Little Shop of Horrors:
Background information:
Project Workshop Research
15/01/19
As part of my research for our performance of little shop of horrors I watched the 1960 film that the musical was based on and made notes throughout watching it so that I could later compare this with the 1986 musical film and off-broadway production to see what was changed and why it may have been changed.
We conducted some research in class:
Project Workshop Research
21/01/19
'B' Movies
In todays lesson we took some time to look at 'B' movie trailers and characteristics of traditional 'B' movies, we noted down similarities we saw in all the different trailers and compared them to both versions of little shop of horrors
What are the characteristics of 'B' movies?
- cheaply made
- cartoon style trailers
- same sets for all of the film
- often had quite wooden acting
- game show host type voiceover
- dramatic music
- sci-fi/ horror themes
- there is often a giant 'thing' the story is about
- there is a damsel in distress character
- intricate posters
- they seem modelled on comics
- people screaming
- females are often sexualised
What characteristics of 'B' movies does little shop of horrors (1960) include?
- cheaply made (around $30 000)
- cartoon style trailer
- sexualised woman (Audrey)
- there is a giant 'thing' (the big plant)
- same set for most scenes
- theme of horror
- people screaming
What characteristics of 'B' movies does little shop of horrors (1986) include?
- cartoon style trailer
- sexualised female characters
- horror themes
- people screaming
- there is a giant 'thing'
Curious Incident Trip
22/01/19
- Outline the narrative of ‘Curious Incident’
Curious Incident is about an autistic boy called Christopher who stumbles across a dead dog one day and decides to investigate what happened and who killed the dog. This investigation leads him to find letters from his supposedly dead mum which leads him to travel to London to track her down.
2. Briefly describe the characters in ‘Curious Incident’ and their stories.
Christopher- The central character in this story. He is an autistic boy who struggles to understand many things, he finds a dead dog one day and gets accused of killing it and although proven innocent he is determined to find out who killed the dog.
Siobhan- Christopher’s therapist. She helps narrate the story by reading Christopher’s journal notes. She also helps Christopher to understand things and keep calm in different situations.
Christopher’s Father- He is the single father of Christopher and does his best through many challenges to look after him. He tells Christopher that his mother is dead so Christopher believes he only has one parent.
Christopher’s Mother- Initially presumed dead until Christopher discovers letters written to him from his mother dated after he thought she had died. We find out she had an affair with Mr Sheers (Mrs Sheers' husband) and later on in the story we discover they are living together in London.
Mrs Sheers- The owner of Wellington, the dog who has been murdered at the beginning of the play. Her husband is Mr Sheers who has an affair with Christophers mum.
Mr Sheers- Mrs Sheers Husband who has an affair with Christopher's mother and moves to London with her.
Mrs Alexander- One of Christopher's neighbours who he meets whilst investigating Wellington's death. She is an elderly woman who sympathises with Christopher and tries to be accommodating towards him.
Wellington- Mrs Sheers' dog who gets murdered at the beginning of the play which spurs Christopher to investigate his murder.
Toby- Christopher's pet rat who he takes everywhere with him.
3. Discuss how production elements are used to support the narrative;
Most of the cast was on stage the whole time, there was projection mapping used which enhanced certain points of the narrative such as Christophers thought process when investingating the murder of the dog.
Costumes were used to illustrate the character multi-rolling.
Set - when there were lots of houses down the street there were numbers and people in every house via projection mapping - this allowed quick scene changes whilst maintaining complexity of the set.
During the scene where Christopher took the tube - lighting was used to create the illusion of train tracks, with the use of smoke machines and a sound track to complement the illusion.
Three different doors were used for the entrances and exits. These doors where cleaverly hidden so they were not apparent when not in use. When props were needed the sides of the stage had drawers which were pulled out to obtain these items.
The toy train set represnted Christophers upcoming journey to London, it included London landmarks to enhance the representation of the journey.
4. Discuss and describe how the following production elements are used to reflect the inner thoughts, feelings and ‘interior narrative’ of the main protagonist Christopher and his Autism;
The digital elements showed Christophers thought process, for example, he would draw on the stage and the picture would appear on the backdrop to the stage for us to see.
It was clear from the outset that Christopher didnt like being touched as when the police officer came to see him at the beginning of the play he got very upset and hit the officer. Additionaly, his mannerisms and speech were very ordered and detached.
He overcame his fears as he was so keen to get away from his father and find his mother who he believed was still alive. During this journey he had to face many challenges however still managed to find his mums address.
Smoke effects created an atmospheric environment, they created the impression that the environment and journey was unsafe and scary to Christopher.
Train sounds got progressively louder, this gave the impression the train was a threat and also built tension about the journey to come.
5. How successful do you think production elements were in bringing the story of Christopher and ‘The Curious Incident’ to life?
I thought the production elements were very successful, everything was very clear and helped to highlight the key moments with special effects without overuse or distracting from the story itself.
6. What have you learned about designing a successful stage production from watching ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’?
That a simple staging can be highly effective if the elements are represented in an imaginative way. The multipurposing of the stage and set using electronic projection and effects to bring them to life.
Little Shop of Horrors Research Task
21/01/19
References for sources listed above:
YouTube. (2013). MUSIC OF THE SIXTIES The Girl Groups (Martha,Crystals,Shirelles,Ronettes,Marvelettes,Supremes). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gOjVPXcdlg [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
YouTube. (2017). Little Shop of Horrors 2003 Cast. Full Video. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXaJtHmRIcI [Accessed 24 Feb. 2019].
Little Shop of Horrors Research Task
05/02/19
Social, Political and Cultural Landscapes of America in the 1950s:
Doo Wop Girl Bands:
1. What was the background context to the development of the first 'Girl Groups' and what was different about their music?
The first girl groups developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They were usually made up of 3 to 4 young girls who were usually teenagers and African-Americans. This girl group had a distinctive sound that started to become more and more popular for example the chiffons put four songs on the top 40 list. although there had been girl groups before in the 1930s and 1940s these girl groups marked themselves out by starting to push the boundaries of music and develop new types of instrumentation. When is the earliest girl grapes was the Shantel‘s and they had a hit called maybe featuring Arlene Smith Singing lead, it was made up of students from a high school in the Bronx. Whilst doing this research task I also came across a song called ‘da doo Ron Ron’ by the Crystals which seem to have provided the inspiration for the song ‘da doo’ in Little shop of horrors as Crystal is also one of the characters. (Doyle, 2013)
2. What is the social/political importance of these early Girl Groups?
These kind of girl groups would often stand and sing on street corners and subways in groups of 3-6. They became creative with making up for the lack of instruments so started to use their voices to accompany one another often with nonsensical words, these would resemble the sounds made by the instruments they would usually have playing. The popularity of these groups made important steps in the music industry towards more female dominated groups and also racial diversity in the music industry.
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