Johnson Over Jordan

Pace

2009-04-26T21:10:00.003+08:00

Pace was the major problem mentioned by Miss Norzian after our Full Dress Rehearsal on 23 April.

Therefore we discussed that...

1. Start off the play in a light-hearted mood - Slow Paced (Comedic, playful): Johnson is remorseful and defensive
2. After "Yes now, you were taken ill" - Quicken pace slightly: Examiners start to get more annoyed
3. "Loosen those tensed muscles!" - Climax: Examiners must bring energy all the way up!
4. Johnson's response "Look here ladies, just a minute" - Slow down the pace, bring intensity down, CHILL
5. Examiners mock at how people tries to be fit - Light-hearted mood, moderate pace
6. Examiners start to be sarcastic, and boasts about their knowledge "How far have you tried to acquaint yourself...etc": look down on Johnson, bomb him with the facts SLOWLY
7. "Have you ever brushed up your French?" Climax
8. Tell Johnson about the achievements of other people to intimidate him "A postman in .."
9. First examiner gets irritated "Kindly tell us what we ask you to tell us" - Quicken the pace and intensity, show the dark elements
10. Johnson shuts Second Examiner up at "inheritors of a great empire" and answer First examiner's question: Slow down the pace
11. Second examiner gets pissed and shuts Johnson up: Brings up intensity to climax, show dark elements
12. Towards the end, Johnson is about to breakdown, extremely intimidated
13. "For example, the Gold standard as against..." Examiners are showing off their knowledge to Johnson
14. Johnson is on the verge of crying at the end of the play: Tear the Form - end the play in a intimidated, "dark" manner

"We must pace our play better and allow the audience to breathe. Don't just bomb bomb bomb all the way or it will get boring and meaningless to watch."

Improvements:
1. Good use of physicality
2. More dark elements shown
3. Examiners actions are more synchronized
4. Johnson's energy level is much more comparable to the Examiners

Thursday will be our assessment already! Good luck to us! :D Work hard people!
Next rehearsal on Tuesday? :)

p/s: Boo should let down her hair to make her look for frustrated and messy.
We are not using Strobe light anymore.

2009-04-21T20:54:00.002+08:00

Here are the changes we have made during the last rehearsal (at the blackbox) :

Basically, we did a lot of work on our movements, where we are supposed to walk to, what actions we should do while saying specific lines.

From our showcase comments, we have to work on incorporating more dark elements to our play, so we have decided to do this by making Johnson physically appear as scared. There are more instances where johnson will back away from the examiners, and even hide behind the sofa and to show that the examiners are really pushing her to the edge, they will actually grab her arms and pull her back up.

We have also decided to make use of more levels. There is one point where the first examiner (ME!) says "Nearly all systems...devised by professional strongmen...", this line will be said by me while I am standing on the table, to show the use of our set.

We also got the comment that we should play around with set more, and to make it seem more like a "fun house". we have decided to make use of the swivel chairs to do this. Both examiners will roll across from each other, not show some sort of playful attitude.

On top of that, we also worked on the examiner's mirroring. Since it is quite hard to be exact mirrors of each other, we decided to be practical and only incorporate mirroring in certain parts of the script, for example, at the lines "For example, the gold standard...", "You have helped to bring them into this world, but what kind of world have you brought them into?" etc. etc. This is to allow each examiner to also be individuals and have certain characteristics of their own.

This rehearsal was very successful as we managed to make major changes in our play according to the comments given by our peers during the showcase. However, we can do better if we REMEMBER our changes in stage directions so that everything will be smoother.

Keep up the good work everyone, but still keep improving too!

xoxo,
Mel. (Bimbo!!)

Rehearsals next week

2009-04-12T16:15:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, reminder for next week's rehearsal!
As we only can have 2 hours of bbox booking, our rehearsal timings are as follows:

Monday - 5pm to 6pm (tech run)
Friday - 6pm to 7pm (mel and ruishan's mirroring coordination. play with space and furniture)

We must make full use of the time given in the bbox alright!

Things we have to improve on after Thursday's showcase:
1. Rachel's (Johnson) energy level in the play - have to match up to examiners' energy level
2. More coordination and mirroring of the two examiners - (Circling around Johnson, slowly approaching him from two different corners etc.)
3. Play with space and furniture (eg. roller chairs and overturned tables)
4. Show more dark elements of the play (not only the bright and comedic side, but the disturbing/dark side of the play)
5. Pushing Johnson to the edge - More pressure and intensity on Johnson when questioning him
6. Similar but Different (examiners) - (First)Melissa more serious, (Second)Rui Shan more bubbly. Same outfit, socks must switch sides!
7. More layers in the characters (this is a really difficult thing to improve on hahahaha Miss Norzian's feedback btw)

These are all based on what I remember cos I didnt bring my feedback paper back home! :p
Alright, so for now we must concentrate on these points and bring this play to a higher level!

Signing off,
Rui Shan

Changes

2009-04-02T21:49:00.003+08:00

Alright guys! Because Mangay is leaving us, we'll be having the following changes in our play that we've decided on in today's group meeting:

1. Main Character will be taken over by Rachel.
2. Play will start straight from the interrogation scene by the two Examiners, Rui Shan and Melissa.
3. Voice to be recorded and played when Johnson wakes up and find himself in the interrogation room, informing Johnson: "Welcome to the Central offices of the Universal Asurance and Globe Loan and Finance Coporation. Where you get your money. Please fill in your form properly and concentrate. Our examiners will be here in a moment for the usual preliminary questions. Please take a good look at your form. Thank you." (to take over the Clerk's role in introducing the venue and event of the play.
(tentative) - When Johnson takes out his pipe to smoke, voice play: "No smoking in the office before five-fifteen."
4. Changes in the gender of Johnson - Robert Johnson is now known as Rebecca Johnson. Hence there will be changes to the "him"s and etc. in the script.
------------------------------------------

Our costumes and props are more or less ready and placed in the BBox already. Right now we just have to just find Rachel her plain pyjamas, the pipe and the clipboards (pipe not confirmed yet).

Showcase will be next thursday, 9 April. We are hoping to get at least 2 slots before next thursday in the BBox for rehearsal as there are many changes to our play. Hence, definitely even more practice is required. Bookings of the BBox will be confirmed by the end of this week.

As Miss Norzian is more particular about our body movements and physical attributes in this assessment, we would stick to simple lightings and sounds, putting more focus in our acting skills. Also, in order to familiarize with the actual setting, we would make use of the showcase to try out with the entire feel of costumes and props to be able to improve the play for the final assessment. There will also be more for audience to comment for improvement of the play.

JOJ wishes Mangay all the best in Sinapore Poly! :)

signing off,
Rui Shan

2009-03-28T22:43:00.002+08:00

HIIIIIII.

This is our aim for the next few rehearsals : Get actions synchronised, no interruption
Suggestions : For every rehearsal, 1 min preparation before starting
15 mins of script reading
1 hour rounds of rehearsal and commenting
45 mins of rehearsal with no interruption

Timetable (IMPORTANT)
31st March : DV Submission
9th March : Group pieces show week 3
16th March : Tech run week 4
21st April : Submission of group blog Week 5
23rd April : Full dress rehearsal
30th April : Group presentation week 6

Things we need to get!!
Music (heart beat sound, background noises) : Rui Shan
Props (loudhaler, pipe, clipboards, form, pointers) : Mangay
Costumes: Rachel
Make up : Melissa

Things needed for setting :
3 tables, 2 chairs, 2 roller chairs, 1 red sofa (messed up)

Costumes, props and music are due on Monday!

Alright that's all, keep practising everybody!!

XOXO,
Mel

2009-03-26T20:45:00.002+08:00

the StRoBeLiGHts( lol boo) effects were nicer and less complicated than the intial idea and it would come off more awesomly with the heartbeat. I also think its better to practice in the BBX because we can actually see the audience and direct our speech to them as we planned to do. Also we got more solid lightings, thanks to Boo. We mangaged to remember what the seniors said about shadws on the face and used the floodlights.

About the examiners: we incorporated more movements for them. Since Ruishan and Melissa are DANCERS(woah dude) the effect was achieved very beautifully. Our energy was off the chart and insync so props to all cause today was the best! Boo could see us better in this session so she could also critique better. Other group people were also spying(just kidding you know we love you) so their comments were very helpful.

For the first time i didn't forget as many lines cause i firgot my lines alot during the holiday so i made extra effort not to forget so i wouldn't drag down the team(phew long sentence). I also think i felt more in character than ever,i was more desperate,frustrated etc.

STARTLING REVELATION: Me and Melissa were actually doing Brechtian excersices! While waiting for the rest we practiced lines so we did the other's parts, did them in weird accents and also did them slo-mo sometimes. We were just having fun but parodying the characters helped us actualy realise more how the actual charaters would sound and also what bordered overacting.

Scratched onscreen *cough cough* by:
Mangay!

2009-03-25T19:38:00.003+08:00

25th MARCH 2009, WEDNESDAY :D
Venue: Bbox
Time: 1pm-3pm

Hey peopleee I'm here to blog about today! :D I think we're more or less productive today. We had about 3 runs for the play and we tried out more actions and lightings. We also added in more props! I think it looks and feels better watching today's rehearsal :D

Firstly, we tried out different lightings for different effects. We figured out what's giving us the shadows so we used the floodlights and switched off the light (41) behind. We included the shocklight (is that what you call it?) in the beginning too! It's an effect to show what Johnson went through.

*** Anyway, what happened to what we planned at first? We wanted the spotlight getting-from-small-to-big effect and also having the sound of heartbeat right! Can we improvise from the first idea (before we came to use the bbox one day...) into our current idea? I think it'll work out better with sounds! ***

Secondly, we added many actions to the two examiners! We added actions like on the rolling chairs, doing more similar actions and having more expressions. I think it turned out just nice! It seems more interesting and not as boring as the previous one where you two really had a long script going on and on. However, I feel that there's still the lack of climax! HOW? We need to solve it! >:(

Thirdly, we got the sofa into the set today. It looks much better. Somehow :D

Here's are the VIDEOS! Enjoy! :D

Shocklight fun part 1.

Shocklight fun Mangay solo part.

Shocklight fun part 2.
That's when we know how cool shocklight is! It inspired us :D

Our rehearsal :D

2009-03-21T23:05:00.004+08:00

General costume design (sry so late then post!)This is for the 2 examiners.
This is for the clerk. Haha, a picture to show you guys how it really looks like.

19th MARCH 2009, THURSDAY :D
Our group met up at school today!
Venue: Cafe
Time: 2pm

(Sorry for poor shooting skills! Bad quality for sound!)

After a while...

Then we decided to move to the area outside the Bbox so we can grab some chairs from the Bbox as props. When we went into the Bbox, no one was using it. So we asked the seniors who were sitting outside if we could use it! And they said YES :D Lucky us! So we went in... We tried to picture and arrange the props like how we'll do it on that day itself. But it was just a very rough idea. We even went on to try out the LIGHTS. It was really cool :) We managed to get some lightings done too.

(Sorry for bad view! Can't hear clearly too!)

Research

2009-03-13T00:07:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, I went online to search on the play, and I found some comments by some random person, on Johnson Over Jordan featuring Patrick Stewart. I thought these ideas of the costumes, music, setting and lightings may give us even more ideas.. Bolded words are the points that I think we should take note! :)

"When I ignored the contemporary allusions and put myself in 1939 the play made more sense. It also made Stewart's appearance appropriate. With old fashioned stripped pyjamas, a greying moustache (real), a few extra strands of long white hair stuck, Bobby Charlton style, across the top of his bald head and a timid manner, Johnson looked much older than any current day 50 year old. However, for someone living in the thirties, who had survived the First World War, Johnson's appearance was believable. Stewart also managed to maintain the movements of an ageing man throughout the play even when climbing onto bar-tops and performing mock fights. The only time he deliberately dropped this act was in the first act. After Johnson dies at the start of the play he goes to the Insurance Company to claim his money. There two female examiners grill him to see if he has caused his own death by self-neglect.
JOHNSON : I've always enjoyed taking exercise. Tennis and golf -
EXAMINER : (Severely) Too many middle-aged men, sedentary workers, imagine they can improve their physical condition by rushing into games at the weekend and only succeed in straining their hearts.
-------------------
(this part is removed from our script)
JOHNSON : (Desperately) I've tried not to overdo it and every morning, if I wasn't too late, I did a few exercises in my bedroom -
At this point the EXAMINER looks shocked as she along, with the audience, think he means sex. To explain Johnson/Stewart starts doing jack jumps like a fit 20 year old and then press-ups before reverting to old man mode and slowly collapsing onto the floor. It was a bit of slapstick but beautifully done and deserved the laughter it received.
-------------------
When the audience is allowed into the theatre, 15 minutes before the start, Stewart is already on the stage lying on top of a bed in pyjamas with his feet towards the audience. He lies on his back perfectly still with his eyes closed and his hands by his sides. This part of the stage projected into the space left by the curved arrangement of the seats, At the back of the stage on a white brick wall is a projection of a recording of Stewart's head as he lies on his back. This Stewart twitches occasionally and makes loud breathing noises. 15 minutes is a long time to lie still and I couldn't help wondering what Patrick thought about during these periods - rehearsed his lines, dozed, listened to the people in the front rows. Five minutes before the play started a woman climbed onto the stage and moved hesitantly towards him. I thought she was a member of the audience who was worried whether Patrick was all right. She turned out to be the actress playing his wife! Full marks for realism.
On either side of the front part of the stage and below the height of the front row of seats were two grand pianos. During some scenes in the play there was a musical accompaniment. The music wasn't memorable and I was only aware of it being intrusively loud on one occasion. Given the complex and fast movements required by the 10 actors during many scenes the music probably helped them to get their timing right. This frantic movement was one of the irritating aspects of the play. That and gimmicks such as actors appearing by punching their way through the foam brick wall at the back of the stage."

by Catherine Ellis

--------------------------------

Signing off,
Sleepy Rui Shan :)

2009-03-10T21:48:00.002+08:00

General costume and prop ideas

Clerk: OFFICE WEAR TYPE OF CLOTHING( but somehow,it will make you do a double take)

Glasses with chain attached (granny type ones)
Garish Purple green dress
Fluffy bedroomslippers

Johnson: Hospital-esque Garb (think nursing home)

Patient wristag
No shoes
Pyjamas wih pants and pockets

Examiner: Funky duds and cool stitches(..yo)

Suspenders attached to shorts
Long stripped socks
bright shirt
cute Faux ballet shoes
two little pigtails (each)

Rachel will elaborate more. She has the more detailed description and drawings.

Props

pointer
pipe(the kind for smoking)
clipboard
loudhailer
"NO SMOKING" sign
Party stuff (hats balloons creeper paper)
chairs (number unknown)
Tables(number unknown)

Not finalised yet but things may be added and taken of the list

Scratched onscreen by:

Mangay! (Meeting: 9th of March 2009, 9.30am to 11am)

2009-03-10T21:08:00.003+08:00

Directorial Vision

What:

To impact audience so that they will reminded cherish the people around them and to live their lives with meaning, especially directed at adults who do not really communicate and have real relationships with people. We want them to question if they have lived/ are living their lives with meaning. We want to incorporate Brecht’s Vision of showing the audience that they had alternative means to living their lives, instead of plodding along their given circumstances or resigned “fates”.

Our group seeks to bring the audience out of the real world and into the make them realise what IS real (to put them in a coolly reflective situation where they see they have alternative choices to they way they live) [Brecht]

How:This is a achieved through the "weird" (Unnatural) settings and costumes. The way the Examiners conduct their interrogation: Their speech and way of questioning is indirectly directed at the Audience, through eye contact with the audience and distance between the actors and those watching.

The setting is like this: Tables and chairs upturned and placed all over with a red sofa in the middle. The chair is placed centrally and perfectly straight. It is the main area of the interrogation and of the audiences focus. Its significance: Just like how all the other chairs and table are insignificant so is everything else in life other than the issues being dealt with in the examination. The red colour of the sofa also brings added attention to it and signifies special nature of it, apart from the rest of the furniture.

The identical nature of the examiners shown through the synchronisation of actions and doppelganger dressing is to show their unifying voice of question. Although they may be portrayed as two characters, their purpose is one (to show the actions and life choices of Johnson and the alternatives he could have chosen).

New DV! New nicknames: Booger Manly Mellow Rayshine (medicine does weird things to you)

First Meeting - 4 March 2009, 1.30pm

2009-03-05T22:27:00.003+08:00

Director's Style

1. Bertolt's Brecht - Awkward stage setting

- Opening scene of clerk and secretaries in office:
overturned tables (preferably dark/black colours)

- Interrogation scene:
We want to show a very different view of an interrogation scene
(NOT strong white lights shining on Johnson and NOT a bare empty room).
Idea of "Party is Over" setting - Colourful background, messy, with party balloons and bottles of beers etc. - This symbolises "End of Life, Party over".

More to be discussed on Friday 6 March 2009

- Involvement of Audience:
Audience as the "dead people", like Johnson, waiting for their turn for interrogation (Not confirmed)

More to be discussed and decided on Friday 6 March 2009

2. Antonin Artaud - Exaggeration
- Unusual/weird examiners:
Unique gestures and exaggerated costumes, unexpected moves and sudden emphasis during conversation/interrogation

More to be discussed on Friday 6 March 2009

Roles

Clerk - Rachel
Robert Johnson - Mangay
First Examiner - Melissa
Second Examiner - Rui Shan

Sound and Lighting Effects

1. Start of the play/show
- Heartbeat sound effects, along with throbbing lights (Red/Blue/Yellow/Green)
- Throbbing lights suddenly stops at white light, shining on the centre stage.

2. Between lines 3-4: "He opens the nearest door, and we hear the clatter of a very large office - typewriters, adding machines, ringing of bells, etc. But now Jognson really loses his temper."
- Sound effects of people talking, phones ringing, busy footsteps, typewriting/keyboard, scribbling
- Sound effects gradually soften down when Johnson speaks in line 4.

3. Between lines 32-33
- Shadow effects using strong lights to shine on puppets, forming human sized shadows on background screen, to give effect of "ballet of clerks and secretaries comes rushing in, making strange shadows"
- Throbbing lights come in again "but now the light change, ballet of clerks and secretaries comes rushing in, making strange shadows", then sudden stop a white light on desk - " brilliant white lights pour down on the desk again".

Schedule of Meetings and Rehearsals
Monday: 0930 - 1100 (Meeting)
Tuesday: 1630 - 1800 (Rehearsal)
Friday: 1330 - 1500 (Tentative)

P/S: Please read the script again and again and know your lines asap! Do your Best!
P/P/S: It's Isaac's Birthday tmr! :D

Signing off,
Rui Shan

Blog Created!

2009-02-28T17:29:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, I've created our "Johnson Over Jordan" Blog!
Ideas and arrangements of meetings can be posted here.

Signing off,
Rui Shan