Lippy:
I began the field project intending to open a discourse around the interaction between character and location. The idea was, that people are inherently performers and therefore adapt their voice for their audience, their context, and importantly for the purpose of this piece, their location. In my experience on the other side of the microphone, personality is invented for purposes of entertainment or information. My approach drew on theoretical practices of verbatim, radio and ‘romantic conversation’ a style that political disenchanter Colin Hay views as “an end in itself, an aesthetc pleasure” a way in which we value spoken performances. Through production elements and interview techniques I sought to draw from my participants an understanding of how ‘the stage’ in a physical and metaphorical sense is a space of contorted reality. The talent of my piece are Nikky, Krissy and Mayumi from comedy trio “Lippy” who performed at The Brunswick Hotel on Monday 31st August. By conducting interviews one on one, in a group, in private and in public I was quickly able to gage how these three personalities would act, react and interact.
The greatest struggle was to encourage talk of voice, performance and location without making these motives apparent (I did not want it made explicit as this, again, would create an informed performance space where truth could be circumvented). Asking Lippy to reflect on their stage performance and each other’s recordings provided limited material too vague to make a statement in three minutes and thirty seconds. Ultimately, I feel the piece would have failed to meet the initial objective; a new approach was needed. Inspiration came from the sheer strength of character that Lippy exhibited as individuals and a collective. The new angle is summarised in the line “some-one who demands truth is liable to settle for a well crafted lie”. Here, media scholar Andy McKee explained how performers voice falsified messages for the demands of the listener as well as their own motives. I could tell these comics were adapting their voice for the enjoyment of the audience based on a combination of location, situation, characters, conflict, tension and context. This discussion is something more than what I bargained for.
This feature I looked to further my understanding and proficiency with media making techniques. Panning was used not only to enhance direction and position but attempting to portray internal interactions. The piece is structured with intertwining clips for sequential texture; smoothed transitions greatly juxtaposed by a succinct silence create ambiguity in the cuts between scenes. A combination of narration, interview, conversation and accounts created diversity in the central dialogue. Looking forward I hope to greater develop my sense of story-telling, creating features to the time limit with complete narrative or reporting form. The element of field was one interesting to incorporate into writing, production and editing and is an area that will continue to give and can never be mastered in its entirety.