Starting the project. Vyou.com

I started the blog on vyou.com at the beginning of this week, sorting out the waiting video and response video.

http://vyou.com/IbeforeMe

I wanted to keep the waiting video rather vague, so as not to spoil what I would appear as in the video when I showed up in costume. So I appeared with the wig on and make-up, but avoid showing the costume until the last few frames. I tried to make the ‘waiting video’ as in-character as possible. Due to the fact there is no sound that went with this video, I had to try and work out a way to make it still work as an in-character type of action.

I decided to play on the idea that Samuel has just found the recording equipment, and is having a bit of a play with it. He looks at it from top to the side, examining it carefully (also only showing the wig and make-up, so it does not necessarily look like I am wearing a costume) before appearing on screen in the full costume. He does not acknowledge the costume, after all, it is his normal clothes, and instead looks at the camera, then aside, and grins – perhaps he is not meant to be playing with the equipment after all.

He then tugs on his collar a bit, and looks himself up and down in the camera. Clearly, Samuel Daniel is very vain and likes to make a lot of his appearance. Finally, after he’s happy with how he looks, he scoots away from the waiting video out of shot.

I would hope that the waiting video gives enough ideas to those who would be watching and possibly asking questions. In that it shows I am in character, and also in costume, in the way I behave when I am fully on the screen, grinning, and being very concerned with my image. While similarly leaving enough blank and unexplained so that people might ask more questions.

Phase 3: Character Information

Samuel Daniel

17 Years old. Born 1596.

English, with Italian ancestry. Parents are wealthy merchants focusing on the tinker-trade. He lives away from home in a small rented room in London, close to the playhouses.

Samuel got involved in acting at the age of ten years old by becoming a member of the Children of the Chapel – a child-specific group who performed plays to court. He began by specifically performing female parts, but quickly left in 1606 after several scandals involving the plays that were performed that landed the company in some disrepute and several of the writers in jail. Due to his acting capabilities, however, he swiftly gained a position in the King’s Men theatre troupe, again, performing female roles. He has stayed in that position to this day, performing both on stage at the theatre and to the court. He can sing, play the mandolin and thinks he makes a rather convincing woman on the stage.

Phase 3: Thoughts Pre-Study Plan

After getting my assessment for Phase 2 I do not know quite what to think. It was noted that apparently I had not mentioned that I wanted to use this MA as a way to get into the film industry, which I for one think is not entirely true. As, at the very beginning of Phase 1 when we did our personal presentations, I presented my film I produced in my third year of my Film degree. Stated the jobs I did, what I enjoyed and how I wanted to get involved in the film industry. It was when I mentioned cosplay and my costumes – relating my hobby to the MA so there was more understanding as to why I took a costume MA that suddenly all tutors took great interest in my costume history, in the idea of character and my apparent ‘psychosis’ of gender. It was through their persuasion and discussion that I abandoned my film aspect – even though I had said at numerous tutorials at the beginning I would like to do something filmic. However as the MA went on it seemed like I had to deviate from that. Hence why I have been getting involved in my own filmic projects on the side.

I just feel very deflated as I actually did extensive work for my PDP but apparently it wasn’t enough to warrant a reasonable mark, so generally I’m a bit of a loss at what to do. There was further discussion in my assessment regarding gender at a psychological level – which I have stated on numerous occasions that I don’t want to bother with. It feels like this attempt to get me to look into it is like everyone is telling me that I have a psychological ‘problem’ with gender views and values and identity, which is horribly frustrating. The reason I don’t want to go into too much detail with gender is because I find gender boring, it is not something I care about because I find gender to be fluid – as I have mentioned before. Therefore, I think little of it, and it doesn’t bother me, but it comes across that because it doesn’t bother me, it must be something I must research and look into to find out WHY. I don’t want to find out why. That is my view that is my opinion. What I think is not a ‘problem’, I do not have an ‘identity problem’ because of my views on gender, so why, is it so important for me to look into it when I could look into something that I might actually be interested in?

I don’t want to perform the character externally either – this is something else I have expressed before. I would want to perform it purely in a digital platform because that is essentially what they are created for. Why would I drag a character out of the platform they have been created in? I don’t entirely know.

Quite frankly, since the assessment my head is in a bit of a mess, and I don’t feel like doing Phase 3 as I had thought before. I have asked for a tutorial to be booked. I just want to get everything sorted now. Though I feel all my research for Phase 2 was pretty redundant as my mark was so low. So I don’t know what to focus my work on next and I don’t know what the uni expects of me to get me an okay mark? Am I supposed to dance around outside naked, quoting Twelfth Night and blag something about how I’m exploring my inner gender psyche? Because that is what it feels like. I’ve known from the beginning that what the uni and I see are two completely different things, so it is incredibly difficult to work in a way that seems to fit the uni’s views and criteria. I thought the course was going to be significantly different to what I have been given, I was hoping to learn new skills and techniques to create exciting new costumes and the likes – whereas it has been completely the opposite, so it is very difficult to try and feel like I am actually getting anything out of this course. The only thing at the moment is the knowledge that I shall hopefully at least get some ‘MA’ letters on my CV at the end of it. It would be nice, at least, perhaps after Phase 3 to feel like I have achieved more than that. But at the moment, it certainly doesn’t feel like it.