"Kabuki final 2012" First Impressions 1

My experiences as a dramaturge, assistant director and lighting person.

For this assignment, I was in charge of the lighting set of of our Kabuki play, something I have NEVER done before!

 Thursday 17^th May, 2012

Today, I was told that I am in charge of the lighting set up fro our play, and I am very scared as I have never used the lighting equipment before and because of previous experiences of IASAS, and watching Dinesh get stressed about it, however managing to make beautiful color and light combinations for the play “Indulto”, I feel like it will be a very challenging task.

Saturday 19^TH May, 2012

Today, in class, was the first time I was in the boards and the spotlight I will use to illuminate the people walking in the ‘Hanamichi’.
I talked to Amanda, and she told me that  she didn’t think they were that necessary, and from my research I knew that because in old performances of Kabuki, technology wasn’t advanced enough, there was no light except for candle light  to illuminate faces in emotional monologues and the house lights or torches, therefore lighting was VERY minimalistic, and it was performed at day time.

However, because we are performing it now, lighting can be applied following the guidelines of modern predictions of Kabuki were:

·      Light colors are used for metaphorical descriptions of weather

·      Colors are also used for changes in moods and atmospheres

·      Changes of scenes

Video 1 = Naturalistic Light

Looking at videos as part of my research, I realized that most of the time, the lights were naturalistic as a means of being faithful to the original performances, and also as a way of not distracting the attention from the costumes. (Videos 1 and 2) However, talking to the costume people to ask for permission, because of lack of time, their costumes weren’t as elaborate as their original ideas, and therefore, the group and I made the artistic choice and liberty of making the lights more colorful to add emotion, life and color to the performance.

I enjoyed watching videos 3, as they are a clear example of how Kabki lighting help convey a change I mood and atmosphere, and even in time of day and climate.
In minute (2:01) It starts to snow in the scene, and the lighting changes from pale yellow to blue, to accompany her change, noticeable in the dance as well, from a delicate woman to a woman suffering from anguish and distress, transforming into evil in her chaotic dance. There is a predominant use of Blue. And there is a transformation of color to accompany it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU66syDUuJ8 = Viedeo 1 “Yoshitzune Sembon Zakura”

Video 3 = Blue light

Video 3 = Dark blue light

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHNCpKQDgCo =Video 2 “Cultural event performance”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv-9Mmo8a-Y =video 3

As part of my research, I looked at an online interview with a Japanese Kabuki actor:

http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=359&pID=1146 = interview with a Kabuki actor Ebizo Ichikawa XI

Evaluation of Resources (HL STUDENT)

I believe the the resources I chose in terms of video (visual resources) vere accurate and reliable as they were primary resources from recordings of original videos that were posted on the web of Youtube, and therefore the content reflects an original performance. From video 1, I did some further research on the play to confirm that there is one, and there is. For videos 2 and 3, the performances were recordings of official events such as the “Japanese cultural event 2010”. The quality of the videos is clear, and it allows me to visualize the lighting effects clearly, and its contrast with the actions of professional Kabuki actors. However, as they are not my videos, they are not primary research and I don’t know as much about each event (without further research into it) as I need to really understand.