Nonverbal communication includes facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures, eye contact, spatial arrangements, and patterns of touch and expressive movement. Research suggests that nonverbal communication is more important in understanding human behaviour than words alone - the nonverbal "channels" seem to be more powerful than what people say. Non-verbal means is being other than verbal; not involving words: nonverbal communication this could include involving little use of language: a nonverbal intelligence test.
But for our non-verbal means performance we did not use any verbal communication in any of the scenes. Our performance was one scene because making the performance non-verbal decreases the chance of engaging the audience into the scene. We used simple repetitive movements and sounds to engage the audience which was very effective. We used no verbal communication except sounds as we moved from one position to another. Because the whole performance was very repetitive a so could not engage the audiences attention we decided to have the scene based in a workplace and someone not doing their job properly, i.e. not being in synchronisation with the rest of the team.
So we then to finish the performance we had a senior member of staff that was walking up and down observing and taking notes on the workers and removed the worker in to a solitary confined area. The noises we used in the performance were things like humming noises trough teeth etc. which was not verbal communication but noises. The main focus of the performance was motion because the balance of verbal, sounds and motion had to be balanced on one side a lot more if one is taken out. In this case verbal communication was taken out so motion and sounds had to fill in the gaps. In the Dictatorship performance we also used non-verbal means when the computers/robots were controlling what the people were doing as well as what they were saying. This non-verbal means technique was only in one scene but was still very effective. If we were to do that scene again we would have used more sounds to fill in the gaps of where the verbal parts would have been. The puppet action to and from the people and robots/computers was very effective because it showed the control over the people and when the people tried to speak when they were not told to do so the computers recognised this and override the command. Then when the people relished that they were not able to do anything, they let the computers take control over the people communication completely. The computers also took over the verbal communication, making it not possible to use verbal means in the scene.
Role Play is like pretending to be someone else, taking on the character of that person and acting it out as accurate as you possible can. Sometimes you have to imagine what that character might say or do judging by a short time you have analysed the person. For example if you watch a short clip of the character and what he/she is like, then you have to make up a new scene in the role of that character, you have to imagine what the character might say or do.
The role play that we have analyzed and performed is the 1984 piece, where we were given a short scene showing prisoner Tom’s character and then we made some short scene showing Tom’s journey home everyday. In groups we took on the character of prisoner Tom and showed from the knowledge we had of his character what he would be thinking and saying on a typical day. We had a stimulus at the beginning of the performance, which was prisoner Tom, who showed us what it was like to be in prison and how he was innocent.
We then got together some questions for him;
What was it like to go to prison?
Do you see you family, if not do you see anyone?
Have you had any support with the trauma?
Do you think you got a fair trail, if not did you appeal?
Do you know what you have done wrong?
There were more questions that we put together and then we made some short scenes based of the stimulus to create a role-play for Prisoner Tom. The three scenes were: Who is behind the camera? What was he doing? Who is missing him? Based on what we know about the character, we made scenes on these elements but twisted the scene slightly so that the audience still did not know why he was arrested.
The stimulus is what usually gives you the character you are tying to take on; this gives you the basic idea of the character and how you are going to progress the character from there.
Freeze Frames are still pictures in the course of a movie or television film, made by running a series of identical frames or by stopping a reel or videotape at one desired frame, like a vivid, motionless scene or image. This is very effective if there is a lot of action in a scene and right in the middle of the scene there is a freeze frame to calm down the action and see the characters thoughts. Freeze frame usually have dialog of another character while the rest of the people are still in the freeze frame. This is effective in showing what the characters are thinking of each other and how the characters are feeling about the situation they are in.
We used freeze frames in the Death and Maiden performance when Paullina had just realised that her torturer was in the same room as her. When she realised that it was her torturer, she went immediately to the kitchen and then the freeze frame came and she spoke what she was thinking. She said that she recognised the laugh of her torturer immediately because obviously her torturer had previously laughed at her, for Paullina to recognise the laugh. When she went to the kitchen she said that she did recognise the laugh as she changed the atmosphere entirely, because she said that she could remember her torturer. As she went back into the room she was in, she than treated her torturer with disrespect and then went to the bedroom. If we were to do the performance again, we would have the laugh of the torturer then a freeze frame in the kitchen of Paullina, feeling very upset and breaking down mentally again. Then as Paullina goes back into the living room, she would have then slightly questioned Dr. Miranda then in a big panic make an exit for the bedroom. This would have indicated that Paullina had still been afraid of ever meeting her torturer and when she did, she would still feel as helpless as she did then and in the scene.
When Paullina realised her torturer was in the room, she moved to the kitchen where she felt safer and then when the freeze frame came, she convinced herself who the guest was and wanted revenge.
