My second workshop

For my last and second workshop I wanted the class to help me with my own project. But in the same time I wanted the workshop to be an inspiration for my class mate’s future lessons. I came up with three scenes that where inspired from my old family movie from the 40s that I am using for my project about formless. We filmed the scenes and made a new movie. Scene one was “Grandmother's birthday”. Scene two was “Family at the country” and scene three was “Father at a business trip”.

These scenes that we made were intended to remind us about children who plays the game”Mum, father, children”. I presented the different roles briefly. The scenes came to a certain extent to be prepared for them, but to a large extent also to contain improvisation.  Therefore I listed up things that do not refer to the common things that we do. On the basis of these I then created a classified manuscript to each and everyone of the group and to the different scenes. These manuscripts where suppose to be hidden for each other before the acting. Like: Turn your body away from the others. Ore: You speak hugely highly.

Freud wrote about the ”uncunny”, regarding ending up in uncertainty in a safe situation, like in the safe and well known family home. With this film I wanted the class feel safe, but at the same time to end up in uncertainty, which makes you feel unsafe.

The aim with the filming was to examine various normative roles, which arises within a family in our culture and how these can be turned upside down by the uncunny. This workshop becomes thereby an investigation in social rules and norms in relation to the unknown.

We questioned the norms around the family by using the”childish” and how children create their attitudes about the family, through playing. We examine what is accepted and what is not accepted behavior within the family according to the norms, and how our own thoughts about this looks like.

When we had stopped filming we talked about what we had done. The group felt that the workshop was funny and playful and that the hidden agendas helped them to act and that the improvisation reminded them of the Swedish “Roliga timmen” at school when they were small. It also reminded some of a game that twist the reality on dinner parties, when you get small notes with tasks that you have to do. Someone said that if you do it good it can be really scary. We all agreed on that the meaning of the hidden agendas mea by was more helpful to me, in my own film. Someone said that the hidden agendas were impactful. Another said that it felt strange. Someone said that it was too funny and that the acting should have been more serious. Someone else then said that the tasks should have been smaller to make it more strange. Like notes on the forehead, that you can’t see, that can be really awkward. What we did can be seen as formless because of the childishness, and the low feelings that that it developed, like laughter. It was also random because the scenes were not really planned and there was no finished idea of how it should turned out in the end. We also spooked about how this kind of act is not individual, only the idea is made by the artist. And because of that it is not perfect, it is also kitsch. Finally one member of the class said that the experience of acting in the scenes was confusing and that the character interlaced with the identity, in a way.

Grandmother's birthday.

In this scene we have grandmother's 60-year old birthday and the family have all they been collected in the sitting room in order to drink coffee and eat cookies. They are happy and speak and laugh a lot. Around the table, we can see the grandmother, grandfather, mum, grandfather's sister and the grandfather's brother. On the floor sits the small son at 1 year old, playing.

Family at the country

In this scene the family has been gathered on the country in the country cottage. It is summer and the mum and the mum's sister has exited on porch in order to enjoy of sun with their children. The children are sitting on the ground, playing. It is the small son at the age of 6 years old, with his sister, 3 years old, and their cousin (a boy) at the age of 4.

Father on a business trip

In this final scene the father, a photographer, and his male fellow-workers, has gone away in order to look on various camera factories. First the bus stays and they walk on board. The mood is on top and they speak a lot. Then they make at stop and look around at some factories before they travel furthermore.