![]() Written by Italo Calvino, The Aquatic Uncle tells the tale of some of the first fish to make it out of the water onto land and the love affair between a young, rebelious terrestrial being and her fiancees old water loving uncle. We needed to adapt this story so that it could be performed as part of 'Music Tyme' and everyone within 2nd year illustration needed to be involved. We were each asked to produce a 'mood board' of inital thought, ideas and concepts towards the story and how we could invisage different aspeccts of it. I likedthe idea of keeping it as a mysterious prehistoric waterworld where your never quite sure whats lurking around the corner. I researched plants and trees that could have been similar to those that were described within the story whilst I tried to kept the colour palette quite earthy whilst merging in the colours of the water. I also researched the type of animals that the characters were based on and how these looked, or how similar they would have looked to some of the reptiles and ifsh that we have on earth today. I became part of the script writing team. We very quickly learnt that this was an integral part of the first stages of the production as everyone was relying on us for information such as how many characters there were, who they were and about where the different scenes were set. It was quite a challenge for every team to begin at the exact same time before we had written the script however, this pressure helped us to quickly come up with a plan and get the main deatails to everyone who needed them. Whilst during the first day or so there was some confusion about how we were splitting the production up (i.e in two halves, land and sea or just all working together)this soon solved itself and we were able to progress quickly. It was also the script teams job to communicate with all of the ther groups such as the set designers, costume designers and music & visuals to make sure that everyone agreed with desicions that we were making and that it fit with what their visions of the production were to the best of our ability. To begin to decide what we wanted and what was needed within the script, we had numerous read throughs of the original story by Italo Calvino. Slowly, we highlighted and marked what we thought was essential, whether this be descriptive text or speech. In addition to this, we also made a list of the characters. This was needed as we were beginning to think about the number of characters and whether or not we needed more, or less. In the end we decided on eight characters, we shortened the names of some for ease of understanding and pronouciation whilst the characters who we invented and were not in the original story were given syllabic sounding names as to fit in. We decided on the following characters and names... Qu Lil Uncle N'ba N'ga Co & Co Mo (Mother) Fa (Father) Grandmother Having identified the key scenes of the production we could then split them between ourselves so that we could look at each one in more specific detail and then eventually get onto writing the first few drafts of the script. We had seven key scenes, some of which were then split into subsections (a,b,c...) so that we could tackle it in decent sized chunks. I was assigned scene 4; this is the crux of the story where Lil met Uncle N'ba N'ga for the very first time. I haven't had any experience in writing in this format before so I had to make a number of drafts before I got onto the most finalised stages. Throughout the writing process I had to converse with the others on the script writing team, particulary those who were writing the scenes before and after my own to try to make it run as smoothly as possible. I also found that I needed to add stage directions to help give the actors an idea of what we had in mind for the production. However, these were only to be used as a guideline as we felt that changes to the stage design, costumes and the preference of the actors could very well change these. Below is one of the more finalised drafts of my scene in the script. Scene 4 Meeting the Fiancée Qfwfq, Lll, Uncle N’ba N’ga (Qfwfq and Lll are standing on the ‘edge’ when Uncle N’ba N’ga appears to ‘pop’ out of the water below them. Qfwfq looks worried and positions himself closer to Lll as he spots his Uncle. Lll doesn’t react, appearing calm and collected.) Uncle: Well, here I am. What’s the trouble? (Uncle N’ga N’ba swims fluidly closer towards the couple appearing to prop himself up against the side of the stage by their feet.) Qfwfq: Well, Uncle, this is… I mean it is a pleasure to introduce you to my future bride. This is Lll. Uncle: Oh is this so? (Lll now positioned slightly behind Qfwfq. She is stood up in an ‘erotic’ looking pose, staring towards the water, specifically focusing on Uncle N’ga N’ba.) Uncle: And so young lady, you’ve come to wet your tail a bit eh? Qfwfq: Uncle! You can’t speak to her that way! You’re not living in the Devonian period now! Uncle: Don’t be silly Qfwfq, so girl?... (Lll peers around Qfwfq and kneels down to talk to Uncle N’ga N’ba) Lll: Can you tell me something? Uncle: Spit it out. Lll: Those little plants over there…where do they put down their roots? Uncle: Why my dear, those are floating trees! Have never seen such a thing?! They are the best place for hunting, there’s no where like that up there on land I can tell you for sure! You can swim amongst them; they’d never even see you coming… Lll: Oh how interesting! (Qfwfq puts both hands on his head, ashamed and embarrassed he tries to pull Lll away from the waters edge and consequently Uncle N’ga N’ba) Uncle: And I’m not fooling! The amount of worms you’ll find there; you’ll never go hungry again! You can fill your belly alright! (Uncle N’ga N’ba leaps into the air then smoothly head first into the water, flicking his large tail behind him. He picks up a number of worms from the floor then elegantly appears back at the surface, tossing a worm to Lll which she catches and throws into her mouth and another to Qfwfq which he drops with disgust.) Qfwfq: (Turning hastily to Lll) Lll, you’ll have to excuse my Uncle… (Uncle N’ga N’ba interrupts Qfwfq) Uncle: You know as well as I do boy that one day you’ll all return to the water. The climate will burn you up, the land will disappear and only those who admit they were wrong and swim again will survive. Qfwfq: Uncle how could you! Those who have always lived on land are perfect in every way, they will live through the weather and inhabit the earth until the end of time! You can’t be stuck in your ways forever you know! Lll: Q, but what if you Uncle is right about everything? Qfwfq: He’s not. Uncle: Your Lll can tell that I’m speaking sense, why can’t you fool?! Down here…Down here you can have as much space as you want. You don’t have to worry about whether the heat is blistering or freezing and best of all you’ll never go hungry! Qfwfq: But now we gallop over valleys and mountains, Uncle! (Lll remains silent, but continues to stare towards Uncle N’ga N’ba) Uncle: Go on with you, tadpole, when you’re wet again, that’s when you’ll be back home. Qfwfq: The water isn’t our home Uncle! Lll: Uncle? Don’t you think that if we wanted to learn to breathe underwater, it would be too late? Uncle: If you’re game, sweetie, I can teach you in a minute! (Qfwfq looks at Uncle, then to Lll and back again, he’s shocked at Uncle’s response to Lll’s question) Lll: You could?! Qfwfq: (Taking Lll by the arm) Come on Lll, it’s time we should be heading off. (Qfwfq and Lll walk away from the edge of the water whilst Uncle N’ga N’ba slowly sinks down into the water, still holding his worms from his earlier catch) Lll: (running off stage, shouting over her shoulder) He’s very nice, your Uncle! (Qfwfq stares after Lll who is now off stage.) Qfwfq: (In a weak sounding voice.) Are you joking? (lights fade out to black, Qfwfq looks alone and drops his head) END OF SCENE One of the biggest disagreements and concerns that aroused was about how humourous the production would end up being. Again, this was largely something that my team and I were dealing with as this relied nearly solely on the script. Some people were concerned about how the quality of their worked would be percieved if the production became a comedy and if it involved too much slapstick humour. Others, however, didn't believe that you could have the production without any humour at all due to the nature of the original story. The script team then had to decide how the performance should be percieved; should it be a comedy or should it be completely serious? In the end, we opted to have a balance of humour and seriousness as we wanted everyone's input to have been listened to and we felt that by having a balance of both it could hold the integrity of the characters whilst being able to enjoy it at the same time. As well as writing the script in the first stages of this project, we were also asked to each design a poster advertising the perfomance. I researched the types of prehistoric fish that the characters were based on and then went onto create a number of sketches experimenting with composition and design. I also wanted to take into account the colour scheme that was being used for the set design and throughout the costumes.
Once we had finished the script and made all of the main adjustments, the script team had to make themselves helpful in other ways mainly through splitting our time between helping directing and helping out the other groups when an extra pair of hands was needed. I found myself particually helping the visuals and lighting teams. They had to create a squence of images for the begininng scene where the characters and their relationships were being introduced. Originally there was going to be a slideshow of photographs using the costumes and actors for this scene however due to timescales, the costumes were not going to be finished in time for the visual team to put together the video so they asked for a set of drawings to take the place of the photographs. By keeping these drawings tonal, the visual team could then add filters and effects to make them look more like old family photographs (I sent the original drawings to Tash Tully who edited them and these were then turned into a short animation with the sounds effects of an old style projector by Jessica Vogt. The edited images can be seen above). I used the costumes that had been made and partly made as reference so that the audience could directly tell who was who when comparing the on stage characters to the ones seen in these pictures.
Whilst I wasn't able to attend the final Performance due to illness, I have reviewed the footage and images that were taken thoughout it and it seems to have been a success. Having spoken to other members of the course, there were of course a few hiccups and wardrobe malfunctions but that was only to be expected and the actors inparticuarly coped well with simply carrying on. The visual effects team's work was beautiful and it was obvious the amount of time that they had spent working with the set design team to make suring that everything fitted perfectly with the set. The animations that they made fitted well with what the script team had originally invisioned. I admired the effects that were added to my original graphite drawings to give the effect of them being very old family photographs; I feel that they were integrated well and didn't feel out of place in comparison to the rest of the performance.
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AuthorChloe Preece, 20 Years old. Illustration student currently studying at the University of Brighton. Archives
December 2016
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