Segue

“Basically, it’s a film-making-conveyer-belt that squeezes the imagination out of anybody who comes along, mixes it with everybody else’s and puts it on video.”

Segue – a developing experimental format from The People Speak. It has emerged from workshops we have done for our own creative growth and for others. We discovered a strong desire from participants to better express their performative and creative self. Segue is about generating a spontaneous and collaborative performance and narrative from participants using the diverse combination of skills that we have available within our group. It exists in a space between immersive theatre, film making and performance workshop.

The Segue team includes an expert visualiser who provides instant VR backdrops and special effects, character and narrative devising specialist, fast cardboard prop makers, performance facilitators, makeup and costume specialists, instant sound effects, editing, camera, conceptualiser, storyboard artists.

We have an instantly reconfigurable film set consisting of a semicircular projection screen, cameras, props and costumes, video displays, all of which are part of our standard production kit.

The ultimate product is an edited film, with a narrative arc, but the real crux of the project is creative participation in it and the feeling of your own creative input. Visitors to the space will be asked to contribute to the story line, define their own character, create props and costume, locate the epicentre of drama and, if they want, perform a scene. A rough version of the video footage is regularly posted on a screen in the space as it is updated.

YouTube

The making of The Key of Chaos
‘The Phantom of Fortune’ Trailer
‘The Phantom of Fortune’ in full

Vimeo
‘The Phantom of Fortune’ Trailer
‘The Phantom of Fortune’ in full

Remember that everything in these videos was created by visitors to the festival who hadn’t met each other before. Conceived, filmed and edited in 6 days. On 7th day we rested

Photo Documentation:

Segue – Instant walk-in film factory, 31 0cober – 6 November 2011, Location: High Bridge Gallery 31-39 High Bridge City Centre, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 1EW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saulalbert/sets/72157628085976793/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saulalbert/sets/72157628083429973/

Layout

The experience of Segue is a kind of generative journey with a sequence of areas involving different creative processes. One encounters a series “desks” until you reach the shooting area. It sounds very bureaucratic but will actually be a lot of fun. 

The audience will then go through a process where in the waiting room they will first watch the latest version of what we have filmed already, plus clips from films that have been referred to on a video ‘pasteboard’.

Next they will go to the character and narrative development desk workshop section. Here they will be asked to develop a character and a back story for their character.

 

 

 

 

 

The whole thing will be communicated through a ‘heckle’ feed so that everyone in the crew can be made aware of the emerging story and to try and weave in similarities. Heckle is a custom visualisation software we have built.

 

 

 

They will then proceed to the storyboard desk, where suitable backgrounds and scenes are created. Finally will be referred to the prop and makeup desk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equipped with scenes, props, characterisation and narrative they move to the “film studio” section. We have two back projection screens to shoot in front of which will be adjacent to each other at an angle.

This material will be fed to the editing and post production desk where it will be incorporated into the latest edit, which will be added to the viewing screen.

Segue Project Development:

2 Responses to “Segue”

  1. […] of 25th and 26th October 2014, The People Speak were commissioned by Tate Britain to deliver Segue – an instant film-making project which invites participants to devise narrative and characters, storyboard scenes, make props, work […]

  2. […] To find out more about the project please visit our Segue page […]

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