Venue Changes

Change of Events

A few weeks away from the final production we were informed that our current location 'Humanitas' will nto longer be participating in Zombie Quest.

We were then allocated a property agents workplace Norgans Lettings & Property. This was based down Sun Street, near the main market which is down a relatively busy street.

Norgans Letting Agency

http://www.norgans.co.uk/

Address: 30 Sun Street

                Hitchin

                Hertfordshire

                SG5 1AH

Telephone: 01462 455434

Front View:

Aerial View:

Upon receiving this information I decided to call the company to see if I could gain measurements of the place or even arrange a visit to take photos, visually read the site and plan our space. There must've been some form of miscommunication as the company weren't fully informed about the project and no longer were interested in taking part in it. 

Once again we were relocated to the main Market Square area to which we would need to visit to gain a measured perspective of the conditions we would be working in.

Ideas for the Market Square Scene:

-Sectioning off an area for us to work in

-Placing plastic sheets to cordon off our area

-Survivors taking refuge in a public but hidden place (not the obvious 'hiding place')

-Campfire feel to the scene

-Someone (an extra actor) arrives who's injured which peaks Daisy's interest. We keep the same storyline which involves each character talking to select audience members about how they got there and how the epidemic affected them. The difference in this particular location is just that Daisy's senses would heighten and she'd eventually have to the leave the sectioned of area, attack a civilian (another extra actor) and return with blood all over herself which we would then cue the audience to leave.

Props:

Plastic sheets

Tinned Cans

Bottles of water

Stale loafs of bread

Barrel

Fairy lights (a form of lighting within the area)

Many issues with this storyline, for starters it's complex (it may not seem so, however, we would have to brief our extra actors maybe half an hour before the first run of the scene) as well as involved far too many props (especially with our limited budget) and we would not be able to reset in such a short space of time.

Another major problem would be finding a source of power as our location was not close to any shops that we could place a trail of extension cables; even then, due to health and safety it would not be allowed.

Placed outside would also require us to figure out where to place our personal items where no one would be tempted to take them, as well as our own well being. Many of us have caught the winter cold and being placed outside for 3/4 hours would've severely affected our performance.

Despite the constant changes, we tried to stick with our original plotline as much as we could and developed a scene for our locationless area.

The video itself speaks volumes as to how lost we were within our scene. We received feedback sheets from both people that were a part of our performance and those who just observed; this is what was said:

-The build up was lacking

-We need to asses everyone characters (too many characters were on the same level, they need to vary)

-To the characters who aren't meant to be aware of key information, they need to make it more obvious

-Focus on another character instead of Daisy (takes away the suspense)

-James needs a reason to be near to the door

-Create a confrontation between James and the other characters when trying to get audience members inside e.g. "don't let them in, we don't have enough to sustain them as well"

-Make a sign that we can have outside the shop (with the assumption that the zombies are illiterate)

-Ensure we're not blocking each other  (audience members from all angles)

-James's character needs to be more believable, needs to not pace as much and not feel so fidgety 

-Janay's character is strong - we need to root ourselves to her level

-Chloe and James's argument doesn't flow, it feels forced

Overall, we needed to simplify the story, from that we would have clear aims for each scene and be able to create specific aspects of the scene. We created a step-by-step guide so that we were all clear on our intentions:

1. James needs to 'invite' people inside.

2. Offer them the minimal resources we have whilst telling our own stories.

3. Daisy isn't participating as the others are - suspicion arises.

4. Daisy's sister defends her, gets bitten in the process - Daisy is revealed.