor..how many pre-rounds do contestants have to go through before seeing the judges?3 stages. I cant really elaborate on this much!

- after the audition process, who do the contestants talk to (eg. x factor dermot o'learey.. but is there any other member of the team they can speak to if need be?)They only really speak to Dermot/Ant n Dec on camera, they dont really chat to him generally because he'll always be busy with others. Theres always people around to speak to, Researchers, Assistant Producers, Child psychologist generally. Its a massive producton team and everyone makes sure that first and foremost the auditionees are okay they are main priority and the shows revolve around them!


These are just the questions i could think of on the spot... if anyone can think of anything else then she is mroe than happy to answer more questions for us.
Hope tomorrow goes well. Miss you all!

Suzanne

'The Curse'

Group: Charlotte, Sammy, Jess, Els, Rich, Rob

Our game is called: 'The Curse'

1. Celebrities partake in the competition as a test of their mental prowess and their ability to withstand 'The Curse'
2. Each week the audience vote one of the resident celebrities to receive 'The Curse' the following week.
3. 'The Curse' is a mental manipulation implanted into the celebrity by a bombardment of sounds and images whilst they sit restrained, their eyes forced open (a-la-'A Clockwork Orange').
4. The Curse the celebrities are given changes each week and so is always unexpected. This week's theme is 'Forbidden Love'.
5. At the end of the week the 'cursed' celebrity is isolated into one room to view clips of their behaviour from over the week while the audience vote as to whether they believe the celebrity has passed the test and successfully beaten 'The Curse'. If the audience decide that the celebrity sufficiently withstood 'The Curse' they can re-join their fellow contestants in the game; if not they are ejected from the show.

It is imagined that it is in the isolation room that the Phaedra characters will hang themselves as a reaction to the video images and the audience voting against them. This is the moment that the show goes wrong and spirals out of control and the catalyst for the antagonistic and revelatory aspects of the second act.

Hope that all makes sense,

Rich

Our Game Show

Hi guys, this is our game show idea which we discussed today.

Name of game show - The story teller

1. Audience arrives and is given a questionnaire
2. Audience members fill out a multiple choice questionnaire which will create an event for one of our made up celebrities.
3. The audience member will decide the "Celebrity" which there event/story will happen too.
4. While the story is being created, the audience member will stay in there own room looking at the information and past life of this "Celebrity" on a computer.
5. The story then comes to life over live feed or a possible video post on the celebrities information page e.g. Twitter or Facebook.

Group members - Gerry, Steve, Suneil, and Katie

THIS is a really good article on Seven Days as a re-invention of the reality TV. The last paragraph is very relevant and thought provoking

Tiff

Following on from that line of research...I also came across an 'agony aunt' style of webpage that is based around the issue of forbidden love. I found it quite interesting to see what kind of relationship would be categorized as forbidden.
This website also allows the general public to reply and offer advice to the pleas. This is very apt to the discussion the year group had revolving around reality television and the increasing amount of power the general public has in determining an individuals/contestants fate.

http://www.dearcupid.org/category/forbidden_love

Sammy.

Forbidden Love.

I have been researching the concept of forbidden love (that derived from unit 1) and came across an article written for the Guardian a few years ago. I found this article particularly interesting as, for me, it highlighted the link between forbidden love and what an individual's opinion of what normality is. The two are intrinsically linked as love could only be considered to be forbidden if a certain sect in society believes that love to be abnormal.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2002/jan/09/familyandrelationships.features103



Sammy.

Hey everyone, Just a quick message to the drivers! Just wanted to know if anyone wanted to meet up tomorrow before the lesson to talk over ideas. If you could text me this would be good cus' im off out. Thanks

Bella xxx