The Act: Part II

I have begun research into restaging the act. Being inspired by the film festival, I am looking to restage the event within a more appropriate & purposeful location. Possibly renting a shop unit & staging the film in their will provide the necessary step-up in terms of advertising & assembling an audience. Will hopefully get something sorted soon, really only need a venue, date & audience.

I attended a few of the short films on show at the Glasgow film festival. Finding that most films were booked out, it was a couple of morning shorts I ventured to see. Interesting to experience film within a more sociable context, and quite inspiring in terms of the film content – social realism seems to be the focus of short film, which reassures me regarding my thesis statement. Also ventured down to Garnethill where they had set up a temporary screen. VERY interesting to see their layout, but also greatly helpful to speak to the staff. Guerrilla cinema is maybe not the best way to take the project forward, but certainly a precedent towards the act.

Week Four: Interim Review

The discussion at the review has helped clarify my thoughts on the project more. As I did not feel my act to be successful in justifying my statement, I was a bit worried about taking the project further. However, the discussion at the review has made me think about what the project aims to achieve, and what the pushing factors behind the project are. Stepping back from the idea of the motorway, the main of idea of film within a social context is still the concept. The notion of the city as dormant can also be thought of as being un-sociable with regards to the aspect of film. Therefore, a restaging of the act within an unsociable space. The key points behind why I felt the act was unsuccessful were a lack of advertisement of the event, and also the scale upon which it took place. The new aim is therefore to put on the act in a more organised space which is contained within an unsociable area. Have also attatched the sheets from the initial Statement of Intent.

Week Four: Interim Review

The sheets for tomorrow’s Interim pin-up.

The Act: Taking Place

A bit disappointed with last nights’ results. Everything (eventually) worked, and almost everyone who passed through acknowledged the screen, but the ratio of people who stopped was a lot lower than I had expected. The intention of gathering an audience to watch the films might have been a bit too ambitious with the level of advertising and the timescale in putting the act together, but I am not happy that the results confirm my statement for the project. On the positive, feedback from the people was ample and positive, and although no ‘audience’ gathered, many people did stop and pay attention for a little while. Hopefully things will become more organised and clearer for Friday.

The Act: Setting-Up

Having done a bit more advertisement, albeit last minute, the act will be underway tonight. I have convinced a few friends to come along and give me a hand setting up, so were heading down at about 5pm to set up for an expected 6pm start. I have everything sorted so fingers crossed for the results!!!

Test Run: Pt. 2

The test run didn’t go as planned unfortunately, but a quick re-think of the site allowed me to test everything: apart from the projector. The initial site is just too big, both for the screen size, but also for the projector: it is not powerful enough. The new site is more into the underpass than before, which means the power source is a problem. Will have to get a generator of some sort now. On the plus side, the screen went up well and the sloping of the sides to the walkway give a sense of seating, enhancing the sense of place the act creates. Despite the change of site, I am confident about Wednesday’s screening, hoping I get the results I need.

Test Run Pt. 1

Having found an ample transformer, I have everything I need for the test run. Going down to the site at 3 today, get set up whilst the site is a bit quieter. Hopefully everything goes ok, but I have got a couple of days to space if things go pear shaped.

Week Three

The week has been focused on gathering everything together for the act, overcoming a few hiccups and starting to think about where to take the project next. The components for the act have begun to take shape: Having acquired a projector, I have now put together the flight box. It is looking good, very polished and it works fantastically now. The screen and seating have also been put together, after researching into the idea of performance & consumption within film. The screen is to be suspended between two columns of the motorway, giving tension to the screen and creating a surface which can be projected onto sufficiently. The last technical step is to get a power source/transformer for the car which can hopefully let me stage the act. The next step is to gather together the films to show generate a little bit of publicity and take on a test run.

The Act: Concept

After the initial research, the idea of an act has been decided. It will be an exploration of both the urban context suggested within the analysis, and a development of the idea of cinematography. I am planning to undertake an urban performance, setting up a drive thru/ walk thru cinema.

Using one of the underpasses on the M8 motorway, the concept is to set up a low-scale urban cinema. Doing this will provide me with a way to explore the notion of cinema within Glasgow, and analysis of peoples consumption of performance. Using the flight case and my car as the method of projection, the underpass will become the area for consumption. I hope to be able to gauge peoples reaction to this event, and take from their reaction the body of my analysis of the act.

The statement of the cinema within this underpass will hopefull provide me opportunity to examine any change in peoples reaction to the space, which is currently not very plesnat to be in. Hopefully, the act will provide me with more reasoning for developin the breif in the direction of the motorway, or at least give me a greater need to question the context and event I am examining.

Week Two

The second week invovled presenteing a more developed idea of what sub-city Glasgow was, and a more advanced idea of performance within that specific city. The next step was to inform the idea of an act/event which explored performance within this city. The intent for this act is to establish a basis for the under-graduate thesis project.

Week One

The first stage consisted of developing an initial proposal for the project. Presented with the idea of approaching Glasgow as a city broken down into sub-categories, the weeks work involved developing these ideas upon the notion of performance and how Glasgow consumes each category.