Mother knows best.

Whilst I was drawing my initial sketches, my Mum had a look at my work. I explained to her how I was hoping to mould the two genres together and she mentioned that it reminded her of a Grand Designs Abroad episode that she had watched only the night before. SO, after much searching on the channelfour website, I found the page with the renovation. It was perfect for my research as it mixed old and new, not to the extreme that I'll be designing, but enough to hold importance and help me see what looks nice and works well together.

Below is a link to the page of the renovation, which has a direct link to the episode also.

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/grand-designs/episode-guides/ireland-the-converted-church-08-06-13_p_1.html

Cyberpunk - Initial sketches.

As before, the paragraphs coincide with a sketch and picture research that can be seen in my sketchbook.

1. 1.This first sketch shows a more simplistic, smooth design often connected with the cyberpunk sub-genre. The modest table and settee placement show that the family have no more than they need. The two high rising windows are not for a view, but to let in light. They do however allowed Gregor to see into the world that is passing him by. With only a rope to climb up to his room, a visitor could enter the house and be easily forgiven for not even noticing there was a room above their heads. Gregor’s room has only two pieces of furniture, a mattress on a bare floor and a chair with missing padding. I wanted to show the features deconstructed – another prominent part of the cyberpunk theme – to parallel with Gregor’s feelings. The wires above his head were purely decorative whilst he was still a human, but now he has turned into something else, I couldn’t help but think of the animal enclosures at zoos where they have these sorts of structures to play on and ease boredom.

2. 2.The sketch here followed on from my thoughts on animal captivity and I decided to try out a cage effect on Gregor’s room. It would be constructed of lasers or light beams, but somehow hidden from the people below. In a cyberpunk world it would be seen as normal to have lasers, light beams and pole in a household, so I doubt this room would be seen as strange. But Hiding Gregor’s new form would maybe be tricky. The entrance to the house would be through the tube at the left hand side of the stage, with the lodgers able to make a grand entrance and taking up little of the needed space. This need for space, especially with the arrival of the three lodgers also gives reason for the simple dining set and the ladder that can be moved away and stored.

3. 3. I decided to try opening up Gregor’s room to the audience, with the cage enclosing him too much. It made me wonder if it would- for some audience members- make it harder to connect to him and the changes he is going through emotionally and physically. I took inspiration from padded cells, making the interior stark and to capture the cyberpunk theme I chose sheet metal with rivets in panels. The setting this time is much more friendly than previous, with a radiator, sliding door, living room set and a large mirror on the left side wall. The tube idea from the earlier sketch has this time been used for Gregor’s room, making it more of a feature. It can also be seen as a prompt for the lodgers asking questions about what is in the room.

4. 4.This sketch is very minimal. The doors to both the family living area and Gregor’s room are made from hundreds of metallic strands to create a cyberpunk bead curtain. There is another door this time, where it leads is up to the audience to guess. It may be another part of the small house, a cupboard or leading to a garden of some kind. The three windows in a slot shape came about from watching the matrix as there is a very small amount of light used throughout the film when they are in the cyberpunk world. The markings on the floor indicate where a living room set is hidden underneath, that would come to the surface when needed. There is no visible entrance to Gregor’s room in this design and I like the idea of him just appearing, leaving the audience with a sense of wonder as to how he is achieving this.

5. 5. With the fifth and final sketch I took ideas from the four previous and brought them together. I have tried to create a more comfortable setting, with a living room set and a set of cupboards at the back of the stage. The repetition of the slot windows still holds a sense of the cyberpunk sub-genre, but lets in more light and the tube used for Gregor’s room doesn’t seem so out of place as before. His room is clad in small sheets of metal, slightly changing the idea of the padded cell I had before.

English Gothic Horror - Initial sketches.

The paragraphs all coincide with a page of picture research and a sketch that are in my sketchbook.

1. Gregor’s room is clad in dark wood panelling, to add a sense of gloom and despair. The door has moved to the side of the stage so that Gregor would be able to look through his door and see the lodgers who arrive. The fire underneath the room symbolises a warmth that Gregor is missing, the comfort that the rest of the family and the lodgers have taken from him. The table and sofa are simple but show easy comforts and it’s a happier place to be than upstairs. The ladder upto Gregors can be easily moved and stored away, restricting Gregors access to normality and hiding him away from visitors.

2. With this second sketch I decided to keep the fireplace the same, but move the door. It occurred to me that having it there could show a level of secrecy towards Gregor, blocked from his view. The stone steps are narrow and against the wall, looking as though they are being pushed in to hide them and what they lead up to. Gregors walls are made up from stone also, to add a coldness that reflects his situation and feeling. The wooden flooring would be a warm tone, unlike in the previous sketch. There is no furniture, suggesting that the area underneath is more a hallway or living space not used often by the family.

3. This sketch is very similar to number 2, but by changing the stairs and adding windows I feel I have made an important difference. Gregor can now see into the outside world, adding a sense of loss perhaps or maybe a sense of hope that he may escape and become accepted. The winding staircase means Gregor’s room isn’t hidden away, prompting the lodgers to ask questions as to what is up there and making noise. I also got rid of the fireplace, showing a certain coldness surrounding the whole situation.

4. The stone flooring was chosen to show a certain air of grandeur that is left out in Gregors room, and the fireplace moved to the side so that he may view the warmth he is missing not only literally, but mentally too. The furniture is basic and the 3 chairs are first used by the family, then by the lodgers who arrive. I chose not to add in extra chairs as the family become the servers of the lodgers, trying to impress them with their helpfulness and willing nature.

5. In the last of my sketches I decided to go in a different direction completely. I had explored the idea of the structure/floors/walls setting the tone, but this time decided the features/furnishings could also achieve this. The wall hanging would be faded and tired looking, to show a sense of what used to be when Gregor was earning money for the family. The window on the back wall is decorative and ornate, a common feature in gothic horror settings and another way to portray the loss of the wealth they had. Gregor’s four poster bed turns into his prison and the posts can act as a suggestion of walls and imprisonment.

Moving on...

To further my basic design layout in the best way for myself, I decided to sketch over my basic frame, which you will recognise from the previous post.

Firstly, I will be using the English Gothic Sub-Genre as my design base to draw five pieces and then doing the same with the Cyberpunk Sub-Genre. Then the ten designs will be mixed together to bring me closer to my final design and to help me visualise what will work well when joined.

In my next post I will be explaining each sketch, detailing where I gained the ideas and why I think they will work or not work with other features.

Basic Stage Layout.

I decided on this particular design to work with as it gave me exactly what I wanted and it is how I want my audience to view the stage. Gregors room is placed above the living area, to help me portray the idea that he may be different to them, but he is still above them both literally and mentally. I wanted the stairs/ladders/lift to be an important place on stag

e as it is pivotal to the scene I have chosen, so it is imperative that the audience are able to see properly, which is why I have decided to make it about 35% of the stage width.

The doorway has been located at the back of the stage on the right, but not right at the edge. I wanted it to be a focal point as the lodgers will be leaving the stage with disgust and horror during this scene and I like the idea that their backs will be turned as they leave the stage. It will hopefully help to show their disgust towards Gregor and discarding the family for hiding such a hideous secret from them.

The next step.

Before sketching out the 2 sub-genre ideas I have collected, I want to draw a basic design to follow. This will help me when I am bringing the sub-genres together, giving me a clearer picture of my final ideas. I also choose to design this way because I have found I work best when I can put things together in an almost puzzle like fashion, fitting pieces together and blending them in.

Below are some ideas I have drawn out in my sketchbook

The photo below was one that stood out for me. The character in the photo is trapped, gagged and unable to hear. He is bound by the futuristic ties of electricity and it make me wonder if the machine creating the ties has independent thought or is being controlled by someone out of shot. I would like to bring the electric ties into my sketches and the idea of Gregor being controlled by someone else, maybe the creature he has become on the outside.

Beyond The Matrix

Although The Matix has given me a base to work off in terms of the ideology behind the
The photos below show the more futuristic side of the cyberpunk sub-genre and demonstrate the influences I will be using in my sketches. The metal structures, almost prison like and that bright beams of light.cyberpunk sub-genre and also the idea of colours and lightening, I want to look into other classic cyberpunk looks for my theatre box.

Cyberpunk.

I chose to look at the Cyberpunk sub-genre for a number of reasons. The most important one to me is the idea that Gregor is something alien like, unexplainable and shocking. These things to me can be easily placed into the Sci-fi genre. Choosing Cyberpunk from this was purely for contrast against the English Gothic. The high technology aspect of the sub-genre will help me show the difference between the family and Gregor. He is trying to understand this futuristic, unrealised being he has become and his family are set in their ways, stubborn and unwilling to accept the fact that although he has changed on the outside, he is still the same person within.

Lawrence Person, editor of Nova Express –a science fiction fanzine- describes a classic cyberpunk character as ‘marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society’, traits I feel Gregor beholds.

The example of Cyberpunk I looked into was the film The Matrix. To summarise this film....

‘Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a malevolent hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines which live off of their body heat and imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents, super powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion.’

Taken from www.IMDB.com

The link below explains the ideas of imprisonment within the matrix, and how Neo becomes ‘re-born’ in the real world. I chose this example to show the idea of imprisonment in the mind, and how it is shown. There is a vast difference between the sets of the Matrix world and the Real world, with the matrix seeming to be a wash of colours with no real depth or brightness and the real world delivering a stark contrast of light and dark, brightness and gloominess.

I want to use the idea of differences in The Matrix to explain the difference between Gregor and his family. Gregors family are in the dark about this new world that Gregor has entered into, whilst Gregor is experiencing something new and hidden from the other people in his world – his family – and no one understands, including him.

English Gothic.

After looking into The Red Room, I chose to take a look at the English Gothic Horror theme. The images below offer a classic look at the theme and I will be taking ideas from them to put into my sketches.

The Red Room

I chose English Gothic Horror to show the darkness that Gregor’s family live within their poor financial situation and within their refusal to understand and except their son/brother.

The Red Room by HG Well is a classic example of Gothic Horror.

The story is about a young man who stays in a room that a young duke died in. When told about the haunting of the room, the young man doesn’t hold back in his disbelief of ghostly creatures and is invited to stay in the room to test his own opinions. Once in the room he starts doubt himself, lighting candles about the room to keep in the light. It is when the candles start to go out without due cause or explanation that his panic grows gradually until he is somehow knocked unconscious and awakes the next day. He announces the next day that it is in fact fear itself that he was afraid of, the darkness surrounding him and the room itself.

The idea that a room can bring about this irrational fear with only imagination thinking that the drafts blowing out the candles are being guided by a malevolent ghostly intelligence is almost appalling, but when a brought to theatre it shows a whole new world. Within the English gothic horror sub-genre, the room becomes a character. The shade of red used, the objects in the room and their placing, where the light is coming from and the shape of the room.

The full story can be read here

http://www.twilightharbor.com/moonmistress/stories/RedRoom.html

Loneliness.

It was this loneliness mainly that made me think about how I wanted to portray The Metamorphosis and also the separation between Gregor and his family. In my chosen Sub-genres, English Gothic Horror and Cyber Punk I feel like I can work different aspects of the play and then bring them together in a mix to create a new sub-genre of the two.

I will firstly be looking into them separately, drawing sketches from each and then bringing them together, mixing the aspects I think will work best together. Hopefully I will be able to have one sub-genre to express Gregors family and the other to express Gregor himself, which I think will help me to portray the divide between them that I see.

English Gothic Horror – Characteristic theme is the stranglehold of the past upon the present or the encroachment of the Dark Ages of oppression upon the "enlightened" modern era. Enclosed and haunted settings (castles, crypts, convents, mansions), gloomy images of ruin and decay, episodes of imprisonment, cruelty, and persecution are used to express this.

Cyber Punk - High technology in the not-so-distant future, featuring a bleak outlook and setting, displaying humanity almost destroying itself with its own advances. It Encompasses nanotechnology, cyborgs, androids and/or virtual reality.

Definitions taken from www.fictonfactor.com

Screenplay

Taking influence from the 2 projects we did previously, I bought the screenplay and found the scene that I want to do and made a copy to write on.

The extract that I have chosen is form the end of the screen play. I choose to start it when I did so that I can better understand the important mix of emotions that rapidly change from start to finish. I marked out the points when Gregor speaks as individual because it shows something important in how Steven Berkoff portrays the story. Greogor is speaking to the audience as a narrator of his own emotions. Berkoff makes a clear difference between the animal side of Gregor and the human side. I took this all into consideration, split up my scenes on my paper copies and started to make a table up.

Scene Section	Scene description and plot development	Page and Line	Location and Place	Light	Mood
1	Lodgers are coming to the house for much need income.	Pg. 114 L.11 To Pg. 114 L. 24	Main living area.	Warm lighting	Happy, Inviting.
2	The Lodgers arrive and the family tend to them.	Pg. 115 L.1 To Pg. 115 L. 22	Doorway and main living area.	Warm lighting	“ “
3	The family mention that a ‘pet’ lives in the back room.	Pg. 115 L.23 To Pg. 116 L. 5	Main living area.	As the family mentions the pet, illuminate Gregors room, then bring back to darkness.	Worry, Deception, Secrecy.
4	The lodgers possessions are thrown into Gregors room out of the way. Dinner is served, the family wait on the lodgers like servants.	Pg. 116 L.6 To Pg. 116 L.24	Main living area, doorway to Gregors room, Dining Table.	Warm light, with Gregors room only illuminating slightly as the lodgers possessions are tossed inside.	Happy, Jovial.
4 – Gregors Narration	Gregor speaks of how he feels alone and forgotten, even more so now the lodgers have arrived.	Pg. 116 L.12 To Pg. 116 L.17	Gregors room.	As Gregor speaks, The rest of the stage goes black and only his room is illuminated dimly with a spot light on him.	Sadness, Hatred, Loneliness.
5	Gregor is heard eating his food by the lodgers and they are disturbed. The family successfully conceal his exsistance as a ‘pet’. Greta starts to play the violin to distract the lodgers.	Pg. 117 L.1 To Pg. 117 L.21	Dining room, Main living area.	Warm lighting with Gregors room this time dimly lit. As Greta starts to play her violin, the dim light grows in Gregors room, with a spotlight following his movements.	Panic, Worry, Deception, Calm.
5 – Gregors narration	He talks about how he is not an animal, he hears the music and appreciates it. He cannot remember how long it has been since he was his human self.	Pg. 117 L. 11 To Pg. 117 L.21	Gregors room.	The light grows brighter as he walks down the stairs from his room, lighting the whole stage.	Longing, Sadness, Loneliness.
6	One of the Lodgers spots Gregor and pulls back in disgust. The lodgers feel deceived by the family and leave the house.	Pg. 117 L.22 To Pg. 119 L.16	Main living area, doorway.	As soon as a lodger spots Gregor, the lighting goes dim, except for a spot light around Gregor in white light. As the lodgers leave, the house loses its warm glow.	Unease, Distrust, Anger.
7	The family now despise Gregor for driving the lodgers away, their only source of income. They talk about how they are to get rid of him, he is no longer Gregor and how the ‘real’ Gregor would have understood.	Pg. 119 L.17 To Pg. 120 L. 17	Main living area.	The house remains dim and as Gregor slinks back to his room, the light on the stairs goes out and the spotlight on him dims down. As and when Gregor finishes talking, the rest of the stage goes to blackout.	Despair, Hatred, Cunning, Reason.
7 – Gregors narration	He sees that his family fear him and are in misery. He wants to leave the weakening body behind, and be at peace at last.	Pg. 120 L.11 To Pg. 120 L.17	Gregors Room	Gregors final spotlight dims down to blackout as he finishes talking.	Sadness, Weakness, Contentment.

I found this version of The Metamorphosis on YouTube and although it has been adapted to draw Gregor downstairs with the sound of a fire burning and not Violin playing, It shows the fear of his family and the loneliness he feels perfectly.

The Metamorphosis.

I will be looking at Franz Kafta’s The Metamorphosis. The theatre adaptations of the story by Steven Berkoff have become a popular choice and are easy to relate to, with enough direction for great story telling yet enough freedom to allow me to fix my own sub-genre choices to it.

The scene I have chosen is The Violin Scene. A summary of the story can be found here http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/summary.html

Gregor Samsa’s sister Grete is playing the violin and He decides to come downstairs, enthralled by the music, but his insect appearance shocks the lodgers of the house and he goes back into his room. This is to be the end of Gregor, with his family deciding he must be abandoned. He has driven away his family’s only means of survival and they are irate, wanting the creature out of their lives.

Hello hello hello and welcome to Narrative and Genre

Hello! Welcome to my blog on Narrative and Genre. I’ll admit I’m not the best at blogs and I’ve been learning over the past week how to use it properly and I’ve got a few posts to put up today.

After finishing the two practice projects for Narrative and Genre, we started on our main project. The brief outline is to choose a play, choose a scene from the play and choose 3 genres in which to interpret a scenic design with. It’s only once we have done this that we can then start to focus on one chosen genre and pursue it further.

Looking into genres and sub genres it is easy to see how important they are. Genres are far too broad in a whole, so they must be broken into these sub genres to make sense and give a better projection of style. To say something is science fiction themed, would give many people many interpretations, based on their likes and what they have encountered before in the genre. But to say that something is Alien Science Fiction, it lets the people have a clearer image of what to expect.