Units 5 and 6 Research

Little Shop of Horrors 20/01/19
1. What is the background context to the musical 'Little Shop of Horrors'? 
According to https://aquariusjen.wordpress.com/social-and-historical-context-of-little-shop-of-horrors/, two events are influential to the show's meaning:
- Watergate affair: there was a break-in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex which was covered up by President Nixon, who misused the FBI and fired someone for finding out he was abusing his power.
- Secret bombing of Cambodia during President Nixon's run
President Nixon turned to unethical and illegal procedures to ensure his own success as president. This led to the American people feeling an extreme lack of trust in their government. Little Shop of Horrors reflect President Nixon's actions through the lead character Seymour. The song "don't feed the plants" shows the need to restrain governmental power so it cannot be abused for selfish reasons.

2. Who were the different versions of 'Little Shop of Horrors' written and directed by? What other musicals  have the writers of the stage version also been involved with?
1960s film version: written by Charles B. Griffith, directed by Roger Corman, based on a 1932 story called "Green Thoughts" by John Collier. (information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Shop_of_Horrors )

1982 stage version: written by Howard Ashman and directed by Connie Grapo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Shop_of_Horrors_(musical)). Alan Menken wrote the music and collaborated with Ashman on several works including some animated feature films for Disney (https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=QeBEXIDSBY-sUvv_kMgC&q=howard+ashman&btnK=Google+Search&oq=howard+ashman&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.35i39j0l9.2114.4479..4762...0.0..0.88.769.14......0....1..gws-wiz.....0..0i131j0i67j0i20i263j0i131i67.JG88s0Speds).

1986 film version: this movie has an alternate ending because test audiences reacted negatively towards the original - in this movie Seymour destroys the carniverous plant and marries Audrey. It is written by Howard Ashman and directed by Frank Oz. (information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Shop_of_Horrors_(film))

3. What is the central story of 'Little Shop of Horrors' and what aspects of American culture does it include/ refer to?
It's an allegory (a story with an underlying message) showing greed will ultimately eat you up. It's about a flower shop assisstant Seymour, who is in love with his co-worker Audrey. He convinces his boss, Mr. Mushnik to not fire him by buying an unusual plant which attracts customers to the shop. Seymour then finds out that this plant can only survive on human blood and struggles with what to do and how he will feed it. 
The songs in 'Little Shop Of Horrors' have a mix of styles from rock and roll to gospel sounding voices and identify Seymour with wholesome music to fit in with the 1950s American culture (https://aquariusjen.wordpress.com/history-of-the-work/).


B movies - Little Shop of Horrors research task 21/01/19
1. Record characteristics of B movie trailers.

• low budget
• very few sets
• cartoon-style fonts
• dramatic narrator, music and story
• not the best actors/ actresses
• interesting stories: usually about outer space; genres: science fiction and horror/ thriller - usually about giant monsters terrorising the nation
• there's always a damsel in distress (usually half-dressed) in posters and giving high-pitched screams in trailers

2. What 'B' movie characteristics does the 1960 Little Shop of Horrors movie trailer display? 

• very dramatic
• cartoon-style font
• of course, a high-pitched scream
• the story contains a monster that places a deadly threat on all humanity
• only a couple sets

3. What stylistic and narrative elements link to/ are inspired by the 'B' movie genre in the 1986 Little Shop of Horrors movie trailer?

• dramatic narrator with a deep voice
• cartoon-style font
• horror genre
• cartoon font title
• again, the story contains a monster that places a deadly threat on all humanity

Log questions 22/01/19

Stimuli and resources used to support our ideas:

• Doo-wop girl group The Ronettes. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVbawRPO7I
• This gave us an idea of what Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon should dance like in "Da Doo". We wanted to use similar small dance movements, especially considering that Ronette in Little Shop of Horrors was named after this group The Ronettes.

Production ideas:

• For the line "TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN" we want a lighting change or a projection of an eclipse of the sun on a backdrop to emphasise this moment even more. 
• There should be a table full of plant pots including the man-eating plant so that Seymour can re-enact how he bought the plant. 

At the moment, I want to focus on the choreography and then think of production ideas since we are still developing and changing our choreography.

Log questions 28/01/19
We are working on the scene where a rarely-seen customer enters the flower shop to ask about the "strange and interesting plant" in the shop. Then Seymour explains the unusual story of when he bought this plant in the song "Da-Doo" which Ghazall and I are choreographing. Seymour leads the songs talking to the Customer with the doo-wop girls giving their backing vocals.

I am playing Mr. Mushnik in the Little Shop of Horrors production. He is the owner of a florist but his business is unsuccessful to the point where he says he will close down the shop. He hates his life in Skid Row and is a very grumpy character, being mean to his employees and treating them harshly. However, Mushnik is good at heart, at the end of the day, he did give Seymour "shelter, a bed, crust of bread and a job" which helped him very much .

I need to communicate to the audience that I am a horrible boss who is always grumpy, hates his life, his employees and his declining business. I need to immerse myself in this character by using my emotional memory to think of the most frustrating, angry memories to be able to shout and use genuine expressions to create a believable character.

'The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night Time' 29/01/19

The narrative: It's about a boy with extreme autism who discovers his neighbour's dog has been murdered and he decides to become detective, discovering much more along the way. The audience watches what he goes through from his perspective. (

Characters:

• Christopher - the main character from who's perspective we see the play. He has autism, dislikes human contact and finds going on public transport very overwhelming. 
• Ed, the father - he tries his best to protect his son from bad decisions and is the killer of Wellington, the dog
• Judy, the mother - she is thought to be dead for the first half of the play, but turns out to be living with Mr. Shears
• Siobahn - Christopher's teacher who reads his diary throughout the play
• Mr. Shears - Christopher's neighbour; he lives with Christopher's mother

How production elements support the narrative and are used to reflect the inner thoughts, feelings and 'interior narrative' of Christopher and his Autism:

• Set - The set supports the narrative by being a visual representation of Christopher's mind, showing how he sees everything mathematically - the whole stage was a grid.
• Costume - the costumes were casual everyday clothes to make the play and the characters realistic.
• Lighting - the lighting was realistic to where he was whether that was inside his home or looking under a bed
• Entrances/ exits - Actors would come through doors built in to the set or get up from sitting down on the perimeter of the stage.
• Special effects - This helped show what goes through Christopher's mind. For example, when Christopher went into the train station, all the adverts were projected onto the stage and the noise was amplified  to show how overwhelming it was for him.
• Digital elements - when Christopher felt overwhelmed and would recite numbers to calm down, it would be projected all over the stage.
• Props - props were his toy train track, letters, diary etc. These helped bring the story to life.
• Projections - when Christopher drew on the stage floor, it was projected on to the back of the stage so the audience in the stalls could see what he was drawing. Also, places, numbers, letters and advertising in the tube station was projected showing the audience what was going through Christopher's mind.
• Sound effects - the music was electronic to create an atmosphere of seeing the world through maths, almost robotically.

I thought the production elements were very successful in bringing the story of Christopher and 'The Curious Incident' to life as I found it easy to empathise with every character, but especially Christopher.

I've learnt that being creative, original and thinking outside the box is necessary when designing a successful stage production from watching 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'. I thought the stage production was very helpful in seeing this story through Christopher's eyes.

Little Shop of Horrors 05/02/19
What was the background context to the first 'Girl Groups' and what was different about their music?
Early girl groups started in the 1930s - for example, the Boswell Sisters who had 20 hits in this decade. The Doo-wop style was a vocal group harmony with many vocal parts, little or no instrumentation and simple music and lyrics. Doo wop records had a cleaner sound than pure r&b and rock n' roll. This style developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. Early girl groups were usually related to each other but bands like The Shirelles were friends. They would harmonise with each other and there was usually a leader of the group like The Supremes - later changed to Diana Ross & The Supremes. (David, J. (2013) The History of the Girl Group. Glamour magazine. Available at:https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/gallery/history-of-the-girl-group (Accessed: 25/02/2019)

What is the social/ political importance of these early girl groups?

Female doo-wop groups were not as popular as their male counterparts but in 1956, record labels started signing all-girl groups. Select groups such as The Ronettes and The Chiffons did enjoy the longevity that most all-male bands did not, as they were able to cross over to the girl group sounds of the early 1960s. The Shirelles were the first African-American girl group to top the Billboard Hot 100, or the first girl group overall with the song "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". Michael Campbell notes that the success of The Shirelles reflected the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Their famous song "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" was written by a white couple, produced by an African-American man and of course sung by young African-American women gave a "colour-blind" message over the obvious sexual one.

How stylistic qualities of the Girl Groups link to and are exploited in the characters of Chiffon, Ronnette and Crystal in Little Shop of Horrors

There are three girls in Little Shop of Horrors and many 60s girl groups were trios like The Ronettes from which Ronette in Little Shop of Horrors is named after. The songs share the same style as early Girl Groups, with all three girls harmonising with each other. They always move together in unison and can be rebellious at times which shows they can stand up for themselves.

American culture in the 1950s (Little Shop of Horrors research task)
What was the social, political and cultural landscape of America during the 1950s?
Before the 1950s, America had just gone through 20 years of economic stagnation because of the Depression and World War II. Lifestyles were circumscribed and social changes were made in response to the difficult conditions of the past years. By the time the 1950s had arrived, America was ready to enjoy life. When soldiers came back to their families post-war, there was a major crisis in housing since housing had not been built in 20 years or so. Many families went to live at the edges of the city forming communities called suburbs.  There was also a baby boom, with 24.3 million children in America between the ages of 5 - 14. By early 1956, there were 13 million teens. These teens had an average weekly income about the same as a whole family's disposable income 15 years before. They were the beginning of youth culture, the first young people to really have an impact on the nation as a whole.

Gender-specific roles were a large part of the 1950s. During WWII, women had risen up to the workplace, taking the jobs of men who were at war. However, two million women lost their jobs in the following two years after their husbands returned home. Women were expected to be good mothers and wives, do all "work" at home and many families were able to support themselves with only the man's income, so there was no need for women to work. The media reinforced the notion that a woman's place was in her home and that her job was to create a perfect family life.

How do the characters in Little Shop of Horrors reflect the historical context and aspirations of post-war America in the 1950s?
Audrey yearns for 'Somewhere that's Green', to live with Seymour in a large house with their kids. This was the "perfect family" according to the media in 1950s America. In class, we looked at commercials from the 1950s which gave women and men gender roles and stereotypes. 

Hair and makeup for Little Shop of Horrors
I was told to design the hair and makeup for the three Doo-Wop girls. I first looked at pictures from 1960s Doo-wop girl groups and saw what the hair and makeup trends were:

The Crystals:

The Ronettes:

What I observed from looking through pictures is that hair was voluminous, sometimes in short neat updos and makeup was simple but many pictures (like the above) used eyeliner to create cat eyes. As much as I wanted to design a 60s Doo-wop look, I considered what I would be able to do when it comes to the performance since I am no hair/makeup artist. I also asked Nehemie, Tilia and Leah what they wanted and for some ideas so that everyone would be happy and then came up with these designs:

Nehemie:

 Tilia:

 Leah:

I included the cat eye and put some volume into the hairstyles. I thought it would look nice to have different coloured eye shadow on each girl but I told them they could choose whatever colour eyeshadow they wanted.