Lockdown limitations and creativity



With the new lockdown restrictions soon to come into effect again, it is clear that conventional production will probably not happen, be highly restricted, and ill-advised. Therefore, I've put more thought into how to use the limitations the restrictions provide to create new ideas and methods. 

During the first lockdown one show, I felt accomplished these things was Staged, starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen. The show uses Zoom (or similar) to show the characters, an exaggeration of the two actors themselves, along with some others trying to navigate the lockdown whilst trying to rehearse their new theatre play. I feel the show effectively uses the new platform and tools to show everything you would have wanted to do, and wouldn't otherwise work outside of the current context. 

Since I watched this when it first aired I've been thinking of how else the platform can be used, or productions to be done remotely. Particularly for drama, I find this to be a more challenging endeavour as the production value, acting, set, props etc are suddenly restricted to what is easily accessible for each person. I feel the main thing that needs to happen when using the new platform is to make sure there is still movement and variations within the type of shots and what happens within then. When experimenting with my friend, I found these moments made it more engaging, less static, and more realistic. 
 
This has also posed limitations for our possible grad project ideas, as we are meant to present a form of a teaser this month. Basically, we're therefore restricted to productions that can be done remotely, with not a lot of time to prepare and develop as rules keep changing. As a group, we find this to be a creative challenge but that still means that we have to start from scratch, with ideas, and with support, as no one has been put in this position before so there isn't really a framework yet for how to work in this new way.

However, I hope, these new limitations will actually allow new innovation of ideas that work within the new methods rather than being forced into them

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