Sleep Prevention - Nicola

Well, this piece was a big experiment. I was kind of playing around with Garage Band (I had never made music on anything other than physically with instruments/voice before) and then decided to incorporate it into my piece. The Stone Arch Bridge area is a pretty special place for me and I have so many memories from that place. My original idea was to somehow showcase NE Minneapolis and this idea of childhood memory juxtaposed with this "adult" world of environmental/social destruction and also apathy. Last spring I wrote a musical puppet show that I and a friend performed on the stone arch Bridge about this little bug that saves a forest. I was thinking about going more that route with this project, but then decided that a) I didn't have enough time, and b) I really wanted to try something new. So I put most of my time into the audio (still trying to show the original concept), and used existing footage that I really wanted to project in that spot.

oh, and sorry about the sound issues. I accidentally left the mic on prior to performing and the battery died. I think that the yelling wasn't the best way to present... haha

Something about the unamplified voice kind of caused a rift in this piece of me.
It made me view Nicola as a performer, but her role was mostly as a speaker, yet she was up above us, visible and prominent before the large projection.
I liked that we were below the piece, on a completely different level of ground, providing a monumental feel to the projection.
The buildings looked great on the surface, and fit the music and reading.

I would like either more of an active role from the speaker, or for the speaker to be out of sight, and amplified somehow.

I liked this works intimacy, and I liked the musical component, but I think it could have been put together a bit better. As others have said, some amplification for the voice might have been just enough to make this work something really wonderful for me, as trying to strain to listen in the sort of sensory overload generated by the multiple types of media and the roaring generators didn't help me to become involved in the work. Also, I wonder if it might have been more interesting to have the video start and develop with the spoken element, like the music, rather than run as a loop, and thus seem more disjointed. I think this piece kind of had all the elements of being really successful, but it needed a little push or something.

Nice coordination between visuals and spoken content. The childlike sounds amplified the content. There are many comments about amplification of the voice. There was a slight static quality in the narration and a loss of drama/impact with some of your words with out amplification!

Because all of the content pieces were in place, the strategy of performing it is what is left. What other options could you have had? I think if you moved as a performer about the crowd, stating audible aspects in different components may have worked as well. Also integrating some of the text visually may have been an option.

I would like to have seen a little more of the child hood hopes, not just erasing of the city environment.

Lots of key things have been mentioned here...
The intimacy was the most lasting part of my experience, which was helped by your standing slightly above us: everyone could get close, and it felt reminiscent of standing around a fire. Because you didn't directly address us in the performance, I wasn't bothered by your 'talking down,' but I could not hear your voice over the music so I would recommend amplifying, and maybe just naturally. Your vocal quality is really wonderful and distant (at least through the last couple of projects), but I think that begs more vocal presence from you. I found myself following the words on the paper via the beam of light shining through it... visually, that has some potential.

I enjoyed the exploration of sleeping/waking life really thought provoking for me, and the writing of your speech was really profound and enjoyable. I was missing something from the image of the city though, as others have mentioned, I feel like the city could have been interacted with more. When you put an image of the skyline up I think a lot of people have strong associations with that and you just have to make sure to do it justice in your piece!

I loved the scale of this piece. The enormous skyline was great to look up at and i found it very exciting to see. The audio track was very cool, it flowed well and your speaking part played off of it well. I did have issues hearing, but i know there were technical difficulties. Having you stand above us gave it a feeling as if i was being indoctrinated or something, and i liked that. It brought me into the piece more.

I really, really enjoyed the audio for this piece. The one thing I wanted more of was the spoken words, and that could easily be changed by running a mic through the sound system as well as your computer. I felt that the image of tracing the buildings was almost playful and I liked that a lot. I suppose the one thing I wonder about this is where the connection between the sleeping/waking and the city exists? I understand that it was all taking place in the city, but why did you choose the stone arch bridge (if my memory serves me correctly...)? I very well may have just missed the connection due to the lack of amplification, but overall I enjoyed this one very much.

im biased.
i've seen that footage in another context. i preferred it in the original medium (narrative video).
I was impressed by your garageband skillz...nice!
As you mentioned, you intended for the spoken word to by amplified. (yeh, it would have helped).
I feel that the prerecorded male dialogue should have fit better with your text, the music, and the visuals.
I know that you wished you have more time for the performance part and the visuals of the piece. If i were you last thursday, i would have just read your text with the music. To me, it would have been more focused and could have resonated more.