Week Beginning 23/02

Monday started off a little unusually with some confusion about the timetable. It eventually turned out to be the course leader for the Contemporary Theatre Practice course giving us a rather extensive account of what it is that her faculty are actually doing, followed by the news that we were to film them doing it.

When she asked for feedback regarding the content, I have to confess I blurted out my honest and heartfelt irritation, verging on contempt, for the whole discipline. With the benefit of moderation and hindsight, I realised I had allowed myself to speak from the heart without properly engaging the head (not something I am particularly prone to, with good reason!). After an emailed apology for disrespect, I feel it is now incumbent upon me to provide a clearer and more objective critique.

It seems to me that the majority of CTP is akin to the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. When the story was put around that only the wise could truly see the wonder of this new cloth, nobody wished to be thought unwise and so everyone claimed to be able to see the non-existent cloth. It took the unaffected honesty of a small child to smash these pretensions to pieces.

Similarly with CTP we are in the situation where the only the "properly cultured" can appreciate the wonder of the contemporary performance. Nobody - certainly within a certain social class - wishes to be considered uncultured and therefore everyone claims to be able to see the "deep and meaningful truths" underlying contemporary performance. I do my best at all times to keep my feet firmly on the ground, and it is my considered opinion that there is as little insight, art and profound truth in contemporary performance as there was cloth round the proverbial Emperor's buttocks.

Let me back up that bold statement. When I see something and think to myself "I couldn't do that" I acknowledge there is talent there. For example I see a drawing by Galina, a painting by Charlotte, when I hear a piano played by Phil, Benoit or Graeme I know there is clear talent on display. When I consider a Van Gogh, a Mozart, a Tolkien, a Tim Burton or a Milton I can only stand back in amazement and appreciation. But when I see something else and think "I could do that just as well, if not better - and I haven't even been properly trained" I strongly question whether any particular talent is on display.
For example, last Thursday, in my work at the Citizens' Theatre, I had to usher (and therefore to watch) the Reid-Kerr acting students in a rendition of Romeo and Juliet. I spent most of the performance thinking: "I could take almost any part in this production and do it better." My conclusion? There was little talent to be seen.
Turning to the contemporary performances highlighted by Debbie on her DVD of the global best, I have to say the same. Perhaps there is talent involved. I didn't see it. All I saw pointed me to the deduction that an exhibitionist psyche and pretentions to grandeur is really all that is required.

Let us suppose for a moment that I was to stand on a public stage, holding a huge piece of cheese in one hand and a large dead mouse in the other, and was to spend twenty minutes shouting over and over "I will not be trapped". Now I conceived this piece in about twenty seconds and yet I do not see how that would be distinguishable from any other performance I saw. Perhaps I would get bonus points for taking off all my clothes and - who knows - maybe slitting my wrists for a bit of variation. Please note that the fact that I wouldn't do this (especially the nudity and self-mutilation) does not mean that I couldn't do it.

In conclusion, CTP seems to me to be on a par with the very worst forms of abstract modern art. These pieces that are nothing but a black dot in the middle of a blank canvas, or a Maroon strip painted over a Red one. The mantra "Art is whatever you make it." (the wooliest definition conceivable) has been subverted until the only criteria for this particularly obscure strand of art is that it is something not seen before. It is no surprise that students have resorted to blood-letting. They are desperate: anything, anything that hasn't been done before, that is shocking, controversial, avant-garde. The next logical step would be a live castration, amputation or even a suicide. After all, an audience who are only interested in seeing something "new" will find that even the voyeuristic excitement of watching self-mutilation will fade away after a while.

Occasionally - very very occasionally - there may be a performance which throws up an unusual or intriguing image, which can be incorporated into a film or stage play in which it is made sense of. But I reckon most of the time CTP involves people dressing up like pillocks and bouncing around thinking they are the cat's pyjamas.


So. Enough regarding CTP and my critique of it. On to the rest of the week.

Monday afternoon was a class with Barbara: our first proper one. We looked at TV schedules again, particularly focussing on drama and the different audiences that watch different channels at different times. We also looked again at promoting our pitched ideas with a two sentence blurb for the TV magazines.

Tuesday morning was cancelled, and I enjoyed the extra hour in bed. Tuesday afternoon was a class with Richard, looking at Conflict and Tension and how they can be best used in a screenplay. We heard that several of our scripts will be taken forward for Production this term and next term. This is, of course, very exciting, and I've been working on redrafting my script, trying to make the best use of the feedback I received.

On Wednesday morning I attended a seminar hosted by an amalgamation of six college Media courses. Only myself and Gilly from DFTV 3 were there from RSAMD, but I found it to be quite a helpful event. We had Ewen Angus, head Commissioning Editor for BBC Scotland talking to us, followed by Harry Bell from Tern TV and someone else from a smaller indie production company whose name I forget (Demas production os something). They covered the same sort of ground as we have been looking at with Adam in Content Origination. The key thing Ewen Angus was highlighting was the need for a relationship between producer and commisioner. They will not give a budget to someone they do not know, so it is best, he said, to approach him informally with any ideas, so he can engage you with dialogue, rather than coming with a fully formed pitch. However he said other Commissioners work differently. Harry Bell spoke passionately and at length, but the key note he kept returning to was that we should all be watching TV as much as we can. I find this a little difficult for myself as I often find myself without time to cook food, let alone to sit down to watch telly. Half an hour a day is my maximum I can squeeze in, and its usually just a round of "Being Human", "Film 2009", "QI", "Doctor Who" episodes I missed first time round and the odd documentary. So I'll do my best!

Wednesday afternoon was a TV class, looking at advertising. We watched a documentary, which while not rivetting, helped me to gain an more of an appreciation for the art of the advert. I think some of the interviewed individuals were understandably a little harsh in their judgement of the advertising scene today. I consider it to still throw up quite a lot of half decent adverts.

Thursday was a day without classes, which I spent redraftign scripts and working on a project I am hoping to pitch as a TPA/DFTV collaboration. I have pretty much given up on my group now. Nobody responds to emails. Ever! So I am considering finding folk from both DFTV and TPA who might be interested, poaching them from their groups (after all none of the groups seem to be productive) and setting up my own new group. This could be seen as mutinous but I prefer the term innovative.

Friday started with a screening of King Kong (see my other blog) followed by an introduction to the Mobile/Web Module. Not much to say on that one yet. The afternoon's class with Abigail was mercifully brief as we were suffering a severe information overload concerning the duties of the Lead, Associate, Executive, Co-, Assistant and Line Producers. It all seems strangely theoretical and divorced from reality, not least because Abigail indicated that if we graduated looking to eventually become a Lead Producer, we'd be lucky to be taken on as a Runner.

I have now uploaded Fire and Ice. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO4TFOddxsc) I am quite pleased with the result. It's not perfect I know, but I suspect my lack of perfectionism is a character flaw I shall bear with me to the grave. I lack the patience, you see. Nevertheless, I am not at all displeased with it.