Tag Archives: locationlocationlocation

Easter break/15th April

Posted on by
Reply

Easter Break/ 15th April

Looked into Freedom of Information Act, we have emailed Lincoln City Council asking about how we would acquire the CCTV footage but are awaiting response. We are unsure if we will be able to get the footage for the performance if it does we will be presenting it on another iPad along with the iPad we will be using to stream the live feed from the GoPro. If it doesn’t arrive we will just us it as another layer of documentation but we hope that the council will accept our request as we are all interested to see what our performance looked like.

We have recapped on what we want our piece to be and have created a contingency plan for the next few weeks, including rehearsals, our dress run and our actual performance. In our next rehearsal (tomorrow) we will be testing out the go pro and iPad live feed for our dress run Wednesday.

Dress run will be on Wednesday 22nd April at 2.30pm

Assessment performance will be on the Wednesday 6th May at:

  • 9am 30 minutes
  • 12.30pm 30 minutes
  • 5.30pm 30 minutes

CCTV ‘Ballet’

Posted on by
Reply

Week starting 23rd March

We have decided after our meeting/ presentation with Conan that we would try to get some CCTV footage of the Castle Square, from the camera situated on the corner of the Magna Carter so we could have it on one of the iPads we will be using.

Our group created a piece of theatre and performed it to a CCTV camera for 30 minutes. Rachel gave us the idea to do this and called it a ‘CCTV Ballet’, we also took some inspiration from a group Surveillance Players who have done a lot of CCTV performances, their performances/ protests focus on political issues and say that “The surveillance camera Players are not watching you. They are watching the cameras, because we have forgotten to.” (Surveillance Camera Players, 2006) We are using their ideas of performing to the camera to create awareness of CCTV cameras and how they are constantly watching us.

We then thought that it would be interesting to walk in any direction across, through Castle Square, Tania still being the constant and following wherever the CCTV camera pointed next. Instead of walking away we decided that we would all stand in a line facing the camera, count down from 10 then disband in different directions and repeat this where ever the camera moved to again.

.16981188357_799ab0351d_k

I personally found it really interesting and actually quite enjoyable, we were all quite apprehensive and nervous at first but then after the first 5 minutes we were all enjoying ourselves. It was really interesting to see people’s reactions to what we were doing, passers-by were confused, and some were interested in what we were doing which was good because they stayed to watch, also workers were giving us odd looks as we moved around the square.

To get the CCTV footage we’ve had to do some research around how to retrieve it and who to contact. We have may have to make a Freedom of Information Act request or we may be able to get the footage through Lincoln City Council.

GOV (2015) Make a Freedom of Information Request. [online] United Kingdom: GOV. Available from https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request/the-freedom-of-information-act [Accessed on 28 March 2015]

Surveillance Camera Players (2006) 1984 [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RILTl8mxEnE [Accessed 10 April 2015]

 

Here’s a link to my flickr for more pictures

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lilybinghamdavis/

Meeting with Conan

Posted on by
Reply

Week starting 16th March

This week we focused on putting together our presentation/ pitch for Conan, going over feedback questions that Rachel gave us to consider.

We also went back to our previous weeks plans and we have decided to scrap the idea of the live feed to a laptop element of the performance that we would have had situated in the Magna Catra. We want an accidental audience not a forced one, so we thought that the idea of pushing our audience to take part in a viewing would not be appropriate, if we had kept this idea we would also be heavily relying on an audience which we don’t want to do.

Ready for Conan we tried our technology (iPads) in the site as they are a big part of our piece, they were working well until we actually had to show Conan. This has shown us that we cannot rely on technology because they can be very temperamental and unreliable so we would need a backup plan for the real day. Conan seemed to like the ideas that we presented him with, he especially liked the CCTV ideas and the concept of the time lapse videos although he did say that they could easily become tenuis and an audience would be bored if they had to watch it for a long period of time. Although he explained that we were never going to be able to ‘be’ the CCTV cameras but to still use the concept of CCTV and how it constantly watches the square, he also wanted us to take our ideas to the next level.

Ideas/revaluations we have made after our meeting with Conan:

  • Look into retrieving the CCTV camera footage of the meeting
  • Look into the Freedom of Information Act
  • Definitely use Go Pros – incorporate a live feed this way instead
  • Think about time lapses – we may just use them as documentation rather than in our performance piece
  • Look into the Surveillance Camera Players (SCP) theatre group

Most watched nation

Posted on by
Reply

As we get on with our lives we forget about the fact that we are being watched via CCTV cameras dotted around our own towns. Do people realise that there are cameras? If they do would they act differently in the space? What would be the factors that would change the way people acted in a space; Weather? Time of day? A more obvious act of filming?

To enhance our knowledge of space and behaviour it would mean undertaking a lengthy proccess studying the space and people. It would also only be fair to study expected variables that might change the results. Spaces can be transformed from empty connections for destinations, to a lively bustling loaction that has become a destination. A space can coax families or couples as a resting place, or be a loaction for workmen to carry out their duties. People that pass through the space might have a life long connection to it, having lived there most of their lives, but will not pay attention to their surroundings on a daily basis. On the other hand it can be a site for tourists that will see everything in great detail, as they might not ecounter it again. What behaviour will set these people apart?

From walking around Lincoln, apperaing as tourists, a group member overheard a local man say “Nothing happens here apart from us.” as if to imply it’s a waste of time looking around this patch. It’s easy for local people to become used to their surroundings and see the ‘attractions’ as more of a practical thing or nothing that special. By saying that nothing happens there apart from them, he is suggesting that all the community do is simply live, when in fact it is because of them living that the place thrives. They are a crucial, relevant component in making the space what it is, without them the space becomes nothing.

Maybe if we linked both notions of CCTV and ‘nothing happening’ in the space we can inflict a healthy reflection on the people that they are important.

Our group intend to study and relfect a site using modern technologies, over the next few weeks we will mimick the CCTV camera located in a prime area of Lincoln using timelapses.

 

 

Don’t worry be happy :)

Posted on by
Reply

SAM_1327

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone!

Haven’t blogged in a while and I think it’s about time I did. So since the Blog I posted last, I’ve been a busy bee with my group (Georgia, Beth & Luke). We have started to explore some of our new ideas and theories as well as learning more about local folk tales and legends associated with uphill lincoln especially with Pottergate as well as the secret garden.

Some of the sessions we have explored uphill have developed our readings further by physically doing some of the tasks, tours & movements that have come from many of the weekly set readings. One I enjoyed was a set list of tasks that was given to everyone as a group by Rachel to do three things that would affect the space without physically damaging private & public property. Finally I can say i’ve performed as a tree in Lincoln, something that people think drama students do in their degree for three years.
The picture I’ve attached on to this post was taken a couple of weeks ago as part of the set tasks given to us by Rachel. With this quote I feel it was the right thing to put up as the day we wrote the quotes it was pouring down with rain. In all fairness our quote paper wasn’t respected or appreciated as much as we would like. An elderly lady thought we were littering the bushes and trees with paper, I think if she had asked why were we doing this project  I feel we could of brighten her day saying we were creating performance art for all to enjoy.
For now i’m going to look up who owns Pottersgate to see if we can explore the room/s inside the archway gate.
Thanks