Euthanasia Protest Evaluation

Suitability of our protest choice: In my opinion our groups choice of protest was partially suitable because euthanasia is a well known controversial topic worldwide, and most people if not everyone has an opinion on it.  However I do believe that our audience was of the wrong age group to fully understand the intricacies of this delicate topic. 

Suitability of audience: I believe that our audience were far too young and in completely the wrong age range for our protest to have been as effective as it could have been.  Although some of our targeted audience were very engaged and participated fully, I found that the majority of my audience Interactions were slightly uncontrolled, because of the audiences' ridiculously short attention spans.

I did however have a very long and in-depth conversation with a boy called Dave whom had some very interesting views on euthanasia and medical care in the UK. I found his opinion so different from my own and very complex and this not only excited me, but also engaged me with our conversation. Although I and Dave had to agree to disagree on our differing views on euthanasia I believe that I really made a difference today by talking to him. Not only did I really enjoy talking to him, and listening to his views, but what he had to say was really interesting to me. I really do hope that I inspired him in some way shape or form, and that he feels provoked by our protest to go and implement social change himself and not be apathetic.

Overall I believe that if we protested with a different targeted audience then our protest would have been much more effective, and would have made a greater impact.

Preparation: I believe that my group’s preparation for the protest was sufficient however our preparation was unfortunately not in depth. We had many group discussions, both in person and via the internet, we rehearsed the theatrical element of our piece and we also brainstormed ideas for specifically evocative phrases that we could use on our picket signs. We also prepared the signs from scratch and laminated them, anticipating the bad weather. Overall I think that our preparation would have sufficed if at the last minute we had not decided upon changing the location of our protest. This definitely unnerved me, and I am sure it also bewildered some of the other members in my group, because our piece had a specific layout which was the stimuli for our choreographed movements during the protest. the only way I can possibly describe this is by portraying the mental image of an amazingly elaborate house of cards having had one of its integral foundation cards being removed swiftly from the lower labels. Without our original location, our piece literally fell apart. However I believe that if, as a group, we had put more effort into preparing for the protest and finalising each and every detail of the piece then the last minute location switch wouldn't have been such a significant game changer in our protest.

Refinements:  Here is a list of the following things that could have improved our protest:

• ·         Whether... the weather was very cold and wet during our protest which discouraged our audience from stopping to talk to u for very long.
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• ·         Location... the fact that the weather impacted on our protest to the point where we have to change the entire location of our piece at the very last moment due to health and safety issues really bewildered all the members of my group including myself.
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• ·         Preparation.... more rehearsals and preparation were definitely necessary. 
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• ·         Visual aids... bigger bolder visual aids would have improved our protest and interested our audience more.
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• ·         Bright colours... I believe if perhaps all the members of my group had t shirts made in big bright bold colours with specific phrases printed on them this would definitely improve the overall protest and engage the audience more.
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• ·         Diff targeted audience... I personally believe our target audience was of the wrong age to fully comprehend the seriousness of what we were protesting about.
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• ·         Incentive... If perhaps we had some sort of and informative incentive to offer our audience this could have add depth to the impact we made. For example: food (cupcakes, cookies, etc...)  printed keying’s, pamphlets, drinks with facts printed on labels,  various other things to attract people to come and talk to us.

Apathy Song

I came across this song in my spare time and when I listened to the actual lyrics of the song I realised not only how beautiful the lyrics are, but also how they describe people whom are apathetic in terms of protesting. The song is about someone who is indifferent to the world, and does not feel anything: someone who is apathetic and impassive.

This is the song Let me in – Gabrielle Aplin: ENJOY!!!

LYRICS:

He doesn't make your knees weak.
He's beautiful and bleak.
He has a porcelain face that cracks when he speaks.
I go to start a conversation but I, get no reply
Instead you stare like a statue as I, break down and cry

Your face is like an eagle, but your mind's like a crow.
And boy, I know you have opinions, but you don’t let them show.
You're a shelf of books, without the pages.
A wealth of thoughts locked up in cages.
Locked up, locked up, locked up

And if blood runs through your veins,
Don't you suppose it's such a waste?
To be composed in such a way...
Just let me in

You write me letters in a pen with no ink
And you have your own eyes but you don't dare blink.
You speak in words without a sentence,
You're the ghost that haunts me without a presence.
Without a presence, without a presence

And if blood runs through your veins,
Don't you suppose it's such a waste?
To be composed in such a way...
Just let me in
Just let me in...

Occupy Wall Street Hand Signals

Wall Street protest signs

Verbatmin Definition

In class I came across a word that I did not know the meaning of, 
and therefore decided to do some further research into, and find
out exactly what it was. 

Definition for verbatim:

ver·ba·tim/vərˈbātəm/

• using exactly the same words; "he repeated her remarks verbatim"


• direct: in precisely the same words used by a writer or speaker; "a 
• direct quotation"; "repeated their dialog verbatim"

Adverb:	In exactly the same words as were used originally: "recite  the passage verbatim"; "verbatim quotes".
Synonyms:	literatim - word for word - verbally - literally

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verbatim

Definition for verbatim theatre:

Web  definitions:

Verbatim theatre is a form of documentary theatre in which  plays are constructed  from the precise words spoken by  people interviewed about a particular event or topic. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbatim_theatre I then did some of my own personally research by going  to The National Theatre in Waterloo London with a few  of my friends to look into what exactly verbatim theatre  was. We found some very useful books in The National  Theatre bookshop and one specifically on verbatim. Myself and my friends found this book very useful, and I believe that after reading a few key extracts from the book I now have a much deeper understanding of 'vertabim' and 'vertabim theatre.' Friends with our star find at The National Theatre bookshop

Protest pieces

• Hand signals 
• 'Die in'
• 'Sit in'
• Human microphone
• Rope shape
• Teasing (child)
• Chalk chanting rage
• Sighs 
• Kettling 

• Referee - human microphone from start?

• Split grass - parent/child
• Physical representation of dividing line between parent and child - chalk? Red tape?
• Tents
• Masks
• Height - levels?
• Dress? Significant colours?
• Smoke bombs?
• Exaggerate movements
• Add monologue polemic intermittently

Occupy Protest Exercise

In today’s lesson we experimented with creating symbolic protests, that were based on the views of the occupy Wall Street movement protesters. As a stimuli we used the vertambin transcript that we had already completed as research on the occupy Wall Street movement.

In my group we used Sasha’s transcript because it was one of a very negative view of someone whom disagreed with the protesters. We used this because we believed it would be very effective and convey the stark contrast of protesters opinions to the audience. 

As Sasha read out his transcript (in an American accent) the rest of my group used the protest piece 'die in' which is much like a 'sit in' however differs in the aspect that instead of just sitting and occupying a space, the protesters feign death whilst occupying a space. During Sasha’s reading of his transcript one by one each member of my group stood up and said something that contradicted exactly what Sasha had just said (in an American accent). For example when Sasha said that the protesters smelled bad, Asa stood up and interrupted Sasha's speech by saying "We don't smell, it you who smells... Of dirty blood money!" After each individual had said their piece to Sasha we then began walking in a circle around him. Once all 5 other members of my group had come out of their 'die in' position, interrupted Sasha, and had began circling him we all came to a sudden stop at which point we all turned facing inwards surrounding Sasha and then reached out to one another and held hands, to represent us 'kettling' him, and then Sasha shouted at us "I am the one percent!" Then to slightly mimic and in a way mock the human microphone form of protest - we all chanted back "We are the ninety nine percent." After this Sasha slowly fell to the floor in a state of death, to reiterate the symbolism of death we had created at the beginning of our piece. The rest of my group, still in out circle surrounding Sasha, then let go of each other’s hands to form the "block" symbol by crossing both of our arms over our chests. After holding the "block" position for a moment to build tension we then all raised our right arms above our heads, and then slowly one by one walked away to indicate the ending of our piece.

I believe that this exercise was very useful because not only did it give us the opportunity to explore and demonstrate some of the various different forms of protests, it also enabled us to devise our own protest from scratch. We had complete artistic power and control over what we chose to do with our given stimuli, and in my opinion this allowed me as an individual to explore and experiment with lots of various different ideas, and to take on an authoritative decisive role in my group. I also then had the opportunity to refine my various ideas and choose the specific ones that I believed would make them most impact on the audience. The whole idea of choosing which different forms of protest you are going to use is so that you can individually come to the realization (As I myself did) that you should not choose a form just because it is aesthetically pleasing or easy to perform, you should however choose forms of protest that you decide and greatly beneficial to the point you are trying to make, and also have a deep impact on the audience. Overall, I found this exercise very fun and enjoyable, as well as learning a lot and exploring the various different ways of protesting.